Kim Dotcom’s head of security told his boss that John Banks asked for a political donation and said he would be a “very good friend” once he was back in Parliament, according to an email.
And this time it is not just about Banksies mayoral campaign, but about his asking Dotcom for funds for hisAct Epsom electorate campaign, allegedly in return for favours from him and the Shonkey one:
Mr Tempero, who has acted as a bodyguard for David Beckham and Michael Jackson, wrote to Dotcom: “I just had a call from John Banks about asking you for a small donation for the Act Party which he is standing for government this year.”
The email was sent immediately after Mr Tempero spoke with Mr Banks at about 8pm.
Mr Tempero also wrote that Mr Banks said “he will be a very good friend for you when he is in Parliament”. He said Mr Banks had spoken of being “personally embarrassed” that Dotcom was unable to buy the north of Auckland mansion he was living in.
[..]
According to Mr Tempero’s email, Mr Banks said “once in government” he “would have the power to do something about it”.
Mr Tempero said Mr Banks had suggested a personal meeting between the Prime Minister and the bodyguard. He said it would give the opportunity to explain Dotcom’s current and future efforts for New Zealand and “Banks thinks the PM will intervene”.
In an emailed statement, Mr Banks confirmed asking for money.
He said: “I do recall raising the issue of donating to the Act Party with Mr Dotcom’s staff … I was subsequently advised by one of his staff that Mr Dotcom said ‘to go get f****d as your Government has caused me too much trouble’ or something along those lines.”
But team Dotcom is alleging that Banksie was asking for money in return for political favours once he was in government.
I worked with Mr Tempero at Waimanu in 95′ and found him to be a loyal dedicated worker but would not describe him as possessing the skills to act on behalf of an international figure.
Mr Tempero is a straight up and down regular guy with a great sense of humour and was a real pleasure to work with. He did however slip up on the Dotcom job and may find it difficult to beat the charges he is facing.
Good to see dot com keeping the flame on banksy and shonkey being so foolish as to have a go at one of their biggest allies in keeping the sheeple dumbed down being granny herald.
Shonkey wouldn’t know what hit him if we had a decent MSM let alone the shills that make up granny. There are worrying signs for the hollowmen, their frontman can’t keep to the smile and wave routine whilst the majority hangs by a thread.
Wtf has happened over bashers privacy breach also ?
Good also to see the steady drip, drip, drip of leaks from camp Dotcom. I do not expect them to dry up for a while. I wonder if there will be one about Key meeting Kim? Key has been asked this question a few times.
Ross Ashcroft was interviewed on Kathryn Ryan (?) last week plugging his film. He came across to me as being really confused with a whole lot of concerns and not many answers apart from things are really bad and unfair, and bring back the gold standard but different.
“Delegation to transact is subject to controls and managed by skilled professionals, Treasury said.
These professionals act within transparent risk policies and parameters and are accountable for their efforts and must meet detailed reporting guidelines and frameworks.”
— Who are these professionals, and what exactly is their level of accountability?
For those of you with an apetite, find Dr Susan Newberry’s thesis
There is an interesting article from about a week ago in the Guardian about how the Occupy movement hasn’t died, as the MSM would have you believe, but it has shed any links with liberalism in the US, a link that was part of a pact between the left and the more centrist liberals in the US:
There is a traditional terms of alliance between liberals and radicals in American social movements: through civil disobedience and direct action, the radicals create a fire on the liberals’ left that makes them seem relevant as a moderate alternative; the liberals keep us out of jail. In this case, the liberals spectacularly failed.
[…]
But when OWS re-emerged in the spring, the abandonment of the liberals, the drying-up of the money, have become an almost miraculous blessing. Activists have honed and polished their street tactics and democratic process. New alliances have been created, with community groups, immigrant rights organizations, and, increasingly, labor unions.
One reason OWS agreed to forgo mass civil disobedience in New York on 1 May was to solidify those alliances. Instead, occupiers working within the coalition pushed – with the boisterous support of many rank and file, despite the initial hesitation of some union leadership – for a joint solidarity statement that called not just for the usual battle against austerity, but to the revolutionary transformation of society:
[…]
The words might be diplomatically chosen, but there’s no mistaking what tradition is being invoked here. In endorsing a vision of universal equality, of the dissolution of national borders, and democratic self-governing communities, nurses, bus drivers, and construction workers at the heart of America’s greatest capitalist metropolis are signing on to the vision, if not the tactics, of revolutionary anarchism.
I’m not expecting the NZ MSM to pick up on such a revolutionary movement any time soon.
Class sizes. It appears that National have got hold of the nub of an idea about class sizes on which they can build a policy that suits them. I believe that Ministers are strongly influenced by their own success from a poor background, generalising from the particular, taking the view ‘the mass could achieve this too if they weren’t so lazy’ – Parata and Paula Bennett are two, and Key with his state house background too.
The class sizes policy is based on comments and findings from a meta-analysis study by Professor Hattie the findings of which are debated by other leading academics. PPTA views
The important point of social conditions conveniently ignored by National in all its policies is quoted below.
“(This) is not a book about what cannot be influenced in schools – thus critical discussions about class, poverty, resource in families, health in families and nutrition are not included – but this is NOT because they are unimportant, indeed they may be more important than many of the issues discussed in this book. It is just that I have not included these topics in my orbit,” Hattie says.
well, Lady Gardiner does provide an inkling that it may be worse…
“About 90 per cent of schools would either gain or have a net loss of less than one full time equivalent teachers as a result of the combined effect of the changes”
Quick check shows there are 2558 state schools, lets be conservative and say only 75% will have job losses…only another 1900 odd off to a brighter future…I’m sure Australia will gladly take these gifts..
oh wait I see, saving 43mil is about 1000 teacher salaries..righto
So instead of following an education world leader like Finland, where teaching is a treasured, respected position in society and education is reverred, because their country requires human knowledge at its core (lack of resources etc as one reason), NZ is instructed to follow the failures of the UK/US styled systems!
Considering that Treasury knows nothing about education then them giving incoherent advice about it is to be expected. This government listening to them is also to be expected as they follow the same ideology as Treasury.
People who know more about economics than me say that Adam Smith is often misquoted by today’s economists which would include Treasury officials. Misinterpreting research of one professional and then that one publication as the basis for changing important welfare provisions must be normal.
A class of 24 ten year-olds can draw in underachievers and teachers can give much better critical feedback to those who need help, thus reducing the much publicised tail of underachievers.
Parata is quoted in the Herald as being in classes of 42 pupils in her Primary years. Yeah right! Wonder if that can be verified but even if she was in such classes, how would that inform her of the 10 or 15 who would have “failed” in her class? Going right off that woman.
prism. lady G clearly influenced by her ‘memory’ of how things were in the good (or bad?) old days Ms Parata said that when she was at primary school her class size was around one teacher to 42 students.
Of course that’s total BS (check class sizes from similar years for her school, mostly around late 20’s early 30’s)
irritant update: The Stuff comments on this article are being blatantly ignored yet again but flick the pages and there is an article on cancelled US tv shows where the comments are alive and kicking. Or you can comment on the Avengers movie, US baby names or the latest masterchef mash up. Stuff is a pathetic bloody excuse for a news service. Perhaps they will follow the method used on the Wilkinson story and publish the comments tomorrow, after burying the story of course.
To those who would be interested – when I was looking at a Scoop page for Feb 2012 there was an advert for the Wellington Palestinian Group planning to put on a presentation called the Palestinian Monologues at 6.30pm in Wellington I guess 19 Tory Street cost $10 or gold coin for unwaged. It’s to support – “Scoop correspondent Julie Webb-Pullman has been in Gaza for most of the past 12 months”
Funniest thing coming out of Johnnygrad today is the appointment of a”business” consultant to deliver welfare reform. These failed ideologues could not deliver business effectively enough for us to avoid the need for to pay welfare (i.e decent wages and sufficient jobs). Now rather bizarrely these same failures are going to be entrusted to deliver welfare to ameliorate their failure.
Rebshocker = eliminated competition in freight, supermarkets, TV (prime going to sky), building supply and other industry acquisitions rubber stamped by the wisconsin wonder and her commission of ineffectual troughers.
Diplock was equally ineffective with a range of wet bus tickets being handed out to badly behaved corporates likes PPCS, Feltex etc
There are so many outrageous aspects to the appointment of Paula Rebstock and a raft of like-minded business and insurance types to a brand new quango to oversee welfare reform, it’s hard to know quite where to start. Evidently, in these hard times we can still afford to spend $1.1 million to service a board of bureaucrats to oversee the upcoming welfare changes – which is a job we already pay Social Development Minister Paula Minister over $200,000 a year plus perks, to do. Plus her advisers, plus her department and its well paid chief executive. Isn’t this their job, to oversee the policy outcomes that they initiate? What are we paying them for? Evidently, when it has the right ideological flavour, duplication and waste are OK with this government.
Evidently, Paula Bennett just outsourced her own job but didn’t to the moral thing and quit at the same time.
And in football news, Fortuna Dusseldorf have won promotion to the Bundesliga. Not normally an item for the Standard, I know, but FD95 have a solidly left wing fan base and were once sponsored by punk band Die Toten Hosen and wore the bands logo for two seasons. As far as I know, they are the only professional football team ever to wear a skull on their shirts!
Cheers, Chris, hadn’t thought of the Bucs, but you are dead right (well, leaving aside that they are two different sporting codes). It’s a shame the Pirate Bay is closing down, they would have been ideal sponsors!
TB are owned by the Glazer family, fact fans, and they are also owners of the second best football team in Manchester, England.
The Pirate Bay is under severe threat, with court orders in many European countries stopping ISP’s from allowing access to the site. The founder is fighting back, citing a breach of human rights. However, I think the days of the open fencing of stolen materials on the ‘net is coming to an end, though greed and human ingenuity will find ways to hide it.
Yes watching that space with interest as their internal draining of funds combined with the debt loaded onto the club is now kicking in to make manyoo nowhere near flush enough to compete with citeh, chelski etc.
The one off ronaldo sale money has gone now along with the league title, hope freg sticks around to take a 20th title.
I had never heard of them, but just want to say (off-topic) that the Pyramid team owned by Daniel Graystone in the awesome science fiction series Caprica, is called the Buccaneers… 🙂
Indeed they are a very cool club, Willie and I imagine matches between them and Fortuna would have been a party from start to finish. I’m pretty sure the Beatles used to go to games when they were playing in the redlight district down the road in the early sixties. However, unlike Fortuna, I’m pretty sure the team never officially wore the skull and crossbones, and that its just a fan thing.
Unlike most clubs whose main driver is extracting ever increasing amounts of dosh from long suffering supporters, St Pauli are fan based in every way and have the following democratic principles enshrined in their constitution:
“In its totality, consisting of members, staff, fans and honorary officers, St. Pauli FC is a part of the society by which it is surrounded and so is affected both directly and indirectly by social changes in the political, cultural and social spheres.”
– “St. Pauli FC is conscious of the social responsibility this implies, and represents the interests of its members, staff, fans and honorary officers in matters not just restricted to the sphere of sport.”
– “St. Pauli FC is the club of a particular city district, and it is to this that it owes its identity. This gives it a social and political responsibility in relation to the district and the people who live there.”
– “St. Pauli FC aims to put across a certain feeling for life and symbolises sporting authenticity. This makes it possible for people to identify with the club independently of any sporting successes it may achieve. Essential features of the club that encourage this sense of identification are to be honoured, promoted and preserved.”
– “Tolerance and respect in mutual human relations are important pillars of the St. Pauli philosophy.“
Here’s a good article by Catherine Woulfe about the fallout from Colin Craig’s comments on promiscuity. Even if the unscientific Durex survey (PDF) is right, the days of thinking sex is inherently bad should be long gone.
the days of thinking sex is inherently bad should be long gone.
I don’t think that anyone thinks that sex is inherently bad! They think that there’s (a) too much emphasis on sex in our present society and that (b) it’s rather mis-used.
a) As we’re social beings there’s always been an emphasis on sex throughout human history it’s just that the emphasis has changed from being positive to negative and now it’s going back to positive. You seem to dislike that positive shift.
Tonight, Wednesday 16 May 2012, at Auckland University Library basement, during my presentation from 6 – 7pm, I will be giving fellow Public Watchdog Vince Siemer, an opportunity to explain why, for the FOURTH time, he is facing imprisonment although he has not broken any law.
Vince Siemer breached an unlawful order of Judge Winkelmann, that not only denied the Urewera defendants the right to trial by jury, but suppressed the public’s right to know this.
Under NZ law – there is no lawful basis for a Judge to suppress a judgment or the reasons for it.
As a ‘whistle-blower’ exposing NZ judicial corruption, Vince Siemer has been persecuted in a way that defies belief – especially in a country ‘perceived’ to be the ‘least corrupt in the world’.
http://www.kiwisfirst.co.nz – Vince Siemer’s website, is, in my opinion – the leading website exposing the lack of judicial transparency and accountability and judicial corruption based upon ‘conflicts of interest’.
Come and hear for yourself this DISGRACEFUL story, which confirms why NZ URGENTLY needs an enforceable Code of Conduct for NZ Judges.
A petition will be available for people to sign on this matter.
SIEMER V THE SOLICITOR-GENERAL COA CA607/2011 [11 May 2012]
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF NEW ZEALAND
CA607/2011
[2012] NZCA 188
BETWEEN VINCENT ROSS SIEMER
Appellant
AND THE SOLICITOR-GENERAL
Respondent
Hearing: 1 February 2012
Court: O’Regan P, Harrison and Wild JJ
Counsel: T Ellis and G K Edgeler for Appellant
M F Laracy and G J Robins for Respondent
Judgment: 11 May 2012 at 10 am
JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
A The appeal is dismissed.
B The appellant is to present himself at Auckland Remand Prison at 9 am on 25 May 2012 to commence serving his term of six weeks
imprisonment.
C There will be no order as to costs.
_________________________________________________________________
” … he is facing imprisonment although he has not broken any law.”
Um, isn’t he going to prison because he broke the law? Specifically by breaching a suppression order? Just because he doesn’t think the suppression order is valid doesn’t put him above the law, Penny. It just makes him marginally less lucky that Cameron Slater, who managed to avoid jail for the same conceit.
Good luck to him though. I appreciate he is fighting on the side of the angels, but to say he didn’t break the law when he clearly did seems rather blinkered to me. Perhaps it might be better stated as ‘broke a law that shouldn’t be a law’?
Which LAW allows NZ Judges to suppress a judgment or the reasons for it?
If a Judge makes an order which is not itself based upon the RULE OF LAW – then how is that order LAWFUL?
Haven’t we historically been down that track before?
Judges in Nazi Germany making court orders requiring Jewish people to wear stars of David – sort of thing?
I for one, do NOT accept that Judges are ‘above the law’ and can just ‘make it up’, as happens in NZ with seemingly monotonous regularity when it come to Vince Siemer.
How, without an ENFORCEABLE ‘CODE OF CONDUCT’ for NZ Judges are they ever going to be held accountable to the law which they are supposed to uphold and enforce?
It happens all the time when people are facing multiple charges and trials. Think the police rape trials where two were already in prison after convictions and some recent drug importation and distribution trials.
You really need to think a bit harder before launching another silly protest. Is your theme song ‘Hey Jude’?
I’ve always thought those who became born again devil dodgers later in life were slightly looned but apparently they’re not. They’re more likely to be suffering from brain atrophy.
Interesting Joe90, that you don’t mention this part! 😀
” or conversely, those who had no religious affiliation, had more hippocampal shrinkage (or “atrophy”)”
As a businessman he’d know what a ledger is and that it has two sides yet he’s only showing one side of it. It costs the University money to educate these overseas students, income is only half the picture. With total annual budget of $950mil and 40,000 students the average cost per student at Auckland Uni would be around $24,000. Using the $68m and 4800 figures he quoted the average fee for overseas students at Auckland Uni is $14,000.
Now while gross averages don’t paint the full picture it’s still pretty obvious his argument doesn’t stack up very well.
Awful clip on You Tube – Why cops hate SHTF. Video from Stark County, Ohio of two shaven headed police and a blonde police officer who were supposed to be responding to a request for help by a woman who was attacked, yet they stripped all her clothes off her while she screamed protest and I think she was held in a cell naked. She was charged with resisting arrest yet they had no reason to arrest her. The video wasn’t shown in entirety in court. What a corrupt vicious gang pretending to be upholders of the law and protecting citizens.
In another clip a police officer gave calm details about another outrage. A man who had been in a car crash, burned and bleeding didn’t want to lie on his stomach on police instructions, so the policeman tazered him.
Another shining example of respectful treatment of citizens by their government bodies in the USA.
so what about the forcd removal of tenants from the gordon wilson flats in wellington.
want to bet the university owns the same building in less than a year?
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Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Powering up and shutting down your ASUS laptop is an essential task for any laptop user. Locating the power button can sometimes be a hassle, especially if you’re new to ASUS laptops. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on where to find the power button on different ASUS laptop ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
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. ...
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 ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
I was initially resistant to the idea often suggested to me that the Government should deliver an arts strategy. The whole point of the arts and creativity is that people should do whatever the hell they want, unbound by the dictates of politicians in Wellington. Peter Jackson, Kiri Te Kanawa, Eleanor ...
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 ...
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. ...
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 ...
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Oh, dear. Jonkey won’t be happy with that ‘tabloid” journal the NZ Herald this morning. Another blow to the tabloid PM. Dotcom will just not lie down:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10806194
And this time it is not just about Banksies mayoral campaign, but about his asking Dotcom for funds for hisAct Epsom electorate campaign, allegedly in return for favours from him and the Shonkey one:
But team Dotcom is alleging that Banksie was asking for money in return for political favours once he was in government.
I worked with Mr Tempero at Waimanu in 95′ and found him to be a loyal dedicated worker but would not describe him as possessing the skills to act on behalf of an international figure.
Mr Tempero is a straight up and down regular guy with a great sense of humour and was a real pleasure to work with. He did however slip up on the Dotcom job and may find it difficult to beat the charges he is facing.
Good to see dot com keeping the flame on banksy and shonkey being so foolish as to have a go at one of their biggest allies in keeping the sheeple dumbed down being granny herald.
Shonkey wouldn’t know what hit him if we had a decent MSM let alone the shills that make up granny. There are worrying signs for the hollowmen, their frontman can’t keep to the smile and wave routine whilst the majority hangs by a thread.
Wtf has happened over bashers privacy breach also ?
Good also to see the steady drip, drip, drip of leaks from camp Dotcom. I do not expect them to dry up for a while. I wonder if there will be one about Key meeting Kim? Key has been asked this question a few times.
Any reason why The Standard feeds are no longer showing up in my Google Reader? Started happening yesterday.
The Renegade Economist at http://www.renegadeeconomist.com/
No doubt many out there are familiar with this site but it is new to me.
The best I’ve seem in explaining relatively simply the banking rip-off and what is wrong with Keys obsolete austerity approach.
Ross Ashcroft was interviewed on Kathryn Ryan (?) last week plugging his film. He came across to me as being really confused with a whole lot of concerns and not many answers apart from things are really bad and unfair, and bring back the gold standard but different.
$112 Billion of off balance sheet exposures
Raised yesterday, but needs another round to sink in I would say!
“Delegation to transact is subject to controls and managed by skilled professionals, Treasury said.
These professionals act within transparent risk policies and parameters and are accountable for their efforts and must meet detailed reporting guidelines and frameworks.”
— Who are these professionals, and what exactly is their level of accountability?
For those of you with an apetite, find Dr Susan Newberry’s thesis
Sorry – double post – delete button not working.
There is an interesting article from about a week ago in the Guardian about how the Occupy movement hasn’t died, as the MSM would have you believe, but it has shed any links with liberalism in the US, a link that was part of a pact between the left and the more centrist liberals in the US:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/may/07/occupy-liberation-from-liberalism
I’m not expecting the NZ MSM to pick up on such a revolutionary movement any time soon.
Class sizes. It appears that National have got hold of the nub of an idea about class sizes on which they can build a policy that suits them. I believe that Ministers are strongly influenced by their own success from a poor background, generalising from the particular, taking the view ‘the mass could achieve this too if they weren’t so lazy’ – Parata and Paula Bennett are two, and Key with his state house background too.
The class sizes policy is based on comments and findings from a meta-analysis study by Professor Hattie the findings of which are debated by other leading academics. PPTA views
The important point of social conditions conveniently ignored by National in all its policies is quoted below.
The Greens Catherine Delahunty introduced to parliament an academic paper from the University of London website titled Do low attaining and younger students benefit most from small classes?by Blatchford, Bassett, and Brown.
It looks like they are taking out about 1000 teachers.
well, Lady Gardiner does provide an inkling that it may be worse…
“About 90 per cent of schools would either gain or have a net loss of less than one full time equivalent teachers as a result of the combined effect of the changes”
Quick check shows there are 2558 state schools, lets be conservative and say only 75% will have job losses…only another 1900 odd off to a brighter future…I’m sure Australia will gladly take these gifts..
oh wait I see, saving 43mil is about 1000 teacher salaries..righto
So instead of following an education world leader like Finland, where teaching is a treasured, respected position in society and education is reverred, because their country requires human knowledge at its core (lack of resources etc as one reason), NZ is instructed to follow the failures of the UK/US styled systems!
Nothing to see here…
In addition to the links above on this class size controversy scoop reported – class sizes
Considering that Treasury knows nothing about education then them giving incoherent advice about it is to be expected. This government listening to them is also to be expected as they follow the same ideology as Treasury.
People who know more about economics than me say that Adam Smith is often misquoted by today’s economists which would include Treasury officials. Misinterpreting research of one professional and then that one publication as the basis for changing important welfare provisions must be normal.
A class of 24 ten year-olds can draw in underachievers and teachers can give much better critical feedback to those who need help, thus reducing the much publicised tail of underachievers.
Parata is quoted in the Herald as being in classes of 42 pupils in her Primary years. Yeah right! Wonder if that can be verified but even if she was in such classes, how would that inform her of the 10 or 15 who would have “failed” in her class? Going right off that woman.
Overcrowded classrooms to keep the top tax rate down.
That’s all it is really.
prism. lady G clearly influenced by her ‘memory’ of how things were in the good (or bad?) old days
Ms Parata said that when she was at primary school her class size was around one teacher to 42 students.
Of course that’s total BS (check class sizes from similar years for her school, mostly around late 20’s early 30’s)
http://www.oldfriends.co.nz/InstitutionPhotoView.aspx?id=26474
s y d Thanks for that. I remembered hearing that but couldn’t find it.
syd should have read your piece first. Agree. Sounds very fishy. A small point but points to dodgy Minister. My point 8.2.2
irritant update: The Stuff comments on this article are being blatantly ignored yet again but flick the pages and there is an article on cancelled US tv shows where the comments are alive and kicking. Or you can comment on the Avengers movie, US baby names or the latest masterchef mash up. Stuff is a pathetic bloody excuse for a news service. Perhaps they will follow the method used on the Wilkinson story and publish the comments tomorrow, after burying the story of course.
To those who would be interested – when I was looking at a Scoop page for Feb 2012 there was an advert for the Wellington Palestinian Group planning to put on a presentation called the Palestinian Monologues at 6.30pm in Wellington I guess 19 Tory Street cost $10 or gold coin for unwaged. It’s to support – “Scoop correspondent Julie Webb-Pullman has been in Gaza for most of the past 12 months”
Last info April 2012. Palestine correspondent
Once again, I wish I was in Welly! 🙂
Funniest thing coming out of Johnnygrad today is the appointment of a”business” consultant to deliver welfare reform. These failed ideologues could not deliver business effectively enough for us to avoid the need for to pay welfare (i.e decent wages and sufficient jobs). Now rather bizarrely these same failures are going to be entrusted to deliver welfare to ameliorate their failure.
I/S has a write up about it: Basically, it seems that the Welfare Working Group has just got another job overseeing WINZ.
However Ms Bennett rejected suggestions it was a “business group”.
“It’s not business having a greater role, it’s people with a range of skills getting involved,” Ms Bennett told Radio New Zealand.
“She brushed off claims the board lacked experience in the welfare sector.”
–Just like her boss eh..these people are very dangerous!
“What was needed was different thinkers and that is what we have put on the board.”
Rebstock was ceo? Of the commerce comission.
Didnt she oversee the fianance companies. That was sucessful!
No. Wrong foreign female regulator chief. Jane Diplock at Securities Commission did that role.
Thanks
Diplock Did that role.
That is agenerous interpretation of what did with the finance cos
Rebshocker = eliminated competition in freight, supermarkets, TV (prime going to sky), building supply and other industry acquisitions rubber stamped by the wisconsin wonder and her commission of ineffectual troughers.
Diplock was equally ineffective with a range of wet bus tickets being handed out to badly behaved corporates likes PPCS, Feltex etc
Going to have to admit that I didn’t think this in this particular way:
Evidently, Paula Bennett just outsourced her own job but didn’t to the moral thing and quit at the same time.
And in football news, Fortuna Dusseldorf have won promotion to the Bundesliga. Not normally an item for the Standard, I know, but FD95 have a solidly left wing fan base and were once sponsored by punk band Die Toten Hosen and wore the bands logo for two seasons. As far as I know, they are the only professional football team ever to wear a skull on their shirts!
The Tampa Bay Buccanners have a skull and crossbones as their logo too. I would assume a few other teams with pirate related names would also do this
Cheers, Chris, hadn’t thought of the Bucs, but you are dead right (well, leaving aside that they are two different sporting codes). It’s a shame the Pirate Bay is closing down, they would have been ideal sponsors!
TB are owned by the Glazer family, fact fans, and they are also owners of the second best football team in Manchester, England.
True I didn’t notice you said Football or I wouldn’t have brought them up to be honest.
Is the Pirate Bay closing down? I did not know that. Also didn’t know the Glazers owned TB as well – most I’ve learnt in one post ever
Cheers, Chris!
The Pirate Bay is under severe threat, with court orders in many European countries stopping ISP’s from allowing access to the site. The founder is fighting back, citing a breach of human rights. However, I think the days of the open fencing of stolen materials on the ‘net is coming to an end, though greed and human ingenuity will find ways to hide it.
“Football is freedom!” – Bob Marley (seen here playing the beautiful game in an Auckland Park).
Yes watching that space with interest as their internal draining of funds combined with the debt loaded onto the club is now kicking in to make manyoo nowhere near flush enough to compete with citeh, chelski etc.
The one off ronaldo sale money has gone now along with the league title, hope freg sticks around to take a 20th title.
I had never heard of them, but just want to say (off-topic) that the Pyramid team owned by Daniel Graystone in the awesome science fiction series Caprica, is called the Buccaneers… 🙂
Also St. Pauli have a skull and crossbones logo, they are based in Hamburg and are the left wing/ punk alternative to the right wing F.C.Hamburg.
Indeed they are a very cool club, Willie and I imagine matches between them and Fortuna would have been a party from start to finish. I’m pretty sure the Beatles used to go to games when they were playing in the redlight district down the road in the early sixties. However, unlike Fortuna, I’m pretty sure the team never officially wore the skull and crossbones, and that its just a fan thing.
Unlike most clubs whose main driver is extracting ever increasing amounts of dosh from long suffering supporters, St Pauli are fan based in every way and have the following democratic principles enshrined in their constitution:
“In its totality, consisting of members, staff, fans and honorary officers, St. Pauli FC is a part of the society by which it is surrounded and so is affected both directly and indirectly by social changes in the political, cultural and social spheres.”
– “St. Pauli FC is conscious of the social responsibility this implies, and represents the interests of its members, staff, fans and honorary officers in matters not just restricted to the sphere of sport.”
– “St. Pauli FC is the club of a particular city district, and it is to this that it owes its identity. This gives it a social and political responsibility in relation to the district and the people who live there.”
– “St. Pauli FC aims to put across a certain feeling for life and symbolises sporting authenticity. This makes it possible for people to identify with the club independently of any sporting successes it may achieve. Essential features of the club that encourage this sense of identification are to be honoured, promoted and preserved.”
– “Tolerance and respect in mutual human relations are important pillars of the St. Pauli philosophy.“
Pretty cool, huh?
just found this…I think someone at Suff must’ve got hold of the code and is running some kind of NZ version judging by the comments…
http://ifyoulikeitsomuchwhydontyougolivethere.com/the-twat-o-tron/
haha that made my so-far, day. Especially with the commenters with names like, Molesto the Ape.
“TWO WORDS: SAMSH THE SYSTEM”
More like three words! “SAMSH THE SYSTEM”
Similar to “Dyslexics of the world Untie!”
Remember when we were told that tax cuts to the rich would be fiscally neutral? Well hekia Parata is claiming that increasing class sizes will be educationally neutral…
http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/05/paratas-education-plans-worrying.html
Here’s a good article by Catherine Woulfe about the fallout from Colin Craig’s comments on promiscuity. Even if the unscientific Durex survey (PDF) is right, the days of thinking sex is inherently bad should be long gone.
I don’t think that anyone thinks that sex is inherently bad! They think that there’s (a) too much emphasis on sex in our present society and that (b) it’s rather mis-used.
a) As we’re social beings there’s always been an emphasis on sex throughout human history it’s just that the emphasis has changed from being positive to negative and now it’s going back to positive. You seem to dislike that positive shift.
b) Define misused.
Tonight, Wednesday 16 May 2012, at Auckland University Library basement, during my presentation from 6 – 7pm, I will be giving fellow Public Watchdog Vince Siemer, an opportunity to explain why, for the FOURTH time, he is facing imprisonment although he has not broken any law.
Vince Siemer breached an unlawful order of Judge Winkelmann, that not only denied the Urewera defendants the right to trial by jury, but suppressed the public’s right to know this.
Under NZ law – there is no lawful basis for a Judge to suppress a judgment or the reasons for it.
As a ‘whistle-blower’ exposing NZ judicial corruption, Vince Siemer has been persecuted in a way that defies belief – especially in a country ‘perceived’ to be the ‘least corrupt in the world’.
http://www.kiwisfirst.co.nz – Vince Siemer’s website, is, in my opinion – the leading website exposing the lack of judicial transparency and accountability and judicial corruption based upon ‘conflicts of interest’.
Come and hear for yourself this DISGRACEFUL story, which confirms why NZ URGENTLY needs an enforceable Code of Conduct for NZ Judges.
A petition will be available for people to sign on this matter.
http://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/from/decisions/judgments
SIEMER V THE SOLICITOR-GENERAL COA CA607/2011 [11 May 2012]
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF NEW ZEALAND
CA607/2011
[2012] NZCA 188
BETWEEN VINCENT ROSS SIEMER
Appellant
AND THE SOLICITOR-GENERAL
Respondent
Hearing: 1 February 2012
Court: O’Regan P, Harrison and Wild JJ
Counsel: T Ellis and G K Edgeler for Appellant
M F Laracy and G J Robins for Respondent
Judgment: 11 May 2012 at 10 am
JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
A The appeal is dismissed.
B The appellant is to present himself at Auckland Remand Prison at 9 am on 25 May 2012 to commence serving his term of six weeks
imprisonment.
C There will be no order as to costs.
_________________________________________________________________
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption campaigner’
http://www.dodgyjohnhasgone.com
” … he is facing imprisonment although he has not broken any law.”
Um, isn’t he going to prison because he broke the law? Specifically by breaching a suppression order? Just because he doesn’t think the suppression order is valid doesn’t put him above the law, Penny. It just makes him marginally less lucky that Cameron Slater, who managed to avoid jail for the same conceit.
Good luck to him though. I appreciate he is fighting on the side of the angels, but to say he didn’t break the law when he clearly did seems rather blinkered to me. Perhaps it might be better stated as ‘broke a law that shouldn’t be a law’?
Which LAW allows NZ Judges to suppress a judgment or the reasons for it?
If a Judge makes an order which is not itself based upon the RULE OF LAW – then how is that order LAWFUL?
Haven’t we historically been down that track before?
Judges in Nazi Germany making court orders requiring Jewish people to wear stars of David – sort of thing?
I for one, do NOT accept that Judges are ‘above the law’ and can just ‘make it up’, as happens in NZ with seemingly monotonous regularity when it come to Vince Siemer.
http://www.kiwisfirst.co.nz
How, without an ENFORCEABLE ‘CODE OF CONDUCT’ for NZ Judges are they ever going to be held accountable to the law which they are supposed to uphold and enforce?
Penny Bright
It happens all the time when people are facing multiple charges and trials. Think the police rape trials where two were already in prison after convictions and some recent drug importation and distribution trials.
You really need to think a bit harder before launching another silly protest. Is your theme song ‘Hey Jude’?
Well if the are consistent then the 6 weeks will be down to about 10 days to 2 weeks if he’s a good boy.
I’ve always thought those who became born again devil dodgers later in life were slightly looned but apparently they’re not. They’re more likely to be suffering from brain atrophy.
The RWNJ’s poster child for the upcoming race war could be charged with a hate crime. Coniptions ahoy!.
Steven Joyce has come up with a stunner, will be interesting to see how many pick up on his disingenuous use of the abacus.
“Cashing in on overseas students”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10806103
As a businessman he’d know what a ledger is and that it has two sides yet he’s only showing one side of it. It costs the University money to educate these overseas students, income is only half the picture. With total annual budget of $950mil and 40,000 students the average cost per student at Auckland Uni would be around $24,000. Using the $68m and 4800 figures he quoted the average fee for overseas students at Auckland Uni is $14,000.
Now while gross averages don’t paint the full picture it’s still pretty obvious his argument doesn’t stack up very well.
Anyone remember:
http://thestandard.org.nz/tag/friday-puzzle/
and still has not cracked it?
Can someone tell us what they are puhleazzze.
Jim: Not my right to explain but if you asked Bart Simpson nicely he would give you a clue on the first one at least.
The only one I’m not sure on is the last one, got the others.
And Mr D Duck could give you a clue in the 7th one
Think cartoons. After that it should be easy.
Awful clip on You Tube – Why cops hate SHTF. Video from Stark County, Ohio of two shaven headed police and a blonde police officer who were supposed to be responding to a request for help by a woman who was attacked, yet they stripped all her clothes off her while she screamed protest and I think she was held in a cell naked. She was charged with resisting arrest yet they had no reason to arrest her. The video wasn’t shown in entirety in court. What a corrupt vicious gang pretending to be upholders of the law and protecting citizens.
In another clip a police officer gave calm details about another outrage. A man who had been in a car crash, burned and bleeding didn’t want to lie on his stomach on police instructions, so the policeman tazered him.
Another shining example of respectful treatment of citizens by their government bodies in the USA.
so what about the forcd removal of tenants from the gordon wilson flats in wellington.
want to bet the university owns the same building in less than a year?