The pattern repeats itself worldwide. Austerity measures and privatisation of public assets to fix the debt problem that, so the story goes, “we” have created.
Many on this site can see this for the lie that it is. The leeches of Wall Street caused the GFC and are now socialising the losses on a global scale. They continue their unchecked high-stake gambling with our money at the casino that is the world financial system and continue the transfer of wealth from the many to the few.
Seems that in Europe at least one commentator is observing an awakening of the middle classes. We are at a tipping point – expect the elites to pull out every dirty trick to defend their patch but change is coming.
Hi Lazy Susan
“Austerity measures and privatisation of public assets ”
Two things, regarding privatisations of public infrastructure and basic necessities: it’s ROBBERY. Citizens have paid not only for the infrastructure itself but its maintenance, over the course of decades. The state has no legal right to sell off commonly owned property without the peoples’ consent.
Secondly, the vultures who swoop in to buy up public property take out monster loans to finance their purchases. This means, by definition, that the price of utilities will skyrocket; to pay the loan + interest with, for good measure, a nice profit margin on top.
Sarkozy’s privatization of French public utilities – gas, electricity, the postal system, and increasingly, water – has been an unmitigated disaster for the people. Gas and electricity bills have increased by 50-75%! Beware, also, the details of the price hike: in the case of gas / electricity, the surcharge has been applied to the subscription, not to consumption, which means that consumers are gouged regardless of rates of consumption.
People need to understand that they are the rightful owners of public property, and demand that they cease being taken for fools. Immediately.
It’s about time the ROBBERY(Of our Power SOEs) the key government intends to do is called out as such, any deficits can be resolved easily by reversing the tax cuts and not building anymore roads-we are 5 years past peak oil.
Further to discussions prompted by this post over the last couple of days about whether kicking in balls and gouging out eyes type behaviour is necessary for a properly function democracy….
Most New Zealand people and parties are across the middle ground bulge of the political spectrum, there are only a few extremists on the fringes. In practice there’s not a lot differentiating TweedleNational and TweedleLabour.
Scrapping tooth and nail over most policy in New Zealand is a bit like having a family knife fight over whether to go to McDonalds or Burger King, the advertising may vary a bit but the menu is basically the same.
Although that appears to be true there’s an actual marked difference. Labour bases their policy on facts (well, most of the time anyway – they still believe in the delusional free-market/capitalism paradigm and seem disinclined to shift to a resource based economy) and National base theirs upon belief. As you can understand this results in a large number of areas where no amount of being nice is going to result in people seeing eye to eye.
We could hope that our politics shifts to being research based and then discussion would be about how to implement the research but that’s not likely to happen while one parties policies are made on opinion and belief. While that’s still happening then we’re talking about a fundamental difference in world views that just aren’t going to mesh.
‘Shell, in a statement yesterday declared a force majeure on the loading of its Bonny Light crude oil for June and July, 2011. The company said the declaration was as a result of crude oil production cutbacks caused by leaks and fires which occurred last week on the Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP).’
‘LONDON — One of the driest spring seasons on record in northern Europe has sucked soils dry and sharply reduced river levels to the point that governments are starting to fear crop losses and France, in particular, is bracing for blackouts as its river-cooled nuclear power plants may be forced to shut down.’
Can anyone confirm numbers of extra police numbers in sth akl? Flipping past a show last night that hammered the theme which made me wonder how accurate is that assertion.
There are more but from memory they are the extras that Labour budgeted for in 07 or 08. Takes time for the numbers to show up as they need to be trained etc. Does not stop Collins from taking the credit though …
I heard the figure of 300 in sth AK, in part two. But the problem is that the more experienced cops are not being replaced. However, a lot more Brits and I think that they have to work up through the ranks, so may have more experience than a probation cop.
Who is more likely to steal money from the Labour party? Someone who strongly believes in the Labour party, or someone who supports an opposition party and just took the job for the money, and thought they’d commit some crimes in the process?
Seems he’s much more likely to be a National voter than a Labour one, to me.
A graphic this morning depicts poodles in a less than favourable light.
May I suggest that the nomenclature be changed to “Toy or Miniature Poodles”.
Be sure that a “Standard Poodle”, whilst being extremely fun loving and loyal is no shrinking violet when it comes to protecting its corner – their ancestry is that of a hunting dog.
(That strange bouffant coiffeur preferred by show pony owners is a relic from the dogs having to swim in icy Northern European waters where the wool was left on the dogs joints to protect them from the cold).
Not meant to come across as sexist.
If fact, as I was watching the show, I was thinking that if only we had more women (if I am allowed to use this term) in parliament, how much better our country could be run.
All Simon wanted to do was berate his fellow members of the panel, which made him look rather silly IMO.
The post was very interesting but the reader comment was even more useful…
June 16, 2011
‘ “Last Thursday, the Institute of Policy Studies convened its “last significant event”. The Institute of Policy Studies is being disestablished. This is bad news. The Institute of Policy Studies, you see, liked studying policy, and debating it freely, in both senses.”
Is it voluntarily dissolving, or is it yet another victim of STRATEGIC CUTS AGAINST PUBLIC PARTICIPATION? ‘
It would be useful to have a list to publish these behind the scenes so-called efficiency, cost-saving merges in government departments that mean we the people have a steadily reducing say in our own futures. I certainly remember the takeover by the Department of Internal Affairs swallowing up any government departments charged with scrutinising government actions. This is just one more nail in our coffin.
HYPOCRISY ALERT!
Radio lightweights sneer at Playboy bunny
Wednesday 15 June 2011
Not that she would care, but when twenty-five-year-old Playboy bunny-girl Crystal Harris made the very wise decision to jilt that disgusting, slipper-shod, dressing-gown-clad, pipe-smoking old fool Hugh Hefner, she drew down on her pretty blonde head the ire and condescension of some of New Zealand’s more self-important media commentators.
On National Radio, Susan Baldacci sniffed: “Hard to believe that she has ANY thoughts of her own.” A little later, this doyenne of gravitas commented on something else that bugs her: “I can’t believe ANYONE could be called Candy!” This drew appreciative and lengthy guffaws from David Farrar and Jim Mora.
Later, on late night One News, that unfunny New York-based waste of space “correspondent” Tim Wilson quipped: “He is old enough to be her grandfather, but young enough to be her IQ.”
This sneering condescension might be valid if the people doing the sneering were themselves serious and high-minded commentators. But they’re not, as will be known by anyone who has listened to “The Panel” or has suffered through one of Wilson’s cringe-inducing items from New York.
Crystal Harris is richer than these critics, she’s stratospherically better looking than they are, and on the basis of her public interviews, she’s also far more eloquent.
who listened to RNZ yesterday afternoon. Jim Mora had david “te flabbo” farrar on the panel.
when Jim said to te flabbo that he knew all about web demons, farrara nearly choked on his sausage roll.
Mora began the programme by assuming a mocking tone and chortling: “Gra-a-a-a-a-ave accusations against you in parliament, David!” This was a reference to Annette King’s suggestion that Farrar was blogging for his own site while being paid by the tax-payer.
Encouraged by Mora’s indulgent and jocular approach, Farrar laughed along with him and assured listeners that, no, he had not committed any impropriety during his time working in parliament.
And that was the end of the matter.
Did someone say something about a “liberal bias” on National Radio?
Interesting to get some inside info.
It is part of EQC’s reason for existence to be prepared for catastrophes like the quakes and in order to do that they have to have a plan to quickly and efficiently expand (almost over night) into a fully fledged administration. Much like the Civil Defence, SAR, and other emergency services.
You would think that people who were probably paid quite good salaries to turn up to work (in the absence of a natural disaster) would have had the time to go through a shit load of what if scenarios and resource planning in the event that a natural disaster of this scale should occur.
What were they doing? What were they getting paid for?
This is most likely not solely the problem of current management but also of previous management, who have noted on their cv that they managed EQC and have since piss-off to another job.
In view of the fact the Michael Wintringham of (Christine Rankin case fame) is the chairman I wonder if they have concentrated on being a financial / insurance fund management agency. Most of the board are finance/insurance people and lawyers.
There 22 permanent staff and of the ones mentioned there are a number of BSc’s but they all seem to have further quals in business / finance etc (except for Hugh Cowan the token boffin).
The Act Party Leader John Boscawen was literally frothing at the mouth in Parliament yesterday. I’ve embedded the video below for you to watch if you’ve got the stomach. Amongst his largely ineffectual ramblings were a number of gaff’s that made the frothing old fool look even more pathetic. “Rome burns while Nero feel’s,” is not the saying. Although the leader of the fascist Act Party corrected himself, his idiotic bumbling is not particularly helpful within Parliament…
The triple-decker. Where a small shake is followed a minute or so later by a slightly bigger shake, then another minute or bit longer later by the biggest shake of the threesome. A quite common serving.
Joyce is slipping into the Telecommunications etc Bill a SOP which removes the Kiwishare protection from Telecom. The implications are significant. The limitation on landline costs increase will no doubt go.
Why this should be done by way of a last minute SOP where Kiwis cannot have a say is beyond me.
Yep, looks like the kiwishare that protects no-charge local calling and restricts foreign ownership will be gone by lunchtime – click on the link for more analysis of this appalling abrogation of democratic process.
And how about the rort that now in the Jafacity there are tolls to call be it from what was Rodney or just north of the bombay hills, I notice that no one bothers about the outareas. But then many issues are only valid once a party has LOST power, and begins to once again to listen.
and we will not even discuss the fact that it now takes over a month to get a new fibre connection and phone number, that is if you can work out who to contact be it : Telecom, Chorus, World Exchange. Or that to get a phone line you have NO option and have to get an internet connection and new hardware as well.
Thanks Toad. The stuff put out by the Government seems to be saying that current protection will continue but if it is only a technical change then why don’t they put it through a select committee process.
I agree that the first problem with it is that if protection is reliant on a deed then the Government without reference to Parliament can change it essentially by executive fiat.
And if the SOP was ready on Tuesday why did they not release a copy to the opposition parties until today?
The process stinks and one of two things has happened. Either it is really dumb political management which lets us jump up and down about the process and possible motive or there is a dead frog there somewhere (sorry Toad excuse the metaphor) AND we can jump up and down about the process and the motive.
Joyce has looked really nervous lately. I wonder why?
well well well morrisey revved up and spun that one out of the frame in no time flat.
he didnt even mention that te flabbo (as he is known) is also known as feeder on trademe opinions where he and his gang mob up on maori and jaydubs and anyone else they dont like.
hey flubbo, have another rubber chicken dude.
Yesterday, I noted that the New Zealand government had endorsed the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of expression which found that disconnection from the internet is grossly disproportionate and a violation of international law. Today, Labour’s foreign affairs spokesperson Maryan Street asked in parliament whether this meant that they would be repealing the disconnection provision. The government gave a surprising response, denying that we had endorsed the statement.
Good on I/S for spotting the lies coming from National.
Some semi-random snippets from the last few posts:
In the lulls there are mini confrontations between trade union groups and the black bloc. The former chant that they are provocateurs. While as a vignette this looks like merely a tense sub-plot, it should be of interest to the policymakers desperately trying to hold Greek society together as they impose the biggest austerity package a developed country has had to stomach since the war.
For in their own way the red-flag bearing, big-chested security groups of the Communist and non-Communist union groups are on the front line of holding things together. At no point did I see any union or left-wing party security group pick a fight with the police. The silent implication is, watch what happens if we ever do join in.
—-
And I will repeat the point about hostility to the media: it’s not a problem for me and my colleagues to be hounded off demos as “representatives of big capital”, “Zionists”, “scum and police informers” etc. But to get this reaction from almost every demographic – from balaclava kids to pensioners – should be a warning sign to the policymaking elite. The “mainstream” – whether it’s the media, politicians or business people – is beginning to seem illegitimate to large numbers of people….
…”Don’t you want us to report what’s happening to you?”
– “No.”
An old man, aged 67, a sailor, says, “We don’t want any more bailouts from the EU, we’d rather be poor and broke”.
For all the leftist iconography plus the presence of that, by now familiar demographic, the Facebook youth – or “graduates with no future” – this thing has gone beyond left and right, it’s no longer even a class thing. As the crowd around me erupts with the chant, “Greece, Greece, Greece!” it’s clear that for many people it is the Hellenic republic versus the rest of the world.
No, it ain’t. Especially when, after Greece defaults on debt other nations follow resulting in a full collapse of the global economy. It’s going to cause some hurt but I won’t be sad to see it go as it means that people will have to return to real economics (Based around resources) rather than the delusional monetary BS that we’ve been slaving under for the last few hundred years.
Have you seen the photos of the burning policemen, the almost daily riots?
Do you imagine that, when the world economy collapses, (as I agree it will) it will not affect every person in NZ?
Do you actually imagine that there will not be civil strife, unrest and depression not seen since WW2?
Zero Hedge seems to have similar sentiments on the Greek crisis
alas, one also has to be dead serious about this stuff because it just may usher the eventual implosion of capitalism once again, since many (us among them), believe that the downstream effects from the bankruptcy of Greece, and thus the ECB, and thus Europe, will make Lehman seem like a walk in the park
I posted this link a number of weeks ago but if you missed it…
Jospeh Stiglitz, Nobel Economist, wrote a very good article (“Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1”) speculating about the possible out come of exaggerated inequality and wonders if the uprising around the world will be seen on the streets of America (read NZ).
Just heard John Key on Radio Live with Willie & JT, they were talking about the Sky City Casino Deal & Key was running the ‘It’s ok coz it’ll only be asians gambling, not poor South Aucklanders’ line, he kept on smentioning ‘The Poor’ & I was thinking I’m pretty sure I hadn’t heard anyone in the NZ Govt even admit there was poverty in NZ.
Took time this avo to catch up on Campbell Live from last night.
I understand the “process” that CERA have to go through to protect people’s equity and to ensure fairness and balance but………..they are not taking people with them, not informing them and those poor people are grieving and some have been waiting nine months.
But I am comforted, that through all the pressures and tragedy, Gerry has kept perspective and got himself an nice new jacket!
What the hell is this about Steven Joyce removing Kiwi share of free local calling? I have a lot of contacts and some of them are people who don’t use Skype as some scumbag from National called out. I am going to enjoy giving out this info.
Also, my absolute admiration to Trevor Mallard who recognises that not everyone lives in the 23rd century of Skype and that picking up the phone to call one’s friends in a local area is sacrosanct in that we gave away ownership of an asset (I didn’t but I was forced to) provided we had a Kiwi say in it. Now Joyce wants to remove that right, just as Hide (both of them with Key’s Jewish? blessing) did with the Local Gov’t Amendment Act 2009, against the 2002 Act which removed the 75% agreement of people before assets like Ports of Auckland or the Airport asset could be sold.
Every Labour Party member in New Zealand and abroad and every person who defends every person’s right to be comfortable in their use of free local communication to enjoy their freedoms should be defending Trevor Mallard’s stand to reverse these disgusting attempts to take away yet more rights from the people of New Zealand who put these selfish, greedy and narcissistic NAct cretins through free tertiary education who now turn upon the people who ‘fed’ them.
I uninstalled Skype when MS bought it and, to be honest, I’m not overly concerned about local calls being charged for anyway. That would just drive more people to use VoIP.
The standard phone line is dead but, unfortunately, our stupid government sold Telecom and deregulated telecommunications which resulted in our network going backwards and not being up to the demands of a modern society.
Well, Draco T Bastard, I am surprised that like the NAct government and every other selfish New Zealander you don’t care that many of our society either don’t ‘get’ Skype or whatever the latest offer is and that they trusted the government of the day that sold off an SOE that promised Kiwi Share and free local calling. Maybe you and the other privateers should have been honest back then when you were promising New Zealanders you wouldn’t betray them – you and Steven Joyce and John Key and Bill English and the swallowed fish – scum.
Before you go around accusing me of something you should check your facts first. Do a search my my name and telecommunications on this board.
I’m not overly concerned about local being paid for because:
1.) I don’t think they will be. Voice only uses 64kbps so not a hell of a lot of the bandwidth available.
2.) If they do it will show just how much damage that selling Telecom and deregulation did to our infrastructure.
We really do need to renationalise telecommunications in NZ.
‘heaven’ help any older New Zealander that doesn’t keep up with the NActs and/or Draco T Bastards of New Zealand’s brave new world where the old is the over 30.
Someone on my Twitter feed, in BC, Canada is reporting rioting and looting in downtown Vancouver – been going on for hours apparently. People injured, RCMP trying to deal with it. Does anyone have reports on this and what it’s about?
Oh. It’s not about austerity measures, inequalities etc, but fans of a sports team that lost:
He might gum me to death – and then there’s the court case, having to explain the presence of baby oil, a feather duster & Chris Tremaine in drag, and then (*OMG!*) the chicken – how do I explain that?
With all that behaviour nobody would believe that I was not National!
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
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TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
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TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
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 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
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The pattern repeats itself worldwide. Austerity measures and privatisation of public assets to fix the debt problem that, so the story goes, “we” have created.
Many on this site can see this for the lie that it is. The leeches of Wall Street caused the GFC and are now socialising the losses on a global scale. They continue their unchecked high-stake gambling with our money at the casino that is the world financial system and continue the transfer of wealth from the many to the few.
Seems that in Europe at least one commentator is observing an awakening of the middle classes. We are at a tipping point – expect the elites to pull out every dirty trick to defend their patch but change is coming.
Hi Lazy Susan
“Austerity measures and privatisation of public assets ”
Two things, regarding privatisations of public infrastructure and basic necessities: it’s ROBBERY. Citizens have paid not only for the infrastructure itself but its maintenance, over the course of decades. The state has no legal right to sell off commonly owned property without the peoples’ consent.
Secondly, the vultures who swoop in to buy up public property take out monster loans to finance their purchases. This means, by definition, that the price of utilities will skyrocket; to pay the loan + interest with, for good measure, a nice profit margin on top.
Sarkozy’s privatization of French public utilities – gas, electricity, the postal system, and increasingly, water – has been an unmitigated disaster for the people. Gas and electricity bills have increased by 50-75%! Beware, also, the details of the price hike: in the case of gas / electricity, the surcharge has been applied to the subscription, not to consumption, which means that consumers are gouged regardless of rates of consumption.
People need to understand that they are the rightful owners of public property, and demand that they cease being taken for fools. Immediately.
It’s about time the ROBBERY(Of our Power SOEs) the key government intends to do is called out as such, any deficits can be resolved easily by reversing the tax cuts and not building anymore roads-we are 5 years past peak oil.
Further to discussions prompted by this post over the last couple of days about whether kicking in balls and gouging out eyes type behaviour is necessary for a properly function democracy….
Most New Zealand people and parties are across the middle ground bulge of the political spectrum, there are only a few extremists on the fringes. In practice there’s not a lot differentiating TweedleNational and TweedleLabour.
Scrapping tooth and nail over most policy in New Zealand is a bit like having a family knife fight over whether to go to McDonalds or Burger King, the advertising may vary a bit but the menu is basically the same.
Although that appears to be true there’s an actual marked difference. Labour bases their policy on facts (well, most of the time anyway – they still believe in the delusional free-market/capitalism paradigm and seem disinclined to shift to a resource based economy) and National base theirs upon belief. As you can understand this results in a large number of areas where no amount of being nice is going to result in people seeing eye to eye.
We could hope that our politics shifts to being research based and then discussion would be about how to implement the research but that’s not likely to happen while one parties policies are made on opinion and belief. While that’s still happening then we’re talking about a fundamental difference in world views that just aren’t going to mesh.
DTB
‘and self-advancement’ I think should follow as it seems to be the constant behind their thinking.
/agreed.
The quickening of collapse:
‘Shell, in a statement yesterday declared a force majeure on the loading of its Bonny Light crude oil for June and July, 2011. The company said the declaration was as a result of crude oil production cutbacks caused by leaks and fires which occurred last week on the Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP).’
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/june/14/national-14-06-2011-005.html
and
‘LONDON — One of the driest spring seasons on record in northern Europe has sucked soils dry and sharply reduced river levels to the point that governments are starting to fear crop losses and France, in particular, is bracing for blackouts as its river-cooled nuclear power plants may be forced to shut down.’
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=europe-braces-for-serious-crop-losses
Can anyone confirm numbers of extra police numbers in sth akl? Flipping past a show last night that hammered the theme which made me wonder how accurate is that assertion.
There are more but from memory they are the extras that Labour budgeted for in 07 or 08. Takes time for the numbers to show up as they need to be trained etc. Does not stop Collins from taking the credit though …
I heard the figure of 300 in sth AK, in part two. But the problem is that the more experienced cops are not being replaced. However, a lot more Brits and I think that they have to work up through the ranks, so may have more experience than a probation cop.
Does this surprise anyone.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/5148429/Labour-Party-worker-charged-with-theft
It must be election year. Another new troll pops up and posts something looking for a fight rather than a discussion.
/sigh
Does that mean you are not surprised Micky
Lets see…
Who is more likely to steal money from the Labour party? Someone who strongly believes in the Labour party, or someone who supports an opposition party and just took the job for the money, and thought they’d commit some crimes in the process?
Seems he’s much more likely to be a National voter than a Labour one, to me.
Thieves pop up everywhere. Don’t see what that’s got to do with the Labour party other than that they had the misfortune to hire him.
Tell me, would you be asking the same question if he was caught stealing from National?
A graphic this morning depicts poodles in a less than favourable light.
May I suggest that the nomenclature be changed to “Toy or Miniature Poodles”.
Be sure that a “Standard Poodle”, whilst being extremely fun loving and loyal is no shrinking violet when it comes to protecting its corner – their ancestry is that of a hunting dog.
(That strange bouffant coiffeur preferred by show pony owners is a relic from the dogs having to swim in icy Northern European waters where the wool was left on the dogs joints to protect them from the cold).
Great, the guys that helped create this crisis have the means to survive it best – the jocularity is cruel:
Simon Bridges was an embarrassment on Back Benches last night.
Totally owned by the three female MPs on the panel.
Reduced to calling Wallace Chapman a lefty:)
Wallace did look pretty peed off with Simon.
Does the sex of the three really make a difference? This whole sentence comes across as ZOMG, a male got owned by females. Really heavy on the sexism.
Not meant to come across as sexist.
If fact, as I was watching the show, I was thinking that if only we had more women (if I am allowed to use this term) in parliament, how much better our country could be run.
All Simon wanted to do was berate his fellow members of the panel, which made him look rather silly IMO.
It feels like such a long wait between John Key’s photo-ops lately.
Since the pic with Key Sr overseeing Key Jr’s planking, NZ voters have not been treated to anything new.
But there’s good news coming – hurray – from around 26 June to 1 July, Key will be in India:
http://tvnz.co.nz/business-news/key-lead-major-indian-trade-mission-4224673
What photo-ops will the visit hold?
Will Key sport a turban?
Will Key be mincing on stage with a saree?
Will Key feature in a Bollywood clip, dancing around trees and serenading to Calvert?
We await. With great expectation!
[William Joyce: looking forward to your updated pics!]
The Dom-Post obviously couldn’t wait for a Key photo op so they used a photo of Key junior on page 2 of yesterdays issue.
Hah!
Anyway, I don’t buy the newspapers these days. The Standard can have the money I’ve saved up.
http://pundit.co.nz/content/here-be-dragons
The post was very interesting but the reader comment was even more useful…
June 16, 2011
‘ “Last Thursday, the Institute of Policy Studies convened its “last significant event”. The Institute of Policy Studies is being disestablished. This is bad news. The Institute of Policy Studies, you see, liked studying policy, and debating it freely, in both senses.”
Is it voluntarily dissolving, or is it yet another victim of STRATEGIC CUTS AGAINST PUBLIC PARTICIPATION? ‘
It would be useful to have a list to publish these behind the scenes so-called efficiency, cost-saving merges in government departments that mean we the people have a steadily reducing say in our own futures. I certainly remember the takeover by the Department of Internal Affairs swallowing up any government departments charged with scrutinising government actions. This is just one more nail in our coffin.
HYPOCRISY ALERT!
Radio lightweights sneer at Playboy bunny
Wednesday 15 June 2011
Not that she would care, but when twenty-five-year-old Playboy bunny-girl Crystal Harris made the very wise decision to jilt that disgusting, slipper-shod, dressing-gown-clad, pipe-smoking old fool Hugh Hefner, she drew down on her pretty blonde head the ire and condescension of some of New Zealand’s more self-important media commentators.
On National Radio, Susan Baldacci sniffed: “Hard to believe that she has ANY thoughts of her own.” A little later, this doyenne of gravitas commented on something else that bugs her: “I can’t believe ANYONE could be called Candy!” This drew appreciative and lengthy guffaws from David Farrar and Jim Mora.
Later, on late night One News, that unfunny New York-based
waste of space“correspondent” Tim Wilson quipped: “He is old enough to be her grandfather, but young enough to be her IQ.”This sneering condescension might be valid if the people doing the sneering were themselves serious and high-minded commentators. But they’re not, as will be known by anyone who has listened to “The Panel” or has suffered through one of Wilson’s cringe-inducing items from New York.
Crystal Harris is richer than these critics, she’s stratospherically better looking than they are, and on the basis of her public interviews, she’s also far more eloquent.
who listened to RNZ yesterday afternoon. Jim Mora had david “te flabbo” farrar on the panel.
when Jim said to te flabbo that he knew all about web demons, farrara nearly choked on his sausage roll.
Mora began the programme by assuming a mocking tone and chortling: “Gra-a-a-a-a-ave accusations against you in parliament, David!” This was a reference to Annette King’s suggestion that Farrar was blogging for his own site while being paid by the tax-payer.
Encouraged by Mora’s indulgent and jocular approach, Farrar laughed along with him and assured listeners that, no, he had not committed any impropriety during his time working in parliament.
And that was the end of the matter.
Did someone say something about a “liberal bias” on National Radio?
This article about EQC claims by Marsden needs to be read and the reporters looking into it. It seems that EQC is seriously badly managed.
Holy shit!
12 people doing 8 claims each per day.
What’s going on with that Minister Brownlee?
And, with ~275000 claims to go through that’ll only take them ~2865 days.
Interesting to get some inside info.
It is part of EQC’s reason for existence to be prepared for catastrophes like the quakes and in order to do that they have to have a plan to quickly and efficiently expand (almost over night) into a fully fledged administration. Much like the Civil Defence, SAR, and other emergency services.
You would think that people who were probably paid quite good salaries to turn up to work (in the absence of a natural disaster) would have had the time to go through a shit load of what if scenarios and resource planning in the event that a natural disaster of this scale should occur.
What were they doing? What were they getting paid for?
This is most likely not solely the problem of current management but also of previous management, who have noted on their cv that they managed EQC and have since piss-off to another job.
In view of the fact the Michael Wintringham of (Christine Rankin case fame) is the chairman I wonder if they have concentrated on being a financial / insurance fund management agency. Most of the board are finance/insurance people and lawyers.
There 22 permanent staff and of the ones mentioned there are a number of BSc’s but they all seem to have further quals in business / finance etc (except for Hugh Cowan the token boffin).
What capacity planning resources did they have?
The Act Party Leader John Boscawen was literally frothing at the mouth in Parliament yesterday. I’ve embedded the video below for you to watch if you’ve got the stomach. Amongst his largely ineffectual ramblings were a number of gaff’s that made the frothing old fool look even more pathetic. “Rome burns while Nero feel’s,” is not the saying. Although the leader of the fascist Act Party corrected himself, his idiotic bumbling is not particularly helpful within Parliament…
Don Brash is the Act Party Leader.
The video says differently… So I went with what Parliament said.
Unexpected Earthquake Observation #321;
The triple-decker. Where a small shake is followed a minute or so later by a slightly bigger shake, then another minute or bit longer later by the biggest shake of the threesome. A quite common serving.
Bloody tories
Joyce is slipping into the Telecommunications etc Bill a SOP which removes the Kiwishare protection from Telecom. The implications are significant. The limitation on landline costs increase will no doubt go.
Why this should be done by way of a last minute SOP where Kiwis cannot have a say is beyond me.
No wonder Joyce has been looking sheepish lately.
Shame on him.
Considering that the whole superfast broadband process seemed to be about giving Telecom their dominant position back at our expense is it really?
The super fast process to give Telecom the deal yes! The super fast process to deliver fast broadband no!
Yep, looks like the kiwishare that protects no-charge local calling and restricts foreign ownership will be gone by lunchtime – click on the link for more analysis of this appalling abrogation of democratic process.
And how about the rort that now in the Jafacity there are tolls to call be it from what was Rodney or just north of the bombay hills, I notice that no one bothers about the outareas. But then many issues are only valid once a party has LOST power, and begins to once again to listen.
and we will not even discuss the fact that it now takes over a month to get a new fibre connection and phone number, that is if you can work out who to contact be it : Telecom, Chorus, World Exchange. Or that to get a phone line you have NO option and have to get an internet connection and new hardware as well.
Thanks Toad. The stuff put out by the Government seems to be saying that current protection will continue but if it is only a technical change then why don’t they put it through a select committee process.
I agree that the first problem with it is that if protection is reliant on a deed then the Government without reference to Parliament can change it essentially by executive fiat.
And if the SOP was ready on Tuesday why did they not release a copy to the opposition parties until today?
The process stinks and one of two things has happened. Either it is really dumb political management which lets us jump up and down about the process and possible motive or there is a dead frog there somewhere (sorry Toad excuse the metaphor) AND we can jump up and down about the process and the motive.
Joyce has looked really nervous lately. I wonder why?
well well well morrisey revved up and spun that one out of the frame in no time flat.
he didnt even mention that te flabbo (as he is known) is also known as feeder on trademe opinions where he and his gang mob up on maori and jaydubs and anyone else they dont like.
hey flubbo, have another rubber chicken dude.
National speak with Forked Tongue in our Name.
Good on I/S for spotting the lies coming from National.
Greece is rapidly turning ugly
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/15/europe-warned-greece-financial-crisis
This ain’t gonna be pretty
Paul mason @ the beebeebceeb is giving good blog on the protests at the mo…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/correspondents/paulmason/
Some semi-random snippets from the last few posts:
—-
No, it ain’t. Especially when, after Greece defaults on debt other nations follow resulting in a full collapse of the global economy. It’s going to cause some hurt but I won’t be sad to see it go as it means that people will have to return to real economics (Based around resources) rather than the delusional monetary BS that we’ve been slaving under for the last few hundred years.
Have you seen the photos of the burning policemen, the almost daily riots?
Do you imagine that, when the world economy collapses, (as I agree it will) it will not affect every person in NZ?
Do you actually imagine that there will not be civil strife, unrest and depression not seen since WW2?
Um, I was agreeing with you. I was also pointing out that it would give us a chance to dump the capitalist paradigm that’s caused all the problems.
Zero Hedge seems to have similar sentiments on the Greek crisis
alas, one also has to be dead serious about this stuff because it just may usher the eventual implosion of capitalism once again, since many (us among them), believe that the downstream effects from the bankruptcy of Greece, and thus the ECB, and thus Europe, will make Lehman seem like a walk in the park
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/greek-bankruptcy-case-study-now-cartoon
I posted this link a number of weeks ago but if you missed it…
Jospeh Stiglitz, Nobel Economist, wrote a very good article (“Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1”) speculating about the possible out come of exaggerated inequality and wonders if the uprising around the world will be seen on the streets of America (read NZ).
Just heard John Key on Radio Live with Willie & JT, they were talking about the Sky City Casino Deal & Key was running the ‘It’s ok coz it’ll only be asians gambling, not poor South Aucklanders’ line, he kept on smentioning ‘The Poor’ & I was thinking I’m pretty sure I hadn’t heard anyone in the NZ Govt even admit there was poverty in NZ.
Took time this avo to catch up on Campbell Live from last night.
I understand the “process” that CERA have to go through to protect people’s equity and to ensure fairness and balance but………..they are not taking people with them, not informing them and those poor people are grieving and some have been waiting nine months.
But I am comforted, that through all the pressures and tragedy, Gerry has kept perspective and got himself an nice new jacket!
What the hell is this about Steven Joyce removing Kiwi share of free local calling? I have a lot of contacts and some of them are people who don’t use Skype as some scumbag from National called out. I am going to enjoy giving out this info.
Also, my absolute admiration to Trevor Mallard who recognises that not everyone lives in the 23rd century of Skype and that picking up the phone to call one’s friends in a local area is sacrosanct in that we gave away ownership of an asset (I didn’t but I was forced to) provided we had a Kiwi say in it. Now Joyce wants to remove that right, just as Hide (both of them with Key’s Jewish? blessing) did with the Local Gov’t Amendment Act 2009, against the 2002 Act which removed the 75% agreement of people before assets like Ports of Auckland or the Airport asset could be sold.
Every Labour Party member in New Zealand and abroad and every person who defends every person’s right to be comfortable in their use of free local communication to enjoy their freedoms should be defending Trevor Mallard’s stand to reverse these disgusting attempts to take away yet more rights from the people of New Zealand who put these selfish, greedy and narcissistic NAct cretins through free tertiary education who now turn upon the people who ‘fed’ them.
I uninstalled Skype when MS bought it and, to be honest, I’m not overly concerned about local calls being charged for anyway. That would just drive more people to use VoIP.
The standard phone line is dead but, unfortunately, our stupid government sold Telecom and deregulated telecommunications which resulted in our network going backwards and not being up to the demands of a modern society.
Well, Draco T Bastard, I am surprised that like the NAct government and every other selfish New Zealander you don’t care that many of our society either don’t ‘get’ Skype or whatever the latest offer is and that they trusted the government of the day that sold off an SOE that promised Kiwi Share and free local calling. Maybe you and the other privateers should have been honest back then when you were promising New Zealanders you wouldn’t betray them – you and Steven Joyce and John Key and Bill English and the swallowed fish – scum.
Before you go around accusing me of something you should check your facts first. Do a search my my name and telecommunications on this board.
I’m not overly concerned about local being paid for because:
1.) I don’t think they will be. Voice only uses 64kbps so not a hell of a lot of the bandwidth available.
2.) If they do it will show just how much damage that selling Telecom and deregulation did to our infrastructure.
We really do need to renationalise telecommunications in NZ.
‘heaven’ help any older New Zealander that doesn’t keep up with the NActs and/or Draco T Bastards of New Zealand’s brave new world where the old is the over 30.
Someone on my Twitter feed, in BC, Canada is reporting rioting and looting in downtown Vancouver – been going on for hours apparently. People injured, RCMP trying to deal with it. Does anyone have reports on this and what it’s about?
Oh. It’s not about austerity measures, inequalities etc, but fans of a sports team that lost:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/5154250/Vancouver-fans-riot-after-Stanley-Cup-loss
Yeah it was the Hockey.
The Canucks are crazy about Ice Hockey.
Whaleoil in loses control in epic fail
Ha
I dare you William to show it to Cameron …
He might gum me to death – and then there’s the court case, having to explain the presence of baby oil, a feather duster & Chris Tremaine in drag, and then (*OMG!*) the chicken – how do I explain that?
With all that behaviour nobody would believe that I was not National!
+10!