Hooton on q&a was crying as panel criticized neoliberalism, he was pushed to recant economic bibical belief in the coming of thatcherism how it changed everything, whine whone cry cry. How dare they all question his faith in markets.
Geez, like we dont all get it now, cheap energy not thatcherism built thirty years of profit driven by swapping paper debts. Promised clean environments, safe work places, free education all burnt to feed the debt driven economy, even high learning divorced from the enlightenment.
All Hooten does is eulogize neolibs in national and labour and poke irrational cheapshots at anyone else.
once he compared a bathroom accident with workplaces I just laughed. *I* control my bathroom. *I* do not control how well my employer maintains my workplace and when.
Agree. Good subjects and intelligent debate. Simon Dallow is a vast improvement on Susan Wood. And Deborah Russell is a vast improvement on Josie Pagani.
The only blight on the horizon was Hooton and his relentless campaign against Helen Clark, David Parker, David Cunliffe and Andrew Little. You can predict when their names are going to go ‘clunk’ into the middle of some damming indictment. Eg. he said at one point… ” I mean, Little’s a union leader” as if that was the most damming indictment one could make of a person. I even had the impression Jeremy Corbyn’s rise to the UK Labour leadership was somehow their fault – slight exaggeration but you know what I mean.
Hooton’s comment’s added to the debate and there was ample opportunity for Russell to respond and put an alternative which allowed balance.
Hooton’s view of the world was akin to rugby union becoming a professional sport in the late 80’s. There is no going back to the amateur game but he doesn’t accept that since becoming professional there are fewer players enjoying the benefits at the varying levels of participation.
Mr Hooton demonstrated his useby date is way past expiry…A Dinosaur pretending to have all answers for all occasions,his body language is open to interpretation.Why do the news networks continually use this man.He appears to be consumed by his tireless boring attacks on Labour,Clark etc,etc.The man lives in the past with no constructive criticism of the current dire position our once proud nation held.
The British Medical Journal has just published this meta study that looks at dietary fat and chronic health conditions such as heart disease, stroke and late onset diabetes. This is the latest in a series of studies that shows that the ‘fat is bad’ message is wrong.
Conclusions Saturated fats are not associated with all cause mortality, CVD, CHD, ischemic stroke, or type 2 diabetes, but the evidence is heterogeneous with methodological limitations. Trans fats are associated with all cause mortality, total CHD, and CHD mortality, probably because of higher levels of intake of industrial trans fats than ruminant trans fats. Dietary guidelines must carefully consider the health effects of recommendations for alternative macronutrients to replace trans fats and saturated fats.
There are two issues here. One is that the public health message of the past 30 years has been wrong and will need to change (and given the origin is US based, the lawsuits should be interesting too). Such change takes a long time, so I think we are going to be seeing a period of time where people don’t know what to do.
The other is that it demonstrates how science can still get things so terribly wrong, not because of flaws in the scientific method, but because of how science gets used. The author of that NYT article has written extensively about the political and social as well as scientific and medico reasons why we ended up with such bad advice from health authorities. We need to be holding science far more accountable than we are.
yep, that’s the one. I think another factor is fat phobia. At a non-rational level people were making connnections between dietary fat and body fat and their discomfit with body fat affected their thinking. It’s not like the actual science hasn’t been there, it’s that people chose which bits to use and which to ignore and it looks like fear of fat is part of that.
Here are the latest Cochrane reviews I can find on both statins and reducing saturated fat intake for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. If instead it makes you feel better about your own saturated fat intake or disregarding your doctor’s opinion regarding statins for you then by all means go ahead and just focus on those particular links and articles though.
It will be dragged out much further to a point where the alleged abusive activity becomes so distant that the public will have trouble caring.
Also, there is a cover up to cover up, namely John Key’s arrogant appointment of Sabin to the law and order select committee despite knowing of the abuse allegations.
It’s the 21st century – there’s no reason for any top public servant to live in Auckland or Wellington. Headquarter the Ministry of Health in Kerikeri, the Ministry of Forestry in Tokoroa, the Ministry of Fisheries in Napier, the Ministry of Agriculture in Lincoln, the Ministry of Social Welfare in Mosgiel and the Ministry of Mining in Nightcaps and save truckloads of taxpayer cash in the long term.
(no, I can’t be bothered looking up for the current names of the ministries; they change regularly at the whim of whichever corporate PR idiot has been brought in to pretty them up)
Ministerial Services staff work for politicians, who by their public reputation and visible performance are abusive, irrational, vindictive, quite happy to permanently damage your career, happy to throw you under the media bus, often bullying, disloyal, and completely unrewarding unless you are star-struck and doing a political apprenticeship.
$100k+ isn’t just danger money, it’s “get in get out” money. Central government politicians have one of the lowest reputations in the country for strong and very consistent reasons. And before everyone goes ‘wait, my one is as pure as the driven snow’, just try working for them.
Interesting snippet here – Baltimore USA has a light rail out to their BWI/Washington airport – the distance is 11ks (eleven kilometres) – the fare out is $1.60 US and the fare back is the same. I repeat that $1.60 US – us Aucklanders are being fleeced blind with their transport costs and my partner many times on business, went by cab to the airport and it was approx $70 one way (same distance 11 ks) – this was 4 years ago. The US are either subsidising their public transport to the hilt or NZ transport costs are right off the scale.
Homes over there are fantastic, we have a relative who owns in Baltimore and its a beautiful 3 storey town house in a lovely part of the city by a park (walking distance to work on their beautiful waterfront) – lovely fittings and finish, high stud, beautiful cornices, solid timber floors, a staircase of solid timber, granite benches, bar fridge you name it in the kitchen – a terraced roof garden – they paid $442,000US for it – it would have been 2 million plus here in Auckland so close to the city, even has a car pad down the breeze alley in the back. The park has free yoga classes on the lawns and free tennis courts to play on and regular concerts work days and weeekends, they walk down to the park with their wine and picnic rug, have their supper on the lawn and listen to the music – all for free. Only problem it is the US and Baltimore does have racial problems so I suppose there has to be a catch somewhere – I for one wouldn’t want to live there but they are happy as.
Beggars belief how we are being swindled over here. Restaurant meals are cheaper there and so are their supermarket costs. What’s going wrong over here??
I stand corrected – I am being advised the distance on the light rail is 11 miles (US measure in miles)- not 11 ks – so its terribly cheap at $1.60 a one way fare. The taxi ride to the airport in AK is correct but the distance for that price was 42 ks – not 11ks.
“Sources advise that Canada dropped numerous demands on key patent and copyright issues in Hawaii, likely in the mistaken belief that a concluded deal was imminent.
Indeed, after withholding agreement on critical issues such as anti-patent trolling rules, website blocking, restrictions on digital locks, trademark classification and border enforcement, Canadian negotiators caved to U.S. pressure but failed to garner agreement.
“For Canada, the deal on ISPs means that the government has agreed to induce providers to “remove or disable” access to content upon becoming aware of a decision of a court on a copyright infringement. The broadly worded provision could force Canadian ISPs to block content on websites after being notified of a foreign court order — without first having to assess whether the site is even legal under Canadian law.”
“There are still some unresolved issues in the Hawaii draft, particularly those involving the term of copyright (which the U.S. wants Canada, Japan, New Zealand and Malaysia to extend by an additional 20 years) and many pharmaceutical patent issues.
Yet Canadian negotiators appear to have badly blundered by prematurely making important concessions but failing to close the deal. As a result, it seems likely that Canada will be forced to concede on other key issues when countries next meet to finalize the TPP.”
@Ad
I think it is the corruption of the mind that regard some people as exceptional with
spurious measurements of successful achievement being awarded huge salaries while the basic income required for living is whittled down at the same time. One lot shooting up moneywise, and one lot shooting down, while perhaps losing rationality and shooting up with drugs.
And constantly opportunities being whittled away while our politicians make promises to do their jobs when forced to, with soothing, helpful tones and smiling faces relying on memories fractured and forgetful as bad events flood across our consciousness. Meantime the country shoots itself in the foot.
This is an entire corruption of the values, understanding and dreams that we older people had about the future of the country and all New Zealanders.
So. A public servant works for a Ministry, SOE, University, etc.
Ministerial Services staff are largely a professional class that serve politicians directly.
Remember, public servants are hired and fired by the Chief Executives or Secretaries of their Departments. Not Ministers. Ministers can certainly put a lot of pressure to bear, but the executive control of Ministries is from the Minister to the Chief Executive, or from the Minister to the Board, to the Chief Executive. Hence the State Sector Act from back in the late 1980s, in which Ministers are simply purchasers of services from those public service entities.
Respectfully Ad you are not wrong. But neither is Greywarshark (I’m quite attracted to ‘Greywarship actually), on account of this from him/her –
“This is an entire corruption of the values, understanding and dreams that we older people had about the future of the country and all New Zealanders.”
Seems to me your looking glass is principally focused whereas Greywarshark takes an overview. And in that overview sees a reflection of what you talk about in the principally focused view.
That is (more) corruption. So pervasive as to be corruption of our broad psyche. The words (and Greywarship’s lament) – “and all New Zealanders.” – well that quite does it for me.
Particularly when I regard the E! Channel odour of the Parnell-centred, wannabe “New Camelot”, and “Spy”, and the intrusion of this ‘nouveau riche’ frippery into our political life.
“It’s time Auckland Council showed ratepayers some damn respect,” centre-right mayoral candidate Stephen Berry said ahead of the protest.
Damn right they should. They should immediately publish all the cities finances and ask people where things should be cut, where spending should be increased and what they’re going to get for the amount spent. This would then be automatically totalled so that people know how much they’re spending.
After that they can then suggest how it’s going to be funded with estimates of how much each funding option will raise.
And, no, I’m not joking about this. This, really, is how government finances should be done. Openness and transparency should rule and it would get rid of the RWNJs attacks on society.
As an aside, I wonder how many people are actually going to turn up. Most RWNJ protests don’t seem to get a lot of traction.
I heard that mayoral candidate with his refrain about waste of taxpayers money and thought that he sounded the usual slow witted male dork looking for an easy way to insert himself into people’s minds. Oh save us from Council waste of funds. Cut everything that is at the base of supporting the city. (Leave it to private enterprise to decide which rort is the best profit-maker.)
He wanted money spent on art festivals to be stopped. Art festivals are the industrial display wonders of the 21st century. With nothing much being made in the industrial field, the creatives of the country step forward and design and make things that people are interested to travel from afar to look at and to spend money while doing so. It is called keeping enterprise bubbling with new ideas and excitement. Something that people who may have lost consciousness on the rugby field a few times tend to lack, as to them new is someone devising a different game plan always within the same parameters.
I wonder which entity, wilfully neglectful government or private, was ultimately responsible for controlling storage of chemicals that have just blasted over much of that Chinese city. 70 tons I think was the maximum allowed but it was 700 tons of highly dangerous chemical. (If not it was 7 and 70, but A LOT whichever.) And stored near the port which if in Auckland would be at the bottom of the CBD and right near the entrance to the thin link to North Shore and Far North, the Harbour Bridge. That is just an example of why we need local government that takes an interest in everything, and does its job of planning and monitoring and enforcing, not concentrating on costing less.
Of course the first thing to do, is to start reducing salaries of incumbents, and set new lower levels for new entrants. So both councillors and the management would get less on a formula connected to how much debt the Council was carrying. The more debt, the more prudent the top managers should be including their salaries being capped to a formula of no more than 10 times the minimum wage. That would bite them in the bum! The workers should have regular inflation-proofing top ups and Christmas bonuses. Let them eat Christmas cake once a year, and receive a living wage for 40 hours, with extra for anti-social hours before 7.30 and after 5.30 pm. And then there would be better outcomes for both ratepayers, and the city’s servants.
Only local government publishes all its finances in detail, consults on them, and changes them as a result.
Auckland Council’s consultation was larger than the Auckland Plan or Unitary Plan submissions. Over 25% of the budget was changed as a result of the consultation.
They did indeed ask the public where things should be cut. The draft budget proposed huge cuts to transport operating costs. It was changed due to overwhelming support for greater transport expenditure.
Frank Macskasy mentioned on the TPP post that he was doing a post on the TPP protest in Wellington yesterday. Here it is. Now I couldn’t be there yesterday unfortunately but the sight of this:
Who else around the country saw cops with tasers? I don’t recall seeing cops with tasers at other rallies I’ve attended. Why are the cops escalating their level of intimidation in a non violent setting? It’s not like they are at a scene where a meth head is beating the crap out of someone and Police can’t restrain the hyper violent person in any other way.
Do they think they can frighten us into submission? Is that the plan?
How many incidences of uncontrollable violence have occurred at political rallies around the country in recent years that would justify the wearing of tasers?
Cheers b. I was aware of that. I’m questioning their need to bring them along to a peaceful demonstration. I think it’s provocative as well as intimidating.
I find it very chilling, Rosie, thinking back to the Springbok Tour protests and imagining what the Red Squad in particular would have done with tasers. It was brutal enough with long batons.
I am beginning to wonder whether the bringing in of tasers as standard police equipment is as much to intimidate protestors as control violent criminals. The behaviour of some members of the police force, the lack of accountability and the political bias that has been evident over the last few years is cause for concern.
“I am beginning to wonder whether the bringing in of tasers as standard police equipment is as much to intimidate protestors as control violent criminals.”
Thats exactly what I’m thinking too Karen.
I can understand their rationale for being armed with tasers when going in to a very violent situation, whilst not necessarily supporting it, but there is no rationale for bringing them to a peaceful demo, unless it is to intimidate and or provoke.
“I am beginning to wonder whether the bringing in of tasers as standard police equipment is as much to intimidate protestors as control violent criminals.”
Me too. I was one of the ‘peaceful’ protestors outside Eden Park during 1981test match. The images I carried away will never leave me. One of them was spotting the police Red Squad lined up ready to go into battle along the railway lines close to the Kingsland Station. It was like something out of WW2. Only those who were there can comprehend what it was like. There we were peacefully walking towards Eden Park – having a little chant along the way – and the next minute all hell broke loose. We began running for our lives and we’d done nothing wrong. And that was without tasers.
Anne and Karen. I hold a permanent sense of respect for the 1981 Springbok tour protesters. I was 10 at the time but as an adult, got to speak to those who were there and listen to their stories.
To me, they, which would mean you too, are true ordinary heroes and I think what courage it must have taken to carry on, given the Police violence directed at the protesters at the time.
I often wonder if some individuals were psychologically damaged by it. Those I spoke to weren’t, but I think the scale of the fear, anxiety, shock and actual physical assault and abuse must have had an impact on some.
Unfortunately Rosie like all protest marches there are always a group of people who are out to cause violence and trouble. But the Red Squad in particular seemed to lose it completely and before long they were batoning people who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was not one of those, but I did see a couple of instances where the police launched attacks on some young people who were doing nothing. It was crazy stuff yet as far as I know none of the police involved were prosecuted for their violent behaviour.
There were some humorous moments though… like a group of young police officers who were sent to keep an eye on us protesters as we wandered away from the crime scene. They must have been directly below one of the flour bombs that were being dropped from the circling plane and they were covered from head to toe in flour. It was hard not to burst out laughing as we passed them.
Re the flag 40. Trevor Mallard was adamant that Key/English would select the final 4 flags. The expensive panel of 12 were really an expensive farce. Probably already decided on Key’s favourite four.
Yep. John Key is choosing the flag. Make no mistake about that. He’s made a clip on his Facebook page, which David Farrar has just whacked one out over, begging for Kiwis to see it his way.
Yeah, he’s said what he wants and the full weight of the National Party machine will be brought to bear to make this realisation true, no matter how gimicky, ill thought out, and awful John Key’s final choice is.
So the one with the fern on it then is it BM – after all that’s what John says it going to be and – well he knows. You do realize that ferns grow all over the world? No I thought not.
Why would I want to do away with a flag to which I stood to attention and saluted every morning at 0800 for 15 years and replace it with an abomination? Why would any one who has served this country in war want to do away with a flag under which many have fought and died – simply for the vanity of a one man who doesn’t have any feelings for the people who really matter in this country?
Attention, citizens who have private health insurance.
Expect your Private Health Insurance fees to rise if the TPPA is signed with clauses which extend the patent lives of drugs.
If this isn’t to your liking, then please talk to Mr Groser and Mr Key or any Cabinet Minister as these are the people who will be committing NZ to this agreement.
Right, a listicle in Cracked is your source? Are you kidding or do you honestly have no concept of how to assess the reliability of sources?
A quick scan showed no reference to peer review, reproducibility – the starting definition of methodology is untrue and the cherry-picked links that follows are an object demonstration of confirmation bias. Oh, and there was a quote from Jurassic Park to lend some sort of authority because it was read by an celebrity using a script.
I suppose with journalism being in such a parlous state today, the gullible who read that crap wouldn’t know good journalism if they saw it.
I always get amused by these kinds of lists. You will note that this one was on science right?
Only about 15 percent of journals have relevant instructions, and enforcement is often more lax than anti-media-piracy laws after the apocalypse.
The 15% claim…. They link to a paper about storing data that was published in the early 1990s, the first citation is 1995. You know 20 years ago – before the internet became ubiquitous. It was at the point when data sets got enormous and far too big for paper, but there were few public datastores. To quote this paper where the previous link is from 2014 would have to indicate that the author is a complete fuckwit more interested in spinning a story than providing anything relevant.
One particularly damaging error occurred in 2010 with the publication of an influential paper that concluded that countries with large debts experience lower economic growth.
FFS: Does the dickhead author realise that this is an economic paper? One that was published in a non-peer reviewed journal? What in the hell does that have to do with science?
These were on the second of SEVEN points in the post he linked to. The first point was arguable. But by the time the second point came around, I’d concluded that it was written by a numbskull who knew nothing about science, and was instead just looking around for links that supported their insane thesis. They weren’t concerned about checking or validating those, just so long has they could make a one-liner fit over it.
About that point I concluded that Kevin is most likely a card carrying member of stupid moron propeller head society. Because no-one else would have wasted my time reading such idiotic twaddle by linking to it. I’d say that because he didn’t pick up these blindingly obvious fuckups, that he was also completely incapable of understanding ANY actual scientific work. Like that on climate change for instance.
Conjecture. There’s nothing to say that Private health companies won’t absorb any increases themselves, depending of course on how much the increases are.
So Heki Pirau (Rotten Egg [as lustily known in Moerewa]) Parata has failed miserably in her “asprayshuns”. While she is a not (on a naked IQ scale) an unintelligent person (pity no application)……she is a fake. An impostor.
There the lady ensconces as an unwittingly hilarious actor in ShonKey Python’s Flying Circus. “OMG!” as they say !
Its ten years since the fates took David Lange from us. He is still remembered with love. Russell Brown unearthed this wee gem which features 95bFM Breakfast Host Graeme Hill interviewing David Lange about his book, “Broadsides”. Talk about prescient . . .
“In 2012, he tried to defund government research centers in the High Arctic, and placed Canadian environmental scientists under gag orders. That year, National Research Council members were barred from discussing their work on snowfall with the media.
Scientists for the governmental agency Environment Canada, under threat of losing their jobs, have been banned from discussing their research without political approval. Mentions of federal climate change research in the Canadian press have dropped 80 percent. The union that represents federal scientists and other professionals has, for the first time in its history, abandoned neutrality to campaign against Mr. Harper.
His active promotion of ignorance extends into the functions of government itself. Most shockingly, he ended the mandatory long-form census, a decision protested by nearly 500 organizations in Canada, including the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the Canadian Catholic Council of Bishops. In the age of information, he has stripped Canada of its capacity to gather information about itself. The Harper years have seen a subtle darkening of Canadian life.
The darkness has resulted, organically, in one of the most scandal-plagued administrations in Canadian history. Mr. Harper’s tenure coincided with the scandal of Rob Ford, the mayor of Toronto who admitted to smoking crack while in office and whose secret life came to light only when Gawker, an American website, broke the story. In a famous video at a Ford family barbecue, Mr. Harper praised the Fords as a “Conservative political dynasty.”
Mr. Harper’s appointments to the Senate — which in Canada is a mercifully impotent body employed strictly for political payoffs — have proved greedier than the norm. Mr. Harper’s chief of staff was forced out for paying off a senator who fudged his expenses. The Mounties have pressed criminal charges.”
Australia is ending teen smoking — and Big Tobacco is furious.
So furious, it is suing Australia in a secret tribunal that will cost $50 million of public money just to defend ourselves. Cabinet ministers have been hauled in front of the clandestine courts. Domestic laws could be overturned — at an even higher cost — because they benefit Australian people instead of tobacco corporations’ bottom lines.
This is what signing the TPPA will lead to for NZ. Corporate control of our laws with millions, and probably billions, wasted to cater to these psychopaths desires for more wealth.
Welcome to reality. In case you hadn’t noticed, NZ is already subject to exactly the same potential claims without the TPPA in exactly the same way as Australia is with PMI via a free trade agreement with HK. NZ has exactly the same clause in agreements with many of the TPPA countries (but not HK) already, and we could be facing exactly the same claim from PMI without the TPPA. If you have a free trade agreement, in principle the ISDS provisions are a good thing as they are the only real legal mechanism an exporter has to ensure equal treatment under the FTA.
Already companies from countries listed in the link below could sue NZ on the same grounds as PMI is suing Australia. The Philip Morris case is a Hong Kong company suing the Australian Government.
Of course we don’t really know, but I would hope the TPPA doesn’t allow these types of claims on public health policy grounds – limitations on sale of tobacco, alcohol etc.
It’s not reality but delusion but that’s just capitalism in general.
The Philip Morris case is a Hong Kong company suing the Australian Government.
You missed this bit didn’t you?
Philip Morris moved its regional headquarters from Australia to Hong Kong just so it could sue us.
So, no, Phillip Morris isn’t a Hong Kong company.
If you have a free trade agreement, in principle the ISDS provisions are a good thing as they are the only real legal mechanism an exporter has to ensure equal treatment under the FTA.
And that’s a load of bollocks as well. ISDS came about because of investment in countries that didn’t have good legal systems in place and pretty much all of them do now thus ISDS isn’t needed. It’s arguable that it ever was.
Also, no country has ever needed foreign ‘investment’. Why would any country need foreign money to utilise their own resources?
i’m not defending them, and no I didn’t miss that bit about the change of abode, given that Australia’s first line of defence is to protest exactly that fact.
The point I was making is that everyone is getting excited that ISDS provisions are coming with the TPPA. All I am saying is that we already have them. And that with only a modest amount of legal chicanery any corporate from anywhere in the world could already use those provisions, as PMI have shown in Aus.
You’re anti free trade and anti global trade – that’s fine and a validly held opinion to have, but if you do have a free trade agreement then its is perfectly sensible to have ISDS provisions in it.
Personally I think we (and all other countries) would be better off not signing the TPPA, but rather settling bilateral trade agreements with all the countries in the region. Then each agreement specifically addresses only the needs of those two countries. I dont think the TPPA is the coming of the anti-christ, but it is more a deal about protection of intellectual property and dispute resolution (not necessarily a good thing) rather than a classic free trade agreement (generally a good thing).
Actually, I’m not. I just happen to think that trade is the exchange of goods and preferably completed goods ready to on retail shelves. I don’t think it includes foreign investment and catering to mega-corporations as the FTAs invariably do.
Personally I think we (and all other countries) would be better off not signing the TPPA, but rather settling bilateral trade agreements with all the countries in the region.
We shouldn’t even be doing that as it locks us in to trade that may be disadvantageous to us. I think it would be better to set some standards that other countries have to reach to be able to freely trade with us (see my above concept of trade). Much simpler and more open.
Why the distinction between services and goods? Why in your world can I not export a service?
Why would a bilateral agreement negotiated by NZ “lock us in to trade that may be disadvantageous to us.” Why would we agree to that? Trade agreements also have mechanisms for renegotiating and updating as economies change.
Trade agreements are mostly about access to other markets on terms that are not disadvantageous – i.e the removal or alignment of tariff and other barriers to entry. Setting minimum standards is exactly what trade agreements do, but it formalises them so that one party cant back track or put in other barriers. In a non-documented world you run the risk of capricious change by a government for spurious reasons (ie lobbying by special interest groups, populism, corruption etc). And with a “minimum standards approach” (presumably minimum standards around employment law, consumer safety etc) how would you deal with dumping or trans-national point of origination issues for instance?
To me that’s more a question of why would anyone want to import it?
Why would a bilateral agreement negotiated by NZ “lock us in to trade that may be disadvantageous to us.” Why would we agree to that?
Good question. Why did Labour/National lock us into selling our houses/land/businesses to foreigners and thus disadvantaging our own people with no way to stop it?
Setting minimum standards is exactly what trade agreements do, but it formalises them so that one party cant back track or put in other barriers.
As I said – locks us in. And it doesn’t set minimum standards at all – if they did we wouldn’t be trading with China as they simply don’t meet our standards.
In a non-documented world you run the risk of capricious change by a government for spurious reasons (ie lobbying by special interest groups, populism, corruption etc).
Whatever gave you an idea that a set of standards wouldn’t be documented?
And with a “minimum standards approach” (presumably minimum standards around employment law, consumer safety etc) how would you deal with dumping or trans-national point of origination issues for instance?
As a longtime member of the Friends of Tibet NZ group, I am deeply concerned at the article listed in the Standard’s feeds column from Redline: From the Vaults.
The article wrongly states that the Dalai Lama is wanting to return Tibet to a feudal state. Some fact checking turns up the following information from this link: http://tibet.net/about-cta/legislature/
“The Tibetan Parliament in Exile
The Tibetan Parliament in Exile (TPiE) is the unicameral and highest legislative organ of the Central Tibetan Administration. Established and based in Dharamsala, India. The creation of this democratically elected body has been one of the major changes that His Holiness the Dalai Lama has brought about in his efforts to introduce a democratic system of administration. Today, the Parliament consists of 44 members. Ten members each from U-Tsang, Do-tod and Do-med, the three traditional provinces of Tibet, while the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism and the traditional Bon faith elect two members each. Four members are elected by Tibetans in the west: two from Europe, one from North America and one from Canada. The Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile is headed by a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker, who are elected by the members amongst themselves. Any Tibetan who has reached the age of 25 has the right to contest elections to the Parliament.
The elections are held every five years and any Tibetan who has reached the age of 18 is entitled to vote.Sessions of the Parliament are held twice every year, with an interval of six months between the sessions. When the Parliament is not in session, there is a standing committee of eleven members: two members from each province, one member from each religious denomination. The members of the Parliament undertake periodic tours to Tibetan settlements to make an assessment of people’s overall conditions. On their return, they bring to the notice of the administration about all the grievances and matters which need attention.The Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile keeps in touch with people also through Local Parliaments established in 38 major Tibetan communities. The Charter provides for the establishment of a Local Parliament in a community having a population of not less than 160.
The Local Parliaments are scaled-down replicas of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile. They keep an eye on the activities of their respective settlement/welfare officers. They also make laws for their respective communities according to the latter’s felt-needs. The laws passed by the Local Parliament must be implemented by the respective settlement/welfare officer.”
The article posted by Redline needs to be returned to the vaults never to be exhumed.
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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 ...
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 Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
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, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
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 ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
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 ...
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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 ...
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 ...
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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 ...
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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. ...
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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 ...
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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. ...
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Can anyone explain this extraordinary piece?http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/71151447/good-government-neednt-be-a-punchline-tony-abbott
Thought I must have woken up in a parallel universe this morning!
Key is good and knows what he’s doing.
Abbot is hopeless.
According to a SMH journalist, in Sydney.
I found English’s line “adjust expectation” particularly sinister.
Key is a lying schmuck but it’s good to know that you support such immoral people. It shows that you have no morals either.
Slogans are all we’ve got from this government. They sure as hell haven’t told us what they’re doing until after they’ve done it.
http://shop.countdown.co.nz/#url=/Shop/SearchProducts%3Fsearch%3DCheese%2B1kg
Local pak’n’save cheese non discounted was $11/ kg
Why is cheese still well over $10/kg.
The farmers have to cover their loss from somewhere and we’re it.
But then, it’s not really the farmers who set the supermarket prices but the supermarkets who are probably raking in the super-profits ATM.
I see Jamie Whyte still banging on in the SST about the free market providing for safe work environments …………..
yet no mention in his opinion of the best live example of this in action – Pike River
the man just shat on his own head
dangerous fuckwit
Hooton on q&a was crying as panel criticized neoliberalism, he was pushed to recant economic bibical belief in the coming of thatcherism how it changed everything, whine whone cry cry. How dare they all question his faith in markets.
Geez, like we dont all get it now, cheap energy not thatcherism built thirty years of profit driven by swapping paper debts. Promised clean environments, safe work places, free education all burnt to feed the debt driven economy, even high learning divorced from the enlightenment.
All Hooten does is eulogize neolibs in national and labour and poke irrational cheapshots at anyone else.
once he compared a bathroom accident with workplaces I just laughed. *I* control my bathroom. *I* do not control how well my employer maintains my workplace and when.
TV Ones Q&A this morning was the best I have viewed. Replays again late this evening.
Agree. Good subjects and intelligent debate. Simon Dallow is a vast improvement on Susan Wood. And Deborah Russell is a vast improvement on Josie Pagani.
The only blight on the horizon was Hooton and his relentless campaign against Helen Clark, David Parker, David Cunliffe and Andrew Little. You can predict when their names are going to go ‘clunk’ into the middle of some damming indictment. Eg. he said at one point… ” I mean, Little’s a union leader” as if that was the most damming indictment one could make of a person. I even had the impression Jeremy Corbyn’s rise to the UK Labour leadership was somehow their fault – slight exaggeration but you know what I mean.
Hooton’s comment’s added to the debate and there was ample opportunity for Russell to respond and put an alternative which allowed balance.
Hooton’s view of the world was akin to rugby union becoming a professional sport in the late 80’s. There is no going back to the amateur game but he doesn’t accept that since becoming professional there are fewer players enjoying the benefits at the varying levels of participation.
This guy?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3191679/Jeremy-Corbyn-caught-video-calling-Muslim-hate-preacher-honoured-citizen-inviting-tea-terrace-House-Commons.html
Ahhhh yes, the establishment smear fear campaign against true left wing anti-war Labour Party leader candidate Jeremy Corbyn, continues.
You think the Daily Mail is a reliable source of news.
OK……………
Mr Hooton demonstrated his useby date is way past expiry…A Dinosaur pretending to have all answers for all occasions,his body language is open to interpretation.Why do the news networks continually use this man.He appears to be consumed by his tireless boring attacks on Labour,Clark etc,etc.The man lives in the past with no constructive criticism of the current dire position our once proud nation held.
the police made tasers standard issue for all officers weeks ago.
Tasers to replace guns, oops. When they are misused, gun rollout
Remind me what his expertise is? What he produces for a living?
The British Medical Journal has just published this meta study that looks at dietary fat and chronic health conditions such as heart disease, stroke and late onset diabetes. This is the latest in a series of studies that shows that the ‘fat is bad’ message is wrong.
http://www.bmj.com/content/351/bmj.h3978
If you want an award winning science journalist’s take on this written for the general public, see the following link. Note the date. This isn’t new.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/07/magazine/what-if-it-s-all-been-a-big-fat-lie.html?pagewanted=all
There are two issues here. One is that the public health message of the past 30 years has been wrong and will need to change (and given the origin is US based, the lawsuits should be interesting too). Such change takes a long time, so I think we are going to be seeing a period of time where people don’t know what to do.
The other is that it demonstrates how science can still get things so terribly wrong, not because of flaws in the scientific method, but because of how science gets used. The author of that NYT article has written extensively about the political and social as well as scientific and medico reasons why we ended up with such bad advice from health authorities. We need to be holding science far more accountable than we are.
Cheers Weka, good links
The narrative around ‘fats’ ties in with the mistruth around cholesterol, as it relates to the pushing of statin drugs
yep, that’s the one. I think another factor is fat phobia. At a non-rational level people were making connnections between dietary fat and body fat and their discomfit with body fat affected their thinking. It’s not like the actual science hasn’t been there, it’s that people chose which bits to use and which to ignore and it looks like fear of fat is part of that.
Here are the latest Cochrane reviews I can find on both statins and reducing saturated fat intake for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. If instead it makes you feel better about your own saturated fat intake or disregarding your doctor’s opinion regarding statins for you then by all means go ahead and just focus on those particular links and articles though.
http://www.cochrane.org/CD011737/VASC_effect-of-cutting-down-on-the-saturated-fat-we-eat-on-our-risk-of-heart-disease
http://www.cochrane.org/CD004816/VASC_statins-for-the-primary-prevention-of-cardiovascular-disease
Thanks for this. And the key is “how the science was used.
Here is another example, This time involving Nike’s deliberate Chinese Whisperising of a study
http://physicalactivitypolitics.com/2015/08/14/a-great-fallacy-in-physical-activity-promotion/
Crikey. Buying Nike increases test scores 😉
Whats happening with the Sabin issues?I hope all will be revealed.The nats clearly have a lot to hide.
It will be dragged out much further to a point where the alleged abusive activity becomes so distant that the public will have trouble caring.
Also, there is a cover up to cover up, namely John Key’s arrogant appointment of Sabin to the law and order select committee despite knowing of the abuse allegations.
I heard the court case was put off till some time in 2016.
Can’t recall the source for that.
National has been very effective at making it go away … they need to be careful it doesn’t reappear closer to 2017.
In the meantime the whole process has been drawn out for his alleged victims. But who in government cares about them?
From the do as I say, not as I do files…
The number of Ministerial Services staff employed in Ministers’ offices earning $100,000 or more has increased over 300% since National took office.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/71148223/more-than-a-third-of-officials-in-the-beehive-now-take-home-six-figure-salaries
Time to fix public servants to no more than $100, 000 and that would go to the PM. Everyone else’s income would be indexed to that.
$100k p.a. is too low a top rate.
Why?
You can live on it quite comfortably.
you can live on that quite comfortably in Levin, yes.
You could live ob it quite comfortably pretty much anywhere – as long as house prices weren’t bubbling.
Nice for Levin, then.
It’s the 21st century – there’s no reason for any top public servant to live in Auckland or Wellington. Headquarter the Ministry of Health in Kerikeri, the Ministry of Forestry in Tokoroa, the Ministry of Fisheries in Napier, the Ministry of Agriculture in Lincoln, the Ministry of Social Welfare in Mosgiel and the Ministry of Mining in Nightcaps and save truckloads of taxpayer cash in the long term.
(no, I can’t be bothered looking up for the current names of the ministries; they change regularly at the whim of whichever corporate PR idiot has been brought in to pretty them up)
As a single person, not as a family. If you had a family to support you would know this.
My brother does quite well supporting his family on less than $100k. So, yes, $100k is enough to raise a family.
You may have a point about those on less than $100k but then I’d set a minimum of $50k per year for those new to public service.
Ministerial Services staff work for politicians, who by their public reputation and visible performance are abusive, irrational, vindictive, quite happy to permanently damage your career, happy to throw you under the media bus, often bullying, disloyal, and completely unrewarding unless you are star-struck and doing a political apprenticeship.
$100k+ isn’t just danger money, it’s “get in get out” money. Central government politicians have one of the lowest reputations in the country for strong and very consistent reasons. And before everyone goes ‘wait, my one is as pure as the driven snow’, just try working for them.
Ad, that first paragraph of yours is so, so evocative of how it is. A perfect reflection !
I commiserate with you, just in case what appears in your second paragraph, you have been close to.
Interesting snippet here – Baltimore USA has a light rail out to their BWI/Washington airport – the distance is 11ks (eleven kilometres) – the fare out is $1.60 US and the fare back is the same. I repeat that $1.60 US – us Aucklanders are being fleeced blind with their transport costs and my partner many times on business, went by cab to the airport and it was approx $70 one way (same distance 11 ks) – this was 4 years ago. The US are either subsidising their public transport to the hilt or NZ transport costs are right off the scale.
Homes over there are fantastic, we have a relative who owns in Baltimore and its a beautiful 3 storey town house in a lovely part of the city by a park (walking distance to work on their beautiful waterfront) – lovely fittings and finish, high stud, beautiful cornices, solid timber floors, a staircase of solid timber, granite benches, bar fridge you name it in the kitchen – a terraced roof garden – they paid $442,000US for it – it would have been 2 million plus here in Auckland so close to the city, even has a car pad down the breeze alley in the back. The park has free yoga classes on the lawns and free tennis courts to play on and regular concerts work days and weeekends, they walk down to the park with their wine and picnic rug, have their supper on the lawn and listen to the music – all for free. Only problem it is the US and Baltimore does have racial problems so I suppose there has to be a catch somewhere – I for one wouldn’t want to live there but they are happy as.
Beggars belief how we are being swindled over here. Restaurant meals are cheaper there and so are their supermarket costs. What’s going wrong over here??
I stand corrected – I am being advised the distance on the light rail is 11 miles (US measure in miles)- not 11 ks – so its terribly cheap at $1.60 a one way fare. The taxi ride to the airport in AK is correct but the distance for that price was 42 ks – not 11ks.
Will edit better next time.
if you would like rates raised further to subsidize transport even more, I am sure that can be arranged.
Meantime, central government expects lower and lower Public Transport subsidy per passenger every year.
Baltimore seems to deliver. Although it is an old city planned on old public principles.
Not many of those in New Zealand.
Although it does have its ugly side. ie recent Baltimore riots ….. not nice at all.
Baltimore’s mental health services are excellent too. The psychiatrists all have great suits and practise innovative techniques.
A few excerpts re TPPA and Canada
http://www.thestar.com/business/2015/08/14/how-canada-caved-during-pacific-trade-deal-talks-in-hawaii-geist.html
“Sources advise that Canada dropped numerous demands on key patent and copyright issues in Hawaii, likely in the mistaken belief that a concluded deal was imminent.
Indeed, after withholding agreement on critical issues such as anti-patent trolling rules, website blocking, restrictions on digital locks, trademark classification and border enforcement, Canadian negotiators caved to U.S. pressure but failed to garner agreement.
“For Canada, the deal on ISPs means that the government has agreed to induce providers to “remove or disable” access to content upon becoming aware of a decision of a court on a copyright infringement. The broadly worded provision could force Canadian ISPs to block content on websites after being notified of a foreign court order — without first having to assess whether the site is even legal under Canadian law.”
“There are still some unresolved issues in the Hawaii draft, particularly those involving the term of copyright (which the U.S. wants Canada, Japan, New Zealand and Malaysia to extend by an additional 20 years) and many pharmaceutical patent issues.
Yet Canadian negotiators appear to have badly blundered by prematurely making important concessions but failing to close the deal. As a result, it seems likely that Canada will be forced to concede on other key issues when countries next meet to finalize the TPP.”
Free Trade Agreement? Not even close.
The corruption of the civil service.
We are becoming a corrupt tinpot state under the cronyism of Key and his financier clique.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/71148223/more-than-a-third-of-officials-in-the-beehive-now-take-home-six-figure-salaries
Where is the corruption.
@Ad
I think it is the corruption of the mind that regard some people as exceptional with
spurious measurements of successful achievement being awarded huge salaries while the basic income required for living is whittled down at the same time. One lot shooting up moneywise, and one lot shooting down, while perhaps losing rationality and shooting up with drugs.
And constantly opportunities being whittled away while our politicians make promises to do their jobs when forced to, with soothing, helpful tones and smiling faces relying on memories fractured and forgetful as bad events flood across our consciousness. Meantime the country shoots itself in the foot.
This is an entire corruption of the values, understanding and dreams that we older people had about the future of the country and all New Zealanders.
That’s a bit of a conflation.
Ministerial Service staff are not by and large public servants.
Nor are they politicians.
They are employees who service political offices.
At 30% staff turnover, even $100k plus doesn’t appear worth it.
so what is a public servant? I am a lil confused.
So. A public servant works for a Ministry, SOE, University, etc.
Ministerial Services staff are largely a professional class that serve politicians directly.
Remember, public servants are hired and fired by the Chief Executives or Secretaries of their Departments. Not Ministers. Ministers can certainly put a lot of pressure to bear, but the executive control of Ministries is from the Minister to the Chief Executive, or from the Minister to the Board, to the Chief Executive. Hence the State Sector Act from back in the late 1980s, in which Ministers are simply purchasers of services from those public service entities.
Respectfully Ad you are not wrong. But neither is Greywarshark (I’m quite attracted to ‘Greywarship actually), on account of this from him/her –
“This is an entire corruption of the values, understanding and dreams that we older people had about the future of the country and all New Zealanders.”
Seems to me your looking glass is principally focused whereas Greywarshark takes an overview. And in that overview sees a reflection of what you talk about in the principally focused view.
That is (more) corruption. So pervasive as to be corruption of our broad psyche. The words (and Greywarship’s lament) – “and all New Zealanders.” – well that quite does it for me.
Particularly when I regard the E! Channel odour of the Parnell-centred, wannabe “New Camelot”, and “Spy”, and the intrusion of this ‘nouveau riche’ frippery into our political life.
“We are becoming a corrupt tinpot state under the cronyism of Key and his financier clique.”
Good line that
Aucklanders angered over rates rises holding protest march
Damn right they should. They should immediately publish all the cities finances and ask people where things should be cut, where spending should be increased and what they’re going to get for the amount spent. This would then be automatically totalled so that people know how much they’re spending.
After that they can then suggest how it’s going to be funded with estimates of how much each funding option will raise.
And, no, I’m not joking about this. This, really, is how government finances should be done. Openness and transparency should rule and it would get rid of the RWNJs attacks on society.
As an aside, I wonder how many people are actually going to turn up. Most RWNJ protests don’t seem to get a lot of traction.
I heard that mayoral candidate with his refrain about waste of taxpayers money and thought that he sounded the usual slow witted male dork looking for an easy way to insert himself into people’s minds. Oh save us from Council waste of funds. Cut everything that is at the base of supporting the city. (Leave it to private enterprise to decide which rort is the best profit-maker.)
He wanted money spent on art festivals to be stopped. Art festivals are the industrial display wonders of the 21st century. With nothing much being made in the industrial field, the creatives of the country step forward and design and make things that people are interested to travel from afar to look at and to spend money while doing so. It is called keeping enterprise bubbling with new ideas and excitement. Something that people who may have lost consciousness on the rugby field a few times tend to lack, as to them new is someone devising a different game plan always within the same parameters.
I wonder which entity, wilfully neglectful government or private, was ultimately responsible for controlling storage of chemicals that have just blasted over much of that Chinese city. 70 tons I think was the maximum allowed but it was 700 tons of highly dangerous chemical. (If not it was 7 and 70, but A LOT whichever.) And stored near the port which if in Auckland would be at the bottom of the CBD and right near the entrance to the thin link to North Shore and Far North, the Harbour Bridge. That is just an example of why we need local government that takes an interest in everything, and does its job of planning and monitoring and enforcing, not concentrating on costing less.
Of course the first thing to do, is to start reducing salaries of incumbents, and set new lower levels for new entrants. So both councillors and the management would get less on a formula connected to how much debt the Council was carrying. The more debt, the more prudent the top managers should be including their salaries being capped to a formula of no more than 10 times the minimum wage. That would bite them in the bum! The workers should have regular inflation-proofing top ups and Christmas bonuses. Let them eat Christmas cake once a year, and receive a living wage for 40 hours, with extra for anti-social hours before 7.30 and after 5.30 pm. And then there would be better outcomes for both ratepayers, and the city’s servants.
I guess he can afford to buy his own books, run his own car, and dispose of his own waste and so on…
Only local government publishes all its finances in detail, consults on them, and changes them as a result.
Auckland Council’s consultation was larger than the Auckland Plan or Unitary Plan submissions. Over 25% of the budget was changed as a result of the consultation.
They did indeed ask the public where things should be cut. The draft budget proposed huge cuts to transport operating costs. It was changed due to overwhelming support for greater transport expenditure.
40 people turn up.
Gets as much prominence on the Herald website as when 10 000 march against the TPPA.
What a corporate rag the Herald has become.
he is just a right wing activist with a rent a crowd, right Hooton???
Frank Macskasy mentioned on the TPP post that he was doing a post on the TPP protest in Wellington yesterday. Here it is. Now I couldn’t be there yesterday unfortunately but the sight of this:
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/08/16/citizens-face-police-armed-with-tasers-at-wellington-tppa-protest-march/
would have really given me the shits.
Who else around the country saw cops with tasers? I don’t recall seeing cops with tasers at other rallies I’ve attended. Why are the cops escalating their level of intimidation in a non violent setting? It’s not like they are at a scene where a meth head is beating the crap out of someone and Police can’t restrain the hyper violent person in any other way.
Do they think they can frighten us into submission? Is that the plan?
How many incidences of uncontrollable violence have occurred at political rallies around the country in recent years that would justify the wearing of tasers?
Standard procedure now
.http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11489893
Cheers b. I was aware of that. I’m questioning their need to bring them along to a peaceful demonstration. I think it’s provocative as well as intimidating.
There isn’t any need same as there’s not need for them to carry permanently.
I find it very chilling, Rosie, thinking back to the Springbok Tour protests and imagining what the Red Squad in particular would have done with tasers. It was brutal enough with long batons.
I am beginning to wonder whether the bringing in of tasers as standard police equipment is as much to intimidate protestors as control violent criminals. The behaviour of some members of the police force, the lack of accountability and the political bias that has been evident over the last few years is cause for concern.
“I am beginning to wonder whether the bringing in of tasers as standard police equipment is as much to intimidate protestors as control violent criminals.”
Thats exactly what I’m thinking too Karen.
I can understand their rationale for being armed with tasers when going in to a very violent situation, whilst not necessarily supporting it, but there is no rationale for bringing them to a peaceful demo, unless it is to intimidate and or provoke.
Me too. I was one of the ‘peaceful’ protestors outside Eden Park during 1981test match. The images I carried away will never leave me. One of them was spotting the police Red Squad lined up ready to go into battle along the railway lines close to the Kingsland Station. It was like something out of WW2. Only those who were there can comprehend what it was like. There we were peacefully walking towards Eden Park – having a little chant along the way – and the next minute all hell broke loose. We began running for our lives and we’d done nothing wrong. And that was without tasers.
Anne and Karen. I hold a permanent sense of respect for the 1981 Springbok tour protesters. I was 10 at the time but as an adult, got to speak to those who were there and listen to their stories.
To me, they, which would mean you too, are true ordinary heroes and I think what courage it must have taken to carry on, given the Police violence directed at the protesters at the time.
I often wonder if some individuals were psychologically damaged by it. Those I spoke to weren’t, but I think the scale of the fear, anxiety, shock and actual physical assault and abuse must have had an impact on some.
Unfortunately Rosie like all protest marches there are always a group of people who are out to cause violence and trouble. But the Red Squad in particular seemed to lose it completely and before long they were batoning people who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was not one of those, but I did see a couple of instances where the police launched attacks on some young people who were doing nothing. It was crazy stuff yet as far as I know none of the police involved were prosecuted for their violent behaviour.
There were some humorous moments though… like a group of young police officers who were sent to keep an eye on us protesters as we wandered away from the crime scene. They must have been directly below one of the flour bombs that were being dropped from the circling plane and they were covered from head to toe in flour. It was hard not to burst out laughing as we passed them.
Re the flag 40. Trevor Mallard was adamant that Key/English would select the final 4 flags. The expensive panel of 12 were really an expensive farce. Probably already decided on Key’s favourite four.
Yep. John Key is choosing the flag. Make no mistake about that. He’s made a clip on his Facebook page, which David Farrar has just whacked one out over, begging for Kiwis to see it his way.
Not a designer in sight though…
Probably have 4 of the 5 Kyle Lockwood flags, just to be sure.
On second thoughts maybe they’ll throw a koru one in there so it looks fair.
You noticed too huh?
Yeah, he’s said what he wants and the full weight of the National Party machine will be brought to bear to make this realisation true, no matter how gimicky, ill thought out, and awful John Key’s final choice is.
Probably 4 of the 5 Kyle Lockwood flags, just to be sure.
On second thoughts maybe they’ll throw a koru one in there so it looks fair.
No doubt with a silver fern in each of them, ianmac.
I enjoyed this take on our flags from over the ditch:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/71071730/new-zealand-has-40-ideas-for-a-new-flag–and-theyre-awful.
Have to agree with he writer – they are all awful!
And the reason we are going through this pain?
John’s pride….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz29_bFxBZA
So we spend millions just so Key can have the “pleasure” of sitting behind a “corporate logo” (flag) at an international conference that no one else would want to.
No they’re not.
There’s some really nice ones in there that I think would make great flags, far better than the colonialist drek we have currently.
Also, what the fuck would Australians know, biggest bunch of inbred, backward fuckwits you could ever come across.
The whole country is a joke, unfortunately they’re too stupid to realize it.
So the one with the fern on it then is it BM – after all that’s what John says it going to be and – well he knows. You do realize that ferns grow all over the world? No I thought not.
John Key is one man and he gets one vote.
My favorite is the one with Mahe Drysdale
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11497460
Have to ask, you’re not one of these pommie immigrants that can’t let go?.
Why would I want to do away with a flag to which I stood to attention and saluted every morning at 0800 for 15 years and replace it with an abomination? Why would any one who has served this country in war want to do away with a flag under which many have fought and died – simply for the vanity of a one man who doesn’t have any feelings for the people who really matter in this country?
Clinton, Trump and Sanders at the Iowa fair.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/71162768/when-donald-trump-stole-hillary-clintons-thunder-at-the-iowa-state-fair
Attention, citizens who have private health insurance.
Expect your Private Health Insurance fees to rise if the TPPA is signed with clauses which extend the patent lives of drugs.
If this isn’t to your liking, then please talk to Mr Groser and Mr Key or any Cabinet Minister as these are the people who will be committing NZ to this agreement.
Something of you AGW proponents to read.
http://www.cracked.com/article_22712_6-ways-modern-science-has-turned-into-giant-scam.html
I’m not arguing that AGW is wrong. Just saying you have to be critical of the evidence, on both sides.
Right, a listicle in Cracked is your source? Are you kidding or do you honestly have no concept of how to assess the reliability of sources?
A quick scan showed no reference to peer review, reproducibility – the starting definition of methodology is untrue and the cherry-picked links that follows are an object demonstration of confirmation bias. Oh, and there was a quote from Jurassic Park to lend some sort of authority because it was read by an celebrity using a script.
I suppose with journalism being in such a parlous state today, the gullible who read that crap wouldn’t know good journalism if they saw it.
I always get amused by these kinds of lists. You will note that this one was on science right?
The 15% claim…. They link to a paper about storing data that was published in the early 1990s, the first citation is 1995. You know 20 years ago – before the internet became ubiquitous. It was at the point when data sets got enormous and far too big for paper, but there were few public datastores. To quote this paper where the previous link is from 2014 would have to indicate that the author is a complete fuckwit more interested in spinning a story than providing anything relevant.
FFS: Does the dickhead author realise that this is an economic paper? One that was published in a non-peer reviewed journal? What in the hell does that have to do with science?
These were on the second of SEVEN points in the post he linked to. The first point was arguable. But by the time the second point came around, I’d concluded that it was written by a numbskull who knew nothing about science, and was instead just looking around for links that supported their insane thesis. They weren’t concerned about checking or validating those, just so long has they could make a one-liner fit over it.
In short it was written by an insane fuckwit hypocrite Matt J Michel who was guilty of doing at least half of the the things he was railing against.
About that point I concluded that Kevin is most likely a card carrying member of stupid moron propeller head society. Because no-one else would have wasted my time reading such idiotic twaddle by linking to it. I’d say that because he didn’t pick up these blindingly obvious fuckups, that he was also completely incapable of understanding ANY actual scientific work. Like that on climate change for instance.
Conjecture. There’s nothing to say that Private health companies won’t absorb any increases themselves, depending of course on how much the increases are.
Costs plus markup are always passed on to the customer. It’s how the rich keep bludging off of everyone else.
A few days old now.
But worth a look.
Nice balanced debate about drugs.
Don’t have the time today to check whether it’s been raised above but “OMG!” as they say……
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11498187
So Heki Pirau (Rotten Egg [as lustily known in Moerewa]) Parata has failed miserably in her “asprayshuns”. While she is a not (on a naked IQ scale) an unintelligent person (pity no application)……she is a fake. An impostor.
There the lady ensconces as an unwittingly hilarious actor in ShonKey Python’s Flying Circus. “OMG!” as they say !
‘
Its ten years since the fates took David Lange from us. He is still remembered with love. Russell Brown unearthed this wee gem which features 95bFM Breakfast Host Graeme Hill interviewing David Lange about his book, “Broadsides”. Talk about prescient . . .
http://95bfm.com/assets/sm/223124/3/IV_DavidLange_nana1992.mp3
Article on Canada becoming less transparent to totally opaque under Harper. This has been going on for 9 and half years (5 year elections). If elections are held every three years it does give an opportunity to change the beast. A serious situation and one to keep in mind,.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/opinion/sunday/the-closing-of-the-canadian-mind.html?src=recg&_r=0
“In 2012, he tried to defund government research centers in the High Arctic, and placed Canadian environmental scientists under gag orders. That year, National Research Council members were barred from discussing their work on snowfall with the media.
Scientists for the governmental agency Environment Canada, under threat of losing their jobs, have been banned from discussing their research without political approval. Mentions of federal climate change research in the Canadian press have dropped 80 percent. The union that represents federal scientists and other professionals has, for the first time in its history, abandoned neutrality to campaign against Mr. Harper.
His active promotion of ignorance extends into the functions of government itself. Most shockingly, he ended the mandatory long-form census, a decision protested by nearly 500 organizations in Canada, including the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the Canadian Catholic Council of Bishops. In the age of information, he has stripped Canada of its capacity to gather information about itself. The Harper years have seen a subtle darkening of Canadian life.
The darkness has resulted, organically, in one of the most scandal-plagued administrations in Canadian history. Mr. Harper’s tenure coincided with the scandal of Rob Ford, the mayor of Toronto who admitted to smoking crack while in office and whose secret life came to light only when Gawker, an American website, broke the story. In a famous video at a Ford family barbecue, Mr. Harper praised the Fords as a “Conservative political dynasty.”
Mr. Harper’s appointments to the Senate — which in Canada is a mercifully impotent body employed strictly for political payoffs — have proved greedier than the norm. Mr. Harper’s chief of staff was forced out for paying off a senator who fudged his expenses. The Mounties have pressed criminal charges.”
Philip Morris is suing Australia in an expensive, secret court for ending teen smoking.
This is what signing the TPPA will lead to for NZ. Corporate control of our laws with millions, and probably billions, wasted to cater to these psychopaths desires for more wealth.
Welcome to reality. In case you hadn’t noticed, NZ is already subject to exactly the same potential claims without the TPPA in exactly the same way as Australia is with PMI via a free trade agreement with HK. NZ has exactly the same clause in agreements with many of the TPPA countries (but not HK) already, and we could be facing exactly the same claim from PMI without the TPPA. If you have a free trade agreement, in principle the ISDS provisions are a good thing as they are the only real legal mechanism an exporter has to ensure equal treatment under the FTA.
Already companies from countries listed in the link below could sue NZ on the same grounds as PMI is suing Australia. The Philip Morris case is a Hong Kong company suing the Australian Government.
http://www.bellgully.co.nz/resources/resource.04037.asp
Of course we don’t really know, but I would hope the TPPA doesn’t allow these types of claims on public health policy grounds – limitations on sale of tobacco, alcohol etc.
It’s not reality but delusion but that’s just capitalism in general.
You missed this bit didn’t you?
So, no, Phillip Morris isn’t a Hong Kong company.
And that’s a load of bollocks as well. ISDS came about because of investment in countries that didn’t have good legal systems in place and pretty much all of them do now thus ISDS isn’t needed. It’s arguable that it ever was.
Also, no country has ever needed foreign ‘investment’. Why would any country need foreign money to utilise their own resources?
i’m not defending them, and no I didn’t miss that bit about the change of abode, given that Australia’s first line of defence is to protest exactly that fact.
The point I was making is that everyone is getting excited that ISDS provisions are coming with the TPPA. All I am saying is that we already have them. And that with only a modest amount of legal chicanery any corporate from anywhere in the world could already use those provisions, as PMI have shown in Aus.
You’re anti free trade and anti global trade – that’s fine and a validly held opinion to have, but if you do have a free trade agreement then its is perfectly sensible to have ISDS provisions in it.
Personally I think we (and all other countries) would be better off not signing the TPPA, but rather settling bilateral trade agreements with all the countries in the region. Then each agreement specifically addresses only the needs of those two countries. I dont think the TPPA is the coming of the anti-christ, but it is more a deal about protection of intellectual property and dispute resolution (not necessarily a good thing) rather than a classic free trade agreement (generally a good thing).
Actually, I’m not. I just happen to think that trade is the exchange of goods and preferably completed goods ready to on retail shelves. I don’t think it includes foreign investment and catering to mega-corporations as the FTAs invariably do.
We shouldn’t even be doing that as it locks us in to trade that may be disadvantageous to us. I think it would be better to set some standards that other countries have to reach to be able to freely trade with us (see my above concept of trade). Much simpler and more open.
Why the distinction between services and goods? Why in your world can I not export a service?
Why would a bilateral agreement negotiated by NZ “lock us in to trade that may be disadvantageous to us.” Why would we agree to that? Trade agreements also have mechanisms for renegotiating and updating as economies change.
Trade agreements are mostly about access to other markets on terms that are not disadvantageous – i.e the removal or alignment of tariff and other barriers to entry. Setting minimum standards is exactly what trade agreements do, but it formalises them so that one party cant back track or put in other barriers. In a non-documented world you run the risk of capricious change by a government for spurious reasons (ie lobbying by special interest groups, populism, corruption etc). And with a “minimum standards approach” (presumably minimum standards around employment law, consumer safety etc) how would you deal with dumping or trans-national point of origination issues for instance?
To me that’s more a question of why would anyone want to import it?
Good question. Why did Labour/National lock us into selling our houses/land/businesses to foreigners and thus disadvantaging our own people with no way to stop it?
As I said – locks us in. And it doesn’t set minimum standards at all – if they did we wouldn’t be trading with China as they simply don’t meet our standards.
Whatever gave you an idea that a set of standards wouldn’t be documented?
Obviously such practices wouldn’t meet standards.
As a longtime member of the Friends of Tibet NZ group, I am deeply concerned at the article listed in the Standard’s feeds column from Redline: From the Vaults.
The article wrongly states that the Dalai Lama is wanting to return Tibet to a feudal state. Some fact checking turns up the following information from this link:
http://tibet.net/about-cta/legislature/
“The Tibetan Parliament in Exile
The Tibetan Parliament in Exile (TPiE) is the unicameral and highest legislative organ of the Central Tibetan Administration. Established and based in Dharamsala, India. The creation of this democratically elected body has been one of the major changes that His Holiness the Dalai Lama has brought about in his efforts to introduce a democratic system of administration. Today, the Parliament consists of 44 members. Ten members each from U-Tsang, Do-tod and Do-med, the three traditional provinces of Tibet, while the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism and the traditional Bon faith elect two members each. Four members are elected by Tibetans in the west: two from Europe, one from North America and one from Canada. The Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile is headed by a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker, who are elected by the members amongst themselves. Any Tibetan who has reached the age of 25 has the right to contest elections to the Parliament.
The elections are held every five years and any Tibetan who has reached the age of 18 is entitled to vote.Sessions of the Parliament are held twice every year, with an interval of six months between the sessions. When the Parliament is not in session, there is a standing committee of eleven members: two members from each province, one member from each religious denomination. The members of the Parliament undertake periodic tours to Tibetan settlements to make an assessment of people’s overall conditions. On their return, they bring to the notice of the administration about all the grievances and matters which need attention.The Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile keeps in touch with people also through Local Parliaments established in 38 major Tibetan communities. The Charter provides for the establishment of a Local Parliament in a community having a population of not less than 160.
The Local Parliaments are scaled-down replicas of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile. They keep an eye on the activities of their respective settlement/welfare officers. They also make laws for their respective communities according to the latter’s felt-needs. The laws passed by the Local Parliament must be implemented by the respective settlement/welfare officer.”
The article posted by Redline needs to be returned to the vaults never to be exhumed.