Bulk funding, performance pay, privatisation, Hekia Parata. It’s our worst nightmare come true. Top marks to Catherine Delahunty , she leaves Chris Hipkins for dead. I am deeply saddened to be witnessing the acceleration of inequality in this country and it is most apparent in our schools , which is a bad indicator .
Ticks the distraction box Paul. Then comes the fear and dog whistling memes that P houses, road incidents, crime, various offshore ‘terror’ events to help sell the new spying measures and more.
Doesn’t leave much room for actual local hardcore fact based issues like our waterways, housing, education, health, industrial accidents etc
JK’s bestie Richie only has to scratch his arse and he’s back filling up the vacuous space that passes for the NZ msm.
DP is being refined and trialled out with some new players like Quinn and will be a useful tool in nact re-election strategy.
Quite a lot, if you believe the MSM news sites which list their most popular stories.
On Stuff we find that 7 of the top 10 are about the Olympics.
On the New Zealand Herald it is 3 of their top 5.
Hard to say that people really aren’t interested given that result.
Exactly so not a lead story then and the football world cup is the largest event.
olympics is just a current distraction which runs till the paraolympics concludes probably with some drugged athletes stories stretching it out till xmas distractions can commence.
Watching Trump give a speech live from Youngstown about foreign policy, the man is insane. He wants to keep Guantanamo open and establish a Commission of Radical Islam, says he will work with Israel, Nato and Russia. USA is screwed, what a choice, poor buggers.
The speech was notable for how he delivered it – prepared remarks. Almost all of the time, he’s just turned up somehow and spoken off the cuff, which is what has gotten him in trouble.
I think it’s too little, too late. It might arrest his decline in the polls, but probably won’t do a lot to reverse it.
Even if he just becomes somewhat rational in his positions, I don’t think he’ll be able to turn the numbers around sufficiently to win.
Seems like his only chance is a black swan event or a new scandal emerging about Hillary, possibly the emails that wikileaks say they have and they’re saving up to deliberately release to change the course of the election (and given the alternative is Trump, this hardly seems responsible of them).
Frankly I think that going to prepared statements is a mistake – they needed to find a happy medium between impromptu (and completely nuts) and scripted (and wooden). Now I think they’re boldly grasping the worst of both worlds.
He’s managed to deliver a scripted prepared speech all the way through without losing it at least once before. But it bores his audience, which is the immediate feedback he can feel. It just makes the inevitable train-wreck in the next 48 hours even bigger.
I wonder if a larger population is the goal Pat. It seems to me people naturally think ‘larger population’ when it’s really about ‘growing population’
If we had zero population growth NZs construction industry would not have a lot of work and construction makes up a pretty significant chunk of today’s GDP. How many new buildings would go up if there was already enough to go around?
If one was to look at growth as the real objective one might ask the question; what if the growth was to be halted? It looks to me like the Govt can’t halt the population growth because it’s now sustaining the economy.
I think you may have missed my point there Pat. Mine was there is no desirable population target because that target doesn’t exist. The politicians only want population growth, they don’t want a larger population per se.
As for advantages. Population growth creates certain types of demand for goods & services that a static population doesn’t. It’s an economic stimulant. Is that an advantage? I don’t think so, others may.
Population growth creates certain types of demand for goods & services that a static population doesn’t.
Which, of course, is also why they want more export markets. It increases the number of people that can be sold to. They seem to forget that each nation wants the same thing and so the growth that they want isn’t really there.
don’t think i missed your point….a short term stimulus to the economy that is politically advantageous……but no long term advantage is what i take from your posts
Pretty much, with reservations. Politicians can milk immigration for a very long time so it’s certainly to their advantage.
Look at the present situation for example. We have a severe housing shortage which can only be attributed to population growth. They could halt immigration now and it would take up to a decade or more to build the houses & commercial properties that would fully satisfy today’s demand.
The economic stimulant isn’t all a short term sugar rush. It has stages and the second stage is (probably) a big construction boom that could run for years after the population growth is halted. I’d be surprised if National don’t make that a plank at the next election, it’s reached that time.
When it’s been thoroughly milked & all possible gains exhausted, well, kickstart the immigration cycle again.
I don’t personally believe it’s of any overall benefit, but then my opinion doesn’t count for much.
My thinking is the catch with immigration is the benefits are enjoyed early and the real costs imposed late. Politicians of the day can bask in the reflected glory of a stimulated economy and the pollies of tomorrow have to sort out the mess. Tomorrow’s mob just start the cycle again & pass the crap onto the next lot…. and so on.
I do think the politicians from both sides are cynically deceiving us when they talk about immigration. It is growth for growth’s sake and they will never admit it, instead feeding us bollocks about the alleged utopia of a larger population.
It is growth for growth’s sake and they will never admit it, instead feeding us bollocks about the alleged utopia of a larger population.
To a certain point a larger population makes a difference but, like many things, it’s subject to diminishing returns. IMO, we’re way past the point where a larger population makes us better off because of the limited size of NZ and we already have enough population to do anything we want.
The problem we have now is because of the focus upon trade, and especially exports, we have a massive misallocation of workers. As an example we have 7% of working age population in farming instead of the 2% needed to feed ourselves. Freeing up those people from farming would give us many thousands of people to put into health, R&D and many other aspects of the economy that would be better for NZ than farming. And that doesn’t even take into account the damage that excessive farming is doing to our environment.
Ahh, well Pat, you see in a perfect free market economy, supply and demand will determine the equilibrium price for goods and services, all other things being equal, old chap.
As an example, with an increase in population, demand for, say, land and housing will naturally increase, supply is relatively inelastic as it were and thus the equilibrium price will tend to rise – this is a good thing and is simply a market law and a reflection that all is well in the world and such. One does love ones asset to appreciate.
A corollary of this increased population is that supply of labour is also increased and what would normally be a rather inelastic curve can then be made veeeery elastic. So we can then see that with increasing labour supply the equilibrium price will come down, even when there is a large demand for said labour generated by house construction due to increasing population. Again this is a good thing and is simply a law of ecocomics and an indisputable truth. One does loves unit costs to come down at the same time as margins increase.
So you see Pat, it’s a win-win situation and simply an outcome of the interplay of supply a dn deamnd and the invisible hand.
You do remember the invisible hand? It’s an important part of the perfect free market economy, but I digress.
in short ….it is a bogus argument….if you cannot make your society/economy work with x amount of population, increasing that population doesn’t change that fact.
couple of recent examples…..
Ireland, Celtic tiger, massive inflows of population and capital, bubbles and debt, underlying basis of society/economy unchanged…….massive crash, and they fin themselves worse off than they were pre boom.
Greece, higher population and density, similar economy (tourism and ag based) however their higher population has been of no benefit in resolving their fundamental problems.
NZ has enjoyed (though disappearing) a relatively unpolluted environment that has supported our lifestyles and economy solely due to our lack of population density through our (short) history….it is this which currently makes us a highly desirable destination for migration, both short and long term despite our distance from the rest of the world and the associated costs.
Kiwis (despite what we may tell ourselves) are inherently no less prone to destroying our environment than any other group, increase that density and we risk destroying that which makes us desirable and arguably advantaged.
Are we capable of prospering, or even holding our own, with a static population though Pat? Take Japan for example. A highly industrialised nation and they’ve been struggling for years with their zero population growth. Realistically what chance does NZ have, we don’t have much industry worth mentioning so what will drive our economy?
“When New Zealand’s oldest women’s rights organisation, the National Council of Women, lost their charitable status in 2010, their members fought back, eventually regaining it on appeal in 2013. However, their experience demonstrated the risk to charities in New Zealand who engage in activities that cause embarrassment to the Government and which could be defined as “political advocacy”.”
I think National know they’re probably going down in flames at the next election, so they’re engaged in a scorched earth policy. Push as much toxic legislation through as we can before we’re hurled from the battlements, and let the new government deal with the aftermath. It buys their benefactors and accomplices time to bed in the ideological poison, and if everything goes according to plan, it’ll be so difficult for the incoming administration to extract and/or neutralise, they’ll likely not even bother.
Being a young innocent thing I don’t understand why, when someone stands up in Parliament and tells a downright lie, that someone cannot stand up and say that what was said was a lie.
Is it that somehow the thought of being evil and brought into disrepute by the suggestion that there might be a liar there, is actually a greater evil than the fact that someone is a proven liar.
Brought about by the fact that John Key did his lying scumbag act in Parliament today but it was not allowed to be pointed out for what it was.
Apparently, calling a proven liar “a liar” is unparliamentary behaviour. The Westminster model is like some bizarre parallel dimension, where up is down and black is white, and even if something is demonstrably true… it shall not be mentioned for fear of besmirching the reputation of some smirking arsehole chortling on the front benches.
Key’s a bit like Voldemort in regard to his reputation for playing fast and loose with the facts — He Who Shall Not Be Named.
Well, then Labour, the Greens, and NZ First all must therefore, in succession, make a complaint to the speaker about John Key lying in the house and all, in succession, get thrown out and censured by the chair.
And then, they must refuse to leave.
Meek compliance will get them nowhere.
Repateet. I agree and I’d like to hear, ” The honourable XXX is a liar.”
What really irritates me though, is the use of the honorific? term, “honourable” ….The ‘honourable Gerry Brownlee ‘etc. What arrant, up themselves, pretentious nonsensical language.
Imagine an MP going home to their spouse or whatever and proudly saying…..”Guess what dear-As from tomorrow at work, I qualify to be called ‘Honourable’.
(would be eye-rolls abound in our house amidst the laughter).
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
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Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
December 2024 photo - with UK Tory Boris Johnson (Source: Facebook)Those PollsFor hours, political poll results have resounded across political hallways and commentary.According to the 1News Verizon poll, 50% of the country believe we are heading in the “wrong direction”, while 39% believe we are “on the right track”.The left ...
A Tai Rāwhiti mill that ran for 30 years before it was shut down in late 2023 is set to re-open in the coming months, which will eventually see nearly 300 new jobs in the region. A new report from Massey University shows that pensioners are struggling with rising costs. ...
As support continues to fall, Luxon also now faces his biggest internal ructions within the coalition since the election, with David Seymour reacting badly to being criticised by the PM. File photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Not since 1988 when Richard Prebble openly criticised David Lange have we seen such a challenge to a Prime Minister as that of David Seymour to Christopher Luxon last night. Prebble suggested Lange had mental health issues during a TV interview and was almost immediately fired. Seymour hasn’t gone quite ...
Three weeks in, and the 24/7 news cycle is not helping anyone feel calm and informed about the second Trump presidency. One day, the US is threatening 25% trade tariffs on its friends and neighbours. The reasons offered by the White House are absurd, such as stopping fentanyl coming in ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Wherever you look, you'll hear headlines claiming we've passed 1.5 degrees of global warming. And while 2024 saw ...
Photo by Heather M. Edwards on UnsplashHere’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s politics and economy in the week to Feb 10 below. That’s ahead of live chats on the Substack App and The Kākā’s front page on Substack at 5pm with: on his column in The ...
Is there anyone in the world the National Party loves more than a campaign donor? Why yes, there is! They will always have the warmest hello and would you like to slip into something more comfortable for that great god of our age, the High Net Worth Individual.The words the ...
Waste and fraud certainly exist in foreign aid programs, but rightwing celebration of USAID’s dismantling shows profound ignorance of the value of soft power (as opposed to hard power) in projecting US influence and interests abroad by non-military/coercive means (think of “hearts and minds,” “hugs, not bullets,” “honey versus vinegar,” ...
Health New Zealand is proposing to cut almost half of its data and digital positions – more than 1000 of them. The PSA has called on the Privacy Commissioner to urgently investigate the cuts due to the potential for serious consequences for patients. NZNO is calling for an urgent increase ...
We may see a few more luxury cars on Queen Street, but a loosening of rules to entice rich foreigners to invest more here is unlikely to “turbocharge our economic growth”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Let us not dance daintily around the elephant in the room. Our politicians who serve us in the present are not honest, certainly not as honest as they should be, and while the right are taking out most of the trophies for warping narratives and literally redefining “facts”, the kiwi ...
A few weeks ago I took a look at public transport ridership in 2024. In today’s post I’m going to be looking a bit deeper at bus ridership. Buses make up the vast majority of ridership in Auckland with 70 million boardings last year out of a total of 89.4 ...
Oh, you know I did itIt's over and I feel fineNothing you could say is gonna change my mindWaited and I waited the longest nightNothing like the taste of sweet declineSongwriters: Chris Shiflett / David Eric Grohl / Nate Mendel / Taylor Hawkins.Hindsight is good, eh?The clarity when the pieces ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 16 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 10The Kākā’s weekly wrap-up of news about politics and the economy is due at midday, followed by webinar for paying subscribers in Substack’s ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 2, 2025 thru Sat, February 8, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Today, I stumbled across a Twitter Meme: the ending of The Lord of the Rings as a Chess scenario: https://x.com/mellon_heads/status/1887983845917564991 It gets across the basic gist. Aragorn and Gandalf offering up ‘material’ at the Morannon allows Frodo and Samwise to catch Sauron unawares – fair enough. But there are a ...
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Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is methane the ...
The Government’s idea is that the private sector and Community Housing Providers will fund, build and operate new affordable housing to address our housing crisis. Meanwhile, the Government does not know where almost half of the 1,700 children who left emergency housing actually went. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong ...
Oh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youOh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youSongwriters: Alexander Ebert / Jade Allyson CastrinosMorena,I’m on a tight time frame this morning. In about an hour and a half, I’ll need to pack up and hit the road ...
This is a post about the Mountain Tui substack, and small tweaks - further to the poll and request post the other day. Please don’t read if you aren’t interested in my personal matters. Thank you all.After oohing-and-aahing about how to structure the Substack model since November, including obtaining ...
This transcript of a recent conversation between the Prime Minister and his chief economic adviser has not been verified.We’ve announced we are the ‘Yes Government’. Do you like it?Yes, Prime Minister.Dreamed up by the PR team. It’s about being committed to growth. Not that the PR team know anything about ...
The other day, Australian Senator Nick McKim issued a warning in the Australian Parliement about the US’s descent into fascim.And of course it’s true, but I lament - that was true as soon as Trump won.What we see is now simply the reification of the intention, planning, and forces behind ...
Among the many other problems associated with Musk/DOGE sending a fleet of teenage and twenty-something cultists to remove, copy and appropriate federal records like social security, medicaid and other supposedly protected data is the fact that the youngsters doing the data-removal, copying and security protocol and filter code over-writing have ...
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tuneBird fly high by the light of the moonOh, oh, oh, JokermanSong by Bob Dylan.Morena folks, I hope this fine morning of the 7th of February finds you well. We're still close to Paihia, just a short drive out of town. Below is the view ...
It’s been an eventful week as always, so here’s a few things that we have found interesting. We also hope everyone had a happy and relaxing Waitangi Day! This week in Greater Auckland We’re still running on summer time, but provided two chewy posts: On Tuesday, a guest ...
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The fact that Waitangi ended up being such a low-key affair may mark it out as one of the most significant Waitangi Days in recent years. A group of women draped in “Toitu Te Tiriti” banners who turned their backs on the politicians’ powhiri was about as rough as it ...
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This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk The 119th Congress comes with a price tag. The oil and gas industry gave about $24 million in campaign contributions to the members of the U.S. House and Senate expected to be sworn in January 3, 2025, according to a ...
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Thanks folks for your feedback, votes and comments this week. I’ll be making the changes soon. Appreciate all your emails, comments and subscriptions too. I know your time is valuable - muchas gracias.A lot is happening both here and around the world - so I want to provide a snippets ...
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The December labour market statistics have been released, showing yet another increase in unemployment. There are now 156,000 unemployed - 34,000 more than when National took office. And having thrown all these people out of work, National is doubling down on cruelty. Because being vicious will somehow magically create the ...
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Through its austerity measures, the coalition government has engineered a rise in unemployment in order to reduce inflation while – simultaneously – cracking down harder and harder on the people thrown out of work by its own policies. To that end, Social Development Minister Louise Upston this week added two ...
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Catching you up on the morning’s global news and a quick look at the parallels -GLOBALTariffs are backSharemarkets in the US, UK and Europe have “plunged” in response to Trump’s tariffs. And while Mexico has won a one month reprieve, Canada and China will see their respective 25% and 10% ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission. Gondolas are often in the news, with manufacturers of ropeway systems proposing them as a modern option for mass transit systems in New Zealand. However, like every next big thing in transport, it’s hard ...
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Hi,I woke up feeling nervous this morning, realising that this weekend Flightless Bird is going to do it’s first ever live show. We’re heading to a sold out (!) show in Seattle to test the format out in front of an audience. If it works, we’ll do more. I want ...
From the United-For-Now States of America comes the thrilling news that a New Zealander may be at the very heart of the current coup. Punching above our weight on the world stage once more! Wait, you may be asking, what New Zealander? I speak of Peter Thiel, made street legal ...
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Back in 2023, a "prominent political figure" went on trial for historic sex offences. But we weren't allowed to know who they were or what political party they were "prominent" in, because it might affect the way we voted. At the time, I said that this was untenable; it was ...
I'm going, I'm goingWhere the water tastes like wineI'm going where the water tastes like wineWe can jump in the waterStay drunk all the timeI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayAll this fussing and fighting, man, you know I sure ...
Waitangi Day is a time to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi and stand together for a just and fair Aotearoa. Across the motu, communities are gathering to reflect, kōrero, and take action for a future built on equity and tino rangatiratanga. From dawn ceremonies to whānau-friendly events, there are ...
Subscribe to Mountain Tūī ! Where you too can learn about exciting things from a flying bird! Tweet.Yes - I absolutely suck at marketing. It’s a fact.But first -My question to all readers is:How should I set up the Substack model?It’s been something I’ve been meaning to ask since November ...
Here’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s political economy on politics and in the week to Feb 3:PM Christopher Luxon began 2025’s first day of Parliament last Tuesday by carrying on where left off in 2024, letting National’s junior coalition partner set the political agenda and dragging ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
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Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
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Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
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Excellent discussion on the government’s new proposed bulk funding of education.
Bulk funding, performance pay, privatisation, Hekia Parata. It’s our worst nightmare come true. Top marks to Catherine Delahunty , she leaves Chris Hipkins for dead. I am deeply saddened to be witnessing the acceleration of inequality in this country and it is most apparent in our schools , which is a bad indicator .
Well, let’s hope that the teacher unions get some support if they actually stand firm and fight. Who else will?
Why does sport in New Zealand prevail over the news?
Compare New Zealand
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/
with China
http://www.scmp.com/news/china
with France
http://www.france24.com/en/france/
with Germany
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/
with Russia
https://www.rt.com/
Ticks the distraction box Paul. Then comes the fear and dog whistling memes that P houses, road incidents, crime, various offshore ‘terror’ events to help sell the new spying measures and more.
Doesn’t leave much room for actual local hardcore fact based issues like our waterways, housing, education, health, industrial accidents etc
JK’s bestie Richie only has to scratch his arse and he’s back filling up the vacuous space that passes for the NZ msm.
DP is being refined and trialled out with some new players like Quinn and will be a useful tool in nact re-election strategy.
Because the NZ Herald is owned by APN? And papers from APN, News Ltd., and Faifax are setting the bar high for their readers?
http://www.heraldsun.com.au
http://www.theage.com.au
http://www.smh.com.au
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au
Because it’s the latest sporting event in the world and IS news.
Shock horror. People are interested in different things.
^ largest (sorry no edit on mobile)
How many people are actually following it?
“How many people are actually following it”
Quite a lot, if you believe the MSM news sites which list their most popular stories.
On Stuff we find that 7 of the top 10 are about the Olympics.
On the New Zealand Herald it is 3 of their top 5.
Hard to say that people really aren’t interested given that result.
What’s the percentage of the population actually reading them?
What’s the percentage of population put off even going to the MSM because it’s dominated by sport?
Crap — it is not news, it is only sport (or in your case ‘bread and circuses’).
Exactly so not a lead story then and the football world cup is the largest event.
olympics is just a current distraction which runs till the paraolympics concludes probably with some drugged athletes stories stretching it out till xmas distractions can commence.
Watching Trump give a speech live from Youngstown about foreign policy, the man is insane. He wants to keep Guantanamo open and establish a Commission of Radical Islam, says he will work with Israel, Nato and Russia. USA is screwed, what a choice, poor buggers.
Yep and the madness will spread if tump gets in – gonna be an outrageous next few years.
The speech was notable for how he delivered it – prepared remarks. Almost all of the time, he’s just turned up somehow and spoken off the cuff, which is what has gotten him in trouble.
I think it’s too little, too late. It might arrest his decline in the polls, but probably won’t do a lot to reverse it.
Trump is going to get completely smashed (unless your CV, who insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that Trump is going cream it).
Before the convention, it was hard to really discount CV’s position.
But since the convention, Trump’s well and truly blown it. Unless there’s a big turnaround in his polling, CV’s simply in fantasy land.
Trump has 9 or so weeks to turn it around. Impossible I would say – everything out of his mouth is either a lie, a vainglorious boast or a word salad
Even if he just becomes somewhat rational in his positions, I don’t think he’ll be able to turn the numbers around sufficiently to win.
Seems like his only chance is a black swan event or a new scandal emerging about Hillary, possibly the emails that wikileaks say they have and they’re saving up to deliberately release to change the course of the election (and given the alternative is Trump, this hardly seems responsible of them).
You can’t turn a demagogue into a statesman.
Frankly I think that going to prepared statements is a mistake – they needed to find a happy medium between impromptu (and completely nuts) and scripted (and wooden). Now I think they’re boldly grasping the worst of both worlds.
He’s managed to deliver a scripted prepared speech all the way through without losing it at least once before. But it bores his audience, which is the immediate feedback he can feel. It just makes the inevitable train-wreck in the next 48 hours even bigger.
have just listened to Little and Woodhouse on immigration, and pose a question for comment for the day.
What are the advantages of increased population?
(a policy that was never put to the public for debate by either party/ government)
I wonder if a larger population is the goal Pat. It seems to me people naturally think ‘larger population’ when it’s really about ‘growing population’
If we had zero population growth NZs construction industry would not have a lot of work and construction makes up a pretty significant chunk of today’s GDP. How many new buildings would go up if there was already enough to go around?
If one was to look at growth as the real objective one might ask the question; what if the growth was to be halted? It looks to me like the Govt can’t halt the population growth because it’s now sustaining the economy.
” It looks to me like the Govt can’t halt the population growth because it’s now sustaining the economy.”
yes, but what advantages does increasing our population bring?…and assuming you see advantages what is desirable population target for NZ?
I think you may have missed my point there Pat. Mine was there is no desirable population target because that target doesn’t exist. The politicians only want population growth, they don’t want a larger population per se.
As for advantages. Population growth creates certain types of demand for goods & services that a static population doesn’t. It’s an economic stimulant. Is that an advantage? I don’t think so, others may.
Which, of course, is also why they want more export markets. It increases the number of people that can be sold to. They seem to forget that each nation wants the same thing and so the growth that they want isn’t really there.
so growth for growths sake?
Pretty much.
don’t think i missed your point….a short term stimulus to the economy that is politically advantageous……but no long term advantage is what i take from your posts
Pretty much, with reservations. Politicians can milk immigration for a very long time so it’s certainly to their advantage.
Look at the present situation for example. We have a severe housing shortage which can only be attributed to population growth. They could halt immigration now and it would take up to a decade or more to build the houses & commercial properties that would fully satisfy today’s demand.
The economic stimulant isn’t all a short term sugar rush. It has stages and the second stage is (probably) a big construction boom that could run for years after the population growth is halted. I’d be surprised if National don’t make that a plank at the next election, it’s reached that time.
When it’s been thoroughly milked & all possible gains exhausted, well, kickstart the immigration cycle again.
and yet this “short term” economic stimulus can hardly be considered entirely positive…so on balance is it an advantage?
I don’t personally believe it’s of any overall benefit, but then my opinion doesn’t count for much.
My thinking is the catch with immigration is the benefits are enjoyed early and the real costs imposed late. Politicians of the day can bask in the reflected glory of a stimulated economy and the pollies of tomorrow have to sort out the mess. Tomorrow’s mob just start the cycle again & pass the crap onto the next lot…. and so on.
I do think the politicians from both sides are cynically deceiving us when they talk about immigration. It is growth for growth’s sake and they will never admit it, instead feeding us bollocks about the alleged utopia of a larger population.
To a certain point a larger population makes a difference but, like many things, it’s subject to diminishing returns. IMO, we’re way past the point where a larger population makes us better off because of the limited size of NZ and we already have enough population to do anything we want.
The problem we have now is because of the focus upon trade, and especially exports, we have a massive misallocation of workers. As an example we have 7% of working age population in farming instead of the 2% needed to feed ourselves. Freeing up those people from farming would give us many thousands of people to put into health, R&D and many other aspects of the economy that would be better for NZ than farming. And that doesn’t even take into account the damage that excessive farming is doing to our environment.
Ahh, well Pat, you see in a perfect free market economy, supply and demand will determine the equilibrium price for goods and services, all other things being equal, old chap.
As an example, with an increase in population, demand for, say, land and housing will naturally increase, supply is relatively inelastic as it were and thus the equilibrium price will tend to rise – this is a good thing and is simply a market law and a reflection that all is well in the world and such. One does love ones asset to appreciate.
A corollary of this increased population is that supply of labour is also increased and what would normally be a rather inelastic curve can then be made veeeery elastic. So we can then see that with increasing labour supply the equilibrium price will come down, even when there is a large demand for said labour generated by house construction due to increasing population. Again this is a good thing and is simply a law of ecocomics and an indisputable truth. One does loves unit costs to come down at the same time as margins increase.
So you see Pat, it’s a win-win situation and simply an outcome of the interplay of supply a dn deamnd and the invisible hand.
You do remember the invisible hand? It’s an important part of the perfect free market economy, but I digress.
so when do we end this wonderful elasticity ….and what then?
And what about you Pat, what’s your thoughts on it?
in short ….it is a bogus argument….if you cannot make your society/economy work with x amount of population, increasing that population doesn’t change that fact.
couple of recent examples…..
Ireland, Celtic tiger, massive inflows of population and capital, bubbles and debt, underlying basis of society/economy unchanged…….massive crash, and they fin themselves worse off than they were pre boom.
Greece, higher population and density, similar economy (tourism and ag based) however their higher population has been of no benefit in resolving their fundamental problems.
NZ has enjoyed (though disappearing) a relatively unpolluted environment that has supported our lifestyles and economy solely due to our lack of population density through our (short) history….it is this which currently makes us a highly desirable destination for migration, both short and long term despite our distance from the rest of the world and the associated costs.
Kiwis (despite what we may tell ourselves) are inherently no less prone to destroying our environment than any other group, increase that density and we risk destroying that which makes us desirable and arguably advantaged.
Are we capable of prospering, or even holding our own, with a static population though Pat? Take Japan for example. A highly industrialised nation and they’ve been struggling for years with their zero population growth. Realistically what chance does NZ have, we don’t have much industry worth mentioning so what will drive our economy?
the point is those solutions will be the same irrespective of population size….ipso facto, population increase is not the solution.
What has always driven the economy – development. Increasing productivity frees up people to work on other things.
It is only capitalism and the drive for ever higher profits for the shareholders/bludgers that requires an ever growing population.
Government takes another shot at charities…removes the right to appeal tax privileges status.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11694323
“When New Zealand’s oldest women’s rights organisation, the National Council of Women, lost their charitable status in 2010, their members fought back, eventually regaining it on appeal in 2013. However, their experience demonstrated the risk to charities in New Zealand who engage in activities that cause embarrassment to the Government and which could be defined as “political advocacy”.”
God forbid charities actually do any advocacy….
Nobody does nasty like nact do, its a masterclass in a cut here a snip there a law change over there etc
I think National know they’re probably going down in flames at the next election, so they’re engaged in a scorched earth policy. Push as much toxic legislation through as we can before we’re hurled from the battlements, and let the new government deal with the aftermath. It buys their benefactors and accomplices time to bed in the ideological poison, and if everything goes according to plan, it’ll be so difficult for the incoming administration to extract and/or neutralise, they’ll likely not even bother.
Bastards, one and all.
Interesting read about constructs and connections.
https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2016/08/15/the-anthropology-of-optical-illusions/
Being a young innocent thing I don’t understand why, when someone stands up in Parliament and tells a downright lie, that someone cannot stand up and say that what was said was a lie.
Is it that somehow the thought of being evil and brought into disrepute by the suggestion that there might be a liar there, is actually a greater evil than the fact that someone is a proven liar.
Brought about by the fact that John Key did his lying scumbag act in Parliament today but it was not allowed to be pointed out for what it was.
Apparently an insult to someone’s reputation is worse than an insult to their intelligence…
Apparently, calling a proven liar “a liar” is unparliamentary behaviour. The Westminster model is like some bizarre parallel dimension, where up is down and black is white, and even if something is demonstrably true… it shall not be mentioned for fear of besmirching the reputation of some smirking arsehole chortling on the front benches.
Key’s a bit like Voldemort in regard to his reputation for playing fast and loose with the facts — He Who Shall Not Be Named.
Well, then Labour, the Greens, and NZ First all must therefore, in succession, make a complaint to the speaker about John Key lying in the house and all, in succession, get thrown out and censured by the chair.
And then, they must refuse to leave.
Meek compliance will get them nowhere.
I would pay money to see that happen.
Repateet. I agree and I’d like to hear, ” The honourable XXX is a liar.”
What really irritates me though, is the use of the honorific? term, “honourable” ….The ‘honourable Gerry Brownlee ‘etc. What arrant, up themselves, pretentious nonsensical language.
Imagine an MP going home to their spouse or whatever and proudly saying…..”Guess what dear-As from tomorrow at work, I qualify to be called ‘Honourable’.
(would be eye-rolls abound in our house amidst the laughter).
But ! but! -they actually take it seriously!