National used a phoney excuse to claim they could not afford to pay $4 Million to fix a 1km slip that closed the Gisborne Napier rail service but were very happy to $15 Million to be spent on one cycle trail.???? Un-believable.
CleanGreen Yes Keys logic seem unbelievable I use to take the Train from Gisborne to Napier a few years back It is a beautiful safe scenic ride like all OUR rail route .
Even the roads are shocking the Napier Taupo road once you get over the Tarawera ranges the road to Gisborne are shit I don’t go up north much once but that was before key got the wheel and the roads up north were ok then they are not roads that one expects for a rich civilized society all OUR wealthy people won’t no this as there main mode of transport is a plane. I wonder what motive key had to starve these regions of funding for the maintenance of there infrastructure . Ka pai
being 73 born in Auckland and brought up in Napier from a six yr old we always used rail to go north and south as many others did then.
Most freight also went by rail too.
Today our regional roads are truly a disaster, as we have potholes and sinking road bridge aproaches all over the regions between Palmerston North all the way up the East Coast to Opotiki now .
The roads are so bad now simply due to the extra weight, size, and volumes of trucks now allowed on these primary roads not built for these heavier trucks.
Those heavier trucks are now destroying the roads faster than they can be fixed, as the road contractors are writting these pproblems inour local press advising us all anbout those problems.
Road repair crews are now continually “patching these highways with cement dust and cold tar mix, but come back a week later and the roads again have big holes in them.
The hage cost of road repairs now are cripling most local councils who are allowing these extra heavy trucks on our narrow fragile roads so we are deep in the shit.
Anwser; – To Labour Coalition;
Bring back all regional rail services now please labour coalition, as you have promised and make our lives safer and more enjoyable.
“I use to take the Train from Gisborne to Napier a few years back “.
How time flies. Just a few years back the man says when he means the best part of 20.
The last passenger service was at the beginning of the century, just over 16 years ago.
“On 7 October 2001 the Bay Express from Wellington to Napier was cancelled and passenger services on the line ceased.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napier_Railway_Station,_New_Zealand
You have a very good memory if that only seems a “few years”.
At face value you seem to be judging someone negatively for having a different perception of time to you – so petty alwyn and bigoted btw – do you consider anyone else before writing?
At face value I would have to say you seem to have had your eyes closed and your brain in neutral when you read what I had written.
I don’t see, and there certainly wasn’t meant to be, anything derogatory about what I said. It is just a reflection on how fast time seems to pass when you get older. Something that seems to have been “just yesterday” turns out to have been a decade ago.
You may find the same thing when you reach maturity, if that ever happens.
NZ is going backwards now as rail is needed more than ever but no Government except for Micheal Cullen/Helen Clark & this labour coalition has been prepared to balance the freight and regional passenger services or better said “level the playing field” between all modes of transport.
Alll the papers and studies from scientists are now saying get awayy from road freight and use rail to lower the Climate change emmissions of CO2 but national well and truly dig a hole for us by attempting to totally close down our whole regional rail serrvices. http://uic.org/Energy-and-CO2-emissions
So that didn’t take long for the strikes to begin, its not a problem now but if strikes keep happening it’ll start to remind people of the bad ‘ol days of the 70s
[lprent: Perhaps you’d like to actually tell us what strike this is? A link would be sufficient.
The union’s general secretary Wayne Butson said employers Transdev Wellington and Hyundai Rotem, which operate and maintain Wellington’s rail network, were trying to remove longstanding conditions from staff collective agreements.
Rail and Maritime Transport Union general secretary Wayne Butson said they were unimpressed at how the matter had been handled by the company so far.
“This is the first time since 1994 that there has been a complete shutdown of the Wellington metro system,” he said.
“In fact, it has taken 15 years for us to get an employer who has angered the workers sufficiently to cause a strike.”
Transdev, a French-headquartered multinational company, took over the contract to run Wellington trains from KiwiRail last year.
Mr Butson argued Transdev had mishandled negotiations and risked bringing New Zealand back to an earlier age of industrial turmoil.
Ok. looking at the style with which you presented that, it looks to me like you are just deliberately fire raising.
That didn’t take you long after your last ban. Let treat you like you’d probably want to treat the workers striking to retain their existing conditions when a new employer tries it on.
The bad old days when people got a living wage, there was barely any unemployment, houses were affordable, when our health and education systems were well funded……,
Chris, are you a National troll who rejects democracy.
Rail workers have not had to strike for 25yrs until National allowed a private french company out bid kiwirail two years ago and national allowed this private company to strip the 25yr collective bargaining rights from those workers.
So do you wish to stop colective bargaining rights?
To me it sounds like it. so please explain.
By the way, – I am not in any union or rail workers organisation.
I am part of a community group who want to see more rail used to reduce the increasing truck gridlock down to a tolerable level so that our roads are safer than they are now and residential areas are not continually exposed to truck noise, vibrations, and air pollution destroying their health and wellbeing.
Reject democracy? Nope, I ‘m quite happy with democracy and MMP even with all its flaws as its the best system we currently have.
I’m pointing out that in the 70s there was quite a bit of industrial action, mainly around the interislander at holiday time to be far, enough that even as a youngster I still remember and that it ticked off enough people that the erosion of unions wasn’t exactly mourned by the majority of voters
I’m saying that very shortly after the new government theres a strike and at the moment its not a biggie but if theres more it may (or may not) remind the older voters of what NZ used to be like
[lprent: You really are a dipshit. From one of the links on my last note above.
Mr Butson said the union had a mandate to call a strike between 13 November and 1 December.
Doesn’t sound like a holiday period to me.
Lets add another arbitrary 2 weeks removal of your writing rights for lying and false equivalences. ]
When farm working for a time I met a carpenter who also worked on the ferries. We were discussing the issue of strikes that occurred often during holiday periods.
He told me the reason for one strike in the Seventies.
The first was the size of the new mattresses fitted into the crew bunks which did not fit but overflowed the bunk’s raised edge.
Oh dear!
I must have looked blankly at him for he explained that if you were lying in that bunk and the ship rolled, as they do, you got rolled as well …….over the edge of the bunk, onto the floor.
Holiday periods of course occurred three or four times a year, for a total of thirteen weeks. There was a good 1:3 chance that a strike period would overlap with a holiday period.
This unionist believed that difficulties for the workers were deliberately timed for these periods by management to allow public pressure to be brought to bear. There wasn’t much ‘relationship’ in ‘industrial relations” in that industry at that time.
Jesus, talk about false equivalence. Shortly after the National government there was a Global Financial collapse and an earthquake. We didn’t blame that on them.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but if an employer refuses to bargain and the only power you have is to strike, then holding a strike at a time convenient to the general public is hardly going to sway the employer to come back to the bargaining table is it?
All it would have taken to avert the strike was for Transdev to come back to the bargaining table. They have, instead, bet on the strike leading the general public to turn against the union. Classic industrial move.
You could just as easily have come out and said “look at that – we get a Labour government and all of a sudden there’s employers forcing unions to use the only power they have left”.
Except that most of the bastardry took place under a National government. Sigh…
The old union strain: All it would have taken to avert the strike was for Transdev to come back to the bargaining table. They have, instead, bet on the strike leading the general public to turn against the union. Classic industrial move.
and if ….the only power you have is to strike, then holding a strike at a time convenient to the general public is hardly going to sway the employer to come back to the bargaining table is it?
Some of us care about railway workers and them being treated fairly. Some don’t. Some of us care about young people not having their education disrupted. Who knows, it might lead some in that cohort to being able to tackle the economic system so it works for all.
Certainly though, having a strike during exam time is a kick in the guts for the anxious students, a strike against railway workers and organisers who seem self-centred and lacking the brains to understand education is important, and another strike against unions. The railway workers have not done anything for positive attitudes to unions and should have planned their strike judiciously, because there will be all sorts on consequences, some legal.
But in reality there is no perfect “judiciousl” time to strike, but since the new ‘progresive’ government now have only two weeks left operating as a “government in parliament” (according to the Radio NZ midday news)
I wager the RMTU had very little time to begin a “industrial strike” expecially when we don’t really know how the transdev workers contract system is working for or against them all at this time.?
Just the consideration that Wayne Buston did say the RMTU union members have not no strike action for 25 yrs!!!!!
Perhaps the employer, having received advance notice of the strike for that important day could have tried harder to resolve it. In a country that has so eroded pay and work conditions the “couldnt they have chosen a better time” is a form of victim blaming. We see DHBs behave the same when they force nurses and drs out of sheer frsutration to withdraw their services.
There is a rock-solid link between increased unionism and better worker pay and conditions. This is a very good thing and these benefits to society massively outweigh the occasional industrial dispute, in my opinion (and those disputes are as likely to be the fault of the employer as the union / workers)
It’s irritating to people who are just getting by to hear the general good cited when they are confronting the particular and individual pain.l Basically it is applying economic theory and ‘principle’ which doesn’t look at an alternative and presses forward with plans which leave those who lose out just externalities.
No-one, unionist, or not wants to be one of those disposable, crushable human ‘externalities’. So were the railways forced to go on strike this week because of unalterable timetables, or was it done in a determined move to act NOW no matter what, or was it chosen to hurt people and create controversy because of the timing.
This is what the Cooks and Stewards were wont to do on school holidays. I suggest that they didn’t make people feel that they were being treated fairly by other working men and women. That drove an unforgettable division between them and the other ordinary strugglers and small businesses.
“So that didn’t take long for the strikes to begin,….”
It’s rather telling you focus on the strike and not the reason for it. One might also note it didn’t take long for the new (foreign) contractor to shaft their workers.
“Similarly if you act like a machine (ie a troll) you will be treated as one – a form of spambot. A troll is generally defined on this site as someone who clearly isn’t bothering to engage their brain when commenting. The standard is that the troll could be replaced with a dictionary of lines and phrases, and no-one would know the difference. Typically trolls do not interact with other commentators as they either ignore what others say in reply or write a reply that ignores what they said. In either case it is ignorant, anti-social, annoying to read, and will often result in a banning so that others don’t have to read the comments of someone living with their sense organs turned off.”
I wasn’t debating you. But this is standard behaviour with you – you do the troll (often the single word as your entire reply) accusation with monotonous regularity.
Read the policy. Because you are being a boring and predictable troll.
For some people its a very big deal, this is the defence minister, the one that makes the big decisions, a former serving officer and he can’t even put his medals on correctly
Hey PR how do your wear your medals? I wear mine how they were mounted by the company paid to do it. I have no idea if that is the wrong order but really it is a minor issue as far as I and any of the other currently serving military personal I talked to this morning are concerned.
Not going to answer my original question then? Guess that confirms you are one of those who is more than happy to feel offended on behalf of service people without ever actually serving.
Yea we did talk about the claims that he was SAS. There have been a few over the years who have claimed it and they have always been caught out when not true.
Here’s the thing. Nothing in what you have linked show Mark claiming that he was in the SAS. A reporter appears to have made a mistake and unless you can point to the quote where he made the claim then you might need to try shifting the goal posts again.
There may be an issue from the original report and that is the wearing of his Oman medals. It is made clear when you receive these types of medals that they are not to be worn without specific approval. If he didn’t get this then he should cop a bit of flack for it. Lets be clear though, it would be for wearing medals he earned but shouldn’t wear as opposed to the common issue you see on ANZAC of people wearing medals they bought off the internet.
I was discussing this a couple of weekends ago over beers, which result in a very hearty debate about RM. Like me, RM’s last serving country was Oman natural these medals come first with his NZ medals last and my case the ADF medals first with NZ medal last followed by a ET Government medal as per the manual of dress (note I have been pinged as Walter Mittie in the UK and in NZ with my rack of gongs, headdress, tie etc). Now the Grey area that RM find himself in as the MoD does put his NZ first and the Oman medals last, but if he was in the NZDF this would be the case as per the manual of dress. As a minister of the crown does this apply as per the NZDF manual of dress or as he is a civilian does last country of service comes first with NZ medals last.
I’m not au fait with this by any stretch of the imagination but I’d go strait to the NZDF to get a decision and if its still a grey area then go with common sense, hes the MoD of NZ therefore he wears NZs medals first (has a bit of a ring to it)
Fair call, i’m not going to argue over it. I’ve got bloody 9 or 10 can’t bloody remember how many of these bloody things I’ve got plus a MUC and be i’ll ****ed if some muppet came along demanding me to change them around as i’ll telling them where to stick their bloody finger up somewhere because my NZ Medal is second last on my rack.
Also i’m getting sick and tired of explaining what every medal is and what order they should be when I go to the tailors when I’m given another one. I got pinged last week for not having the RAAF Ground Combat Badge and my reply was **** off as I’m starting to look a bloody yank or have more chrome than second hand car dealer.
Its bad a enough with the jokes a work like, where’s your wheelchair or your zigger fame kiwi for those gongs etc
The only plus side is I get to go to a lot cocktail parties.
The standard you walk by is a very true statement. However it is hardly his responsibility to issue a correction for someone else’s error. For all you know he contacted them and told them he wasn’t in the SAS and they felt it wasn’t important enough to correct.
I am no NZ1st supporter but this is a pretty minor point to get hung up on.
By the way you should probably apply for that 3 year medal other wise you will out of the rig of the day at next ANZAC day. Standard I walk by and all.
In my defence it came in after i’d left and I’d only just recently learned of it 🙂
But seriously the real reason is that when i look at the old guys with their chests full of medals and i rock up with four then I’d feel like a bit of…not fake but…not quite as…worthy?
I know what you mean there. I know a lot of currently serving personnel who don’t wear their medals on ANZAC simply because they don’t feel they hold a feather to what the old boys did for theirs.
Morena, if you have elderly neighbours, keep an eye on them please.
Yesterday I heard the firewood truck arrive at the oldies house next door, I couldn’t hear anyone helping Mr 80 with the wood, so I went over to check. There he was kneeling on the ground half slumped over a wheel barrow, trying ever so hard to do it himself, to the point he was about to collapse. After telling him off and making him sit down, my friend and myself took over and made sure all his wood was stacked.
See the oldies will try and be independent until their last breath, they find it hard to ask for help because they think that everyone wants something. He wanted to pay us for helping, I’m like get real, that’s not how I roll. He’s like but it’s not right you doing all of this for nothing, nah whats not right is him stacking the wood in his state, turns out he’s going in for an operation in a couple of weeks.
So please keep an eye on the oldies, teach the kids to respect them and help them. Oldies are so important, stubborn, vulnerable and awesome.
My thoughts exactly Cinny we must look after all OUR elderly people as they use to look after us. We must teach our moko to look after all our vulnerable people.
To Brodie your very Kiwi personality will be missed and It’s a shame you are leaving Breakfast . But I’m sure you will keep having a positive effect on our New Zealand Society with your new job all the best to you many thanks for your support there is a bigger picture to this story Ka pai
Now I no that they have sent people into my wifes work and now they are breaching her privacy rights . I.m not stupid my wife does not no how power full Eco Maori is .
I just tell her that the Eco Maori sign on my truck are just to boost my blog viewers. So a lot of people know about my fight for equality for all humans and for Mother Earth . These people who are attacking my credibility will say and do anything to under me and my whano and won’t give a fuck who they hurt in the prosess I no that the people can see this with the actions these people take to try and steal my Mana .
The fools are just adding to my MANA many thanks to them for this is my fate .
Kia Kaha
God bless you Cinny. 4 We all need neighbors like you. Norman and I struggle to do the big physical tasks now, and have learned to be thankful for help.
We have a firewood guy who does the wood in disposable bags. This is not much dearer but easier to stack and bring in as needed. May help someone else xx
That was nice Cinny and very welcome to the person involved.
Unwelcome though, is any attempt to actually look at the situation the country is in with increased ageing and dying long after people are incapacitated mentally, internally, bodily with lack of mobility or all of them. How many operations for people over 80? How can we manage our hospitals while we have a government that can’t take a clear direction from people as to how the priorities should go and have them enshrined in law and properly funded? I think that this means that an op needed for a very young child should be performed ahead of one for someone over 70 if there was a priority situation.
Everyone wants to be considered as part of a democracy, but don’t want to be registered when it comes to a workshop on deciding future political actions and what is the most ethical way to manage them. So everyone get warm fuzzies about helping others, which should be encouraged but also get out there and look at the looming problems that our poor hospital staff are coping with. Doing your bit as responsible mature people pushing the government is a less immediate way of helping others.
There are people who are working on in NZ still under the principles and practices that we had as a decent country that attempted consideration for everybody and didn’t treat every part of life as a potential opportunity for a business, for someone to profit from. Those people working hard are being driven into the ground. But when citizens request law changes that will have an ameliorating effect they get ignored by the don’t-do-nothing-till I tell-you Nat government and we hope that won’t extend on to the present.
In the meantime we can’t have the right to euthanasia when we want it, I think from the age of 70 without having to make a case as being terminally ill. At 75 (my age) I’m still useful to others and myself but I will have to take a back seat sometime after a fall etc and have no wish to wait long enough to get alzheimerrs or become so unsettled I get paranoic. That is just one aspect of our need to discuss health, treatment, and what can be afforded and that one can make a rational and ethical case for. Would it be better to fund hospices so people who are terminally ill can get their last year of two with good care, but less expensive life-extending treatment. It is complex.
Isn’t it time that we had a Citizen Policy Information and Planning Group (PIP)? A small pip could lead to growing a healthy system. We can’t trust the advisors or academics, they have mind control applied by their university board or the government treating them as puppets to be jerked when required, they can be informed but take a slant that is personality-based or individually advantaged, and should be listened to and then tested against others.
Am no angel lmao, but my folks are good people, looking out for neighbours and oldies is what I was taught, what I’m teaching my kids, we are trying to change the world 🙂
I wonder if ‘helpful neighbour’ is not so common anymore because many people are unable to own their own home. If everyone was able to own their place, some how, would they feel more secure, be more friendly, stronger communities, better communication etc etc etc?
Hey that’s a great idea ‘PIP’. Do we now have a Minister for Seniors? Having a vision of seniors winz, with a classy name, no security guards, full of info and networking, a place they can get their pension sorted that they are proud and happy to go to. A Seniors HUB.
It’s a concern that some see the oldies as ‘cash cows’ exploiting the vulnerable. Rest homes, home help, Dr’s etc. I wonder how that is monitored?
It was the centenary of the Russian Revolution about a week ago and yet this hugely significant event has past almost completely unnoticed.
“The Soviet Union will be looked at in history, not as the end of Communism but as its first valiant experiment…… It will be the petre dish where Communists and Socialists will learn from – not reject.”
You mean a bit like where this neoteric liberalism is leading us.
All authoritarianism looks the same in the end, be it left or right.
No one in their right mind would argue against the Russian Revolution going off the rails during the civil war, and the rise of the bolsheviks. For a few months, people, average stiffs actually had control of their lives away from monarchs, leaders, and authoritarian types. People, average people threw off the shackles of oppression. Yeah they were duped, and as always some bloke and his ego took over, then crushed the whole thing.
But you gotta love the fact this was a revolution by the people, for the people that almost worked. Unlike the USA one which was by the rich and for the rich – with very clever use of language.
I put it in the who gives a fuck catagory – for a few months this or that – meanwhile for a few decades the opposite of worker freedoms and rights. There are lessons to learn from the revolution but using it as a template for revolution today isn’t one of them imo.
Edit prob a bit harsh – I stand with the sentiment that started the Russian revolution and I get that some, including lefties commemorate the event. Sorry for being disrespectful to you.
I live here and are very interested in our history.
Edit. Why do you care about it so much? Why is it important to you? For me it is really a very small but important event. I like Marx. It led to the Soviet bloc, the cold war and now Russian meddling in the us election to put the trump in there. Sorry forget the last bit of the last line i couldnt resist the humour.
But you gotta love the fact this was a revolution by the people, for the people that almost worked. Unlike the USA one which was by the rich and for the rich – with very clever use of language.
Had a quick look at the Waingakau village site, and the development will be a combination of 76 co-housing units, with 44 normal subdivision properties.
“This development will deliver high quality homes at approximately $2025 per square metre – this cost was the average quality build cost for Hawke’s Bay as at August 2017. Waingakau is affordable as the homes will have a compact footprint, so will use less materials and energy, and the land is cheaper. As an initial indication, based on these costs homes will be priced from $140,000 to $380,000 for 1 to 4 bedrooms.
Housing will be available for mixed economic situations from subsidised rental homes, assisted purchase, market rental properties, through to owner occupied properties. If you are interested in buying or long term renting”
The cohousing development – along with the intended amenities – sounds very much what an indigenous form of housing would be like in NZ. And the structure plan gives a good indication of the benefits of planned housings units with shared spaces. I would enjoy living in one of those units I’m sure.
I wonder why they included the conventional housing, and why they are going to release those on the market? Whether it was just too big a move away from convention for the stakeholders, or if it was that a return was required to get the project off the ground. The 44 conventional houses appear to take up the same area as the 76 cohousing units and associated marae and community hub.
(Unfortunately, participating in the market does have an effect on their concern regarding affordable homes in the long-term).
The “affordability” seems to be closer to the real meaning of the word than when it is usually used. I hope that the interest in the cohousing component is such that it ends up comprising most of the development.
This is disgraceful
The % interest for pay day loans
From 300% to 800% pa
Many are advertised heavily on TV
And
Remember, ‘friendly’ loan companies are always associated with unfriendly collection agencies. Best to avoid getting caught up with any of that.
“My initial action was absolute horror. I was really, really confused. The first thing I did was look at my mum and, while he was still standing there, I didn’t say anything. What does a teenager say to the ex-president of the United States?”
I can read the confidence of my oppressors just by observing my neighbors and one of them is my main oppressor he imposes his ideological neo liberal view on the rest of my neighbors and 3 family’s have left because of this peacock . I thought of crowd funding to hire a lawyer to represent me but with the amount of resources they are pouring into monitoring everything I do. I no they will stop that as they have stopped me from getting legal Representation on many occasions . They are digging and scraping at the hole they have dug into my past and as soon as they think they smell shit they spread it around as if it is fact and nothing is fact until it is proven to be fact isn’t that what our law states on no not for a poor Maori let’s get this strait the same applies to any poor person in our western society it is just that Maori get more discrimination than the rest of the other cultures in our paradise called New Zealand. .
I have challenged them on many occasions to arrest me and lets have the courts decide whom is breaking OUR laws so why wont they arrest me and get It over and done with are they will get there asses handed to them and that’s why they won’t arrest me. I have ask to negotiate but no they don’t negotiate with a poor Maori.
So what should this tell you that us poor Maori cultured people need to join together and stop any bullshit happening to OUR moko’s and to make sure that our moko have a bright future and not a future under the bridge or in jail. Kia Kaha
P.S at least they have stop blasting the neighbor hood with there sirens this was quite a frequent well come home experance for me as my neighbor’s can confirm Ka pai .
I am finding it really weird how none of the lefties around here are making the effort to help eco maori. (But perhaps they are, e.g. by sending him private messages)
Maybe they are scared to do or say anything I think. They may also be worried because they might say the wrong thing and also because he uses Māori in their handle. Personally ive been worried about that poster for a while but it is a mod issue not a commenter issue imo.
I see it as a community issue here (i.e. both mods and commenters).
EM comments about politics all the time, just like everyone else here. So there is no need to moderate from the perspective.
We have people with a huge range of mental health capacities and illness here. I don’t see that as being an issue myself.
If you ever have concerns about someone acutely you can either email Lynn (who I guess can make a decision about whether its ok to keep publishing comments*), or you can grab the attention of one of the moderators.
For the commenters, I suggest not being mean to people perceived as struggling.
*personally, I don’t think that someone having mental health issues should preclude them from commenting so long as their comments aren’t causing a problem for the site legally or in terms of the community getting wound up or threads getting derailed (i.e. same rules apply as to anyone), but I’m not sure if it’s ever been discussed in the back end.
We all work with what people write and that is all we get.
If the mods are okay I’m certainly not going to do anything apart from being compassionate when I deem appropriate and skimming their comments the rest of the time.
Doing something, doing nothing – both can be difficult if a person is having mental health issues.
I work in mental health. I have been focusing on mental health for colonised indigenous peoples particuarily around suicide prevention for Māori for all age groups.
That is where I’m coming from I’m not diagnosing anyone and my only interest in this subthread is about ensuring people are okay which is why I said bms initial comment was compassionate.
Leave Eco Maori be, personally I read his threads and like what he writes. Okay he can be a bit odd but so what, this makes life a bit more edgy and interesting. God forbid we all should be the same, I for one, would die of boredom. And, by the way every one of us is a bit odd to some people some of the time, you’d better believe it.
What’s a little paranoia anyway – if more people had their antennae up and were more tuned in then this world would be a better place.
Hang in there Eco Maori – we’re all in this together.
That’s similar to how I feel. We have no way of knowing what is going for a person. I don’t read all of EM’s comments but as far as I can tell he’s talking about politics and life most of the time. And yep re appearing odd, what’s wrong with that anyway?
Not too happy with people applying mental health labels to others out of their own discomfit.
Me to Kate i enjoy a chat to eco maori as we both had back on 1.1 & 1.1.1.
Leave my friend eco maori be a peace.
Mum always taught me to speak out your troubles in your soul and it begins to ease, actually James Taylor sang a song about this exactly in the 1970’s when I was a lonely kiwi in canada & very lonely and it warmed my soul then.
There’s not many options available to help an pseudonymous poster, and any intervention by mods (who might actually have a legit email address to contact eco) is between the two of them, none of our business. And maybe eco’s posts really are part of a cunning plan, like they say they are. Who knows?
The comments don’t seem to be escalating in intensity or focussing on individuals, so that’s a plus if eco really is having psych issues. And eco’s referred to spouse and family, so if there’s a problem they’d be better placed to persuade eco to get help.
Also, we have no way of knowing what kind of help any person is getting or not. Add that to the fact that getting help can too often be something that harms people, I think really from this distance it’s none of our business until someone asks here for support. The exception to that would be if someone sounded like they were harming themselves or others, but again (as above) that’s a rule that applies to everyone.
The nuisance neighbour syndrome is expanding at the same rate as road rage (increasing) and they seem to have similar issues.
Too many people in NZ and expanding at the 3rd highest rate per capita in the world. Councils are useless at keeping the bylaws. They are also obsessed with allowing out of scope development everywhere turning communities into war zones.
Sometimes like the Kaipara council they just screw over the rate payers and bankrupt themselves and then get their ratepayers to bail them out when they plan their pie in the sky expansions.
Or with Auckland council just screw everyone over which explains the Auckland council’s extremely low rating from the public, who appear to hate them for the most part. Funny that this low international rating does not seem to impact on their pay levels?
I am finding it really weird how none of the lefties around here are making the effort to help eco maori. (But perhaps they are, e.g. by sending him private messages)
I would have thought the criteria for helping someone who is struggling would be that one is compassionate/gives a shit. But interesting to see that as a righty you believe that is the responsibility of left wingers.
I have been replying to his posts on a “you should seek help” basis which up until now no one else has bothered to do. The “lefty” reference may annoy some but at least it has got some people to engage on the issue.
No problem, cleangreen. Gave me a chance to make a pun on the Welsh/welsh whatever his fecking name is (literary reference to Irish plays by Padraic MacDonagh.)
I don’t know Gareth Hughes at all. But he seems a Very Earnest Young Man, as opposed to the World-Weary Bored Nouveau Riche Biker Entrepreneur with a Token Social Conscience.
A lot of money equals money for accountants = using the legal but generally unknown loopholes to pay less taxes.
The trick for government is to close the loopholes.
It’s way worse now, as people can just flit all over the world and reside anywhere more convenient and use even more loopholes.
The real money is made on paper.
Still seems weird Gareth is paying so little though when he seems to actually want to pay tax. Imagine what’s going on with the people who don’t want to pay tax or are criminals!
I was wondering if he had set his affairs differently if he would be paying more tax. e.g. he could be drawing paye income from his businesses and paying normal income tax.
Only he could tell us but I expect it’s just playing with numbers. By all accounts he’s pretty frugal and he got a fair old windfall when his son sold Trademe. He probably doesn’t spend much of his investment earnings and may only pay tax on the drawings. The top tax rate is 33% so if he only spend an eighth of his earnings, and the rest was in growth funds & the likes, then you’d get the 4% effective tax. (33% divided by 8)
I mean, if I put $100K in the bank and earned interest on that, wouldn’t that interest be taxable income? ie. RWT, the rate of which I think is determined by general income tax rate for that person.
It would be taxed if you put it in the bank. That’s basically a cash transaction and you can’t call it anything but income.
Shares and property are different. If you buy shares for $1 each, and they go up in value to $2 each, there’s no tax on that gain. (unless the IRD decide you bought the shares expressly for the gain.)
As I said I’m just speculating but he was a Kiwisaver provider for a while so i’d expect him to have some pretty good advisors on growth funds and may have invested a lot of his dosh into that market.
Speculating is fine, and the explanations are good.
“If you buy shares for $1 each, and they go up in value to $2 each, there’s no tax on that gain. (unless the IRD decide you bought the shares expressly for the gain.)”
Sorry, what? What other purpose is there in buying dividend paying shares apart from for gain?
Property I understand, although if you buy and sell too often you will get taxed right?
Investments, are you saying that mostly people aren’t paying tax on investment income?
The other way to ask my question is, could Morgan have been a businessman and paid more tax by choosing different ways of using his money? That’s a differentiation between wanting to do business (i.e. something useful) and simply making money.
Confusing income and capital. Income is always taxed, currently capital is not.
Income from bank deposits = interest, which is taxed (usually RWT)
Income from shares = dividends, which are also taxed at marginal rate of the investor
Income from property = rent, which is taxed in the same way as dividends
Value of shares and property can (and has) increase, that gain is currently not taxed in NZ unless you declare yourself as a “professional investor or speculator” (or IRD declares you to be) in which case those gains are taxed only when they are realised (shares or property are sold) at the marginal rate just like other forms of income
GM will be paying 4% effective tax because of the way he has structured his investments using trusts with himself as a beneficiary.
It can all get confusing can’t it weka, including to me. Kiwisaver providers for example are nearly all PIEs (portfolio investment entities) and as such Kiwisavers are not required to pay tax on capital gains on shares even though the providers are, obviously, professional investors acting on our behalf.
The short answer to the inevitable question is “because they’re all doing it too”.
The trust one confused me there too. Trusts don’t have any tax breaks I know of, they pay the same tax rates as the rest us, so I’d be interested in knowing how using trusts can minimise your tax.
“Kiwisaver providers for example are nearly all PIEs (portfolio investment entities) and as such Kiwisavers are not required to pay tax on capital gains on shares even though the providers are, obviously, professional investors acting on our behalf.”
ok, but that’s two different things right? Morgan as a business owner (of an investment firm) and Morgan has someone who has his own Kiwisaver. I assume they get taxed differently.
Still not quite seeing how Morgan ends up paying less than 4% tax.
I’m not sure he is a business owner any more… is he? I read some time back he’d sold or disposed of Gareth Morgan investments and I’ve been assuming his income is derived from his personal investments.
Trusts do pay tax on their income, to keep it simple let’s say a trust has all its capital invested in shares then it will pay tax on the dividends. If a trust distributes all of its income (dividends in this example) to its beneficiaries then the trust doesn’t pay tax, the beneficiary does. The thing is, quite often the beneficiary marginal rate is lower than the trust tax rate.
Even further, sometimes a trust will accumulate its income, dividends in our example, to add to capital. Periodically it can make a “distribution” of capital to beneficiaries. This is untaxed as it is deemed capital and as I said earlier in NZ currently we do not tax capital. Thus the effective tax rate of the beneficiary drops massively.
Thanks. I understand most of that but can’t see it significantly reducing tax for the wealthy, the next top rate of 30% cuts in at ‘only’ $48,000 and people like Morgan would surely have earnings in the $millions.
I’d think those with serious income would need to use a lot of trusts and then they’d risk being deemed tax evaders by the IRD.
That’s a great explanation and makes sense of something I’ve never understood. My parents have a Trust, they draw on dividends and other income for their own income, and afaik they pay tax (or the Trust does).
But what you have just explained is how Trusts are used to work around having to pay tax.
Also, capital gains taxes aren’t just about property. Does this mean no capital gains in NZ is taxed?
syclingmad are you sure that trusts can (still) be used in NZ to evade tax through ‘distributions’ in the way you describe? I do not think that is right. If it worked then everyone would be doing it.
Then he needs to be clearer. Most kiwis view tax as paye. If he didnt want us to think he arranged his affair to reduce his income tax he is being disingenuous
“Value of shares and property can (and has) increase, that gain is currently not taxed in NZ ”
And the elephant that is not mentioned – is that this type of wealth stream is almost exclusively the preserve of the already wealthy – and forms the lion’s share of the wealth increase of the very rich. And yet of all the forms of gaining wealth (wages, salary etc) THIS is the one that is entirely or almost entirely tax free!!
The stupidity is the rule about the speculation of the gain. It should be obvious that people invest in growth shares for the capital gain! IRD should not have to prove that with each individual case.
They need to get rid of the ‘intention’ and just have the same rule no matter what.
Also the National government has allowed NZ to become a welfare country to the offshore wealthy. Come here, invest in what have you (property, farms, assets, businesses) and then they make losses or pitiful income and the person never even resides and works here.
But the family and person can come and use the health system, super and if they fall on hard times (or restructure their affairs) the social welfare system. Win, win.
There is a massive time bomb brewing.
Massive expansion of retirement villages being built, but guess what, normal Kiwis can’t afford the fees for the most part, they are being built for when all the offshore working residents chose to retire back in Sunny Nu Zilland. Free health, free retirement fees (if you structure your affairs to have under $200k), free super, etc etc.
It costs more to retire someone in NZ than the prison system. It’s neoliberal Kafta. Absolute Absurdism.
The bizarre thing, is that apparently the NZ strategy for migration was to pay for the local superannuation by importing in skilled workers, but it’s turned into creating a much bigger superannuation and health crisis because the rules are so ridiculous to get around and the people being imported in are often on minimal wages and have to be subsidised themselves and the family members will need retirement. It’s adding to NZ social welfare problems not as was proposed helping them.
sure, I was just wondering how that worked. i.e. I’m guessing he doesn’t have to do it that way and he could instead set things up so he pays more tax.
I am no fan of Gareth Morgan by any means, but for years, he himself has been vocal about the fact that people like himself are paying far too little tax.
Sorry, off out to commitments and don’t have time to find links etc, but there have been stacks of media articles etc over the last 10 ? years with Morgan ranting about the inequalities of the current tax system and the unfair LOW proportion of tax paid by the wealthy.
No one really understands it apart from a select few accountants, they new trick seems to be accountants turned politicians who seem to have little morals, John Key, Judith Collins who champion tax loopholes that nobody thinks much of but helps them and super rich cronies to prosper.
Meanwhile the left hasn’t caught on and still thinking its about the 2nd property of some police office or teacher and losing elections over it, while the .1% turning over hundreds of millions are not even on the radar.
It was anonymous Samaritans that exposed Panama and Paradise papers and revealed it all, the politicians and their advisers obviously were never going to get to the bottom of it. The media at first refused to print the Panama papers and John Key sent Judith Collins to be our representative on glueing up the tax loopholes. Need we say more!
Collins made a career of it as a tax lawyer. One of the reasons her pretense at not thinking her Oravida behaviour was a conflict of interest , was such a joke.
“I am no fan of Gareth Morgan by any means, but for years, he himself has been vocal about the fact that people like himself are paying far too little tax.”
Yes, that’s is a well known issue. But the point I raised was about whether Morgan could be paying a reasonable amount of tax and chooses not to.
Well of course, he can pay as much tax as he likes. Anyone with a bank account can make voluntary payments to IRD any time. However he does not wish to pay more than is required by law.
In New Zealand, when you receive dividends from a NZ company, you also get imputation credits for the tax that company has paid. So when you file your personal income taxes, those imputation credits reduce your tax owed. Assuming Morgan declares income over $70k, he’s in the 33% bracket, so he only has to pay the additional tax due from the 5% difference between the company rate of 28% and his personal rate of 33%.
My understanding is crediting of company tax on dividends is unusual internationally. Australia is the only other country I’m aware of that also does it, the US definitely does not. In the US, dividends are paid after company tax, and the recipient then pays their full income tax on those dividends, so they are taxed twice.
I agree, but I also think that if someone wants to be a politician then being someone who games current law for their own ends is problematic. This is worth discussing in public given he makes a point of the low tax rate.
He could, for example, calculate what it would be if he had the system he wanted and give it to a charity that houses poor families… and then make his point.
Facebook is asking users to send the company naked photos and videos of themselves so that it can block the images if they are later uploaded as revenge porn.
A trial of the feature in Australia asks people worried that their intimate pictures might be posted by an ex partner to provide the images to Facebook, so that it knows to prevent them being uploaded in future.
It’s almost a good idea but I don’t actually want a private corporation to be able to recognise me anywhere in the world.
For anyone interested, in a break with tradition, the PM and the Deputy PM are both in the House for Qtime today. Usually the PM, Opposition Leader are not in the House on Thursdays.
Winston Peters was sworn in having been overseas with the PM and also there are further Labour MP maiden speeches today after QTime.
A good session so far – a few laughs and JA and WP did a wonderful tag team act with Question 1 – Paula Bennett asking the PM whether she stands by all her policies. I presume PB expected it to be answered by Kelvin Davis as per all other questions to the PM this week but got JA instead.
Most of the session so far has been worth watching.
It was good to hear the PM remind the House that it’s a pity the National Party weren’t as enthusiastic about Paid Parental Leave in their 9 years in government as they now, apparently are, in Opposition.
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
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TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we don’t yet know what the legacy of this year’s games will be, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University In the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there were calls from bothsides of US politics, as well as internationally, to reduce the brutal, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University Two high-profile assaults on Australians in Paris have raised concerns about security ahead of the Olympic Games. On Saturday evening, a young woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a ...
Dying is inevitable and, so it seems, is it costing a lot, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.The cost of dying ...
The government took Joyce Harris's first baby and sent her off to a girls' home. Half a century on - and out of oceans of hurt - it asked her to be a mother figure. ...
It’s the deadliest fictional town in the country, but which death has been the most bonkers? Alex Casey looks back at 10 seasons of The Brokenwood Mysteries to find out. Warning: The following ranking story contains famous New Zealand actors appearing to be dead (not alive). The Spinoff has been ...
Water cremation is the biggest thing to happen to the death industry in the last 100 years. Alex Casey meets the people trying to bring it to Aotearoa. Through a set of mirrored doors down the industrial end of Christchurch’s St Asaph Street, death is getting a new lease on ...
National used a phoney excuse to claim they could not afford to pay $4 Million to fix a 1km slip that closed the Gisborne Napier rail service but were very happy to $15 Million to be spent on one cycle trail.???? Un-believable.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/98924498/sdc-ponders-how-to-pay-for-46m-of-completed-cycle-trail
CleanGreen Yes Keys logic seem unbelievable I use to take the Train from Gisborne to Napier a few years back It is a beautiful safe scenic ride like all OUR rail route .
Even the roads are shocking the Napier Taupo road once you get over the Tarawera ranges the road to Gisborne are shit I don’t go up north much once but that was before key got the wheel and the roads up north were ok then they are not roads that one expects for a rich civilized society all OUR wealthy people won’t no this as there main mode of transport is a plane. I wonder what motive key had to starve these regions of funding for the maintenance of there infrastructure . Ka pai
Yes eco maori.
being 73 born in Auckland and brought up in Napier from a six yr old we always used rail to go north and south as many others did then.
Most freight also went by rail too.
Today our regional roads are truly a disaster, as we have potholes and sinking road bridge aproaches all over the regions between Palmerston North all the way up the East Coast to Opotiki now .
The roads are so bad now simply due to the extra weight, size, and volumes of trucks now allowed on these primary roads not built for these heavier trucks.
Those heavier trucks are now destroying the roads faster than they can be fixed, as the road contractors are writting these pproblems inour local press advising us all anbout those problems.
Road repair crews are now continually “patching these highways with cement dust and cold tar mix, but come back a week later and the roads again have big holes in them.
The hage cost of road repairs now are cripling most local councils who are allowing these extra heavy trucks on our narrow fragile roads so we are deep in the shit.
Anwser; – To Labour Coalition;
Bring back all regional rail services now please labour coalition, as you have promised and make our lives safer and more enjoyable.
“I use to take the Train from Gisborne to Napier a few years back “.
How time flies. Just a few years back the man says when he means the best part of 20.
The last passenger service was at the beginning of the century, just over 16 years ago.
“On 7 October 2001 the Bay Express from Wellington to Napier was cancelled and passenger services on the line ceased.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napier_Railway_Station,_New_Zealand
You have a very good memory if that only seems a “few years”.
At face value you seem to be judging someone negatively for having a different perception of time to you – so petty alwyn and bigoted btw – do you consider anyone else before writing?
At face value I would have to say you seem to have had your eyes closed and your brain in neutral when you read what I had written.
I don’t see, and there certainly wasn’t meant to be, anything derogatory about what I said. It is just a reflection on how fast time seems to pass when you get older. Something that seems to have been “just yesterday” turns out to have been a decade ago.
You may find the same thing when you reach maturity, if that ever happens.
Thank you for your graciousness – always alwyn always be gracious, it will help you a lot.
Cleangreen 1 Now isn’t that typical?
Yes Patricia,
NZ is going backwards now as rail is needed more than ever but no Government except for Micheal Cullen/Helen Clark & this labour coalition has been prepared to balance the freight and regional passenger services or better said “level the playing field” between all modes of transport.
Alll the papers and studies from scientists are now saying get awayy from road freight and use rail to lower the Climate change emmissions of CO2 but national well and truly dig a hole for us by attempting to totally close down our whole regional rail serrvices. http://uic.org/Energy-and-CO2-emissions
So that didn’t take long for the strikes to begin, its not a problem now but if strikes keep happening it’ll start to remind people of the bad ‘ol days of the 70s
[lprent: Perhaps you’d like to actually tell us what strike this is? A link would be sufficient.
This one perhaps “Full-day strike to shut down Wellington trains“.
and it appears that you missed the same issue happening last month
Ok. looking at the style with which you presented that, it looks to me like you are just deliberately fire raising.
That didn’t take you long after your last ban. Let treat you like you’d probably want to treat the workers striking to retain their existing conditions when a new employer tries it on.
Two weeks ban this time. ]
The bad old days when people got a living wage, there was barely any unemployment, houses were affordable, when our health and education systems were well funded……,
Why do you support the interests of the 1% troll?
Ed; – [deleted]
[don’t try and guess the real life identity of people using pseudonyms here. – weka]
Hi Cleangreen, you may be unaware but its considered a bit of social faux pas to suggest who someone might be behind their nom de plume
[deleted]
You know continuously running around replying to comments you don’t like calling someone a troll – actually makes you one right ?
A sad and not very clever one, but a troll none the less.
Just like you are doing now James?
Barfly, you are right on the button.
Chris, are you a National troll who rejects democracy.
Rail workers have not had to strike for 25yrs until National allowed a private french company out bid kiwirail two years ago and national allowed this private company to strip the 25yr collective bargaining rights from those workers.
So do you wish to stop colective bargaining rights?
To me it sounds like it. so please explain.
By the way, – I am not in any union or rail workers organisation.
I am part of a community group who want to see more rail used to reduce the increasing truck gridlock down to a tolerable level so that our roads are safer than they are now and residential areas are not continually exposed to truck noise, vibrations, and air pollution destroying their health and wellbeing.
Reject democracy? Nope, I ‘m quite happy with democracy and MMP even with all its flaws as its the best system we currently have.
I’m pointing out that in the 70s there was quite a bit of industrial action, mainly around the interislander at holiday time to be far, enough that even as a youngster I still remember and that it ticked off enough people that the erosion of unions wasn’t exactly mourned by the majority of voters
I’m saying that very shortly after the new government theres a strike and at the moment its not a biggie but if theres more it may (or may not) remind the older voters of what NZ used to be like
[lprent: You really are a dipshit. From one of the links on my last note above.
Doesn’t sound like a holiday period to me.
Lets add another arbitrary 2 weeks removal of your writing rights for lying and false equivalences. ]
Born in 73?
So no idea of what life was like then.
The national trolls are now out in force, all of them including james.
‘They are loosing it’ because their past sense of power has been taken from them.
National were to arrogant as they adopted “the born to rule” attitude, which all three term governments do.
So we shall see if this enduring Laboour coalition government adopts this “born to rule” attitude in nine years time.
Hopefully Labour coalition will learn from the those National Party mistaken notion that we all would carry on taking their ‘poison’.
Thank God we are all free from national party oppression.
When farm working for a time I met a carpenter who also worked on the ferries. We were discussing the issue of strikes that occurred often during holiday periods.
He told me the reason for one strike in the Seventies.
The first was the size of the new mattresses fitted into the crew bunks which did not fit but overflowed the bunk’s raised edge.
Oh dear!
I must have looked blankly at him for he explained that if you were lying in that bunk and the ship rolled, as they do, you got rolled as well …….over the edge of the bunk, onto the floor.
Holiday periods of course occurred three or four times a year, for a total of thirteen weeks. There was a good 1:3 chance that a strike period would overlap with a holiday period.
This unionist believed that difficulties for the workers were deliberately timed for these periods by management to allow public pressure to be brought to bear. There wasn’t much ‘relationship’ in ‘industrial relations” in that industry at that time.
Jesus, talk about false equivalence. Shortly after the National government there was a Global Financial collapse and an earthquake. We didn’t blame that on them.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but if an employer refuses to bargain and the only power you have is to strike, then holding a strike at a time convenient to the general public is hardly going to sway the employer to come back to the bargaining table is it?
All it would have taken to avert the strike was for Transdev to come back to the bargaining table. They have, instead, bet on the strike leading the general public to turn against the union. Classic industrial move.
You could just as easily have come out and said “look at that – we get a Labour government and all of a sudden there’s employers forcing unions to use the only power they have left”.
Except that most of the bastardry took place under a National government. Sigh…
The old union strain:
All it would have taken to avert the strike was for Transdev to come back to the bargaining table. They have, instead, bet on the strike leading the general public to turn against the union. Classic industrial move.
and if ….the only power you have is to strike, then holding a strike at a time convenient to the general public is hardly going to sway the employer to come back to the bargaining table is it?
Some of us care about railway workers and them being treated fairly. Some don’t. Some of us care about young people not having their education disrupted. Who knows, it might lead some in that cohort to being able to tackle the economic system so it works for all.
Certainly though, having a strike during exam time is a kick in the guts for the anxious students, a strike against railway workers and organisers who seem self-centred and lacking the brains to understand education is important, and another strike against unions. The railway workers have not done anything for positive attitudes to unions and should have planned their strike judiciously, because there will be all sorts on consequences, some legal.
Good comments Greywarshark;
But in reality there is no perfect “judiciousl” time to strike, but since the new ‘progresive’ government now have only two weeks left operating as a “government in parliament” (according to the Radio NZ midday news)
I wager the RMTU had very little time to begin a “industrial strike” expecially when we don’t really know how the transdev workers contract system is working for or against them all at this time.?
Just the consideration that Wayne Buston did say the RMTU union members have not no strike action for 25 yrs!!!!!
We should give them some grace to be fair.
Trouble it is an own goal. If there were reasons why they had to do it just now, let them EXPLAIN not just expect popular sympathy.
Perhaps the employer, having received advance notice of the strike for that important day could have tried harder to resolve it. In a country that has so eroded pay and work conditions the “couldnt they have chosen a better time” is a form of victim blaming. We see DHBs behave the same when they force nurses and drs out of sheer frsutration to withdraw their services.
There is a rock-solid link between increased unionism and better worker pay and conditions. This is a very good thing and these benefits to society massively outweigh the occasional industrial dispute, in my opinion (and those disputes are as likely to be the fault of the employer as the union / workers)
One example
https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/impact-trade-unions-jobs-and-pay
It’s irritating to people who are just getting by to hear the general good cited when they are confronting the particular and individual pain.l Basically it is applying economic theory and ‘principle’ which doesn’t look at an alternative and presses forward with plans which leave those who lose out just externalities.
No-one, unionist, or not wants to be one of those disposable, crushable human ‘externalities’. So were the railways forced to go on strike this week because of unalterable timetables, or was it done in a determined move to act NOW no matter what, or was it chosen to hurt people and create controversy because of the timing.
This is what the Cooks and Stewards were wont to do on school holidays. I suggest that they didn’t make people feel that they were being treated fairly by other working men and women. That drove an unforgettable division between them and the other ordinary strugglers and small businesses.
“So that didn’t take long for the strikes to begin,….”
It’s rather telling you focus on the strike and not the reason for it. One might also note it didn’t take long for the new (foreign) contractor to shaft their workers.
Emboldened by a system that gave us hobbit laws and systematically sought to undermine conditions and pay.
Elegant as!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11944462
Ok so this tops anything anyone has done thus far in Labour or National
Troll
Here let me help you.
From the policy:
“Similarly if you act like a machine (ie a troll) you will be treated as one – a form of spambot. A troll is generally defined on this site as someone who clearly isn’t bothering to engage their brain when commenting. The standard is that the troll could be replaced with a dictionary of lines and phrases, and no-one would know the difference. Typically trolls do not interact with other commentators as they either ignore what others say in reply or write a reply that ignores what they said. In either case it is ignorant, anti-social, annoying to read, and will often result in a banning so that others don’t have to read the comments of someone living with their sense organs turned off.”
I engaged at 2.
Then I realised at 3 you weren’t interested in meaningful debate.
I wasn’t debating you. But this is standard behaviour with you – you do the troll (often the single word as your entire reply) accusation with monotonous regularity.
Read the policy. Because you are being a boring and predictable troll.
You’re the troll James and we all know it sad sack.
Speaking of which, I left two moderation notes in yesterday’s OM, one of which needs a response from you.
Pretty sure you’ve been warned about this before Ed. Give it a rest please.
Geez Chris if that’s all you’ve got to moan about life is pretty good.
For some people its a very big deal, this is the defence minister, the one that makes the big decisions, a former serving officer and he can’t even put his medals on correctly
Hey PR how do your wear your medals? I wear mine how they were mounted by the company paid to do it. I have no idea if that is the wrong order but really it is a minor issue as far as I and any of the other currently serving military personal I talked to this morning are concerned.
Are they aware that its been suggested hes also ex-SAS: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/kiwi-troops-just-40km-from-isis-forces-ex-sas-mp-6333081.html
http://nominister.blogspot.co.nz/2015/06/on-ron-mark.html
Not going to answer my original question then? Guess that confirms you are one of those who is more than happy to feel offended on behalf of service people without ever actually serving.
Yea we did talk about the claims that he was SAS. There have been a few over the years who have claimed it and they have always been caught out when not true.
Here’s the thing. Nothing in what you have linked show Mark claiming that he was in the SAS. A reporter appears to have made a mistake and unless you can point to the quote where he made the claim then you might need to try shifting the goal posts again.
There may be an issue from the original report and that is the wearing of his Oman medals. It is made clear when you receive these types of medals that they are not to be worn without specific approval. If he didn’t get this then he should cop a bit of flack for it. Lets be clear though, it would be for wearing medals he earned but shouldn’t wear as opposed to the common issue you see on ANZAC of people wearing medals they bought off the internet.
*Sigh* I have three medals I’m entitled to wear from my service and I could apply for a fourth, due to time served
No but he certainly didn’t go out of his way to issue a correction so he was more than happy to have people assume he was
Lets be clear about all this, “The standard you walk by is the standard you accept”, you of all people should know this
I was discussing this a couple of weekends ago over beers, which result in a very hearty debate about RM. Like me, RM’s last serving country was Oman natural these medals come first with his NZ medals last and my case the ADF medals first with NZ medal last followed by a ET Government medal as per the manual of dress (note I have been pinged as Walter Mittie in the UK and in NZ with my rack of gongs, headdress, tie etc). Now the Grey area that RM find himself in as the MoD does put his NZ first and the Oman medals last, but if he was in the NZDF this would be the case as per the manual of dress. As a minister of the crown does this apply as per the NZDF manual of dress or as he is a civilian does last country of service comes first with NZ medals last.
I’m not au fait with this by any stretch of the imagination but I’d go strait to the NZDF to get a decision and if its still a grey area then go with common sense, hes the MoD of NZ therefore he wears NZs medals first (has a bit of a ring to it)
NZ medals First not NZ medals Second 🙂
Fair call, i’m not going to argue over it. I’ve got bloody 9 or 10 can’t bloody remember how many of these bloody things I’ve got plus a MUC and be i’ll ****ed if some muppet came along demanding me to change them around as i’ll telling them where to stick their bloody finger up somewhere because my NZ Medal is second last on my rack.
Also i’m getting sick and tired of explaining what every medal is and what order they should be when I go to the tailors when I’m given another one. I got pinged last week for not having the RAAF Ground Combat Badge and my reply was **** off as I’m starting to look a bloody yank or have more chrome than second hand car dealer.
Its bad a enough with the jokes a work like, where’s your wheelchair or your zigger fame kiwi for those gongs etc
The only plus side is I get to go to a lot cocktail parties.
The standard you walk by is a very true statement. However it is hardly his responsibility to issue a correction for someone else’s error. For all you know he contacted them and told them he wasn’t in the SAS and they felt it wasn’t important enough to correct.
I am no NZ1st supporter but this is a pretty minor point to get hung up on.
By the way you should probably apply for that 3 year medal other wise you will out of the rig of the day at next ANZAC day. Standard I walk by and all.
In my defence it came in after i’d left and I’d only just recently learned of it 🙂
But seriously the real reason is that when i look at the old guys with their chests full of medals and i rock up with four then I’d feel like a bit of…not fake but…not quite as…worthy?
I know what you mean there. I know a lot of currently serving personnel who don’t wear their medals on ANZAC simply because they don’t feel they hold a feather to what the old boys did for theirs.
Personally, I wear my medals very privately on any trousers that still have buttons in the fly.
James is like Paula bennett, both are exhibiting the signs of ‘battle fatigue’.
My advise to paula and james is to take a break andplan xmas for family as we are so tired of your consant trolling.
Morena, if you have elderly neighbours, keep an eye on them please.
Yesterday I heard the firewood truck arrive at the oldies house next door, I couldn’t hear anyone helping Mr 80 with the wood, so I went over to check. There he was kneeling on the ground half slumped over a wheel barrow, trying ever so hard to do it himself, to the point he was about to collapse. After telling him off and making him sit down, my friend and myself took over and made sure all his wood was stacked.
See the oldies will try and be independent until their last breath, they find it hard to ask for help because they think that everyone wants something. He wanted to pay us for helping, I’m like get real, that’s not how I roll. He’s like but it’s not right you doing all of this for nothing, nah whats not right is him stacking the wood in his state, turns out he’s going in for an operation in a couple of weeks.
So please keep an eye on the oldies, teach the kids to respect them and help them. Oldies are so important, stubborn, vulnerable and awesome.
Next time ask for a cup of tea 🙂 But seriously good job
oh my gosh, for once i agree with you.
Don’t worry it won’t be the last 🙂
My thoughts exactly Cinny we must look after all OUR elderly people as they use to look after us. We must teach our moko to look after all our vulnerable people.
To Brodie your very Kiwi personality will be missed and It’s a shame you are leaving Breakfast . But I’m sure you will keep having a positive effect on our New Zealand Society with your new job all the best to you many thanks for your support there is a bigger picture to this story Ka pai
Now I no that they have sent people into my wifes work and now they are breaching her privacy rights . I.m not stupid my wife does not no how power full Eco Maori is .
I just tell her that the Eco Maori sign on my truck are just to boost my blog viewers. So a lot of people know about my fight for equality for all humans and for Mother Earth . These people who are attacking my credibility will say and do anything to under me and my whano and won’t give a fuck who they hurt in the prosess I no that the people can see this with the actions these people take to try and steal my Mana .
The fools are just adding to my MANA many thanks to them for this is my fate .
Kia Kaha
Bless you Cinny. Good work.
God bless you Cinny. 4 We all need neighbors like you. Norman and I struggle to do the big physical tasks now, and have learned to be thankful for help.
We have a firewood guy who does the wood in disposable bags. This is not much dearer but easier to stack and bring in as needed. May help someone else xx
onya
Cinny, good on you and your friend..
An important message..
Cinny,
You are a real gem.
Pity we all dont have a past government that allowed it to come to this.
I am 73 also and grew up duing the 1950s with a profound respect for the elderly.
But that attitude has all but vanished today untill good peope like you demostrate how shallow and un-caring our society is today.
Bless you Cinny.
Totally agree CG. The world needs more people like Cinny. The BEST sort of neighbor to have. A big wraparound hug to you Cinny.
That was nice Cinny and very welcome to the person involved.
Unwelcome though, is any attempt to actually look at the situation the country is in with increased ageing and dying long after people are incapacitated mentally, internally, bodily with lack of mobility or all of them. How many operations for people over 80? How can we manage our hospitals while we have a government that can’t take a clear direction from people as to how the priorities should go and have them enshrined in law and properly funded? I think that this means that an op needed for a very young child should be performed ahead of one for someone over 70 if there was a priority situation.
Everyone wants to be considered as part of a democracy, but don’t want to be registered when it comes to a workshop on deciding future political actions and what is the most ethical way to manage them. So everyone get warm fuzzies about helping others, which should be encouraged but also get out there and look at the looming problems that our poor hospital staff are coping with. Doing your bit as responsible mature people pushing the government is a less immediate way of helping others.
There are people who are working on in NZ still under the principles and practices that we had as a decent country that attempted consideration for everybody and didn’t treat every part of life as a potential opportunity for a business, for someone to profit from. Those people working hard are being driven into the ground. But when citizens request law changes that will have an ameliorating effect they get ignored by the don’t-do-nothing-till I tell-you Nat government and we hope that won’t extend on to the present.
In the meantime we can’t have the right to euthanasia when we want it, I think from the age of 70 without having to make a case as being terminally ill. At 75 (my age) I’m still useful to others and myself but I will have to take a back seat sometime after a fall etc and have no wish to wait long enough to get alzheimerrs or become so unsettled I get paranoic. That is just one aspect of our need to discuss health, treatment, and what can be afforded and that one can make a rational and ethical case for. Would it be better to fund hospices so people who are terminally ill can get their last year of two with good care, but less expensive life-extending treatment. It is complex.
Isn’t it time that we had a Citizen Policy Information and Planning Group (PIP)? A small pip could lead to growing a healthy system. We can’t trust the advisors or academics, they have mind control applied by their university board or the government treating them as puppets to be jerked when required, they can be informed but take a slant that is personality-based or individually advantaged, and should be listened to and then tested against others.
Am no angel lmao, but my folks are good people, looking out for neighbours and oldies is what I was taught, what I’m teaching my kids, we are trying to change the world 🙂
I wonder if ‘helpful neighbour’ is not so common anymore because many people are unable to own their own home. If everyone was able to own their place, some how, would they feel more secure, be more friendly, stronger communities, better communication etc etc etc?
Hey that’s a great idea ‘PIP’. Do we now have a Minister for Seniors? Having a vision of seniors winz, with a classy name, no security guards, full of info and networking, a place they can get their pension sorted that they are proud and happy to go to. A Seniors HUB.
It’s a concern that some see the oldies as ‘cash cows’ exploiting the vulnerable. Rest homes, home help, Dr’s etc. I wonder how that is monitored?
It was the centenary of the Russian Revolution about a week ago and yet this hugely significant event has past almost completely unnoticed.
“The Soviet Union will be looked at in history, not as the end of Communism but as its first valiant experiment…… It will be the petre dish where Communists and Socialists will learn from – not reject.”
100% EP.
I’m sure people don’t miss:
Monitoring of people’s activities.
Mass imprisonment
People forced from their jobs on the basis of flimsy accusations
…oh wait..
You mean a bit like where this neoteric liberalism is leading us.
All authoritarianism looks the same in the end, be it left or right.
No one in their right mind would argue against the Russian Revolution going off the rails during the civil war, and the rise of the bolsheviks. For a few months, people, average stiffs actually had control of their lives away from monarchs, leaders, and authoritarian types. People, average people threw off the shackles of oppression. Yeah they were duped, and as always some bloke and his ego took over, then crushed the whole thing.
But you gotta love the fact this was a revolution by the people, for the people that almost worked. Unlike the USA one which was by the rich and for the rich – with very clever use of language.
I put it in the who gives a fuck catagory – for a few months this or that – meanwhile for a few decades the opposite of worker freedoms and rights. There are lessons to learn from the revolution but using it as a template for revolution today isn’t one of them imo.
Edit prob a bit harsh – I stand with the sentiment that started the Russian revolution and I get that some, including lefties commemorate the event. Sorry for being disrespectful to you.
Yeah my opinion of the American revolution is exactly the same, really made woking people’s lives much worse.
The Phoenician revolution was pretty good for a couple of years but not if you were in their ships as a slave rower.
So can you see the difference the Social Revolutionaries made to the Russian revolution then?
Not really no
So you think it would have been better under the Tsar?
I live here and are very interested in our history.
Edit. Why do you care about it so much? Why is it important to you? For me it is really a very small but important event. I like Marx. It led to the Soviet bloc, the cold war and now Russian meddling in the us election to put the trump in there. Sorry forget the last bit of the last line i couldnt resist the humour.
Adam, write a post!
QFT
Of course we don’t miss those – they happen all the time as John Key and National passing legislation to respectively make it all legal proved.
Persecution of Jews, homosexuals, disabled
Stalin deserves as much vilification as Hitler yet… and in Russia todsy being a homosexual still gets you hard labour.
Da comrade, yet in Wellington we have http://www.pravdacafe.co.nz
The truth cafe
I noted it.
Great initiative for all
http://www.maoritelevision.com/news/regional/indigneous-co-housing-development-flaxmere
Thanks for that mm.
Had a quick look at the Waingakau village site, and the development will be a combination of 76 co-housing units, with 44 normal subdivision properties.
“This development will deliver high quality homes at approximately $2025 per square metre – this cost was the average quality build cost for Hawke’s Bay as at August 2017. Waingakau is affordable as the homes will have a compact footprint, so will use less materials and energy, and the land is cheaper. As an initial indication, based on these costs homes will be priced from $140,000 to $380,000 for 1 to 4 bedrooms.
Housing will be available for mixed economic situations from subsidised rental homes, assisted purchase, market rental properties, through to owner occupied properties. If you are interested in buying or long term renting”
The cohousing development – along with the intended amenities – sounds very much what an indigenous form of housing would be like in NZ. And the structure plan gives a good indication of the benefits of planned housings units with shared spaces. I would enjoy living in one of those units I’m sure.
I wonder why they included the conventional housing, and why they are going to release those on the market? Whether it was just too big a move away from convention for the stakeholders, or if it was that a return was required to get the project off the ground. The 44 conventional houses appear to take up the same area as the 76 cohousing units and associated marae and community hub.
(Unfortunately, participating in the market does have an effect on their concern regarding affordable homes in the long-term).
The “affordability” seems to be closer to the real meaning of the word than when it is usually used. I hope that the interest in the cohousing component is such that it ends up comprising most of the development.
Just wondering where the government was on medical cannabis?
http://healthy-life-box.com/marijuana-chewing-gum-relieve-fibromyalgia-pain/
Pay day loans.
https://www.interest.co.nz/personal-finance/90075/david-chaston-reviews-effective-cost-credit-being-interest-plus-standard-fees
This is disgraceful
The % interest for pay day loans
From 300% to 800% pa
Many are advertised heavily on TV
And
Remember, ‘friendly’ loan companies are always associated with unfriendly collection agencies. Best to avoid getting caught up with any of that.
Go and look at the article.
Need to ban and or heavily regulate those loans. Just praying on desperate and vulnerable people!
Yes.
Key’s “We’ll do whatever it takes” should have read “Someone else will do whatever it takes”:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-16/pike-river-mine-body-search/9155184
An interesting piece of news in interest.co.nz
Australia has decided to tax overseas buyers who leave properties empty thousands.
Further they will not be able to claim travel to check their purchase.
Sounds sensible to me, as it may then be more profitable to let them out?
They can claim travel as a tax deductible! Shocking! No wonder so many people are buying up houses who don’t live in the country!
There should also be an extra yearly charge like rates but going to the government for houses owned by non residents.
And a stamp duty for non residents.
Look what a capital gains tax achieved in Canada for non residents.
If you are not banning non resident buyers there should at least be ways for the locals to get some sort of tax out of it.
GROPERS
No. 1: George Walker Herbert Bush
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/11/13/sixth-woman-accuses-former-president-george-hw-bush-groping/
http://time.com/5019182/george-hw-bush-groping-allegation/
“GROPERS” is researched and presented by GroperWatch, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
I can read the confidence of my oppressors just by observing my neighbors and one of them is my main oppressor he imposes his ideological neo liberal view on the rest of my neighbors and 3 family’s have left because of this peacock . I thought of crowd funding to hire a lawyer to represent me but with the amount of resources they are pouring into monitoring everything I do. I no they will stop that as they have stopped me from getting legal Representation on many occasions . They are digging and scraping at the hole they have dug into my past and as soon as they think they smell shit they spread it around as if it is fact and nothing is fact until it is proven to be fact isn’t that what our law states on no not for a poor Maori let’s get this strait the same applies to any poor person in our western society it is just that Maori get more discrimination than the rest of the other cultures in our paradise called New Zealand. .
I have challenged them on many occasions to arrest me and lets have the courts decide whom is breaking OUR laws so why wont they arrest me and get It over and done with are they will get there asses handed to them and that’s why they won’t arrest me. I have ask to negotiate but no they don’t negotiate with a poor Maori.
So what should this tell you that us poor Maori cultured people need to join together and stop any bullshit happening to OUR moko’s and to make sure that our moko have a bright future and not a future under the bridge or in jail. Kia Kaha
P.S at least they have stop blasting the neighbor hood with there sirens this was quite a frequent well come home experance for me as my neighbor’s can confirm Ka pai .
I recommend you go see a mental health professional as soon as possible, you seem to be suffering from acute paranoia.
[deleted]
please don’t attempt to armchair diagnose – weka]
BM = as usual you have the soul of a empty vessel.
Actually he was being compassionate imo
I am finding it really weird how none of the lefties around here are making the effort to help eco maori. (But perhaps they are, e.g. by sending him private messages)
A.
Maybe they are scared to do or say anything I think. They may also be worried because they might say the wrong thing and also because he uses Māori in their handle. Personally ive been worried about that poster for a while but it is a mod issue not a commenter issue imo.
I see it as a community issue here (i.e. both mods and commenters).
EM comments about politics all the time, just like everyone else here. So there is no need to moderate from the perspective.
We have people with a huge range of mental health capacities and illness here. I don’t see that as being an issue myself.
If you ever have concerns about someone acutely you can either email Lynn (who I guess can make a decision about whether its ok to keep publishing comments*), or you can grab the attention of one of the moderators.
For the commenters, I suggest not being mean to people perceived as struggling.
*personally, I don’t think that someone having mental health issues should preclude them from commenting so long as their comments aren’t causing a problem for the site legally or in terms of the community getting wound up or threads getting derailed (i.e. same rules apply as to anyone), but I’m not sure if it’s ever been discussed in the back end.
We all work with what people write and that is all we get.
If the mods are okay I’m certainly not going to do anything apart from being compassionate when I deem appropriate and skimming their comments the rest of the time.
Doing something, doing nothing – both can be difficult if a person is having mental health issues.
yes, and doing normal is an option too 🙂
Edit.
Just to clarify a few points.
I work in mental health. I have been focusing on mental health for colonised indigenous peoples particuarily around suicide prevention for Māori for all age groups.
That is where I’m coming from I’m not diagnosing anyone and my only interest in this subthread is about ensuring people are okay which is why I said bms initial comment was compassionate.
I am not engaging in this subthread anymore.
Leave Eco Maori be, personally I read his threads and like what he writes. Okay he can be a bit odd but so what, this makes life a bit more edgy and interesting. God forbid we all should be the same, I for one, would die of boredom. And, by the way every one of us is a bit odd to some people some of the time, you’d better believe it.
What’s a little paranoia anyway – if more people had their antennae up and were more tuned in then this world would be a better place.
Hang in there Eco Maori – we’re all in this together.
That’s similar to how I feel. We have no way of knowing what is going for a person. I don’t read all of EM’s comments but as far as I can tell he’s talking about politics and life most of the time. And yep re appearing odd, what’s wrong with that anyway?
Not too happy with people applying mental health labels to others out of their own discomfit.
Why are you saying that to me – did you actually read my comments? Try directing your opinion to the right place.
Me to Kate i enjoy a chat to eco maori as we both had back on 1.1 & 1.1.1.
Leave my friend eco maori be a peace.
Mum always taught me to speak out your troubles in your soul and it begins to ease, actually James Taylor sang a song about this exactly in the 1970’s when I was a lonely kiwi in canada & very lonely and it warmed my soul then.
Here’s one for you eco maori. – shower the peole you love with love, show them the way you feel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfWQS5fWxxU
Saying what, even if it were possible?
There’s not many options available to help an pseudonymous poster, and any intervention by mods (who might actually have a legit email address to contact eco) is between the two of them, none of our business. And maybe eco’s posts really are part of a cunning plan, like they say they are. Who knows?
The comments don’t seem to be escalating in intensity or focussing on individuals, so that’s a plus if eco really is having psych issues. And eco’s referred to spouse and family, so if there’s a problem they’d be better placed to persuade eco to get help.
Also, we have no way of knowing what kind of help any person is getting or not. Add that to the fact that getting help can too often be something that harms people, I think really from this distance it’s none of our business until someone asks here for support. The exception to that would be if someone sounded like they were harming themselves or others, but again (as above) that’s a rule that applies to everyone.
The nuisance neighbour syndrome is expanding at the same rate as road rage (increasing) and they seem to have similar issues.
Too many people in NZ and expanding at the 3rd highest rate per capita in the world. Councils are useless at keeping the bylaws. They are also obsessed with allowing out of scope development everywhere turning communities into war zones.
Sometimes like the Kaipara council they just screw over the rate payers and bankrupt themselves and then get their ratepayers to bail them out when they plan their pie in the sky expansions.
Or with Auckland council just screw everyone over which explains the Auckland council’s extremely low rating from the public, who appear to hate them for the most part. Funny that this low international rating does not seem to impact on their pay levels?
Sympathy for Eco Maori – if the Neighbour has caused 3 neighbours to move he sounds like a nightmare nuisance neighbour!
I am finding it really weird how none of the lefties around here are making the effort to help eco maori. (But perhaps they are, e.g. by sending him private messages)
I would have thought the criteria for helping someone who is struggling would be that one is compassionate/gives a shit. But interesting to see that as a righty you believe that is the responsibility of left wingers.
What have you done?
I have been replying to his posts on a “you should seek help” basis which up until now no one else has bothered to do. The “lefty” reference may annoy some but at least it has got some people to engage on the issue.
A.
I am finding it really weird how none of the lefties around here are making the effort to help eco maori.
I find that not making ignorance-based diagnoses of someone’s mental health on the basis of a few blog comments is often helpful.
You’d think it would be easy to simply scrap the Hobbit legislation and the 90-day legislation. But the backtracking has already begun.
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2017/11/14/what-the-90-days-and-hobbit-legislation-reforms-tell-us-about-the-labour-led-government/
Can someone please explain to me how and why Gareth Morgan is paying less than 4% tax?
“Totally agree, my current tax rate is under 4%, & I’m about to get NZS. This is a real issue, not what gossip columnists in NZ focus on”
https://twitter.com/HighbornHavenot/status/930937245946613760
Geez weka
We alll need a good accountant like Gareth hughes must have.
Only pays 4% tax what a bloody hypocrit!!!!
And a bloody leech.
Gareth who?
Hughes and Morgan are both Welsh names but only one I know is welshing on his social responsibilities.
Gareth Meowgan
Reading that calls to mind Felix, that sharp and wise commentator formerly here. He/She is missed.
OOOPPPs Big mistake there,
Thanks Mac1
Not Gareth Hughes!!!!! so sorry Gareth Hughes.
I of course meant Gareth Morgan, as he is a very insensitive rich prick.
My friend Gareth Hughes is a moderately humble man we see around his & mine Gisborne area now and then.
No simalarity there sorry Gareth Hughes my silly slipup.
Please accept my humble appologies.
No problem, cleangreen. Gave me a chance to make a pun on the Welsh/welsh whatever his fecking name is (literary reference to Irish plays by Padraic MacDonagh.)
I don’t know Gareth Hughes at all. But he seems a Very Earnest Young Man, as opposed to the World-Weary Bored Nouveau Riche Biker Entrepreneur with a Token Social Conscience.
A lot of money equals money for accountants = using the legal but generally unknown loopholes to pay less taxes.
The trick for government is to close the loopholes.
It’s way worse now, as people can just flit all over the world and reside anywhere more convenient and use even more loopholes.
The real money is made on paper.
Still seems weird Gareth is paying so little though when he seems to actually want to pay tax. Imagine what’s going on with the people who don’t want to pay tax or are criminals!
He doesn’t have to take super
yes, it will be interesting to see if he applies for it. One would hope not and that he was just trying to make a point in the tweet.
Much of his campaign was based around changing super because he didn’t need it and he would just end up wasting that money.
My guess is he’ll be getting super to follow through on his campaign promise.
He probably invests in growth shares or property. Except for speculating capital gain on shares isn’t taxed, only the dividends are taxable.
I was wondering if he had set his affairs differently if he would be paying more tax. e.g. he could be drawing paye income from his businesses and paying normal income tax.
Only he could tell us but I expect it’s just playing with numbers. By all accounts he’s pretty frugal and he got a fair old windfall when his son sold Trademe. He probably doesn’t spend much of his investment earnings and may only pay tax on the drawings. The top tax rate is 33% so if he only spend an eighth of his earnings, and the rest was in growth funds & the likes, then you’d get the 4% effective tax. (33% divided by 8)
why would the 7/8th not be taxed?
I mean, if I put $100K in the bank and earned interest on that, wouldn’t that interest be taxable income? ie. RWT, the rate of which I think is determined by general income tax rate for that person.
It would be taxed if you put it in the bank. That’s basically a cash transaction and you can’t call it anything but income.
Shares and property are different. If you buy shares for $1 each, and they go up in value to $2 each, there’s no tax on that gain. (unless the IRD decide you bought the shares expressly for the gain.)
As I said I’m just speculating but he was a Kiwisaver provider for a while so i’d expect him to have some pretty good advisors on growth funds and may have invested a lot of his dosh into that market.
Speculating is fine, and the explanations are good.
“If you buy shares for $1 each, and they go up in value to $2 each, there’s no tax on that gain. (unless the IRD decide you bought the shares expressly for the gain.)”
Sorry, what? What other purpose is there in buying dividend paying shares apart from for gain?
Property I understand, although if you buy and sell too often you will get taxed right?
Investments, are you saying that mostly people aren’t paying tax on investment income?
The other way to ask my question is, could Morgan have been a businessman and paid more tax by choosing different ways of using his money? That’s a differentiation between wanting to do business (i.e. something useful) and simply making money.
Confusing income and capital. Income is always taxed, currently capital is not.
Income from bank deposits = interest, which is taxed (usually RWT)
Income from shares = dividends, which are also taxed at marginal rate of the investor
Income from property = rent, which is taxed in the same way as dividends
Value of shares and property can (and has) increase, that gain is currently not taxed in NZ unless you declare yourself as a “professional investor or speculator” (or IRD declares you to be) in which case those gains are taxed only when they are realised (shares or property are sold) at the marginal rate just like other forms of income
GM will be paying 4% effective tax because of the way he has structured his investments using trusts with himself as a beneficiary.
how is professional investor/speculator status determined? Would that apply to Morgan?
“GM will be paying 4% effective tax because of the way he has structured his investments using trusts with himself as a beneficiary.”
So Trusts don’t have to pay tax?
It can all get confusing can’t it weka, including to me. Kiwisaver providers for example are nearly all PIEs (portfolio investment entities) and as such Kiwisavers are not required to pay tax on capital gains on shares even though the providers are, obviously, professional investors acting on our behalf.
The short answer to the inevitable question is “because they’re all doing it too”.
The trust one confused me there too. Trusts don’t have any tax breaks I know of, they pay the same tax rates as the rest us, so I’d be interested in knowing how using trusts can minimise your tax.
“Kiwisaver providers for example are nearly all PIEs (portfolio investment entities) and as such Kiwisavers are not required to pay tax on capital gains on shares even though the providers are, obviously, professional investors acting on our behalf.”
ok, but that’s two different things right? Morgan as a business owner (of an investment firm) and Morgan has someone who has his own Kiwisaver. I assume they get taxed differently.
Still not quite seeing how Morgan ends up paying less than 4% tax.
I’m not sure he is a business owner any more… is he? I read some time back he’d sold or disposed of Gareth Morgan investments and I’ve been assuming his income is derived from his personal investments.
It’s hard to explain but here goes…
Trusts do pay tax on their income, to keep it simple let’s say a trust has all its capital invested in shares then it will pay tax on the dividends. If a trust distributes all of its income (dividends in this example) to its beneficiaries then the trust doesn’t pay tax, the beneficiary does. The thing is, quite often the beneficiary marginal rate is lower than the trust tax rate.
Even further, sometimes a trust will accumulate its income, dividends in our example, to add to capital. Periodically it can make a “distribution” of capital to beneficiaries. This is untaxed as it is deemed capital and as I said earlier in NZ currently we do not tax capital. Thus the effective tax rate of the beneficiary drops massively.
Now I’ve probably confused everyone…
“It’s hard to explain but here goes…”
Thanks. I understand most of that but can’t see it significantly reducing tax for the wealthy, the next top rate of 30% cuts in at ‘only’ $48,000 and people like Morgan would surely have earnings in the $millions.
I’d think those with serious income would need to use a lot of trusts and then they’d risk being deemed tax evaders by the IRD.
@ syclingmad
That’s a great explanation and makes sense of something I’ve never understood. My parents have a Trust, they draw on dividends and other income for their own income, and afaik they pay tax (or the Trust does).
But what you have just explained is how Trusts are used to work around having to pay tax.
Also, capital gains taxes aren’t just about property. Does this mean no capital gains in NZ is taxed?
Why do we allow that?
syclingmad are you sure that trusts can (still) be used in NZ to evade tax through ‘distributions’ in the way you describe? I do not think that is right. If it worked then everyone would be doing it.
A.
Then he needs to be clearer. Most kiwis view tax as paye. If he didnt want us to think he arranged his affair to reduce his income tax he is being disingenuous
Yes, I thought that aspect was unclear too. Is he talking personal tax? Business tax?
“Value of shares and property can (and has) increase, that gain is currently not taxed in NZ ”
And the elephant that is not mentioned – is that this type of wealth stream is almost exclusively the preserve of the already wealthy – and forms the lion’s share of the wealth increase of the very rich. And yet of all the forms of gaining wealth (wages, salary etc) THIS is the one that is entirely or almost entirely tax free!!
The stupidity is the rule about the speculation of the gain. It should be obvious that people invest in growth shares for the capital gain! IRD should not have to prove that with each individual case.
They need to get rid of the ‘intention’ and just have the same rule no matter what.
Also the National government has allowed NZ to become a welfare country to the offshore wealthy. Come here, invest in what have you (property, farms, assets, businesses) and then they make losses or pitiful income and the person never even resides and works here.
But the family and person can come and use the health system, super and if they fall on hard times (or restructure their affairs) the social welfare system. Win, win.
There is a massive time bomb brewing.
Massive expansion of retirement villages being built, but guess what, normal Kiwis can’t afford the fees for the most part, they are being built for when all the offshore working residents chose to retire back in Sunny Nu Zilland. Free health, free retirement fees (if you structure your affairs to have under $200k), free super, etc etc.
It costs more to retire someone in NZ than the prison system. It’s neoliberal Kafta. Absolute Absurdism.
The bizarre thing, is that apparently the NZ strategy for migration was to pay for the local superannuation by importing in skilled workers, but it’s turned into creating a much bigger superannuation and health crisis because the rules are so ridiculous to get around and the people being imported in are often on minimal wages and have to be subsidised themselves and the family members will need retirement. It’s adding to NZ social welfare problems not as was proposed helping them.
I guess it’s a reference to the fact much of his wealth isn’t taxed – just his income.
sure, I was just wondering how that worked. i.e. I’m guessing he doesn’t have to do it that way and he could instead set things up so he pays more tax.
Exactly, Bill – as i understand it.
I am no fan of Gareth Morgan by any means, but for years, he himself has been vocal about the fact that people like himself are paying far too little tax.
Sorry, off out to commitments and don’t have time to find links etc, but there have been stacks of media articles etc over the last 10 ? years with Morgan ranting about the inequalities of the current tax system and the unfair LOW proportion of tax paid by the wealthy.
No one really understands it apart from a select few accountants, they new trick seems to be accountants turned politicians who seem to have little morals, John Key, Judith Collins who champion tax loopholes that nobody thinks much of but helps them and super rich cronies to prosper.
Meanwhile the left hasn’t caught on and still thinking its about the 2nd property of some police office or teacher and losing elections over it, while the .1% turning over hundreds of millions are not even on the radar.
It was anonymous Samaritans that exposed Panama and Paradise papers and revealed it all, the politicians and their advisers obviously were never going to get to the bottom of it. The media at first refused to print the Panama papers and John Key sent Judith Collins to be our representative on glueing up the tax loopholes. Need we say more!
Collins made a career of it as a tax lawyer. One of the reasons her pretense at not thinking her Oravida behaviour was a conflict of interest , was such a joke.
“I am no fan of Gareth Morgan by any means, but for years, he himself has been vocal about the fact that people like himself are paying far too little tax.”
Yes, that’s is a well known issue. But the point I raised was about whether Morgan could be paying a reasonable amount of tax and chooses not to.
Well of course, he can pay as much tax as he likes. Anyone with a bank account can make voluntary payments to IRD any time. However he does not wish to pay more than is required by law.
A.
I wonder what stops him given his clear anhorrence to it
Huh, I didn’t know that. How does IRD manage that against someone’s tax accounting?
I’m not sure, as I have never felt the desire to donate large sums of money to the IRD!!
A.
(Edit: Perhaps at some point one would be offered a refund. There is no obligation however to accept that refund)
In New Zealand, when you receive dividends from a NZ company, you also get imputation credits for the tax that company has paid. So when you file your personal income taxes, those imputation credits reduce your tax owed. Assuming Morgan declares income over $70k, he’s in the 33% bracket, so he only has to pay the additional tax due from the 5% difference between the company rate of 28% and his personal rate of 33%.
My understanding is crediting of company tax on dividends is unusual internationally. Australia is the only other country I’m aware of that also does it, the US definitely does not. In the US, dividends are paid after company tax, and the recipient then pays their full income tax on those dividends, so they are taxed twice.
Thanks Andre. That seems a reasonable explanation regarding Morgan’s comment.
Thanks Andre
Um. He gets it cos he deliberately arranged his affairs that way. He could operate in a different way but chooses not to and blames the system.
A better ststement would be “I could be paying only 4% but have chosen to pay my fair share. It is time we closed access to this behaviour”.
This just makes him a self righteous wanker
True, but it is important that the system does not allow paying tax to be merely a choice for some of the population. The system does need changing.
I agree, but I also think that if someone wants to be a politician then being someone who games current law for their own ends is problematic. This is worth discussing in public given he makes a point of the low tax rate.
This
A better ststement would be “I could be paying only 4% but have chosen to pay my fair share. It is time we closed access to this behaviour”.
Thanks, that’s what I was wondering. And how he is doing it. A suggestion above is via Trusts.
Agree, and your point at 15.6.1.1
I would have guessed it was untaxed capital gains
A.
Untaxed capital gains it is.
Effective tax rate is just the tax you pay vs total income (I use that term loosely because by income I mean genuine income + capital gains).
As capital gains are not taxed, the effective rate is low. Not to be confused with marginal tax rates.
@weka family trusts are most commonly used to protect relationship property, so it might be that was what your parents were doing. But not always…
He could, for example, calculate what it would be if he had the system he wanted and give it to a charity that houses poor families… and then make his point.
I am not in the business of defending Gareth Morgan, I think he is a tosser
A.
Facebook to users: send nudes
It’s almost a good idea but I don’t actually want a private corporation to be able to recognise me anywhere in the world.
I can see no way that could possibly go horribly wrong.
Question Time today
For anyone interested, in a break with tradition, the PM and the Deputy PM are both in the House for Qtime today. Usually the PM, Opposition Leader are not in the House on Thursdays.
Winston Peters was sworn in having been overseas with the PM and also there are further Labour MP maiden speeches today after QTime.
A good session so far – a few laughs and JA and WP did a wonderful tag team act with Question 1 – Paula Bennett asking the PM whether she stands by all her policies. I presume PB expected it to be answered by Kelvin Davis as per all other questions to the PM this week but got JA instead.
Most of the session so far has been worth watching.
It was good to hear the PM remind the House that it’s a pity the National Party weren’t as enthusiastic about Paid Parental Leave in their 9 years in government as they now, apparently are, in Opposition.
Bennett was very quiet during the election but this past week or so has been front and centre again