Nice to see a media site pointing out the obvious that we have to do things differently. They even point the finger at media commentators, although they don't promise to change.
We won't get change (to long term thinking) unless politicians are rewarded for it. While tax cuts and high house prices are talked about as good things pollies will not stick their necks out.
We have the most coherent, centralising, long-reaching, deep-interventionist government we have had since Muldoon.
Government is not the problem.
The problem is in an exceptionally low-ambition rent-seeking large business community, together with most of our available capital tied up in real estate.
When does calling for something to stop become a way of prolonging it? And how much of a coincidence that this appears after a couple of weeks in which Luxon is revealed as a far right goose? (Note: link is paywalled. Just happen to have picked up the neighbour's paper copy today)
C'mon now its not like there were many alternatives to Foster
There was no Rennie, Joseph and Brown or Robertson option
The brains trust had no other choice because, as we all know, unless you've been in the ABS coaching set up you can't possibly be an international coach
Positive Rugby .Foster was anointed he hadn't had any experience at coaching winning teams or overseas for that matter. Scott Robertson beat a very strong Blues team by not kicking the ball away keeping the ball not allowing the opposing team to score.Foster played right into Ireland's strengths ,who invented the Gary Owen the high ball.Ireland dominated upfront even though they had a lighter pack.Foster has to go now he is out of his depth out of ideas ,Schmit or Robertson .Foster should never have been coach.Had Jacho Pyper been the ref Ireland would have been down to 13 for much of the second half .Saying all this this is a reality check a year out from the World Cup usually in the year running up to the world cup the Allblacks thrash everyone then loose the important ones .
Cheers
Just shifted jobs ,(onwards and upwards hopefully) after 4 1/2 years for some scheming miserable fuckers , thank God for labour laws I'd hate to think how they'd treat people if given free reign.
Career wise it was worth it, it got me to this job, but after all that time they used a change in my situation to screw me out of some income , went full bully ,threatening dismissal due to a brain fart I had, and then doubled the work load and expected me to do it alone for the same money ,
I remember you writing here about a pending job change quite some time back and I’m glad to hear that it has finally happened (i.e. you made it happen, I presume). Good luck with the job and I hope your family is doing better for it; a shit job tends to spill over into the home …
Talking of ‘wisdom’. A revealing interveiw on Q&A this morning with Nanaia Mahuta. I especially recommend her response to the accusations concerning members of her family. Will link when and if it becomes available.
thanks Anne for alerting us to this site about the Nanaia Mahuta interview.
When asked about her family, Mahuta talked about the trolling she had received about this. She looked visibly disressed by this. So I am sorry she has received trolling and been the subject of hurtful things. That is never acceptable.
However Mahuta failed to answer adequately the questions around her family and conflict of interests and unfortunately Jack Tame didn't ask more specific questions and got side track about the trolling.
There are definitely questions about Mahutas family being awarded contracts or public money, that should be questioned very assertively.
Mahuta's husband who has a criminal conviction of assault on a woman has been awarded contracts. I bring this up because someone with a criminal conviction of assault against a female will have a great deal of difficultly getting employment.
I think it would be fair to ask why he/his company was given a contract in suicide prevention (he has no quallifications in this). and waste management?
Her sister has also received appointments and so to have some of her nephews.
Happy to provide links on request with more details.
A close friend of mine is a retired lawyer and familiar with the details on this. His answer is that we are looking at two completely different world views here. In one nepotism is considered a problem – in the other it is a virtue.
The entity I work for has a government business group. It operates under strict ethical rules. If perchance as a member of that group I found myself negotiating with a government official who also happened to be a relative – I would have to immediately withdraw from that discussion. And fully document the circumstances to my manager. Failure to follow these rules to the letter would almost certainly result in my dismissal.
And this would apply even if both of us were highly qualified and experienced in the contract or area concerned.
Which tends to erase a lot of issues that don't apply to the Pākehā demographic majority, but do apply to a colonised, historically marginalised and much smaller indigenous community, especially in roles that pertain directly to specialist cultural knowledge only available in that community.
So all I have to do is declare that only Maori possess the proper cultural knowledge on waste management in an industrial society – and automatically only brown faces need apply for the role. And the rules around proximity can be set aside because all Maori are related.
The NZ public sector procurement requirements and outcomes make it very, very hard not to hire Maori to deliver Maori outcomes. That's particularly the case in Education and Health, but it's all through the system now: water, Tertiary education, media procurement, public health, Justice, secondary education, SSC, Conservation, Transport, and on and on.
I am reading you correctly? Are you saying that if everything gets defined in terms of Maori outcomes – as part of the decolonising mantra – then skills and experience have become secondary to cultural considerations across much of the public sector.
It's a shade more subtle than that, but the effect is that Maori get hired to deliver Maori outcomes. There's even official names for them: for some it's Broader Outcomes, or Pa Harakeke, or Progressive Procurement, or Te Akutai, and on and on.
Even in the big infrastructure bids one needs to specify who is being hired for achieving these Broader Outcomes. It’s so common now as to be ordinary, and seriously you can’t win the bid without them.
This is opposition gold ,Labour is on the backlash of out of control inflation ,a housing crisis,Labour shotrages,a health system under huge strain,food shortages ,5 waters etc.Mahuta needs to go she is the focal point of incompatency.But her going won"t save Labour the economy isn't going to recover by next winter and NZ is traditionally a National voting country .Which will mean austerity and block of cheese tax cuts for the swing voters.
….or… there are 775,836 people in Aotearoa who identify as Māori, most of whom exist within large extended families, of whom only a certain proportion have the capital and resources to rise in the educational and political sphere. Inevitably for appointments where being Māori is an important qualification people are going to be related.
You get exactly the same thing with Pākehā in the provinces but apparently that's not a problem for some reason…
I can accept there is a limited pool of talent to choose from in many cases all across public service in NZ, and that getting the right people into a role can be challenging.
But frankly I don't care how experienced or suitable you are for a role – in my view being an immediate family member is an automatic disqualification.
Well the global corporation I have been associated with most of my working life holds to a higher standard. Hell we will reprimand someone who expenses a $20 meal for their immediate manager by accident.
New Zealand remains within the top two least corrupt countries in the world and has done for over a decade.
Not sure if there's many global corporates who will expose their records in how they win bids to the kind of scrutiny states get, particularly small ones.
I think you'll find on closer examination that your joint isn't as pure as the driven snow that you're making out. Business is business.
On the contrary I know of two instance where people resigned rather than expose themselves to corrupt practice. And those are just the ones I know about. And the corporate will openly walk away from such business if necessary. I can point to one instance in Italy in just the past few months. But not all corruption involves bribes or obvious personal benefit, sometimes it can just be a case of taking a shortcut on paperwork, testing or certifying procedures – even when they seem quite logical or innocent.
Every 12 months everyone must undergo a mandatory ethics training course and must pass the exam which features notoriously tricky and often subtle case examples that are not easy. And you only get three shots at obtaining a 100% score or you're down the road. We have let very senior people go just for this.
And that is just for normal commercial business. The govt business team is another whole world I don't want to even think about.
So if that global company is an oil or oil related company which buy off govts ,ignore human rights, womens rights ,enviromental destruction no problems there.But a $20 meal not ok sounds like hypocritical gaslighting.
I'm not claiming perfection – that would be insane because nothing human ever is or will be. But the idea that big global corps routinely and actively pursue corrupt business practice no longer lines up with reality.
I cannot speak for all of them of course, but the ground has definitely shifted in the past two decades on this.
RL Oh you mean since when Clinton pardoned Marc Rich (for a small payment to the Clinton Foundation) and Rich's partners spun off to form Glencore who pleaded guilty last month to bribery,
Reaching back into the 90's. I am sure you can scour the net for many instances – but what you will not find are any shock horror articles on all the time a corporation did the right thing and it never made the news.
Again I am not claiming perfection – that would be insane. But I am saying that if you has lived and worked within or adjacent to these big corporates most of your working life you would have a more nuanced view. Defining and promoting strong ethical behaviour is a central part of the corporate game that it simply wasn't 20-30 years ago.
For example this sort of entity was simply not a thing 20 years ago.
That may well be an argument for Tipa Mahuta's appointment (though I shouldn't have thought that she was the best qualified candidate for both the Maori Advisory Group for 3 Waters and the Maori Health Authority).
But it's hard to believe that the most qualified candidates for 3 out of the 5 members of the advisory group on waste management were Mahua relatives. Especially as none of them appear to have any significant waste management experience or credentials. If all that is required is a te ao Maori perspective, there are plenty of non-Mahua-whanau candidates which can offer that qualification.
Well, I've done a quick check and can't find any relevant waste management experience for any of them on sites like Linked in which include CV, etc.
No one, not even the journalists supporting Mahuta, have been saying things like 'X's experience in Y, makes them a highly logical candidate for Z group'.
Do you have any evidence that they do have relevant experience in waste management? I'm not questioning Te ao Maori credentials – but plenty of other candidates have those….
Tamaoko Ormsby's waste minimization experience (the only one of the 3 with any listed) seems to be limited to refurbishing laptops for a school during Covid lockdown.
Both he and Waimirirangi are listed as having provided waste minimization training services. [This kind of thing is usually a tick box exercise for government departments and corporates bidding for government contracts… it rarely means much]
The waste management qualifications and experience of the 3 (such as they are) seem heavily duplicated. You could argue that 1 representative from the 'coal face' could be justified – but more than that – especially from a single family seems highly unbalanced.
Compared to the highly relevant qualifications of Jacqui Forbes and Teina Boasa – the other 2 members of the panel – they look pretty inadequate.
The relevant experience in: "waste, circular economy thinking and mātauranga Māori." – are certainly not limited to the Mahuta whanau – and would be fairly widespread across many different iwi.
The Ministry admit that they selectively approached individuals, rather than advertising or approaching a range of iwi.
Again, not questioning the Ormsbys Te ao Maori credentials – but pointing out that these are shared by a wide range of Maori from different whanau and iwi. It is difficult to see what made 3 members of the same family the ideal candidates.
What? I've provided the links, as requested, and the OIA.
And pointed out that the 3 Ormsbys have little waste management experience.
How does that equate to walking back? I am certainly questioning the hiring of the 3 Mahuta whanau members. From the OIA response, it seems that any relevant qualifications they have would be easily found in other Maori candidates.
And, for the Min of the Environment to openly admit approaching specific individuals, rather than seeking the best candidate, is pretty close to corruption in my book.
So your answer seems to be saying, doesn't matter if it's corrupt, or it's probably nepotism – hey, all of the public sector does it. Nothing to see here, move right along.
I wouldn't find that acceptable from a right wing government, and I don't find it acceptable from a left-wing one either.
I've seen plenty of ring-fencing to look at hiring someone with a specific skill set, or a specific experience profile. This is the first time I've seen that skill set effectively being 'whanau of the Minister'.
I am with Bella on this. I accept what you are saying is true, but at the same time I get the sad feeling you have normalised sub-par and shoddy standards because they are indeed so commonplace.
Bill English was indeed a senior Minister for many years – but I do not recall the exact context of these contracts you refer to. Or why you think they were problematic.
Finally, when National was in power in 2012, the Ministry of Education gave a very senior role to Apryll Parata, the sister of the Minister of Education, Hekia Parata. Concern was expressed by the then Labour Education spokesperson, who warned: “There is a perceived conflict of interest. People will draw all sorts of conclusions given the proximity of the appointment.” And that spokesperson was Nanaia Mahuta.
Well that was 10 years ago. Now we are decolonising there will be different rules for different people I should imagine.
If you don't think it's necissary to accommodate indigenous reality in situations directlty relating to indigenous matters, perhaps don't live in a colony with a history of oppression and borderline genocide and clutch your pearls over ethics and objectivity.
What colony? New Zealand has been an independent nation for almost 120 years now. And Maori have been fully legal citizens since 1840 with full male suffrage from around 1870. Before even all white males.
As for genocide – that happened in the Musket Wars before 1840. And it wasn't 'borderline' either.
As for genocide – that happened in the Musket Wars before 1840. And it wasn't 'borderline' either.
Shhhhh, RL, hush your mouth ! … those are the wars that dare not speak their name among polite (if totally clueless) Upper-Middle Pakeha Woke Society ! Spoils the highly paternalistic Noble Savage Romanticism.
Three decades of horrendous massacres, truly brutal genocidal violence, at least 20k dead (vs about 2k in the New Zealand Wars), tens of thousands enslaved, sadistic torture common, cannibalism, massive upheaval, iwi massacred, many others permanently driven from their nga rohe.
Looks increasingly like the affluent, flatulent Che Guevara beret-wearing Professional New Middle Classes – desperate for an aura of radical-chic while ensuring a highly privileged lifestyle for themselves – are intent on throwing fundamental ethics & morals out the window as they build the Brave New (deeply anti-democratic) World of He Puapua.
Narcissistic to the core … yet so utterly bereft of wisdom.
Having skim read He Puapua one of the enduring sentences I remember was the policy will mean transformational constitiutional change. Given this how come Labour didn't campaign on this?
How dare they think they can role out "transformation" to our constitutional arrangements by stealth
Stealth is very much the preferred modus operandi of Critical Theory cult members within the Professional New Middle Class … together with their unprincipled & rather cowardly fellow-travellers … they're nothing if not profoundly anti-democratic. Essentially the same elitist tactics & mindset as the Rogernomes.
Self-interested authoritarians perpetually going through this ludicrous charade of ostentatious moral posturing in a wildly unconvincing attempt to justify their power-grab.
Yes. The parallel with the disastrous Rogernome debacle is a pretty good one.
Lange was the charming, eloquent and acceptable public face of a government that imposed an extremist 'transformational' economic change on this country by stealth. Because so many people believed in Lange, the real power in Cabinet were able to operate with impunity until far too late.
Well this govt is much the same. Sure the PR optics are a lot more skilled, the circumstances are quite different – but essentially I see Ardern as the acceptable and popular face of a govt that is imposing transformational political change on this country by stealth as well. Probable outcome will not be any happier in my view.
And ably assisted by a woeful opposition. As a friend of mine said recently – when you are reduced to considering Seymour as the only sane alternative you know something has gone badly wrong.
I suspect that even without the developing economic situation this issue would see this administration lose the next election despite the attempt at stealth and an acceptable face.
And yet it's blindingly self-evident that there are huge structural, institutional, health, carceral, and economic disparities. No? So what's the basis for that? As for genocide, that applies to culture as well, and the litany of bad Crown legislation and neglect around that extends well into the twentieth century.
The public sector has gone through this for over 20 years with women and tilting the scales of hiring. The state has the right to give effect to the policy it wants through hiring.
I'm not aware that preferential hiring practices – to increase numbers of women and various ethnic minorities – were equivalent to nepotism.
There are plenty of Maori candidates (or women candidates, or Pasifika candidates, etc.) without employing family members.
Of course, there are cases where family members of politicians have nationally (and sometimes internationally) recognized levels of expertise – which make them the best candidate for a particular job – and that is why there is an elaborate Cabinet Manual procedure to deal with that situation.
The question being asked of the Mahuta family is were they unquestionably the best candidate/s for the job/s?
If the family are not the best candidates, then there is undoubtably a fault in the hiring process. We don't know what that fault is. It might be incompetence, it might be political capture, it might be nepotism, – it might be something else.
Populuxe of course it is necessary to accommodate indigenous reality in situations relating to indigeous matters. But the Mahuta family are not the only ones who can provid the "indigenous reality".
Or if you are proposing that our system that serves to see our govt officials are not guilty of corruption, should not be applied to Maori?
No I wasn't Populuxe 1. But as a citizen, I would like to see the information about the process, why Ormsby was chosen over other consultants and I think Mike King would like to know as well.
I think this is reasonable.
Unfortunately what I do know about suicide prevention is there seems to be little if anything we can do (although in the UK when they changed household gas to be less toxic, the suicide rate fell. To do with removing the means and easy access, slows people down).
"Maybe if he didn't go out of his way to antagonize the public service in the media and got his paper work in on time"
Naughty Mike. Not getting his paper work in on time and antagonizing the people in the public service (the people the tax payer pays to deliver outcomes).
Well no wonder mental health is such a shit show if that's what it takes to get public money. Too bad Mike got results and shamed the Ministry of Health by doing so
There is nothing balanced in that article. I have given up on expecting balance from Bryce Edwards. He might have valid points but he obscures them by sprinkling in words like "controversially pushing through Parliament".
Any "platform" run by Sean Plunkett has no claim to balance. Randomly choosing another article about the census brings up words like "inept" which show the author's bias.
I am sorry; whether there is a valid point in the articles becomes irrelevant when the language devolves to propaganda.
I read that the Minister had no decision-making role in those other contracts; all declared and managed via the standard public service conflicts of interest process. Not seen the interview. Did it say otherwise?
And no, I am not going to visit Mr Plunket's lavishly-funded right-wing site to see the reckons of his band of merry rejects from other media.
It is well understood that in cases of conflict of interest – perception is what matters most of all. Mahuta will have no doubt scrupulously followed the rules – but that does not eradicate the core problem here.
Ah yes, but if in fact, Nanaia Mahuta was scrupulously honest and the contracts done by the book, then that "perception" is what needs to be scrutinised: was it manufactured, whipped-up by oppositional factions in a manner other than "under ordinary circumstances" – that is, was the issue "played" (answer, YES) and has the "perception" aspect of conflict of interest issues here been gamed. Again, YES.
For me Robert, the perception is many of her relatives have gained lucrative contracts, especially her husband across a range of policy areas. Has Mr Ormsby managed to get contracts through other ministers? Private enterprize? I don't know but its a bad look and the look is nepotism. Remeber the outcry about Bil English wife, who is a GP, and her group did some work on Bill English pet mental health project. Yes it was right that questions were asked about this.
Mr Ormsby has been awarded a lot of govt money and it is unclear what he brings to the table and why it is superior to other potential contractors.
Barry, I more or less agree about the Platform, although Plunketts interview of Denis O'Reily was a good example of where he allowed O'REily to make his points and he acknowledged his points.
Surely though if there are valid points in the articles, then it can't quite be written off as propoganda
No Incognito, I wasn't challenged by Barry. He didn't say, prove your point that Bryce is balanced or where is your evidence for this. Barry has expressed his view. Fine by me.
I think both you and Sacha have misunderstood whose coincidence it was, probably I was clear enough. I meant it was a coincidence I found what David S said.
I have no doubt Seymour targeted his tweat after Nanaia's inteview. That is the sort of time politicians do. They release info in a targeted way. I am sure it was deliberate
I meant it was a coincidence I found what David S said.
There’s no coincidence as such on the internet and you already said that you’d used Google to find material on the topic. Whenever you go online you leave tracks & prints and Google and SM, for example, use these to their advantage (aka to make more money).
Just to clarify Sacha, I meant it was a coincidence that I found Seymour's tweet.
I only posted on this issue today as Anne put up a comment about how Nanaia was on Q and A and was impressive when Jack T brought up about her family.
I was interested and watched the interview. Like I commented earlier, I am very sorry she ha s been on the end of some nasty trolling. But I was wanting to hear more and have Nanaia asked more about the fact that so many of her family members including her husband have been awarded Govt contracts or positions. Jack didn't actually asks questions about this but focussed on the trolling.
So I commented here on what I was aware of about Mahuta and her family contracts. I googled to find links to her husband being awarded some sort of contract for suicide prevention. To my knowledge he has no background in mental health and suicide prevention. I came across David S tweat which was today. I suspect Seymour released this information today after the Mahuta interview. That is what a politician would do.
I was referring to the coindence that I came across this material today. I don't follow David S
You and me do not have the information to answer those questions, do we. As with most public procurement exercises. Need a higher standard than some agitation by righties to justify further discussion.
Sacha, you get the prize for the most new age attempt to shut anyone down.
So I need to not want to know stuff about Mahutas husband and the mental health contract, cause it want give me satisfaction in life? Is that what you are saying.
I am allowed to want to have information about what public money has been spent on. Whether it may or may not give me life satisfaction is entirely irrelevant.
Jack started that part of the interview, by saying "your family".
Anne started this thread off today by recomending Q and A "talking of wisdom a revealing interview on Q and A this morning with Nanaia . I especially recommned her response to the accusations concerning members of her fmaily"
So as I had read about Nanaia's relatives getting contracts, I watched the programme in order to listen to her side of the story. But actually she didn't respond about the accusations of nepotism (except for a stock politicians sentence). She talked about the trolling.
I think it is important our politicians are grilled aobut any perceived conflicts of interests. Like many on this site, I screamed and complained over the Judith Collins and Orivida affair. I can's see why people wouldn't want to know more about what has happened that so many of Mahutas relatives have ended up with govt contracts.
I've deleted your quote that has no links. Honestly beyond me why I have to keep explaining this.
If you copy and paste, you *have to link as well. This is fundamental to robust debate. Linking means people can see the quote in context (almost always improves understanding), can check for mistakes or skewing in arguments, and in the case of something like twitter, often replies or quote tweets will answer questions that arise here.
Thanks Weka. And when I thought about it, I think I didn't want to be posting a link that belonged to David Seymour, that was my motivation. But no excuse and completely my bad
Mahuta says she followed and kept to Cabinet protocols throughout. I believe her. It follows then, that she can't be justifiably be punished, only unjustly punished, which in my opinion, is what is happening here.
Jack started that part of the interview, by saying "your family".
Anne started this thread off today by recomending Q and A "talking of wisdom a revealing interview on Q and A this morning with Nanaia . I especially recommned her response to the accusations concerning members of her fmaily"
So as I had read about Nanaia's relatives getting contracts, I watched the programme in order to listen to her side of the story. But actually she didn't respond about the accusations of nepotism (except for a stock politicians sentence). She talked about the trolling.
I think it is important our politicians are grilled aobut any perceived conflicts of interests. Like many on this site, I screamed and complained over the Judith Collins and Orivida affair. I can see why people wouldn't want to know more about what has happened that so many of Mahutas relatives have ended up with govt contracts.
This is not the first media story about the matter in the last week or two. Q&A is pitched at politics-followers, so they would expect their audience to already know at least some of the details.
How is Mahuta being punished? Do you mean by the trolls. Well of course that shouldn't be happening.
But it isn't punishing someone for the media to ask probing questions about this, nor for Seymour to release info that she didn't follow cabinet procedures to manage the conflict over her niece and He Puapua (if he is correct.)
… nor for Seymour to release info that she didn't follow cabinet procedures to manage the conflict over her niece and He Puapua (if he is correct.)
Do you believe Seymour or Mahuta?
Given Seymour’s history lying about misrepresenting facts, I suggest it is Mahuta who is telling the truth. She has so much more to lose by lying. Every procedure was correctly followed to the letter of the law – and I suspect some more.
Don’t know who I believe more Anne. Ideally I would want some journalist to investigate Seymour’s statement and find out whether he can substantiate it. If it’s not true Mahuta can always send him a lawyers letter.
Tbh I am suspious as to why so many of NM relatives have been given jobs or offered contracts in Ministries where she is the Minister.
I am particularly bother by the suicide prevention money her husband got. He has no background in mental health and there is limited evidence about what strategies reduce suicide. Even the recent research showing roughly a quarter of people who die by suicide have excessive blood alcohol levels. The alcohol will of course will lead to greater impulsively, but other than clinicians advising depressed people not to drink, there is an obvious intervention from this information.
The Mahuta family is a large family you know. They are at the top of the Maori chain so it isn't surprising there are several of them who have held down or are holding down government appointed positions. Brains, together with other skills, tend to be handed down through the family line.
The subject under discussion has nothing to do with suicide prevention but if you are going to tag it on, then you need to provide a link so we know what you're talking about. Chances are her husband is the 'chief cook and bottle-washer' who sought the finance for a suicide prevention programme among Maori, but the treatment will be carried out by Maori professionals in that field. That's just a guess of course.
So you mean if we disagree with your position we are practising hypocrisy.
So your queries sneers and position is "Perception is everything"
That is not the case in law and in the handbook, but that won't stop your slurs
Nanaia Mahuta has integrity and has dealt with some very difficult political and personal situations with dignity and grace. Two qualities totally lacking in some of the men trying to sway perceptions of her, and those trolling her.
Mike King asks the questions about why Mahutas husband was funded for suicide prevention. If I was Mike I would want to know to. He has worked his guts out to provide a service with little govt support.
I do think Nanaia comes across with grace and she may well have done a fantastic job. But that doesn't mean she shouldn't be open to scrutiny. Does it?
This story about Mahutas hamily appointments has been shut down in the msm, other than a brief flurry by the Herald. Cause to be honest, imo this is not a nothing to see here situation.
We are talking about multiply family members being given contracts and appointments, including her husband. Who as Mike King points out was given money for suicide prevention when he has no quals in mental health. What did Ormsby do with this money? What was achieved?
Your link tells us nothing about the background to the grant awarded to a company belonging to Nanaia's husband. I note it is for the princely sum of $28,000.
You seem to have a lot of enthusiasm for the MSM dirt diggers to keep digging for more dirt (and) to keep the story alive. AFAIK, nothing new has come to light yet and you’ll just have to wait till OIA requests come in and get drip-fed on SM and/or until the internal enquiry at the Ministry has been completed.
It is a handy smear for the racist thread of the big organised campaign against 3 Waters. No doubt the righties will keep stirring it up, plus whatever useful idiots help them out.
Yes, but it is now used as a dirty indiscriminate weapon against just about anything with the M-word in it, not to mention Co-Governance. This is not limited to coming from the Right only, as plenty of comments on this site can attest. Many pretend-Lefties pay only lip-service to empowerment of the segments of our society that continue to fall behind in many ways according to many metrics & indices. The lazy labels and low pot shots come hard and fast from both directions. Any debate and genuine engagement are on the back-foot from the outset because of the polarising language and narratives around. No one seems to be capable and/or willing to have a serious conversation about a long-term vision for Aotearoa-New Zealand, and this vacuum is fertile soil for radicalising elements and their agendas when the going gets tough, as is happening at present. Watch out for more DP and Trumpian-style politics here over the next year and a bit.
To be fair, we have a big vacuum in progressive vision and I do not expect most people to know the context before they enter the low-barrier public discourse. Broad church, etc.
This country has only just started grappling with our colonial past recently.
Thank you. Same point we have already discussed. Mike King expects expertise in suicide prevention, but..
A spokesperson for the Department of Māori Development said that expertise in suicide prevention was not required of those receiving money from the fund.
I am interested in the truth Incognito, not defending any politician whether or not they do a good interview, whether they are Labour, National or whatever party.
This website was in uproar (rightly so ) about Collins and Orivida.
Mahuta has numerous relatives getting contracts/positions where she is involved. Her husband, her sister, two nephews and a niece.
I believe that most people would say that they’re interested in the truth, so that’s neither here nor there.
I see this as a relatively minor issue and I expect we’ll get some answers in future. If it were as big some like to make it out to be then I think it likely that Mahuta would have lost her portfolios for breaching the rules, possibly just temporary as a symbolic gesture more than anything.
Labour cannot afford this lingering and hanging over them for too long, because it has a disproportionally large negative impact on a whole load of things that they want to achieve before the General Election. They would therefore want to neutralise this as soon and as much as they can, which again brings be back to Mahuta who’s still standing and going strong and getting the full support of the Labour Party.
In short, people see what they want to see and making up things to fill in the gaps (aka lack of info and answers). This is not seeking the truth but confirmation bias, pure and simple. The MSM know that without new info they cannot keep running these stories on confirmation bias of some of their readership alone.
You talk about being interested in the truth Anker yet you have already passed judgement on Nanaia Mahuta and members of her family with no actual evidence to back up the claims. As far as I can tell it is all hearsay and innuendo with most of it coming from right wing politicians such as Seymour and Brown. It is then being picked up by tabloid journos who exaggerate and embroider them for political and click-baiting purposes.
I've already told you that it is not surprising there are various members of the Mahuta family who have received contracts of one sort or another. They are a bright and talented family. How about checking how many other Maori dynasties of note have also been the recipient of contract arrangements down the years with the Crown.
"no one seems capable of and/or willing to have a serious conversation about a long term vision for Aotearoa"
I think that is what Seymour is proposing that we have a debate about cogovernance and a way forward.
RE the link from Anne . Hav e you watched it? Jack asks one question about the nepotism and Mahuta gives a cliched answer like "all procedures were followed" and that's it.
As I said earlier, I watch Q and A not out of some enthusiam to "dig dirt" but I geniunely wanted to hear what was said. The interviewer gave Nanaia a free pass on the rumours of nepotism. She could have clarifed further, but she didn't. So in my mind there are unasnwered questions.
I honestly hadn't given a lot of thought to the nepotism rumours, although they looked very suspious to me. I read what Mike King said and I thought no wonder he is pissed. He got a whole service for mental health up and running with sfa from the govt and he's letting us know about a contract Mr Ormsy got for suicide preventation and he is asking a lot of questions.
You think what Seymour is proposing is not what he and ACT are about, so why don’t you check first before you make assumptions and jump to conclusions. Hint: ACT has already rejected Co-Governance and wants a Referendum to put it to rest for at least a number of years.
My guess is you’d vote against a whole raft of policies because of your ‘suspicions’, which coincidentally align very nicely with ACT.
As to the answer Mahuta gave, which is the same as the PM and Government have given, is correct & true. It has to be because Mahuta would have received at least a Yellow Card otherwise.
You can keep looking for smoke as much as you like but it won’t start a fire nor will it fire a gun.
Nanaia Mahuta has integrity and has dealt with some very difficult political and personal situations with dignity and grace.
So true. Has anyone witnessed an instance where Nanaia has not responded with dignity? Never. She's light years ahead of her detractors.
As for the psychological abuse and the trolling… only those who have been on the receiving end can fully comprehend the huge amount of damage caused, not only to the target but often to their families and others around them. It can send the victim into a spiral of terror… afraid to leave their homes for fear of what might happen to them. The threats can be both overt and covert.
These types of people – who often also physically stalk their prey – have in the past been given a free pass with little to no consequences. It is time for such offences to be given a much higher level of priority, and the punishments increased to fit the level of abuse committed.
Incognito i think it is abundantly clear where Seymour and Act stand on co governance. But what they are saying is lets have the debate and a referendum. Unlike Labour who never mentioned He Puapua or campaigned on it in the last election.
I am now quite suspious of Labour (I am a party member by the way), because of how they have done so much by stealth. The gender self ID bill, three waters (never campaigned on it or looked at other options) the Rotorua Bill which Tamati Coffey championed (which David Parker quashed because he said it went against the Bill of Rights) and the He Puapua document (which talks about transforming our constitutional arrangemnts. That flew below the radar before the last election.
I think it is reasonable to by suspious of Mahuta given so many family appointments when she was a Minister. Two contracts to her husband in fields he has no qualifications for.
In 2016, an exhausted John Key told wife Bronagh: “I’m certain it’s my last year”. She said she would back him “100 per cent'' if he went for a fourth term. “But if you do go please tell me you won’t go back.” This exclusive extract from the book Blue Blood by senior Stuff journalist Andrea Vance reveals how that conversation set in train events that would lead to Key’s shock resignation, and plunge the party into a bloody leadership crisis.
Just goes to show the business background of long corporate lunch breaks and golf course deals is no prerequisite for a career in politics.
"I've gambled on the money trading markets" and "I ran an airline" means shit when you're expected to actually do some work for the first time in your pampered little life.
Jordan Peterson is an Narcisist a Misogynist a fossil who is a regular know it all that don't impress me at all , no science behind his theories just anecdotes.A man who is trying to take us back to the 1950's when it was a mans world and Men had all the answers .Very popular in the far right with his simplistic remedies.
Like, you wouldn't be so fucking thick as to have read this obviously absurd line on twitter and assumed it was real, would you? Gee I wonder what other bullshit you swallow regularly from the same sources.
The funny thing about Peterson is that no-one EVER criticises anything he's actually said.
Leave the Intersectionals alone … they may be inadvertently regurgitating embarrassingly weak satire … but it's their truth … which is just as valid as ours. Putting aside the fact that “truth” itself is a yucky patriarchal settler-colonist construct designed to oppress pregnant men of colour.
As so often, despite displaying the trademark pomposity & self-satisfaction of the former Public Address cadre, you've managed to get things totally arse about face. Falling for any old invective against one of irrational Wokedom's key hate-figures (in this case, a patently obvious – if banal – parody) is very much the tin foil hat territory here, sweetness.
Now if you could answer this with an erudite little bon mot, I’m sure those of equal pretention will find themselves utterly enchanted.
The problems referenced apply to NZ as well, and explain why most of the infrastructure devleopment we are putting in to fix the housing crisis is unsustainable.
Political antagonism and shortfalls of deep thinking and analysis by parliamentary select committees do not lead to robust decisions. Outside Parliament, political commentators in the newspapers “are just so overtly political and partisan, it's not helpful”.
“These are complex multidimensional issues, which require more than shallow, political or partisan argument. And that's what we're not good at,” he [Peter Gluckman] says.
Gluckman was to scared to mention this when he was John Keys lackey but better late than never! Did Key do anything longterm yes he cut health funding police funding education funding all had longterm consequences. Nothing will change politics is a popularity contest every 3 years so no longterm solutions will happen, balance books buy votes, balance the books buy votes and on it goes.
Your comment is laughable and pathetic at the same time. Say what you like about Gluckman but he’s never been anybody’s lackey. You can join the other group of commenters here who like to shoot the messenger instead of adding something constructive and of real substance to the commentary here.
I'm sure they can all see the writing on the wall – petrol prices are not coming down, and the hit when the subsidy ran out would be painful to the voting population.
I expect to see it extended again in January (unless I'm wrong and petrol prices are indeed dropping) – until after the election.
Oh yes. She's too good for many Kiwis. That's why she is continuously being undermined – including by some regulars here. Tall poppy syndrome in full flight!
Better be careful. They'll be coming for you next. Mind you I think you can handle it with good humour n'all.
There must be some incriminating shit in those texts.
The Secret Service’s account about how text messages from the day before and the day of the Capitol attack were erased has shifted several times, the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security told the House January 6 select committee at a briefing on Friday.
At one point, the explanation from the Secret Service for the lost texts was because of software upgrades, the inspector general told the panel, while at another point, the explanation was because of device replacements.
The inspector general also said that though the secret service opted to have his office do a review of the agency’s response to the Capitol attack in lieu of conducting after-action reports, it then stonewalled the review by slow-walking production of materials.
[…]
In the letter, the inspector general said that certain Secret Service texts from 5 January and 6 January 2021 were erased amid a “device replacement program” even after he had requested the messages for his internal inquiry.
The Secret Service has disputed that, saying in a statement that data on some phones were lost as part of a pre-planned “system migration” in January 2021, and that Cuffari’s initial request for communications came weeks later in late February 2021.
But the select committee questioned the Secret Service’s emphasis on that date, the participants said, and noted in the subpoena letter that the request for electronic communications in fact first came from Congress, ten days after the Capitol attack.
The congressional request from 16 January 2021 addressed to multiple executive branch agencies – including the Homeland Security Department, which oversees the Secret Service – was for all materials referring or relating to the riot.
At a minimum, if you have been found to have destroyed evidence, the judge may draw or the jury may be told it can draw an inference that the materials you destroyed were harmful to your case.
In plain English, destroyed evidence can be held against people in certain circumstances.
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
A ballot for 4 Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance Contracts Bill (Duncan Webb) Income Tax (Clean Transport FBT Exclusion) Amendment Bill (Julie Anne Genter) Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill (Greg Fleming) Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the country’s top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
The unidentified foreign intelligence operation discussed in a scathing report by New Zealand’s Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) last week appears to be a controversial United States intelligence system. The IGIS report said the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) decision to host a foreign system from 2012-2020 was “improper” ...
Tauranga, Rotorua, Wellsford, Onehunga, Westhaven marina – Gavin Strawhan walks the meanish streets of New Zealand in his entertaining debut novel The Call, almost sure to roar into the number 1 position on the Nielsen bestseller chart, its front cover bearing a rave from somebody: “A really good and genuinely ...
On a Thursday in February, at Wellington’s Conservation House, the Conservation Authority, a statutory body advising the eponymous department and minister, Tama Potaka, opened its 195th meeting. Under consideration that afternoon was an agenda item written by Tim Bamford, chief advisor in the Department of Conservation’s biodiversity, heritage and visitors ...
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A lengthy response to the recently released draft Government policy statement on transport will soon be delivered from Auckland Council to Minister of Transport Simeon Brown. A submission raising concerns about funding distribution and the plan’s treatment of Auckland passed through the council’s transport committee on Wednesday, despite some councillors ...
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300637193/new-zealand-can-we-fix-it-not-unless-politicians-grow-up
Nice to see a media site pointing out the obvious that we have to do things differently. They even point the finger at media commentators, although they don't promise to change.
We won't get change (to long term thinking) unless politicians are rewarded for it. While tax cuts and high house prices are talked about as good things pollies will not stick their necks out.
We have the most coherent, centralising, long-reaching, deep-interventionist government we have had since Muldoon.
Government is not the problem.
The problem is in an exceptionally low-ambition rent-seeking large business community, together with most of our available capital tied up in real estate.
When does calling for something to stop become a way of prolonging it? And how much of a coincidence that this appears after a couple of weeks in which Luxon is revealed as a far right goose? (Note: link is paywalled. Just happen to have picked up the neighbour's paper copy today)
Fizzer Foster flops…again..high jump.
Just keeps creating records this guy…first series loss at home for 27 years!
C'mon now its not like there were many alternatives to Foster
There was no Rennie, Joseph and Brown or Robertson option
The brains trust had no other choice because, as we all know, unless you've been in the ABS coaching set up you can't possibly be an international coach
This may or may not be sarcasm
Positive Rugby .Foster was anointed he hadn't had any experience at coaching winning teams or overseas for that matter. Scott Robertson beat a very strong Blues team by not kicking the ball away keeping the ball not allowing the opposing team to score.Foster played right into Ireland's strengths ,who invented the Gary Owen the high ball.Ireland dominated upfront even though they had a lighter pack.Foster has to go now he is out of his depth out of ideas ,Schmit or Robertson .Foster should never have been coach.Had Jacho Pyper been the ref Ireland would have been down to 13 for much of the second half .Saying all this this is a reality check a year out from the World Cup usually in the year running up to the world cup the Allblacks thrash everyone then loose the important ones .
Testing 123
nice to see you back.
Cheers
I hope life has been treating you well.
Cheers
Just shifted jobs ,(onwards and upwards hopefully) after 4 1/2 years for some scheming miserable fuckers , thank God for labour laws I'd hate to think how they'd treat people if given free reign.
That sounds like no fun at all. Hope things get back on track for you.
Giving people a little power quickly reveals their true character.
Career wise it was worth it, it got me to this job, but after all that time they used a change in my situation to screw me out of some income , went full bully ,threatening dismissal due to a brain fart I had, and then doubled the work load and expected me to do it alone for the same money ,
And Rich people wonder why us workers hate them .
Rich people often obtain to more power than their character deserves, but they are not alone in this. The resentful poor can be just as ugly.
Good work getting out.
I remember you writing here about a pending job change quite some time back and I’m glad to hear that it has finally happened (i.e. you made it happen, I presume). Good luck with the job and I hope your family is doing better for it; a shit job tends to spill over into the home …
Missed your little pearls of wisdom bwaghorn.
Talking of ‘wisdom’. A revealing interveiw on Q&A this morning with Nanaia Mahuta. I especially recommend her response to the accusations concerning members of her family. Will link when and if it becomes available.
Who me ,wise ??? If only you knew, 😅😅😅
Would you prefer your witty one liners? 🙂
Hope you won through bwaghorn. Cheers. Some firms are @#&$$!!
thanks Anne for alerting us to this site about the Nanaia Mahuta interview.
When asked about her family, Mahuta talked about the trolling she had received about this. She looked visibly disressed by this. So I am sorry she has received trolling and been the subject of hurtful things. That is never acceptable.
However Mahuta failed to answer adequately the questions around her family and conflict of interests and unfortunately Jack Tame didn't ask more specific questions and got side track about the trolling.
There are definitely questions about Mahutas family being awarded contracts or public money, that should be questioned very assertively.
Mahuta's husband who has a criminal conviction of assault on a woman has been awarded contracts. I bring this up because someone with a criminal conviction of assault against a female will have a great deal of difficultly getting employment.
I think it would be fair to ask why he/his company was given a contract in suicide prevention (he has no quallifications in this). and waste management?
Her sister has also received appointments and so to have some of her nephews.
Happy to provide links on request with more details.
A close friend of mine is a retired lawyer and familiar with the details on this. His answer is that we are looking at two completely different world views here. In one nepotism is considered a problem – in the other it is a virtue.
Hence Mahuta's distress at being called on it.
If her family members are the best qualified for the roles/contracts then so be it
If they're not or if there's people equally qualified then of course people will be looking sideways at what's happening
The entity I work for has a government business group. It operates under strict ethical rules. If perchance as a member of that group I found myself negotiating with a government official who also happened to be a relative – I would have to immediately withdraw from that discussion. And fully document the circumstances to my manager. Failure to follow these rules to the letter would almost certainly result in my dismissal.
And this would apply even if both of us were highly qualified and experienced in the contract or area concerned.
Which tends to erase a lot of issues that don't apply to the Pākehā demographic majority, but do apply to a colonised, historically marginalised and much smaller indigenous community, especially in roles that pertain directly to specialist cultural knowledge only available in that community.
So all I have to do is declare that only Maori possess the proper cultural knowledge on waste management in an industrial society – and automatically only brown faces need apply for the role. And the rules around proximity can be set aside because all Maori are related.
It's a cute trick really.
The NZ public sector procurement requirements and outcomes make it very, very hard not to hire Maori to deliver Maori outcomes. That's particularly the case in Education and Health, but it's all through the system now: water, Tertiary education, media procurement, public health, Justice, secondary education, SSC, Conservation, Transport, and on and on.
I am reading you correctly? Are you saying that if everything gets defined in terms of Maori outcomes – as part of the decolonising mantra – then skills and experience have become secondary to cultural considerations across much of the public sector.
It's a shade more subtle than that, but the effect is that Maori get hired to deliver Maori outcomes. There's even official names for them: for some it's Broader Outcomes, or Pa Harakeke, or Progressive Procurement, or Te Akutai, and on and on.
Even in the big infrastructure bids one needs to specify who is being hired for achieving these Broader Outcomes. It’s so common now as to be ordinary, and seriously you can’t win the bid without them.
This approach should be the one used with government money.
Lordie great in principle but what can I say except 'Welcome to Wellington'.
The consultant contracts that people got – and get – by being mates you used to work with, are just part of beltway life especially since 2017.
You could swim the Terrace in jam.
This is opposition gold ,Labour is on the backlash of out of control inflation ,a housing crisis,Labour shotrages,a health system under huge strain,food shortages ,5 waters etc.Mahuta needs to go she is the focal point of incompatency.But her going won"t save Labour the economy isn't going to recover by next winter and NZ is traditionally a National voting country .Which will mean austerity and block of cheese tax cuts for the swing voters.
There is zero chance the Maori caucus will allow Mahuta to go anywhere. Even less than zero if Labour ever wanted to get in with Te Maori Party.
Labour has lower-hanging fruit to take out than that.
….or… there are 775,836 people in Aotearoa who identify as Māori, most of whom exist within large extended families, of whom only a certain proportion have the capital and resources to rise in the educational and political sphere. Inevitably for appointments where being Māori is an important qualification people are going to be related.
You get exactly the same thing with Pākehā in the provinces but apparently that's not a problem for some reason…
I can accept there is a limited pool of talent to choose from in many cases all across public service in NZ, and that getting the right people into a role can be challenging.
But frankly I don't care how experienced or suitable you are for a role – in my view being an immediate family member is an automatic disqualification.
It's really not. It's just a thing you declare.
Pretty hard to do business in this country otherwise.
Well the global corporation I have been associated with most of my working life holds to a higher standard. Hell we will reprimand someone who expenses a $20 meal for their immediate manager by accident.
Yes that's a key difference between a global corporation and a small state.
Certainly doesn't make the global corporate more virtuous.
And you will find that global corporate doesn't get hired by small states unless it figures that out. Many of them do.
OK so next time someone here talks about predatory and corrupt global capitalism I can safely ignore then.
New Zealand remains within the top two least corrupt countries in the world and has done for over a decade.
Not sure if there's many global corporates who will expose their records in how they win bids to the kind of scrutiny states get, particularly small ones.
I think you'll find on closer examination that your joint isn't as pure as the driven snow that you're making out. Business is business.
On the contrary I know of two instance where people resigned rather than expose themselves to corrupt practice. And those are just the ones I know about. And the corporate will openly walk away from such business if necessary. I can point to one instance in Italy in just the past few months. But not all corruption involves bribes or obvious personal benefit, sometimes it can just be a case of taking a shortcut on paperwork, testing or certifying procedures – even when they seem quite logical or innocent.
Every 12 months everyone must undergo a mandatory ethics training course and must pass the exam which features notoriously tricky and often subtle case examples that are not easy. And you only get three shots at obtaining a 100% score or you're down the road. We have let very senior people go just for this.
And that is just for normal commercial business. The govt business team is another whole world I don't want to even think about.
Government business teams are born with snorkels.
So if that global company is an oil or oil related company which buy off govts ,ignore human rights, womens rights ,enviromental destruction no problems there.But a $20 meal not ok sounds like hypocritical gaslighting.
You need to update; this isn't the 80's anymore.
I'm not claiming perfection – that would be insane because nothing human ever is or will be. But the idea that big global corps routinely and actively pursue corrupt business practice no longer lines up with reality.
I cannot speak for all of them of course, but the ground has definitely shifted in the past two decades on this.
RL Oh you mean since when Clinton pardoned Marc Rich (for a small payment to the Clinton Foundation) and Rich's partners spun off to form Glencore who pleaded guilty last month to bribery,
https://twitter.com/JavierBlas/status/1529221948198162432?cxt=HHwWgMCo0c_Q8bgqAAAA
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jun/21/glencore-african-oil-operations
Reaching back into the 90's. I am sure you can scour the net for many instances – but what you will not find are any shock horror articles on all the time a corporation did the right thing and it never made the news.
Again I am not claiming perfection – that would be insane. But I am saying that if you has lived and worked within or adjacent to these big corporates most of your working life you would have a more nuanced view. Defining and promoting strong ethical behaviour is a central part of the corporate game that it simply wasn't 20-30 years ago.
For example this sort of entity was simply not a thing 20 years ago.
https://ethisphere.com/
That may well be an argument for Tipa Mahuta's appointment (though I shouldn't have thought that she was the best qualified candidate for both the Maori Advisory Group for 3 Waters and the Maori Health Authority).
But it's hard to believe that the most qualified candidates for 3 out of the 5 members of the advisory group on waste management were Mahua relatives. Especially as none of them appear to have any significant waste management experience or credentials. If all that is required is a te ao Maori perspective, there are plenty of non-Mahua-whanau candidates which can offer that qualification.
It is hard to believe. So is your claim true?
Well, I've done a quick check and can't find any relevant waste management experience for any of them on sites like Linked in which include CV, etc.
No one, not even the journalists supporting Mahuta, have been saying things like 'X's experience in Y, makes them a highly logical candidate for Z group'.
Do you have any evidence that they do have relevant experience in waste management? I'm not questioning Te ao Maori credentials – but plenty of other candidates have those….
Well you haven't provided any links for your claims, so can you at least show what are the hiring criteria you're evaluating from?
I don't know that I can link from Linked in – but I'll try….
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gannin-ormsby-9571a0171/?originalSubdomain=nz
https://www.linkedin.com/in/waiormsby/?originalSubdomain=nz
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamokoormsby/?originalSubdomain=nz
Here's the OIA response on the establishment of the group
https://environment.govt.nz/assets/OIA/Files/OIAD-277-Response.pdf
Tamaoko Ormsby's waste minimization experience (the only one of the 3 with any listed) seems to be limited to refurbishing laptops for a school during Covid lockdown.
Both he and Waimirirangi are listed as having provided waste minimization training services. [This kind of thing is usually a tick box exercise for government departments and corporates bidding for government contracts… it rarely means much]
The waste management qualifications and experience of the 3 (such as they are) seem heavily duplicated. You could argue that 1 representative from the 'coal face' could be justified – but more than that – especially from a single family seems highly unbalanced.
Compared to the highly relevant qualifications of Jacqui Forbes and Teina Boasa – the other 2 members of the panel – they look pretty inadequate.
The relevant experience in: "waste, circular economy thinking and mātauranga Māori." – are certainly not limited to the Mahuta whanau – and would be fairly widespread across many different iwi.
The Ministry admit that they selectively approached individuals, rather than advertising or approaching a range of iwi.
Again, not questioning the Ormsbys Te ao Maori credentials – but pointing out that these are shared by a wide range of Maori from different whanau and iwi. It is difficult to see what made 3 members of the same family the ideal candidates.
So you've stated that you're not questioning the hiring of the person itself.
Well great walkback there.
This is what a slur looks like.
Hey top work.
What? I've provided the links, as requested, and the OIA.
And pointed out that the 3 Ormsbys have little waste management experience.
How does that equate to walking back? I am certainly questioning the hiring of the 3 Mahuta whanau members. From the OIA response, it seems that any relevant qualifications they have would be easily found in other Maori candidates.
And, for the Min of the Environment to openly admit approaching specific individuals, rather than seeking the best candidate, is pretty close to corruption in my book.
Plenty of hires are ringfenced in the public service.
And in the private sector as well.
In fact in NZ it's one of the most common ways to hire.
Just says you don't understand how the public sector hire.
So your answer seems to be saying, doesn't matter if it's corrupt, or it's probably nepotism – hey, all of the public sector does it. Nothing to see here, move right along.
I wouldn't find that acceptable from a right wing government, and I don't find it acceptable from a left-wing one either.
I've seen plenty of ring-fencing to look at hiring someone with a specific skill set, or a specific experience profile. This is the first time I've seen that skill set effectively being 'whanau of the Minister'.
No I am saying that it is common hiring policy throughout the public service, and you have been taken in by raw political spin.
It is also quite common for key hires to have direct political lineage. There are whole vetting committees in DPMC and Cabinet for them.
I am with Bella on this. I accept what you are saying is true, but at the same time I get the sad feeling you have normalised sub-par and shoddy standards because they are indeed so commonplace.
"No I am saying that it is common hiring policy throughout the public service, and you have been taken in by raw political spin.
It is also quite common for key hires to have direct political lineage. There are whole vetting committees in DPMC and Cabinet for them."
Top comment, that, Ad.
Not sure how your friend's theory applies to, say, the health contracts appointed to Dr Mary English, for example.
Bill English was indeed a senior Minister for many years – but I do not recall the exact context of these contracts you refer to. Or why you think they were problematic.
https://theplatform.kiwi/opinions/government-appointments-under-scrutiny
This is quite a balanced take on the issue of Mahuta and family conflict of interests.
https://theplatform.kiwi/opinions/three-of-minister-s-family-members-paid-usd90k-for-role-in-expert-ropu
And more about the contracts Mahutas family have been awarded
Well that was 10 years ago. Now we are decolonising there will be different rules for different people I should imagine.
If you don't think it's necissary to accommodate indigenous reality in situations directlty relating to indigenous matters, perhaps don't live in a colony with a history of oppression and borderline genocide and clutch your pearls over ethics and objectivity.
What colony? New Zealand has been an independent nation for almost 120 years now. And Maori have been fully legal citizens since 1840 with full male suffrage from around 1870. Before even all white males.
As for genocide – that happened in the Musket Wars before 1840. And it wasn't 'borderline' either.
Shhhhh, RL, hush your mouth ! … those are the wars that dare not speak their name among polite (if totally clueless) Upper-Middle Pakeha Woke Society ! Spoils the highly paternalistic Noble Savage Romanticism.
Three decades of horrendous massacres, truly brutal genocidal violence, at least 20k dead (vs about 2k in the New Zealand Wars), tens of thousands enslaved, sadistic torture common, cannibalism, massive upheaval, iwi massacred, many others permanently driven from their nga rohe.
Looks increasingly like the affluent, flatulent Che Guevara beret-wearing Professional New Middle Classes – desperate for an aura of radical-chic while ensuring a highly privileged lifestyle for themselves – are intent on throwing fundamental ethics & morals out the window as they build the Brave New (deeply anti-democratic) World of He Puapua.
Narcissistic to the core … yet so utterly bereft of wisdom.
Agree Swordfish.
Having skim read He Puapua one of the enduring sentences I remember was the policy will mean transformational constitiutional change. Given this how come Labour didn't campaign on this?
How dare they think they can role out "transformation" to our constitutional arrangements by stealth
.
Stealth is very much the preferred modus operandi of Critical Theory cult members within the Professional New Middle Class … together with their unprincipled & rather cowardly fellow-travellers … they're nothing if not profoundly anti-democratic. Essentially the same elitist tactics & mindset as the Rogernomes.
Self-interested authoritarians perpetually going through this ludicrous charade of ostentatious moral posturing in a wildly unconvincing attempt to justify their power-grab.
Yes. The parallel with the disastrous Rogernome debacle is a pretty good one.
Lange was the charming, eloquent and acceptable public face of a government that imposed an extremist 'transformational' economic change on this country by stealth. Because so many people believed in Lange, the real power in Cabinet were able to operate with impunity until far too late.
Well this govt is much the same. Sure the PR optics are a lot more skilled, the circumstances are quite different – but essentially I see Ardern as the acceptable and popular face of a govt that is imposing transformational political change on this country by stealth as well. Probable outcome will not be any happier in my view.
And ably assisted by a woeful opposition. As a friend of mine said recently – when you are reduced to considering Seymour as the only sane alternative you know something has gone badly wrong.
Probably because they were worried about bigots getting upset over any challenge to the status quo.
I suspect that even without the developing economic situation this issue would see this administration lose the next election despite the attempt at stealth and an acceptable face.
And yet it's blindingly self-evident that there are huge structural, institutional, health, carceral, and economic disparities. No? So what's the basis for that? As for genocide, that applies to culture as well, and the litany of bad Crown legislation and neglect around that extends well into the twentieth century.
Relax.
The public sector has gone through this for over 20 years with women and tilting the scales of hiring. The state has the right to give effect to the policy it wants through hiring.
So that's what it does.
I'm not aware that preferential hiring practices – to increase numbers of women and various ethnic minorities – were equivalent to nepotism.
There are plenty of Maori candidates (or women candidates, or Pasifika candidates, etc.) without employing family members.
Of course, there are cases where family members of politicians have nationally (and sometimes internationally) recognized levels of expertise – which make them the best candidate for a particular job – and that is why there is an elaborate Cabinet Manual procedure to deal with that situation.
The question being asked of the Mahuta family is were they unquestionably the best candidate/s for the job/s?
No, the question is whether there is a fault in the hiring process in this particular contract.
Unless there is a particularly good smoking gun fault to be shown, the rest is pure politics.
If the family are not the best candidates, then there is undoubtably a fault in the hiring process. We don't know what that fault is. It might be incompetence, it might be political capture, it might be nepotism, – it might be something else.
You don't know what the fault is, still?
But there's a series of mights? That's it?
Take a minute on how you sound and look.
Exactly Belladonna.
yes and no Ad. This is about nepotism. Not positive discrimination
Populuxe of course it is necessary to accommodate indigenous reality in situations relating to indigeous matters. But the Mahuta family are not the only ones who can provid the "indigenous reality".
Or if you are proposing that our system that serves to see our govt officials are not guilty of corruption, should not be applied to Maori?
How would you know? Were you involved with recruitment and assessed all the available options?
No I wasn't Populuxe 1. But as a citizen, I would like to see the information about the process, why Ormsby was chosen over other consultants and I think Mike King would like to know as well.
I think this is reasonable.
Unfortunately what I do know about suicide prevention is there seems to be little if anything we can do (although in the UK when they changed household gas to be less toxic, the suicide rate fell. To do with removing the means and easy access, slows people down).
Maybe he didn't go out of his way to antagonise the public service in the media and got his paperwork in on time?
"Maybe if he didn't go out of his way to antagonize the public service in the media and got his paper work in on time"
Naughty Mike. Not getting his paper work in on time and antagonizing the people in the public service (the people the tax payer pays to deliver outcomes).
Well no wonder mental health is such a shit show if that's what it takes to get public money. Too bad Mike got results and shamed the Ministry of Health by doing so
There is nothing balanced in that article. I have given up on expecting balance from Bryce Edwards. He might have valid points but he obscures them by sprinkling in words like "controversially pushing through Parliament".
Any "platform" run by Sean Plunkett has no claim to balance. Randomly choosing another article about the census brings up words like "inept" which show the author's bias.
I am sorry; whether there is a valid point in the articles becomes irrelevant when the language devolves to propaganda.
100+ Barry
I read that the Minister had no decision-making role in those other contracts; all declared and managed via the standard public service conflicts of interest process. Not seen the interview. Did it say otherwise?
And no, I am not going to visit Mr Plunket's lavishly-funded right-wing site to see the reckons of his band of merry rejects from other media.
It is well understood that in cases of conflict of interest – perception is what matters most of all. Mahuta will have no doubt scrupulously followed the rules – but that does not eradicate the core problem here.
True.
Ah yes, but if in fact, Nanaia Mahuta was scrupulously honest and the contracts done by the book, then that "perception" is what needs to be scrutinised: was it manufactured, whipped-up by oppositional factions in a manner other than "under ordinary circumstances" – that is, was the issue "played" (answer, YES) and has the "perception" aspect of conflict of interest issues here been gamed. Again, YES.
🙂
That is so true Robert!
And look who made the claims. David Seymore and Simeon Brown. A more insipid pair of nasties among the current crop of pollies would be hard to find.
Oh, I dunno – Brownlee's still there, isn't he? And Woodhouse. There will be others, champing at the bit…
You were too quick. I changed the wording. 😛
Brownlee and Woodhouse are yesterday's media flavour.
For me Robert, the perception is many of her relatives have gained lucrative contracts, especially her husband across a range of policy areas. Has Mr Ormsby managed to get contracts through other ministers? Private enterprize? I don't know but its a bad look and the look is nepotism. Remeber the outcry about Bil English wife, who is a GP, and her group did some work on Bill English pet mental health project. Yes it was right that questions were asked about this.
Mr Ormsby has been awarded a lot of govt money and it is unclear what he brings to the table and why it is superior to other potential contractors.
You mean the nasty slanted suggestions by right wing nut bars of course/sarc
Q&A interview with Mahuta (5m): https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/07/17/mahuta-hits-back-at-toxic-trolling-after-nepotism-accusations/
Barry, I more or less agree about the Platform, although Plunketts interview of Denis O'Reily was a good example of where he allowed O'REily to make his points and he acknowledged his points.
Surely though if there are valid points in the articles, then it can't quite be written off as propoganda
You seem to have a very ‘quaint’ idea of what propaganda is and what and when it is not. Do you still own a B & W TV, by any chance?
Stop patronizing me Incognito.
Why don’t you tell us your understanding of what is propaganda? Is it merely a bunch of lies?
You were challenged by barry @ 4.3.2.2.3 (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-17-07-2022/#comment-1900478) on your claim that the article you linked to was “balanced”; propaganda is not balanced by definition.
No Incognito, I wasn't challenged by Barry. He didn't say, prove your point that Bryce is balanced or where is your evidence for this. Barry has expressed his view. Fine by me.
He challenged your opinion, which is what we do here on this site. Anyway, no point challenging you on the finer points of propaganda.
Yes Mahuta is right to hit back at trolls, but that doesn't answer the questions about nepotism.
Interestingly today (and coincidentially) David Seymor has tweated
[unlinked quote deleted] Nainaia is her aunty.
If this is true and Mahuta didn't excuse herself from the appointment process, it is very damming and I think Nainias job will be on the line.
BTW I only came acorss Seymours tweat because I was looking for the link about Ormsby and the suicide prevention project he received public funds for.
Bless.
David must have thought, "Was stumbling upon this material serendipity? Sure!" before hitting the "publish/attack" button.
I think both you and Sacha have misunderstood whose coincidence it was, probably I was clear enough. I meant it was a coincidence I found what David S said.
I have no doubt Seymour targeted his tweat after Nanaia's inteview. That is the sort of time politicians do. They release info in a targeted way. I am sure it was deliberate
There’s no coincidence as such on the internet and you already said that you’d used Google to find material on the topic. Whenever you go online you leave tracks & prints and Google and SM, for example, use these to their advantage (aka to make more money).
Just to clarify Sacha, I meant it was a coincidence that I found Seymour's tweet.
I only posted on this issue today as Anne put up a comment about how Nanaia was on Q and A and was impressive when Jack T brought up about her family.
I was interested and watched the interview. Like I commented earlier, I am very sorry she ha s been on the end of some nasty trolling. But I was wanting to hear more and have Nanaia asked more about the fact that so many of her family members including her husband have been awarded Govt contracts or positions. Jack didn't actually asks questions about this but focussed on the trolling.
So I commented here on what I was aware of about Mahuta and her family contracts. I googled to find links to her husband being awarded some sort of contract for suicide prevention. To my knowledge he has no background in mental health and suicide prevention. I came across David S tweat which was today. I suspect Seymour released this information today after the Mahuta interview. That is what a politician would do.
I was referring to the coindence that I came across this material today. I don't follow David S
If the contract is for cultural expertise or community engagement, the topic is not always important.
And what came out of community engagement if that is the case?
Why was his company appointed? Surely others can do community engaement?
You and me do not have the information to answer those questions, do we. As with most public procurement exercises. Need a higher standard than some agitation by righties to justify further discussion.
No the link provides no information about what the grant was for and I would like to know
I would like to know lots of things but I have learned that is no guarantee of satisfaction in life.
Sacha, you get the prize for the most new age attempt to shut anyone down.
So I need to not want to know stuff about Mahutas husband and the mental health contract, cause it want give me satisfaction in life? Is that what you are saying.
I am allowed to want to have information about what public money has been spent on. Whether it may or may not give me life satisfaction is entirely irrelevant.
I have a particular interest in suicide
Feel free to submit an OIA, where it will be tested against the public interest. The answer may or may not satisfy you.
" Jack didn't actually asks questions about this…"
Yet you are disappointed Mahuta didn't answer the questions you have in your head?
Curious…
Jack started that part of the interview, by saying "your family".
Anne started this thread off today by recomending Q and A "talking of wisdom a revealing interview on Q and A this morning with Nanaia . I especially recommned her response to the accusations concerning members of her fmaily"
So as I had read about Nanaia's relatives getting contracts, I watched the programme in order to listen to her side of the story. But actually she didn't respond about the accusations of nepotism (except for a stock politicians sentence). She talked about the trolling.
I think it is important our politicians are grilled aobut any perceived conflicts of interests. Like many on this site, I screamed and complained over the Judith Collins and Orivida affair. I can's see why people wouldn't want to know more about what has happened that so many of Mahutas relatives have ended up with govt contracts.
I've deleted your quote that has no links. Honestly beyond me why I have to keep explaining this.
If you copy and paste, you *have to link as well. This is fundamental to robust debate. Linking means people can see the quote in context (almost always improves understanding), can check for mistakes or skewing in arguments, and in the case of something like twitter, often replies or quote tweets will answer questions that arise here.
God so sorry. No excuses. Had said before but will try and do better
with twitter, just cut and paste the URL. The tweet will embed and you get the quote and link in one go.
Thanks Weka. And when I thought about it, I think I didn't want to be posting a link that belonged to David Seymour, that was my motivation. But no excuse and completely my bad
Nanaia Mahuta was very powerful in that interview. I support her 100%.
Backing your own teams hypocrisy 100%.
Mahuta says she followed and kept to Cabinet protocols throughout. I believe her. It follows then, that she can't be justifiably be punished, only unjustly punished, which in my opinion, is what is happening here.
Jack started that part of the interview, by saying "your family".
Anne started this thread off today by recomending Q and A "talking of wisdom a revealing interview on Q and A this morning with Nanaia . I especially recommned her response to the accusations concerning members of her fmaily"
So as I had read about Nanaia's relatives getting contracts, I watched the programme in order to listen to her side of the story. But actually she didn't respond about the accusations of nepotism (except for a stock politicians sentence). She talked about the trolling.
I think it is important our politicians are grilled aobut any perceived conflicts of interests. Like many on this site, I screamed and complained over the Judith Collins and Orivida affair. I can see why people wouldn't want to know more about what has happened that so many of Mahutas relatives have ended up with govt contracts.
This is not the first media story about the matter in the last week or two. Q&A is pitched at politics-followers, so they would expect their audience to already know at least some of the details.
How is Mahuta being punished? Do you mean by the trolls. Well of course that shouldn't be happening.
But it isn't punishing someone for the media to ask probing questions about this, nor for Seymour to release info that she didn't follow cabinet procedures to manage the conflict over her niece and He Puapua (if he is correct.)
Do you believe Seymour or Mahuta?
Given Seymour’s history
lying aboutmisrepresenting facts, I suggest it is Mahuta who is telling the truth. She has so much more to lose by lying. Every procedure was correctly followed to the letter of the law – and I suspect some more.Tbh I am suspious as to why so many of NM relatives have been given jobs or offered contracts in Ministries where she is the Minister.
I am particularly bother by the suicide prevention money her husband got. He has no background in mental health and there is limited evidence about what strategies reduce suicide. Even the recent research showing roughly a quarter of people who die by suicide have excessive blood alcohol levels. The alcohol will of course will lead to greater impulsively, but other than clinicians advising depressed people not to drink, there is an obvious intervention from this information.
The Mahuta family is a large family you know. They are at the top of the Maori chain so it isn't surprising there are several of them who have held down or are holding down government appointed positions. Brains, together with other skills, tend to be handed down through the family line.
The subject under discussion has nothing to do with suicide prevention but if you are going to tag it on, then you need to provide a link so we know what you're talking about. Chances are her husband is the 'chief cook and bottle-washer' who sought the finance for a suicide prevention programme among Maori, but the treatment will be carried out by Maori professionals in that field. That's just a guess of course.
So you mean if we disagree with your position we are practising hypocrisy.
So your queries sneers and position is "Perception is everything"
That is not the case in law and in the handbook, but that won't stop your slurs
Nanaia Mahuta has integrity and has dealt with some very difficult political and personal situations with dignity and grace. Two qualities totally lacking in some of the men trying to sway perceptions of her, and those trolling her.
Mike King asks the questions about why Mahutas husband was funded for suicide prevention. If I was Mike I would want to know to. He has worked his guts out to provide a service with little govt support.
https://chrislynchmedia.com/newsitems/mike-king-what-expertise-nanaia-mahutas-husband-has-in-suicide-prevention.
https://chrislynchmedia.com/newsitems/mike-king-what-expertise-nanaia-mahutas-husband-has-in-suicide-prevention
I do think Nanaia comes across with grace and she may well have done a fantastic job. But that doesn't mean she shouldn't be open to scrutiny. Does it?
This story about Mahutas hamily appointments has been shut down in the msm, other than a brief flurry by the Herald. Cause to be honest, imo this is not a nothing to see here situation.
We are talking about multiply family members being given contracts and appointments, including her husband. Who as Mike King points out was given money for suicide prevention when he has no quals in mental health. What did Ormsby do with this money? What was achieved?
Your link tells us nothing about the background to the grant awarded to a company belonging to Nanaia's husband. I note it is for the princely sum of $28,000.
I think Mike King doth protest too much!
No the link provides no information about what the grant was for and I would like to know
You seem to suffer from a similar selective memory as some of National’s past Leaders. Anne started this thread @ 4.3 (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-17-07-2022/#comment-1900453) with the mention of the interview with Mahuta on Q+A and Sacha @ 4.3.3 (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-17-07-2022/#comment-1900510) provided the link to the interview that aired on 1news. If that’s not MSM then what is?
You seem to have a lot of enthusiasm for the MSM dirt diggers to keep digging for more dirt (and) to keep the story alive. AFAIK, nothing new has come to light yet and you’ll just have to wait till OIA requests come in and get drip-fed on SM and/or until the internal enquiry at the Ministry has been completed.
It is a handy smear for the racist thread of the big organised campaign against 3 Waters. No doubt the righties will keep stirring it up, plus whatever useful idiots help them out.
Yes, but it is now used as a dirty indiscriminate weapon against just about anything with the M-word in it, not to mention Co-Governance. This is not limited to coming from the Right only, as plenty of comments on this site can attest. Many pretend-Lefties pay only lip-service to empowerment of the segments of our society that continue to fall behind in many ways according to many metrics & indices. The lazy labels and low pot shots come hard and fast from both directions. Any debate and genuine engagement are on the back-foot from the outset because of the polarising language and narratives around. No one seems to be capable and/or willing to have a serious conversation about a long-term vision for Aotearoa-New Zealand, and this vacuum is fertile soil for radicalising elements and their agendas when the going gets tough, as is happening at present. Watch out for more DP and Trumpian-style politics here over the next year and a bit.
To be fair, we have a big vacuum in progressive vision and I do not expect most people to know the context before they enter the low-barrier public discourse. Broad church, etc.
This country has only just started grappling with our colonial past recently.
Leading the way are and have been for some time the ACT Party and acolytes (e.g. NZCPR) copying the same imagery Iwi vs Kiwi (https://thestandard.org.nz/how-can-labour-win-in-2023/#comment-1898904).
Just in reply to your request further down for links to Mike King, if you scroll up to my Comment below Patricia B's there are a couple of links.
Let me know if that was what you wanted.
Thank you. Same point we have already discussed. Mike King expects expertise in suicide prevention, but..
https://chrislynchmedia.com/newsitems/mike-king-what-expertise-nanaia-mahutas-husband-has-in-suicide-prevention
I am interested in the truth Incognito, not defending any politician whether or not they do a good interview, whether they are Labour, National or whatever party.
This website was in uproar (rightly so ) about Collins and Orivida.
Mahuta has numerous relatives getting contracts/positions where she is involved. Her husband, her sister, two nephews and a niece.
How? Highly relevant question.
I believe that most people would say that they’re interested in the truth, so that’s neither here nor there.
I see this as a relatively minor issue and I expect we’ll get some answers in future. If it were as big some like to make it out to be then I think it likely that Mahuta would have lost her portfolios for breaching the rules, possibly just temporary as a symbolic gesture more than anything.
Labour cannot afford this lingering and hanging over them for too long, because it has a disproportionally large negative impact on a whole load of things that they want to achieve before the General Election. They would therefore want to neutralise this as soon and as much as they can, which again brings be back to Mahuta who’s still standing and going strong and getting the full support of the Labour Party.
In short, people see what they want to see and making up things to fill in the gaps (aka lack of info and answers). This is not seeking the truth but confirmation bias, pure and simple. The MSM know that without new info they cannot keep running these stories on confirmation bias of some of their readership alone.
You talk about being interested in the truth Anker yet you have already passed judgement on Nanaia Mahuta and members of her family with no actual evidence to back up the claims. As far as I can tell it is all hearsay and innuendo with most of it coming from right wing politicians such as Seymour and Brown. It is then being picked up by tabloid journos who exaggerate and embroider them for political and click-baiting purposes.
I've already told you that it is not surprising there are various members of the Mahuta family who have received contracts of one sort or another. They are a bright and talented family. How about checking how many other Maori dynasties of note have also been the recipient of contract arrangements down the years with the Crown.
"no one seems capable of and/or willing to have a serious conversation about a long term vision for Aotearoa"
I think that is what Seymour is proposing that we have a debate about cogovernance and a way forward.
RE the link from Anne . Hav e you watched it? Jack asks one question about the nepotism and Mahuta gives a cliched answer like "all procedures were followed" and that's it.
As I said earlier, I watch Q and A not out of some enthusiam to "dig dirt" but I geniunely wanted to hear what was said. The interviewer gave Nanaia a free pass on the rumours of nepotism. She could have clarifed further, but she didn't. So in my mind there are unasnwered questions.
I honestly hadn't given a lot of thought to the nepotism rumours, although they looked very suspious to me. I read what Mike King said and I thought no wonder he is pissed. He got a whole service for mental health up and running with sfa from the govt and he's letting us know about a contract Mr Ormsy got for suicide preventation and he is asking a lot of questions.
You think what Seymour is proposing is not what he and ACT are about, so why don’t you check first before you make assumptions and jump to conclusions. Hint: ACT has already rejected Co-Governance and wants a Referendum to put it to rest for at least a number of years.
My guess is you’d vote against a whole raft of policies because of your ‘suspicions’, which coincidentally align very nicely with ACT.
As to the answer Mahuta gave, which is the same as the PM and Government have given, is correct & true. It has to be because Mahuta would have received at least a Yellow Card otherwise.
You can keep looking for smoke as much as you like but it won’t start a fire nor will it fire a gun.
Did Mike King put in a tender in the same round?
Interested – do you have a link?
So true. Has anyone witnessed an instance where Nanaia has not responded with dignity? Never. She's light years ahead of her detractors.
As for the psychological abuse and the trolling… only those who have been on the receiving end can fully comprehend the huge amount of damage caused, not only to the target but often to their families and others around them. It can send the victim into a spiral of terror… afraid to leave their homes for fear of what might happen to them. The threats can be both overt and covert.
These types of people – who often also physically stalk their prey – have in the past been given a free pass with little to no consequences. It is time for such offences to be given a much higher level of priority, and the punishments increased to fit the level of abuse committed.
Incognito i think it is abundantly clear where Seymour and Act stand on co governance. But what they are saying is lets have the debate and a referendum. Unlike Labour who never mentioned He Puapua or campaigned on it in the last election.
I am now quite suspious of Labour (I am a party member by the way), because of how they have done so much by stealth. The gender self ID bill, three waters (never campaigned on it or looked at other options) the Rotorua Bill which Tamati Coffey championed (which David Parker quashed because he said it went against the Bill of Rights) and the He Puapua document (which talks about transforming our constitutional arrangemnts. That flew below the radar before the last election.
I think it is reasonable to by suspious of Mahuta given so many family appointments when she was a Minister. Two contracts to her husband in fields he has no qualifications for.
Interesting comparison between NZ and Australia by two high level experts. Yes, the real experts not the pseudo variety as preferred by some:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/471081/covid-19-how-are-australia-and-nz-managing-the-rising-winter-wave-is-either-getting-it-right
Whitewasher reveals her calling. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300638654/blue-blood-how-the-national-party-went-to-war-with-itself
Key was "exhausted"?
They say maintaining pretence is very tiring.
As are affairs, apparently
Just goes to show the business background of long corporate lunch breaks and golf course deals is no prerequisite for a career in politics.
"I've gambled on the money trading markets" and "I ran an airline" means shit when you're expected to actually do some work for the first time in your pampered little life.
Q&A interview with Vance about her book (9m) https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/07/17/nats-caucus-still-fragile-after-5-years-of-internal-tumult/
Great journalist, poor interviewee 🙂
Oh dear…
https://twitter.com/JasonStrummer/status/1548071157231849481
Makes me very sorry for the female sexual partners in Jordan Peterson's life. Sounds like he's just not very …. adequate….
Jordan Peterson is an Narcisist a Misogynist a fossil who is a regular know it all that don't impress me at all , no science behind his theories just anecdotes.A man who is trying to take us back to the 1950's when it was a mans world and Men had all the answers .Very popular in the far right with his simplistic remedies.
Of course you do realise that's a parody from a youtube voice impersonator called "voiceover shill", right?
(10) Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson discuss the myth of the female orgasm – YouTube
Like, you wouldn't be so fucking thick as to have read this obviously absurd line on twitter and assumed it was real, would you? Gee I wonder what other bullshit you swallow regularly from the same sources.
The funny thing about Peterson is that no-one EVER criticises anything he's actually said.
Babbling
Are you now pretending you weren't gullible enough to fall for that obvious bullshit?
After barking benzo-boy's reckons about women and cosmetics, anything is possible.
Dude's a fucking clown.
Barking indeed.
I have and do and Petersen is still top of my twit list.
The AB's could have done with your help shifting goalposts the other night.
Oh, its a satire Felix? Thanks for the info.
It was a satire on youtube, just a blatant lie by the time it got quoted on twitter as if it were real though.
Leave the Intersectionals alone … they may be inadvertently regurgitating embarrassingly weak satire … but it's their truth … which is just as valid as ours. Putting aside the fact that “truth” itself is a yucky patriarchal settler-colonist construct designed to oppress pregnant men of colour.
Do you have enough tinfoil?
.
As so often, despite displaying the trademark pomposity & self-satisfaction of the former Public Address cadre, you've managed to get things totally arse about face. Falling for any old invective against one of irrational Wokedom's key hate-figures (in this case, a patently obvious – if banal – parody) is very much the tin foil hat territory here, sweetness.
Now if you could answer this with an erudite little bon mot, I’m sure those of equal pretention will find themselves utterly enchanted.
The overly ostentatious vocabulary and excessive italics are a dead giveaway.
lol 100$ Swordfish
A you tube series worth watching.
The problems referenced apply to NZ as well, and explain why most of the infrastructure devleopment we are putting in to fix the housing crisis is unsustainable.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300637193/new-zealand-can-we-fix-it-not-unless-politicians-grow-up
Gluckman was to scared to mention this when he was John Keys lackey but better late than never! Did Key do anything longterm yes he cut health funding police funding education funding all had longterm consequences. Nothing will change politics is a popularity contest every 3 years so no longterm solutions will happen, balance books buy votes, balance the books buy votes and on it goes.
Your comment is laughable and pathetic at the same time. Say what you like about Gluckman but he’s never been anybody’s lackey. You can join the other group of commenters here who like to shoot the messenger instead of adding something constructive and of real substance to the commentary here.
Be lucky if we're not flapping in a puddle by 2050.
(CNN)Two years ago, forecasters in the UK conducted an interesting thought experiment: What will our forecasts look like in 2050?
[…]
"Not actual weather forecast," the Met Office's graphics said. "Examples of plausible weather based on climate projections."
Well, on Monday and Tuesday, the "plausible" becomes reality — 28 years early.
https://twitter.com/SimonLeeWx/status/1547957062000267267
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/15/weather/2050-uk-forecast-comes-true-in-2022/index.html?
Somebody give this guy a shot at permanent PM.
Roberston extends the fuel subsidy through to January next year.
Grant Robertson extends fuel tax cut to January, with fuel relief now costing $1b – NZ Herald
Way to suck the political oxygen out of the room Grant.
Must know the CPI for tomorrows release,getting ahead of the curve with a swerve.
Maybe his advisors though had not told him of the risks with NZ,with regard to the high current account deficit,and the housing corp debt problem.
Canny political move.
I'm sure they can all see the writing on the wall – petrol prices are not coming down, and the hit when the subsidy ran out would be painful to the voting population.
I expect to see it extended again in January (unless I'm wrong and petrol prices are indeed dropping) – until after the election.
Good move, Grant. Great also to have a PM who gives others the platform to announce positive actions: that Jacinda! She's too good!
🙂
Oh yes. She's too good for many Kiwis. That's why she is continuously being undermined – including by some regulars here. Tall poppy syndrome in full flight!
Better be careful. They'll be coming for you next. Mind you I think you can handle it with good humour n'all.
"someone give this guy a shot at permanant PM". Ad your standards are too low
Its a tax cut. not a bad decision, but hardly rocket science
Deleted after they were requested?
There must be some incriminating shit in those texts.
The Secret Service’s account about how text messages from the day before and the day of the Capitol attack were erased has shifted several times, the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security told the House January 6 select committee at a briefing on Friday.
At one point, the explanation from the Secret Service for the lost texts was because of software upgrades, the inspector general told the panel, while at another point, the explanation was because of device replacements.
The inspector general also said that though the secret service opted to have his office do a review of the agency’s response to the Capitol attack in lieu of conducting after-action reports, it then stonewalled the review by slow-walking production of materials.
[…]
In the letter, the inspector general said that certain Secret Service texts from 5 January and 6 January 2021 were erased amid a “device replacement program” even after he had requested the messages for his internal inquiry.
The Secret Service has disputed that, saying in a statement that data on some phones were lost as part of a pre-planned “system migration” in January 2021, and that Cuffari’s initial request for communications came weeks later in late February 2021.
But the select committee questioned the Secret Service’s emphasis on that date, the participants said, and noted in the subpoena letter that the request for electronic communications in fact first came from Congress, ten days after the Capitol attack.
The congressional request from 16 January 2021 addressed to multiple executive branch agencies – including the Homeland Security Department, which oversees the Secret Service – was for all materials referring or relating to the riot.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/16/secret-service-deleted-text-messages-january-6
That's going to hurt in terms of US criminal law (potentially tampering with evidence) and also potentially evidence rules. To quote https://corporate.findlaw.com/litigation-disputes/delete-at-your-peril-preserving-electronic-evidence-during-the.html :
In plain English, destroyed evidence can be held against people in certain circumstances.