Robert Fisk is a rare beacon of light in a dimming world.
Here he provides valuable insights on the geopolitical events going on in Turkey.
“A US trade war with Turkey over a little known pastor? Don’t believe a word of it.
For here’s the real list of Erdogan’s crimes. He is buying the Russian S-400 missile system for Turkey. He refuses to accept US support for America’s Kurdish YPG allies. He allowed Islamist fighters to pour over Turkey’s border into Syria along with a lot of weapons, mortars and missiles – to which Washington had no objections at the time since the US was trying to knock Erdogan’s former friend Bashar al-Assad off his perch. Then, after shooting down a Russian aircraft along the Syrian border in November 2015 – for which he was immediately boycotted by Moscow – Erdogan cuddled up to Putin. It was thus the Russians and the Iranians who first warned Erdogan of the impending “Gulen coup” against him in July 2016. They had been listening in to the Turkish military’s internal radio traffic – and tipped off the Sultan of Istanbul.
And now Erdogan is helping Iran to dodge US sanctions which were imposed after Trump flagrantly tore up the 2015 nuclear agreement, and – in a decision demonstrating the cowardly response of the EU’s own oil conglomerates to Trump’s insanity – has announced that he will continue to import Iranian oil. Thus will Washington’s further threat of increased oil sanctions against Iran be blunted. Sunni Saudi Arabia, one of Trump’s closest allies – where religious freedom for the likes of Pastor Brunson has never existed – is already furious with Erdogan. Not long ago, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman denounced Turkey as part of a “triangle of evil” – the other bits of the “triangle” being Shiite Iran and militant Islamists.
So you can see how things are lining up in the Middle East right now. “
Read the whole article here,
Your daily dose of vaccination against the lies of the msm.
Robert Fisk is a brilliant and highly informed commentator on Middle Easter affairs. His “Great War for Civilisation” is a must read for anyone who wants an in depth analysis of the political situation there, although much has happened since he wrote that tome.
@Ed, “Your daily dose of vaccination against the lies of the msm.”
I Like that.
Isn’t it interesting that most of the most regular and balanced live debates on current affairs come from Press TV (Iran), RT (Russia) and Al Jerezza (Qatar), now I am not saying these countries are beacons of democracy, but they at least these networks offer regular and balanced debates on important world news, which is either almost non existent on MSM or when is presented, so short they they often lack substance and/or context.
And the other thing that RT/Al Jerezzra/Democracy Now/Press TV and The Real News do that MSM don’t do any longer, now that any narrative that doesn’t follow party line is shut down, is give Fisk, John Pilger, Noam Chomsky, Glenn Greenwald and Max Blumenthal (amongst others) a platform to speak.
Perhaps if biosecurity and stock movement rules had been adhered to this step wouldn’t be necessary. You can’t have it both ways. If you want M Bovis sorted you have to accept that regular checks may be necessary. The market was left to police itself. It failed.
I’m getting close to drawing the pension and grew up and worked most of my life around the construction industry. In that game you come across most types and degrees of dodgy bastards. And I got to know, for better or worse quite a few.
Over the last 10 years I’ve been doing a lot of work on and around farms. I always thought agriculture was an honest industry, undertaken by people with integrity and good faith. Some, probably most, farmers I’ve dealt with are people of the highest moral standing with the greatest honesty and integrity you’ll ever meet.
But the dodgy bastards in the industry are in another league all together. And it’s accepted. Total dishonesty, violence when challenged, and you’ll never get anything in writing so there’s never any proof. Stock appearing on a property, then get retagged, plant with illegible identification numbers, but always just enough to get the right parts, and plenty more shit.
The idea that agriculture is some how cleaner than driven snow is utter bullshit. Refusal to obey, and operate under the law is criminality. There’s plenty of evidence from the M. Bovis debacle of farmers operating outside the law by refusing to comply with NAIT, or subverting the intent of NAIT. And really the only reasons to not tag is because they are either too lazy (or cashflow challenged), or having the tag on is going to stuff up their dodgy scheme.
Agriculture is no different to any other struggling industry, some will push the limits for gain at someone else’s cost. In other industries those outside the law feel the sanction of central or local government. Somehow agriculture feels it is exempt from this sanction.
Plenty of agencies can enter a property without a search warrant. Many acts give warrant powers to government officials (both central and local) to gather evidence and enforce. Worksafe and council building, planning and health as examples. MPI already have extensive warrant power.
But if they have been gathering information for some time a standard warrant is not an issue to get.
They can get your phone records/bank records without warrants now , as its done under the ‘maintenance of law and order’. Doesnt even need evidence of a crime in the first place
Any business that serves food can be inspected without notice, will have to have a food safety plan ready upon demand, training notices on staff etc etc. Failure to provide demanded documentation, failure to strict adherence to the food safety plan can and will result in fines, downgrading of the business etc.
that is usually how the non compliant businesses are caught.
Now why should farmers be exempt from this?
Maybe the farmer should welcome this action, so that the ‘rotten apples’ which are only a few here and there of course, can be found and kicked out of the box before all the other apples go rotten too.
Farming is a business and as such you have good an bad farmers. Farmers are no more special then any other proffession in this country. They are no more and no less ‘real NZ’ then any other Kiwi who happens to not work in farming.
They are no more and no less prone to abusing the system then others in other profession.
Maybe its time Farmers understand that they actually demand special status in a country where two thirds of people literally are too poor to buy their butter and milk.
Also how much tax payers moneys is going to be squandered on M Bovis clean up? The very least the taxpayer who is not a farmer but is having funds used to dig them out of their own cow shite is that the farmers might have to open for inspections day and night.
All business people these days are on drugs! The drug is profit, and more profit. Very addictive and many will go the extra mile to get the moolah, on or off farms, Queen Street farmers and lawyers, building companies and anywhere there is money to be made. And if they make a success of their business, they will sell it, because it is the money drug they want, not just a good living for themselves and family.
And that’s without even getting into the Health Act, which is damned near totalitarian. Even the routine admin stuff, rather than the outbreak emergency controls.
It is not an excuse Chris T – it is a reason.
Farmers will have to put up and shut uop. They have consistently gone light on following the right practices, and not taken responsibility for controlling those who have made no or little effort to manage their businesses ethically.
Is it not true that MPI have to observe all rules that cover farms now? That would mean health and safety requirements such as reporting to the farmer first and being excluded from the farmhouse, and so on, as is normal?
Just as Union Officials must do when entering a farm to visit an union member, as Jacinda spent several question times pointing out to Simon in the House over the last two weeks. But I divert … Sorry …
You’ve read the article from “Stuff” published last December then. The protocol seems reasonable to me considering the threat that myrtle rust presents to the horticulture industry. Pity about your language – doesn’t suggest a great range of vocabulary.
“Fuck you labour .giving mpi the right to enter any farm without a warrant??”
That would be under existing biosecurity rules, just as Police can enter without a warrant in certain circumstances -misuse of drugs act etc. and SIS can burgle your place without warrants
Ok, a lot of speculation going on here – including my own in this comment.
I really have not followed this closely but my understanding is that the changes to the National Animal Identification and Tracing Act are to realign it with the Search and Surveillance Act which was adopted under the National Government in 2012. This realignment has become urgent due to the M. Bovis emergency and the lack of compliance – by a few – with the NAIT requirements.
If you only read the The third reading debate, the last item in the list in the link (in particular Damian O’Connor’s background speech), and the first item in the list (the last debate yesterday) this will give a pretty good outline of the situation and the ‘faux’ outrage from the Opposition led by Nathan Guy. In the last item in the list, Mark Patterson of NZF, himself a farmer, gives a good explanation of the need for urgency – as does Gareth Hughes.
The Bill passed its third reading unanimously – with all Parties including National passing it and no Nos – at 1.08 mins in this video.
If a warrant isn’t hard to get, it defeats the purpose of having a warrant system in the first place.
Basically, let’s say an inspector comes to the farm gate looking for noncompliant cows. You say “fuck off”, and while they’re off getting a warrant you truck any non-compliant cows to another location. Not only is a warrant ineffecive, it actually motivates the transmission of diseases the noncompliant cows might have.
Now let’s look at a single parent living alone – the presence of a person doesn’t indicate a cohabiting relationship. That requires a long term pattern to be established. So immediate powers to enter without warrant are a bit pointless in that case, no?
It’s not hypocrisy to recognise that the same protection that prevents unnecessary invasion in one instance is actually counterproductive in another.
Do you have any proof farmers are hiding infected animals?
The main problem with it being traced was caused because young calves could be legally shifted without nait tags .
But hay it’s only farmers and this government got elected by playing the wedge politics card against them so why should I be surprised.
That’s why we have inspectors.
We have a load of proof that farmers won’t control infections by themselves.
No, it’s not only farmers. Several organisations don’t need warrants – the health sector is significantly more powerful than the justice sector in that regard.
You’re just pissed because your industry is being held accountable for its abject failure to protect itself, and now the government needs to clean up the mess.
I think bwaghorn had a very difficult day at work yesterday because he got it for being a leftie and supporting the pretty communist that’s going to chuck farmers off their farms. It wasn’t a good day to be a leftie on a farm yesterday. The bullshit was flowing strong.
But really it was only the seriously dodgy side of framing throwing a spaz that it’s going to be a lot harder to do the dodgy stock sales and movements now that NAIT is much tighter and actually enforced.
Nice fantasy chump . .
I’ve been in sheep and beef for 8 years and havent seen any one actively rout nait . Slow to take up yes but every cattle beast I’ve sent off since nait arrived has had a nait tag in its ear . And every one that has come on has had a nait tag in its ear .
But you clowns believe what you hateful little minds want .
In two years labour will realise it’s lost the fight on mb . The chance of stopping it is long gone thanks to the useless nats . .
I’ll have to hope top hangs in their
Actually, from a disease control perspective, unless it has an endemic wildlife vector in the way that TB has, eradication of a virus from a controlled population only requires tracking to identify exposed animals, even without a vaccine.
Do you know how hard mb is to track . Our local very up to date vet told us at a recent meeting it can only be found when an animal is shedding cells . It only sheds cell sporadically.
That only effects the math in the same way a longer incubation time effects the math.
If I have ubiquitous surveillance of a population, any positive test means I can track exactly which individuals had transmission-likely contact with the infected individual. So all of those other individuals get tested or quarantined or (in the case of livestock) culled.
A few iterations of that, and the disease is eradicated. The only factor that changes is the number of iterations – how much effort we put into it.
“Wedge Politics” – what a joke- it was the clowns in Morrinsville, led by the “Jolly old Fed of Farmers” who played the wedge card – will never forget the image of “Worzle Gummige” holding up the “pretty communist” placard. Desperate measures by sore losers. Labour’s Agriculture Ministers from Aubrey Begg and beyond have all been respected by the farming community even though it stuck in ts craw to admit it.
Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity. ~Horace Mann
“Coal is responsible for as much atmospheric carbon dioxide as other fossil fuels combined and it still has far greater reserves. We must stop using it.”
James Hansen
Australia is our closest geographical neighbor, Australia is also our closest cultural cousin.
What we do here in New Zealand, has an impact in Australia.
You better believe it
Sir Peter, (Professor), Gluckman, the government’s top science adviser, has said that New Zealand’s greatest contribution to fighting climate change, will be by “setting an example”.
In my opinion that example must be for New Zealand to strike an iconic death blow against the local coal industry.
If we can’t do it, how can we ask our Australian neighbours and cultural cousins to?
The very least, we need to do, is urgently impose an immediate moratorium on the opening of all new coal mines.
Our other regional neighbours in the Pacific have called on New Zealand and Australia to put a total stop to all coal production.
Pacific leaders call for coal mining to be shut down to save island nations from effects of climate change
Eric Tlozek – ABC News, September 8, 2015
The leaders of some of the world’s smallest nations have called for coal mining — one of Australia’s biggest industries — to be shut down, in a bid to save their countries from the effects of climate change.
The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), which includes Pacific Ocean countries like Tuvalu and Palau, said global warming was already harming their people.
The AOSIS said it wanted a moratorium on new coal mines, but was realistic about its chances of convincing Australia to give up its lucrative fossil fuel assets.
Tuvalu prime minister Enele Sopoaga is the new chair of the group.
“We’re simply seeking for the rights of small island states to survive,” he said.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said that climate change is our Nuclear Free Moment.
Prime Minister Ardern needs to make it our Coal Free Moment.
Anything less, is surrender.
Another great leader once said, “We don’t do these things because they are easy, we do them because they are hard”.
And from an earlier era, another Prime Minister, facing up to existential crisis – Said this:
“You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.”
Winston Churchill, speech in the House of Commons, after taking office as Prime Minister (13 May 1940).
The Uninhabitable Earth
Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: What climate change could wreak — sooner than you think.
David Wallace-Wells – New York Magazine, July 10, 2017
It is, I promise, worse than you think. If your anxiety about global warming is dominated by fears of sea-level rise, you are barely scratching the surface of what terrors are possible, even within the lifetime of a teenager today…..
…..absent a significant adjustment to how billions of humans conduct their lives, parts of the Earth will likely become close to uninhabitable, and other parts horrifically inhospitable, as soon as the end of this century.
Yes, it is achievable. “But it will demand a united global effort”.
There is one thing missing….
Leadership…..
……the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has published a study by the Stockholm Resilience Centre, “Trajectories of the Earth System in the Anthropocene.” It predicts the strong likelihood of a “Hothouse Earth” with uninhabitable regions and a 10- to 60-metre rise in sea levels — even if we limit temperature rise to 2 C.
The Stockholm study says that should still be enough to trigger other climatic forces, from the melting of ice sheets to the collapse of ocean currents. A “Stabilized Earth” is achievable, they say, but it will demand a united global effort.
re Bridges Expenses And it also forgets, bizarrely, that the car he was in is charged out at a far
Hosking reports this
And it also forgets, bizarrely, that the car he was in is charged out at a far reater rate than it is for government ministers. So if you compared apples with apples the bill probably wasn’t that dramatic at all.
Thats because he likely had a crown limo and driver tag along for his regions tour.
Not only do you get the standard rate but its PLUS accomodation costs
Limos arent in every town and city. Mostly the bigger ones with I think one car based in Dunedin but a few more in Christchurch, more again in Auckland and a big chunk in Wellington. There may be one or 2 in waikato etc.
As well when there isnt a car available they have private limos on call and they might be on a ‘spot’ rate and higher than the standard crown limo rate
Just heard on the wireless… simons crown limo rides are charged out at twice the rate of Ministers. Thanks for explaining a bit more Duke as to why that would be.
Find it hard to believe that he didn’t know this before his ‘road’ trip.
It’s something all of us consider when planning a ‘road trip’ … the cost of the journey.
He could have flown in then asked the local MP to drive him around.
Or were local nat MP’s also enjoying looking fancy in the limo?
Everything Duke said applies equally to Ministers.
If Winston, for example was to turn up in Hastings to go to the races he is certainly going to expect to have a Limo there for him.
It still doesn’t seem to be any rationale for the double rate for the Leader of the Opposition or for the Speaker.
The higher rate is only mentioned in the expenses returns for this year. I wonder if it was put in, probably at Winston’s request, so that it would make the Leader of the Opposition look extravagant? Knowing what Winston is like it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest.
It certainly seems to have worked. Look at all the people on this site who are rabbiting on about how Bridges is supposedly more extravagant than Little or Ardern were. He isn’t, it is just a little smear tactic by the current Coalition of Losers who have fiddled the accounting rules to make it look like that..
I’m unable to personally attend. But I’m hopeful there will be discussion on what the Greens are doing to help the poor offset new environmental charges (such as significantly increasing tip fees) the Greens are championing.
There is momentary concern that will die away till the next open complaint.
This will have a contradictory on the call for euthanasia. Instead of bringing in a principled matter for choice, all the authorities involved will resist fiercely saying that what is required is better care and that presently it is a disgrace.
The nostalgic past is our zeitgeist in today’s society. Plus ‘shoulds’ as a way to cope with problems that require action by government in line with expressed wishes from the citizens. And a response to the statistics concerning population bulges and mismatched spending so it is more on the old than the young who are being starved of funding and attention to their needs at the start of what should be their full, active life.
What is also interesting is that the family went to some disputes tribunal to get the award (aka I think it’s their rest home fee’s refunded) but health and disability and the rest home industry are all ok with poor conditions and poorly trained staff even though people (or the state) are paying in excess of $1000 a week for care that they obviously expect to be quality for their loved one? No wonder the rest home industry seem to have one of the highest returns on the share market when you just put a few poorly trained and cheap people in and the regulators seem to say it’s optional to attending to the patients needs promptly.
Speaking of complaints here is the top ten companies complained about to the commerce commission. (from Granny) Other companies like power and banking I think have their own complaints bodies and are regulated to be allowed to rip off customers which is probably why nobody bothers to complain anymore.
Revealed: New Zealand’s most complained about companies
Viagogo
Vodafone
Spark
Foodstuffs
2 Degrees
Woolworths
Air New Zealand
Noel Leeming
Wilsons parking
Sky
vocus
The Warehouse
The corporate portal
Trade Me
Harvey Norman
Brand developers
Ticketmaster
Luxstyle Apps
Contact energy
NZ post
No surprises to see retail telco high up and in numbers on that list.
Vodafone would be probably top if their customers had stayed to complain. The fact they were allowed to Hoover up the fibre links of Telstraclear and drive that into the dust is a total fail in terms of retail v wholesale segregation.
Watch that space as the race to the bottom gathers pace.
Maybe later, if I can organize 240V power supply and access to the internet, I’d really like to to have an in depth discussion about the link between the current wording of the euthanasia bill and the very real possibility that those who need a high level of hands on care will, out of despair, feel obliged to request the blue juice.
I personally believe that all debate about euthanasia should be suspended until we sort out the serious problems with providing safe care for disabled and elderly.
Hi Rosemary, did you hear the two interviews that Kathryn Ryan on Nine to Noon has had in the last two days on the wording of the Euthanasia Bill? Well worth a listen if you can.
Peripherally listened yesterday…was totally engrossed and cheering Paula on as we were hurtling towards Kaitaia this morning.
FWIW, IMHO, Paula Tesoriero has really stepped up to the role of Disabilities Commissioner. She had large shoes to fill, taking over from Paul Gibson.
Over the rattle of the diesel, I’m sure I heard her talk about the despair some living with disability experience when trying to access vital funded supports.
And then some numpty contacted Natrad saying Paula had no place speaking on behalf of all disabled…”and if he were disabled” etc etc…. The short answer to numpty would be stfu until you have actually lived with a significant disability for an appreciable amount of time..then comment.
For many, the thought of being disabled, of being dependent on others for sometimes the most basic of cares, is beyond comprehension and they will state categorically they would rather be dead.
Extrapolating, they would see those who do need that level of support as what? A burden on society? A waste of vital resources? That they should do the ‘decent thing’ and check out? Because they, in their limited experience and even more limited imagination, could not envisage any kind of worthwhile life without all their functions intact.
The situation right now for those who require a reasonably high level of support is dire. And I do not exaggerate. The story of the old lady lying in her own pee is not rare. Stories of disabled and vulnerable elderly being neglected and abused (sometimes unto death) are tragically not unusual or isolated.
And what Robert Love was saying about the inadequacies of the complaints and monitoring processes is sadly correct.
ACC claimants have rights and entitlements enshrined by law. Those with need for supports who are not covered by ACC, who are under MOH:DSS or a DHB, have no entitlements and few rights. A bureaucrat can decide that such and such will not be provided and there is no avenue of complaint. Serious incidents of inadequate care that leads to harm or death can take years to wend their way through the Health and Disability Commission complaints process…and seldom result in prosecution.
(NB…Paula Tesoriero is attached to the Human Rights Commission not the Health and Disability Commission. )
The whole system is dysfunctional and treats users with little or no respect.
The current disability System Transformation which is marketed as solving all such problems is superficial window dressing being rolled out in yet another pilot with a full roll out nationwide not expected for nearly another decade.
And this System Transformation does not, and this is specifically stated in the System Transformation documentation, give users any entitlement to the supports they need.
This is unacceptable in a country that has given a select group of disabled citizens such entitlement.
The disparities, the gross inequities between ACC and others is a stain on New Zealand and until this is addressed, there should be no discussion of euthanasia outside of definite terminal illness at all.
And having said that, I’d be tempted to make it a further condition to progressing this Bill that this crappy little travesty is sorted.
Re Paula Tesoreiro, I too have a lot of respect for her as we worked in the same government department some years ago and worked together on one or two issues. Top notch intellectually, more than able and willing to stand her ground, and a lovely person as well. I knew she would do well as Disability Commissioner (as you say within the HRC) – and sadly despite the recent problems within that agency.
I am well aware and have major concerns re the existing problems for those with disabilities, in poverty etc. As I think I have mentioned before, I too have disabilities and I and my doctors have been hitting our heads against a brick wall in getting me some support.
However, personally I do think we need to have the euthanasia discussion despite these other situations – but I am definitely not convinced that the bill as it is currently drafted is in any way acceptable for many of the reasons raised by Paula, and others including yourself.
‘NZ First’s constitution states any of its MPs who resign or are expelled from the party are personally liable for up to $300,000 if they don’t leave Parliament immediately.
The clause states if the MP is either an electorate MP or a list MP, they have up to three days to vacate their seat in Parliament, or pay up.’
One way to make sure plebs (sorry MPs) toe the line winston wants I guess
Or maybe it’s just a way of ensuring that the voters don’t get their intentions overturned by Nats and Nat cronies throwing their (copious) money around to turn MPs against their own parties?
So in a sense, you could see it as keeping money out of politics. Protecting the voters from National Party money in effect.
Winston, having once been inside the tent, probably has a better understanding of the dark heart of National than most. And this attack on him looks like another nail in the coffin of any future Nat-NZF coalition. Dumb politics from National.
With furrowed brow and tightened sphincter
The little man sat and fretted on the future
If our dark forces are forever in the dark
Then who the hell will hear me when I bark?
With furrowed brow and puckered sphincter
The little rogue sat and fretted on the future
If Judith’s dark forces are forever in the dark
Then who the hell will hear me when I bark?
So this is why I don’t vote the WinnieFirst party… but how is it news exactly? I mean each party has its own internal processes, isn’t that like part of the deal of a democracy? That we have a wide range of ideas that come together and get mixed and debated and we get a good output? I mean who didn’t know that the WinnieFirst party was all about Winston?
next you will be telling us that ACT are a go nowhere party that are too controlled by self-interest business people and are in no way a liberal party, which they have just cottoned onto and want to change to the far-right populist party of the rich
Well when you look at “waka jumping” its mostly (not always) happens to NZFirst, why?
What is about NZFirst that makes this happen, maybe instead of trying to charge someone 300 grand (which I don’t think would stand up in court) maybe NZFirst should see whats happening internally
I think most of us know why, NZF is a populist party, which revolves around Winston. And yes that means what Winston says goes, who doesn’t know that? but then that is how it started and is the basis of policy. I actually trust Winston to do what he says, with the cravat that he really says he will do anything with any real certainty, so he can normally find a way to twist what he said into what he actually did…
Waka-jumping isn’t only NZF of course, and really this is all a bit of a smoke-screen around the troubles of ACT and the inability of National to not look deeply divided.
The weather is affecting land prices, not. Land prices continue to rise with QE.
Actually the Left Party in Germany have made a popularist policy suggestion regarding agricultural lease prices. If there is no income coming from the land due to drought, then farmers should be able to escape paying the full price to the land owner. Govt will have to rule on it, which will be a bit complex. Actually this one goes back to the bible, as an option to just pay a percent of your harvest to the land owner.
What a fundamentally stupid idea. If people can’t make a decent living from the land they need to stop doing what they are doing and do something else.
Yeah, time to reduce herd size a bit and build up feed reserves. Organic requires larger feed reserves, as they usually have less maize and grain which are more market accessible.
Getting one step ahead of the game seems to be the biggest barrier to organic conversion. Similar with cropping, as cropping is generally dependent on manure from animals. Could say the same regarding debt ratio, requiring more reserves to weather conversion.
“This is yet more fake news from Winston Peters. I don’t think I’ve even had a conversation with Ron Mark this year let alone made any suggestions to him.
So, did he make the approach late last year instead. 😉
Edit: I know he wasn’t leader of the Nats until Feb of this year, but that needn’t stop him from having a go.
Notice Bridges is lying by saying didnt have a conversation
Doesnt mean he didnt have a chat or a few words or that other situation: ‘a discussion’
Bridges needs to learn form Trump – lie big, little lies dont change anything
Normally these sort of things arent done by the party leaders, to give them deniability.
But as you mention Bridges was ‘a go to guy’ until he became leader in Feb.
“Ron Mark backs Winston Peters on approach Simon Bridges made to him.”
OOps Simon old chap.
“Ron Mark says National leader Simon Bridges talked to him about a deal during a flight earlier this year, contradicting Bridges’ claim no such approach was made.
“It’s true. Simon and I were next to each other on a flight from Auckland to Wellington in May. He bought it up out of the blue during a conversation we were having.”
NZ First leader Winston Peters is asking why Mark didn’t simply follow the instructions he was given.
Mark isn’t offering any answers. He did not respond to requests for an interview and did not answer questions. A spokesman said: “This matter has now been dealt with and we consider it closed.”
Defence minister Ron Mark was specifically told he was breaking all the rules wearing his military medals but went ahead and did so anyway.
Documents show Mark was told on October 27 – just after being sworn in as Minister of Defence – that his rack of medals was a breach of protocol and rules.
The NZ First deputy leader went on wearing his medals until November 15 when the Herald revealed he was in breach of the regulations governing decorations.
Mark’s medals wrongly placed his Omani service in a position over prominence over his New Zealand service. Also, wearing the Omani medals wrongly suggested he had the required permission from the Governor General’s to wear a foreign decoration.
In the 20 days since Mark learned his medals were a breach of the Crown’s rules on decorations and honours, he wore them while standing in front of veterans, next to the Chief of Defence Force, with foreign leaders and while inspecting troops.
Stop trying to divert attention PR. You’re usually better than that.
Who cared a damm – apart from a bunch of bureaucratic military pin prickers – what medals he wore and where he wore them. What a load of puerile nonsense.
Bridges took a leaf out of Trump’s book and tried to gerrymander the political stability of the country for personal political gain and then lied about it. An infinitely worse offence than a row of medals not in the right order.
Ask him what he would have done if one of the soldiers under him had worn their uniform incorrectly on parade.
He wouldn’t have given a damm – unless they were wearing their jacket inside out or their pants back to front then he might have. 😀
It’s time the medal pin-prickers grew up and looked around them. There’s a big wide world needing urgent attention. My father had a heap of medals from two world wars but never wore them. He was more interested in the here and now.
As an ex member of the NZDF, ADF and a veteran i couldn’t really give a rats ass, how old Ronnie wear his goddam gongs, yes there are grumpy old shell backs (usually they No Mates voters) who don’t have a life outside of the Forces, who have SFA to do but complain but do SFA to fix the problems. All I want from Ronnie is to stop the rot of the 30 odd yrs of under spending, neglect, and to provide better welfare/ conditions of service to Defence personal, Defence families and to the veterans now and into the future as they don’t have union to back them like the every other Government employee has.
If some old grizzle dick came up and told me I was wearing my gongs around the wrong way if I was the NZ MoD, then that I will ask this simple question.
What is more important my medals which I have one NZ gong (NZDM) among my other 9 or 10 gongs or the welfare issues of Defence members, underfunding issues of the NZDF or the welfare of Veterans?
If they say my NZDM is out of place, so you don’t give shit about NZDF or Veterans problems so piss off and get a life.
Had some muppet in NZ try and tell me last year “Your NZDM should be at the front and not a the rear of your row of medals as Foreign Medals are always to the rear etc etc?” My reply was “Ah you must be a National voter then?” He said yes and I’ll it leave to your imagination on the spray I give this muppet and his muppet mates in a pub in Dunedin.
“The awful news that all but two penguin chicks have starved to death out of a colony of almost 40,000 birds is a grim illustration of the enormous pressure Antarctic wildlife is under. The causes of this devastating event are complex, from a changing climate to local sea-ice factors, but one thing penguins, whales and other marine life don’t need is additional strain on food supplies.
Over the next year we have the opportunity to create an Antarctic Ocean Sanctuary – the largest protected area on Earth – which would put the waters off-limits to the industrial fishing vessels currently sucking up the tiny shrimp-like krill, on which all Antarctic life relies.”
I wonder how Australia feels about this, being the home of the CCAMLR.
They seem very ‘upbeat’ about the scientific awesomeness of the management of the fisheries and its sustainability. They seem to have ‘forgotten’ to include a speaker to talk about the wider ecosystem.
“A National Science Week (Australia) public seminar to help people understand the connections between commercially available krill products, human health claims and the biology and ecology of this tiny crustacean.
Find out why Hobart is the global centre of krill science and krill fishery management and how each of the relevant institutions are connected through international scientific and government networks.
Dr So Kawaguchi talked about his research on krill biology and ecology and Dr Laura Laslett discussed her research on the medicinal value of krill oil.
Dr Keith Reid, Science Manager for CCAMLR, outlined how fishing for krill is regulated by this international body and how fishing limits are informed by the best available scientific studies on krill and their ecosystems.”
Meanwhile, figures from the Ministry of Social Development show 26,000 more hardship grants for food were given out compared with the June quarter last year.
Could we (please) link up the super-wealthy food purveyors, the supermarket barons, with the very poor needers of food and just let the former receive the needs of the latter, as an ongoing gesture of thanks for their good fortune, from those rich-listers?
And yet those who have made it to the list that are Pak n Sav owners can achieve this and still sell below the competitors ?
And as someone who has a family member working there they pay above min wage and is treated well.
Perhaps we should be asking their competitors why that is the case ??
Good to hear Pak n Sav pay above min wage and treat staff well. One of the biggest reasons for NZ lack of productivity is that for 30 years the business community has been taught to get employee’s as cheap and subservient as possible, keep them on casual and temporary contracts or subcontractor contracts so there is not much loyalty, rip off customers and ‘confuse’ them and then they wonder why there are worker and skills “shortages” and they are falling behind the rest of the world in productivity and customer services!!! Doh!
Look at Germany, they make things, and they have strong worker rights, pay higher wages and employ educated people (free university education in Germany). Unfortunately NZ decided to go down the Asian path of high inequality and low wages combined with western neoliberalism and government privatisations and deregulation.
Judging from what’s happening the penny hasn’t dropped yet for most NZ business and government that they are about to be out competed due to their incompetence and reliance of lowest common denominator and contempt for both consumer and employee and selling the country off for peanuts over the past decades.
Supermarkets may decide to screw their suppliers instead of their workers.
Also they may limit what brands they will carry, so that turnover ratio targets must be met or you are out. They will drop good lines which are replaced by some from another country. They will copy a good selling line from a company and sell it under their own brand name. It may in fact still be made by the original company, I don’t know, but it is a way to smother innovated products and also prevent the other company from building its own brand and reputation.
They can conduct phony wars against other supermarket chains. This was done a few years ago with milk, and the loss of profit was passed on also to the dairy suppliers. In Australia they have invoked nationalistic emotions and taken other country’s products off their shelves, which included ours.
Everything is calculated, and the giant stores with their convenient parking are hard to compete against by small local business people forming part of the core local business enterprise. The money leaches out of local pockets and most of it flows onwards to others’ capital accretions.
I agree with you greywarshark. Many on this site are very anti farmers, (and some with good reason) but primary producers are also people being screwed over by middle men, like supermarkets.
Also with supermarkets they are cutting costs by for example not employing qualified butchers, but instead ring in orders of meat from a warehouse where it comes pre cut.
The issue with this is, that the meat can be 3 months old and so they use a gas in the packaging to keep it looking fresh. They also have special lights etc so that the food looks better than it actually is in real life.
When they analysed the food with gases which is used in other countries to keep food longer they found that a salad looked fresh, but had lost all it’s nutrition when packaged with the long life gases.
So food can look fresh now, but actually be old and have zero nutritician but the consumers are being fooled.
All this to make more and more profit while people are being ripped off nutrition from their own food!
Good links The Chairman. Interesting so many making a fortune from just owning one supermarket. Maybe the commerce commission are a bit amiss when they dropped their investigation on Countdown – instead they need to search further a field.
Also these firms are creaming the money, while often the employee’s are on poor working conditions and Close to minimum wages, aka the taxpayer (nurses and teachers for example) are then paying taxes like WFF and accomodation benefits for their employees wages while the supermarket owner makes the rich list! Something is wrong. Apparently a family on minimum wages with 2 kids needs a $5000 wage top up per family from the government to cover the short fall of wages.
I’m not against people being rich, but it should not be on having poorly paid employees, corporate welfare and overcharging customers.
I commented on this yesterday, and to Wayne you may find this of interest
How the union is NOT supporting its own members, IMO NZEI your lack of representing “YOUR” members over the last 9 years and letting the Nat govts off lightly and making the current govt appear to be the enemy is highly embarrassing to say the least.
Perhaps there is a need for performance pay for good teachers as the union is not working for them. “She wants to see the pay scale reflective of experience rather than qualification, and said there was a place for performance pay.” These teacher support the union how about the union returning the favour ?
“Of more than 2500 responses, 66 per cent said they earned under $71,000, and dozens of commenters said they had also been locked out of progressing up the pay scale because they only held a diploma.” https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/106321443/teachers-with-40-years-experience-stuck-on-59600-because-of-pay-inequality
Herodotus, I am a secondary school teacher, not an NZEI member. But I doubt that NZEI is going to undergo a membership collapse because of the tendentious argument you put that teacher unions betray good teachers by not approving of performance pay.
All teachers have been underpaid, and before you even speak of performance pay, you need to pay a decent salary to all teachers first. I think tis is what NZEI is aiming at, and you are wasting your breath in trying to sow dissension.
Try all those teachers who are paid $15-$17k below their fellow teachers for doing the same job.
At my local school on Wednesday 40-50% of the teachers were at school. This is a school with a roll excessive of 700 primary students.
It may be an isolated case. but it speaks of the support for the unions, and of those 5 are Q1 or Q2 level.
So you say all teachers are underpaid, what about those who are severely underpaid ?? Or do you agree that Q1-4 should be on a similar pay scale ?
Strikes me that having an “Evening post “to go to as an extra venue for those that have to work in the day time could be good .While its interesting to get home from work switch on the comp and see whats been happening during the day on TS its also hard work scrolling thru whats usually hundreds of comments and half a doz posts .I often think wouldnt it be nice if there was a smaller space for those who only have the time for a couple of hours in the eve .In a sense the days activities and opinions are already “old news” by the end of the day .Might make a few more people come out of the woodwork also .
Thanks for replying vv but as much as open mike is oversubscribed especially by the same people {just saying }you could say daily review is under subscribed …i just thought something new might have the effect of capturing a bit more of the available market so to speak .. in fishermans terms if nothings biting change your bait or your method location etc .Dont get me wrong im in awe of a great many of the regulars and posters here and grateful the site exists and to everyone who makes it happen .
I understand what you are saying re the size of OM vs DR, but it is my impression (rightly or wrongly) that the imbalance is a fairly recent phenomenon. The number of comments on OM certainly seems to be reaching record numbers, while the DR comment numbers seem to have gone down. I am one of those who have been around TS for many years and it is interesting how things change over time. Daily Review was introduced just a couple of years ago – cannot remember when exactly.
Lots of things could have affected the comment distribution in recent months – eg being a post election year, loss of some authors with fewer separate posts, time of year (eg winter). Re the latter, I find that with age and retirement I am going to bed earlier in the evening but then wake up in the early hours and do what you are NOT supposed to do – reach for the IPAD. Hence my reply to you at 4.25am!
Lprent probably has lots of information re changes in patterns etc but he is so hardworking and generous with his time, energy etc to keep TS going I would not like to ask him, especially now that he seems to spend a lot of time overseas with his paid work.
Kris Faafoi is “committed to ensuring the wheels of commerce move smoothly and that New Zealand capitalises on every advantage it can to grow our economy, jobs wages and opportunities.”
Sounds good, but actions speak louder than words and in Parliament he utters a snide, nasty remark about a fellow parliamentarian. His impulse to hurt and offend smudges his reputation as a Labour member.
Let’s get this straight alcohol is run by big business who spend there lobbing mone to distort the true negative fact’s of there prouduct’s .
Here you are It’s a man made chemical drug that will kill you instantly if you drink it to fast it can kill you slowly by over loading your liver the liver is the body’s filter no liver no life it has carcinogenic properties that cause cancer it over load’s our police work load every weekend as well as hospitals firefighters ambulance service and this all cost mone. People are killed every day because of this drug .
Mean while mone talks about how our consumption of this drug has lowered by a quarter since the 1970 but what they have not said is the alcohol % have we drink have has gone up by at least 100% you see the 00.1 Are the fake it till you make it people they don’t care it there profits are directly linked to there products killing people of Papatuanuku and her creatures Ana to kai .
Ka kite ano link is below
Good morning Newshub Nation I totally agree with the lady how fake fact’s fake new’s it’s start’s grabbing te tangata reality the more tangata that are exposed to it and the more that start believing these lies the 00.1% have been doing this to us for century’s
Look at the nose’s being cut off those beautiful statues in Egypt.
And reducing our carbon use to at least – 99% of today’s use will make our country great and wealthy Ka kite ano P.S looking after our moko’s it;s busy time’s Eco supports the Green Party 100%
The reality with these under cover sandfly is that there handler’s like to recruit the young people fresh out of police school why because they are easy to intimidate manipulate and mold there reality into believing that what there handler’s are telling them is true why don’t they hire people in there 30’s + to do this job well they have a better grasps on reality and are not as easy to sell lies to or intimidate into backing there corrupt move’s on te tangata How do I know this well this man’s story’s and a few other’s said they were recruited stright out of police school nice and easy to mold into the undercover system’s Greg O’Connor Ana to kai
Ka kite ano P.S one of these people can not take his flash fishing boat out to sea because he is being Eco Maori shamed lol
You know what they had a soft drink and sweet’s machine all around the hospital what’s worse is they had one right out side the mokopuna’s ward this sugar vending machine’s should be banned from all hospitals Ka kite ano
I see the OIL baron are using there money to attack The Great Visionary Elon Mus credibility all over the media If the OIL baron get there way we will all be in the—–while they swim in there oil mone .
Ka Kaha Elon nobody perfect E hoa you keep up your good work you are one of the many people who are going to change our energy system’s to green electricity carbon free energy
Eco Maori supports you 100 % ka kite ano
P.S unlike some other leader who is championing old failing energy carbon
Because of those wanker sandflys actions my Mokopunas is still suffering in pain do they give a shit no I will be laughing at them in a court house muppets and all these ashole that no what’s going on are just as bad as them
The Justice system serves the Wealthy a free pass or impunity this man bashed people knocked them on the ground and was still hitting them on the ground and he gets to fly back to Britain to play cricket what example does that set for the Mokopunas link below Ka kite ano
Well back get my Mokopuna checked once again at the lakes care and the smart ass sandflys send in one of there muppets red necks I wonder how the can sleep at nite the way they behave O that’s right the Sun shines out there elites ass and We are just savages Ka kite ano
Here is a great leader who we have lost I agree with his last speech at the head of the UN secretary General I see a pattern emerging I will let you know later link below Ka kite ano
The sandflys don’t give a shit about there actions causeing my Mokopunas pain an suffering for weeks I don’t give a shit who get mud in there faces from now on anything I find on the net I’m going to throw it in there faces they are scared – – – – reap what you sow muppets Ana to kai P.S I at the hospital with my Mokopuna at the minute
This is what Aotearoa would have started to look like if we did not ban foreign buyers from buying Property. The real estate mone men say that they were only a minority of buyers yea right Aotearoa real estate market is mone for jam if you can afford to play the games.
Link below Ka kite ano
Workers Now is a new slate of candidates contesting this year’s general election. James Robb and Don Franks are the people behind this initiative and they are hoping to put the spotlight on working people’s interests. Both are seasoned activists who have campaigned for workers’ rights over many decades. Here is ...
Buzz from the Beehive Politicians keen to curry favour with Māori tribal leaders have headed north for Waitangi weekend. More than a few million dollars of public funding are headed north, too. Not all of this money is being trumpeted on the Beehive website, the Government’s official website. ...
Insurers face claims of over $500 million for cars, homes and property damaged in the floods. They are already putting up premiums and pulling insurance from properties deemed at high risk of flooding. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: This week in the podcast of our weekly hoon webinar for paying subscribers, ...
Our Cranky Uncle Game can already be played in eight languages: English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish. About 15 more languages are in the works at various stages of completion or have been offered to be done. To kick off the new year, we checked with how ...
The (new) Prime Minister said nobody understands what co-governance means, later modified to that there were so many varying interpretations that there was no common understanding.Co-governance cannot be derived from the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It does not use the word. It refers to ‘government’ on ...
It’s that time of the week again when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kaka. Jump on this link for our chat about the week’s news with special guests Auckland Central MP Chloe Swarbrick and Auckland City Councillor Julie Fairey, including:Auckland’s catastrophic floods, which ...
In March last year, in a panic over rising petrol prices caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the government made a poor decision, "temporarily" cutting fuel excise tax by 25 cents a litre. Of course, it turned out not to be temporary at all, having been extended in May, July, ...
This month’s open thread for climate related topics. Please be constructive, polite, and succinct. The post Unforced variations: Feb 2023 first appeared on RealClimate. ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two fresh press releases had been posted when we checked the Beehive website at noon, both of them posted yesterday. In one statement, in the runup to Waitangi Day, Maori Crown Relations Minister Kelvin Davis drew attention to happenings on a Northland battle site in 1845. ...
It’s that time of the week again when I’m on the site for an hour for a chat in an Ask Me Anything with paying subscribers to The Kaka. Jump in for a chat on anything, including:Auckland’s catastrophic floods, which are set to cost insurers and the Government well over ...
Australia’s Treasurer Jim Chalmers (left) has published a 6,000 word manifesto called ‘Capitalism after the Crises’ arguing for ‘values-based capitalism’. Yet here in NZ we hear the same stale old rhetoric unchanged from the 1990s and early 2000s. Photo: Getty ImagesTLDR: The rest of the world is talking about inflation ...
A couple of weeks ago, after NCEA results came out, my son’s enrolment at Auckland Uni for this year was confirmed - he is doing a BSc majoring in Statistics. Well that is the plan now, who knows what will take his interest once he starts.I spent a bit of ...
Kia ora. What a week! We hope you’ve all come through last weekend’s extreme weather event relatively dry and safe. Header image: stormwater ponds at Hobsonville Point. Image via Twitter. The week in Greater Auckland There’s been a storm of information and debate since the worst of the flooding ...
Hi,At 4.43pm yesterday it arrived — a cease and desist letter from the guy I mentioned in my last newsletter. I’d written an article about “WEWE”, a global multi-level marketing scam making in-roads into New Zealand. MLMs are terrible for many of the same reasons megachurches are terrible, and I ...
Time To Call A Halt: Chris Hipkins knows that iwi leaders possess the means to make life very difficult for his government. Notwithstanding their objections, however, the Prime Minister’s direction of travel – already clearly signalled by his very public demotion of Nanaia Mahuta – must be confirmed by an emphatic ...
Open access notables Via PNAS, Ceylan, Anderson & Wood present a paper squarely in the center of the Skeptical Science wheelhouse: Sharing of misinformation is habitual, not just lazy or biased. The signficance statement is obvious catnip: Misinformation is a worldwide concern carrying socioeconomic and political consequences. What drives ...
Mark White from the Left free speech organisation Plebity looks at the disturbing trend of ‘book burning’ on US campuses In the abstract, people mostly agree that book banning is a bad thing. The Nazis did us the favor of being very clear about it and literally burning books, but ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has undergone a stern baptisim of fire in his first week in his new job, but it doesn’t get any easier. Next week, he has a vital meeting in Canberra with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, where he has to establish ...
As PM Chris Hipkins says, it’s a “no brainer” to extend the fuel tax cut, half price public subsidy and the cut to the road user levy until mid-year. A no braoner if the prime purpose is to ease the burden on people struggling to cope with the cost of ...
Buzz from the Beehive Cost-of-living pressures loomed large in Beehive announcements over the past 24 hours. The PM was obviously keen to announce further measures to keep those costs in check and demonstrate he means business when he talks of focusing his government on bread-and-butter issues. His statement was headed ...
Poor Mike Hosking. He has revealed himself in his most recent diatribe to be one of those public figures who is defined, not by who he is, but by who he isn’t, or at least not by what he is for, but by what he is against. Jacinda’s departure has ...
New Zealand is the second least corrupt country on earth according to the latest Corruption Perception Index published yesterday by Transparency International. But how much does this reflect reality? The problem with being continually feted for world-leading political integrity – which the Beehive and government departments love to boast about ...
TLDR: Including my pick of the news and other links in my checks around the news sites since 4am. Paying subscribers can see them all below the fold.In Aotearoa’s political economyBrown vs Fish Read more ...
TLDR: Including my pick of the news and other links in my checks around the news sites since 4am. Paying subscribers can see them all below the fold.In Aotearoa’s political economyBrown vs Fish Read more ...
In other countries, the target-rich cohorts of swinging voters are given labels such as ‘Mondeo Man’, ‘White Van Man,’ ‘Soccer Moms’ and ‘Little Aussie Battlers.’ Here, the easiest shorthand is ‘Ford Ranger Man’ – as seen here parked outside a Herne Bay restaurant, inbetween two SUVs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / ...
In other countries, the target-rich cohorts of swinging voters are given labels such as ‘Mondeo Man’, ‘White Van Man,’ ‘Soccer Moms’ and ‘Little Aussie Battlers.’ Here, the easiest shorthand is ‘Ford Ranger Man’ – as seen here parked outside a Herne Bay restaurant, inbetween two SUVs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / ...
Transport Minister and now also Minister for Auckland, Michael Wood has confirmed that the light rail project is part of the government’s policy refocus. Wood said the light rail project was under review as part of a ministerial refocus on key Government projects. “We are undertaking a stocktake about how ...
Sometime before the new Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced that this year would be about “bread and butter issues”, National’s finance spokesperson Nicola Willis decided to move from Wellington Central and stand for Ohariu, which spreads across north Wellington from the central city to Johnsonville and Tawa. It’s an ...
They say a week is a long time in politics. For Mayor Wayne Brown, turns out 24 hours was long enough for many of us to see, quite obviously, “something isn’t right here…”. That in fact, a lot was going wrong. Very wrong indeed.Mainly because it turns ...
One of the most effective, and successful, graphics developed by Skeptical Science is the escalator. The escalator shows how global surface temperature anomalies vary with time, and illustrates how "contrarians" tend to cherry-pick short time intervals so as to argue that there has been no recent warming, while "realists" recognise ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Here’s a quick roundup of the news today for paying subscribers on a slightly frantic, very wet, and then very warm day. In Aotearoa’s political economy today Read more ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Here’s a quick roundup of the news today for paying subscribers on a slightly frantic, very wet, and then very warm day. In Aotearoa’s political economy today Read more ...
Tomorrow we have a funeral, and thank you all of you for your very kind words and thoughts — flowers, even.Our friend Michèle messaged: we never get to feel one thing at a time, us grownups, and oh boy is that ever the truth. Tomorrow we have the funeral, and ...
Lynn and I have just returned from a news conference where Hipkins, fresh from visiting a relief centre in Mangere, was repeatedly challenged to justify the extension of subsidies to create more climate emissions when the effects of climate change had just proved so disastrous. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The ...
Lynn and I have just returned from a news conference where Hipkins, fresh from visiting a relief centre in Mangere, was repeatedly challenged to justify the extension of subsidies to create more climate emissions when the effects of climate change had just proved so disastrous. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The ...
A new Prime Minister, a revitalised Cabinet, and possibly revised priorities – but is the political and, importantly, economic landscape much different? Certainly some within the news media were excited by the changes which Chris Hipkins announced yesterday or – before the announcement – by the prospect of changes in ...
Currently the government's strategy for reducing transport emissions hinges on boosting vehicle fuel-efficiency, via the clean car standard and clean car discount, and some improvements to public transport. The former has been hugely successful, and has clearly set us on the right path, but its also not enough, and will ...
Buzz from the Beehive Before he announced his Cabinet yesterday, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced he would be flying to Australia next week to meet that country’s Prime Minister. And before Kieran McAnulty had time to say “Three Waters” after his promotion to the Local Government portfolio, he was dishing ...
The quarterly labour market statistics were released this morning, showing that unemployment has risen slightly to 3.4%. There are now 99,000 people unemployed - 24,000 fewer than when Labour took office. So, I guess the Reserve Bank's plan to throw people out of work to stop wage rises "inflation", and ...
Another night of heavy rain, flooding, damage to homes, and people worried about where the hell all this water is going to go as we enter day twenty two of rain this year.Honestly if the government can’t sell Three Waters on the back of what has happened with storm water ...
* Dr Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Chris Hipkins continues to be the new broom in Government, re-setting his Government away from its problem areas in his Cabinet reshuffle yesterday, and trying to convince voters that Labour is focused on “bread and butter” issues. The ministers responsible for unpopular ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins continues to be the new broom in Government, re-setting his Government away from its problem areas in his Cabinet reshuffle yesterday, and trying to convince voters that Labour is focused on “bread and butter” issues. The ministers responsible for unpopular reforms in water and DHB centralisation ...
Hi,It’s weird to me that in 2023 we still have people falling for multi-level marketing schemes (MLMs for short). There are Netflix documentaries about them, countless articles, and last year we did an Armchaired and Dangerous episode on them.Then you check a ticketing website like EventBrite and see this shit ...
Nanaia Mahuta fell the furthest in the Cabinet reshuffle. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: PM Chris Hipkins unveiled a Cabinet this afternoon he hopes will show wavering voters that a refreshed Labour Government is focused on ‘bread and butter cost of living’ issues, rather than the unpopular, unwieldy and massively centralising ...
Nanaia Mahuta fell the furthest in the Cabinet reshuffle. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: PM Chris Hipkins unveiled a Cabinet this afternoon he hopes will show wavering voters that a refreshed Labour Government is focused on ‘bread and butter cost of living’ issues, rather than the unpopular, unwieldy and massively centralising ...
Shortly, the absolute state of Wayne Brown. But before that, something I wrote four years ago for the council’s own media machine. It was a day-in-the-life profile of their many and varied and quite possibly unnoticed vital services. We went all over Auckland in 48 hours for the story, the ...
Completed reads for January Lilith, by George MacDonald The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (poem), by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Christabel (poem), by Samuel Taylor Coleridge The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok, by Anonymous The Lay of Kraka (poem), by Anonymous 1066 and All That, by W.C. Sellar and R.J. ...
Pity the poor Brits. They just can’t catch a break. After years of reporting of lying Boris Johnson, a change to a less colourful PM in Rishi Sunak has resulted in a smooth media pivot to an end-of-empire narrative. The New York Times, no less, amplifies suggestions that Blighty ...
On that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth.Genesis 6:11-12THE TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS that dumped a record-breaking amount of rain on Auckland this anniversary weekend will reoccur with ever-increasing frequency. The planet’s atmosphere is ...
Buzz from the Beehive There has been plenty to keep the relevant Ministers busy in flood-stricken Auckland over the past day or two. But New Zealand, last time we looked, extends north of Auckland into Northland and south of the Bombay Hills all the way to the bottom of the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters When early settlers came to the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers before the California Gold Rush, Indigenous people warned them that the Sacramento Valley could become an inland sea when great winter rains came. The storytellers described water filling the ...
Wayne Brown managed a smile when meeting with Remuera residents, but he was grumpy about having to deal with “media drongos”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: In my pick of the news links found in my rounds since 4am for paying subscribers below the paywall:Wayne Brown moans about the media and ...
Wayne Brown managed a smile when meeting with Remuera residents, but he was grumpy about having to deal with “media drongos”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: In my pick of the news links found in my rounds since 4am for paying subscribers below the paywall:Wayne Brown moans about the media and ...
Dr Bryce Edwards writes – Last night’s opinion polls answered the big question of whether a switch of prime minister would really be a gamechanger for election year. The 1News and Newshub polls released at 6pm gave the same response: the shift from Jacinda Ardern to Chris Hipkins ...
Hipkins’ aim this year will be to present a ‘low target’ for those seeking to attack Labour’s policies and spending. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: Anyone dealing with Government departments and councils who wants some sort of big or long-term decision out of officials or politicians this year should brace for ...
Hipkins’ aim this year will be to present a ‘low target’ for those seeking to attack Labour’s policies and spending. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: Anyone dealing with Government departments and councils who wants some sort of big or long-term decision out of officials or politicians this year should brace for ...
Last night’s opinion polls answered the big question of whether a switch of prime minister would really be a gamechanger for election year. The 1News and Newshub polls released at 6pm gave the same response: the shift from Jacinda Ardern to Chris Hipkins has changed everything, and Labour is back ...
Over the last few years, it’s seemed like city after city around the world has become subject to extreme flooding events that have been made worse by impacts from climate change. We’ve highlighted many of them in our Weekly Roundup series. Sadly, over the last few days it’s been Auckland’s ...
And so the first month of the year draws to a close. It rained in Auckland on 21 out of the 31 days in January. Feels like summer never really happened this year. It’s actually hard to believe there were 10 days that it didn’t rain. Was it any better where ...
A ‘small target’ strategy is not going to cut it anymore if National want to win the upcoming election. The game has changed and the game plan needs to change as well. Jacinda Ardern’s abrupt departure from the 9th floor has the potential to derail what looked to be an ...
When Grant Robertson talks about how the economy might change post-covid, one of the things he talks about is what he calls an unsung but interesting white paper on science. “It’s really important,” he says. The Minister in charge of the White Paper — Te Ara Paerangi, Future Pathways ...
The clean up has begun but more rain is on the way. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: Auckland’s floods over the last three days are turning into a macroeconomic event, with losses from Aotearoa’s biggest-ever climate event estimated at around $500 million and Auckland’s schools all closed for a week until ...
The clean up has begun but more rain is on the way. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: Auckland’s floods over the last three days are turning into a macroeconomic event, with losses from Aotearoa’s biggest-ever climate event estimated at around $500 million and Auckland’s schools all closed for a week until ...
The news media were at one ceremony by the looks of things. The Governor-General, the Prime Minister and his deputy were at another. The news media were at a swearing-in ceremony. The country’s leaders were at an appointment ceremony. The New Zealand Gazette record of what transpired says: Appointment of ...
I n some alternative universe, Auckland mayor Efeso Collins readily grasped the scale of Friday’s deluge, and quickly made the emergency declaration that enabled central government to immediately throw its resources behind the rescue and remediation effort. As Friday evening became night, Mayor Collins seemed to be everywhere: talking with ...
They called it an “atmospheric river”, the weather bombardment which hit NZ’s northern region at the weekend. It exacted a terrible toll on metropolitan Auckland and the rest of the region. Few living there may have noted a statement from electricity generator Mercury Energy labelled “WET, WET, WET!” This was ...
I know, that is a pretty corny title but given the circumstances here in the Auckland region, I just had to say it. The more oblique reference embedded in the title is to the leadership failures exhibited by Mayor Wayne Brown and his so-called leadership team when confronted by the ...
How much confidence should the public have in authorities managing natural disasters? Not much, judging by the farcical way in which the civil defence emergence in Auckland has played out. The way authorities dealt with Auckland’s extreme weather on Friday illustrated how hit-and-miss our civil defence emergency system is. In ...
TLDR: Here’s the key news links and useful longer reads I’ve spotted since 4 am this morning, including:calls for a more ‘spongey’ urban infrastructure after Auckland’s floods;demands for an inquiry into Auckland Council’s communications failure;the latest on Chris Hipkins’ plans for Three Waters; inside the PR trainwreck that is Wayne ...
TLDR: Here’s the key news links and useful longer reads I’ve spotted since 4 am this morning, including:calls for a more ‘spongey’ urban infrastructure after Auckland’s floods;demands for an inquiry into Auckland Council’s communications failure;the latest on Chris Hipkins’ plans for Three Waters; inside the PR trainwreck that is Wayne ...
Mayor Wayne Brown, under fire for his communication failures, quietly visited the scene of the fatal Remuera slip on Sunday, with his staff taking photos for social media updates. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: The cleanup and the post-mortem have begun, even though the rain just keeps falling in Auckland after ...
We’ve just announced a massive infrastructure investment to kick-start new housing developments across New Zealand. Through our Infrastructure Acceleration Fund, we’re making sure that critical infrastructure - like pipes, roads and wastewater connections - is in place, so thousands more homes can be built. ...
The Green Party is joining more than 20 community organisations to call for an immediate rent freeze in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, after reports of landlords intending to hike rents after flooding. ...
When Chris Hipkins took on the job of Prime Minister, he said bread and butter issues like the cost of living would be the Government’s top priority – and this week, we’ve set out extra support for families and businesses. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to provide direct support to low-income households and to stop subsidising fossil fuels during a climate crisis. ...
The tools exist to help families with surging costs – and as costs continue to rise it is more urgent than ever that we use them, the Green Party says. ...
Over $10 million infrastructure funding to unlock housing in Whangārei The purchase of a 3.279 hectare site in Kerikeri to enable 56 new homes Northland becomes eligible for $100 million scheme for affordable rentals Multiple Northland communities will benefit from multiple Government housing investments, delivering thousands of new homes for ...
A memorial event at a key battle site in the New Zealand land wars is an important event to mark the progress in relations between Māori and the Crown as we head towards Waitangi Day, Minister for Te Arawhiti Kelvin Davis said. The Battle of Ohaeawai in June 1845 saw ...
More Police officers are being deployed to the frontline with the graduation of 54 new constables from the Royal New Zealand Police College today. The graduation ceremony for Recruit Wing 362 at Te Rauparaha Arena in Porirua was the first official event for Stuart Nash since his reappointment as Police ...
The Government is unlocking an additional $700,000 in support for regions that have been badly hit by the recent flooding and storm damage in the upper North Island. “We’re supporting the response and recovery of Auckland, Waikato, Coromandel, Northland, and Bay of Plenty regions, through activating Enhanced Taskforce Green to ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has welcomed the announcement that Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, will visit New Zealand this month. “Princess Anne is travelling to Aotearoa at the request of the NZ Army’s Royal New Zealand Corps of Signals, of which she is Colonel in Chief, to ...
A new Government and industry strategy launched today has its sights on growing the value of New Zealand’s horticultural production to $12 billion by 2035, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said. “Our food and fibre exports are vital to New Zealand’s economic security. We’re focussed on long-term strategies that build on ...
25 cents per litre petrol excise duty cut extended to 30 June 2023 – reducing an average 60 litre tank of petrol by $17.25 Road User Charge discount will be re-introduced and continue through until 30 June Half price public transport fares extended to the end of June 2023 saving ...
The strong economy has attracted more people into the workforce, with a record number of New Zealanders in paid work and wages rising to help with cost of living pressures. “The Government’s economic plan is delivering on more better-paid jobs, growing wages and creating more opportunities for more New Zealanders,” ...
The Government is providing a further $1 million to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced today. “Cabinet today agreed that, given the severity of the event, a further $1 million contribution be made. Cabinet wishes to be proactive ...
The new Cabinet will be focused on core bread and butter issues like the cost of living, education, health, housing and keeping communities and businesses safe, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has announced. “We need a greater focus on what’s in front of New Zealanders right now. The new Cabinet line ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins will travel to Canberra next week for an in person meeting with Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. “The trans-Tasman relationship is New Zealand’s closest and most important, and it was crucial to me that my first overseas trip as Prime Minister was to Australia,” Chris Hipkins ...
The Government is providing establishment funding of $100,000 to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced. “We moved quickly to make available this funding to support Aucklanders while the full extent of the damage is being assessed,” Kieran McAnulty ...
As the Mayor of Auckland has announced a state of emergency, the Government, through NEMA, is able to step up support for those affected by flooding in Auckland. “I’d urge people to follow the advice of authorities and check Auckland Emergency Management for the latest information. As always, the Government ...
Ka papā te whatitiri, Hikohiko ana te uira, wāhi rua mai ana rā runga mai o Huruiki maunga Kua hinga te māreikura o te Nota, a Titewhai Harawira Nā reira, e te kahurangi, takoto, e moe Ka mōwai koa a Whakapara, kua uhia te Tai Tokerau e te kapua pōuri ...
Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Social Development and Employment, has activated Enhanced Taskforce Green (ETFG) in response to flooding and damaged caused by Cyclone Hale in the Tairāwhiti region. Up to $500,000 will be made available to employ job seekers to support the clean-up. We are still investigating whether other parts ...
The 2023 General Election will be held on Saturday 14 October 2023, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “Announcing the election date early in the year provides New Zealanders with certainty and has become the practice of this Government and the previous one, and I believe is best practice,” Jacinda ...
Jacinda Ardern has announced she will step down as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party. Her resignation will take effect on the appointment of a new Prime Minister. A caucus vote to elect a new Party Leader will occur in 3 days’ time on Sunday the 22nd of ...
The Government is maintaining its strong trade focus in 2023 with Trade and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor visiting Europe this week to discuss the role of agricultural trade in climate change and food security, WTO reform and New Zealand agricultural innovation. Damien O’Connor will travel tomorrow to Switzerland to attend the ...
The Government has extended its medium-scale classification of Cyclone Hale to the Wairarapa after assessing storm damage to the eastern coastline of the region. “We’re making up to $80,000 available to the East Coast Rural Support Trust to help farmers and growers recover from the significant damage in the region,” ...
By Jamie Tahana, RNZ News Te Ao Māori journalist at Waitangi, and Russell Palmer, digital political journalist Iwi leaders in Aotearoa New Zealand have accused opposition parties National and ACT of “fanning the flames of racism”, urging the prime minister to be brave and not walk away from partnership on Three ...
By Phoebe Gwangilo in Port Moresby Higher Education Minister Don Polye has condemned a decision by the administration of the University of Papua New Guinea to treat a PNG-born and bred grade 12 school leaver as an “international” student. Roselyn Alog, 19, whose parents are Filipinos, was born and raised ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s former Elections Supervisor Mohammed Saneem is under investigation by the country’s anti-corruption agency for alleged abuse of office and has been stopped from fleeing the country. The Fijian Elections Office (FEO) said Saneem was alleged to have “on numerous occasions . . . unlawfully authorised payments of ...
Labour's position has alternated over the past few days: first Prime Minister Chris Hipkins would speak, then he wouldn't, and then he would again. ...
Te Pāti Māori Co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer are announcing a transformative defence and foreign affairs policy which asserts the Mana Māori Motuhake and Tino Rangatiratanga of tangata whenua in Aotearoa at their Party’s ...
The Prime Minister will no longer speak at Waitangi commemorations after the organising trust moved the political leaders to a panel away from the main event The Waitangi National Trust wrote to political parties last month saying they didn’t want political leaders to speak at the pōwhiri held on the eve ...
The Prime Minister once again has a speaking slot at the pōwhiri in Waitangi after earlier on Saturday saying he would respect the wishes of the trust organisers by not doing so The Waitangi National Trust has given the green light for Chris Hipkins and other political leaders to speak ...
It’s been exactly a decade since Seven Sharp first appeared on our screens. Remember the first episode? We’ve unearthed the tapes. On this day in 2013, a bombshell was thrown into the New Zealand television landscape. “Time for us to make way, because you’re here to see what everyone’s talking ...
MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris has fronted endless media requests and live crosses this week. Is he getting it right? Lewis Ferris is trying to find his weather map. “This week’s been so insane” he mutters as he closes multiple tabs on the three screens across his Wellington desk. He’s ...
After four years, executive director Max Tweedie has stepped down from Auckland Pride. He tells Sam Brooks about shepherding the festival through a tumultuous few years, and where he’s going from here.This year’s Auckland Pride Festival is set to be the biggest one yet. Over the course of more ...
A flailing mayor was only the public face of a multifaceted flooding communications failure. Duncan Greive examines the mess, and asks what can be done to improve it.It’s a chilling timeline. Stuff’s Kelly Dennett catalogued, beat-by-beat, the 12 hours in which Auckland was pummelled by a catastrophic deluge, interspersing ...
The Dunedin branch of the Green Party has selected Francisco Hernandez as its candidate for the Dunedin electorate in this year’s general election. Francisco Hernandez was the Otago University Students Association President in 2013. He has held a number ...
Waitangi organisers are trying to push political leaders to the side at Sunday's pōwhiri, but Labour's deputy leader says it's not for them to decide who speaks. Te Tai Tokerau MP and Labour’s deputy leader, Kelvin Davis, says the Prime Minister will speak at Sunday’s pōwhiri at Waitangi, in defiance of local ...
Every weekday, The Detail makes sense of the big news stories. This week, we spoke to an aid worker who had made the trip to the war zone in Ukraine, looked at why Carmel Sepuloni was picked to be the new deputy prime minister, visited the flood-torn streets of Titirangi in West ...
Schools play an integral but often unrecognised and unacknowledged role in helping communities respond to and recover from disastersOpinion: Schools in Auckland and other flood-affected areas are about to re-open after a delayed start to the new school year. Students will return to school having experienced wide-ranging impacts. While some ...
A very short story for Waitangi weekend The pā is a lonely place nowadays. Gorse has marched on it like the British troops of old, consuming the hills and leaving the marae looking a bald patch on the head of the earth mother herself. Even the roads have worn thin, ...
This is The Detail's Long Read - one in-depth story read by us every weekend. This week, it's The School Away From School written by Bill Morris and published in NZ Geographic's January/February 2023 issue. You can find the entire article, with photos from Lottie Hedley, on the NZ Geographic website. One hundred years since its ...
COMMENTARY:By Kayt Davies in Perth I wasn’t good at French in my final year of high school. My classmates had five years of language studies behind them. I had three. As a result of my woeful grip on the language, I wrote a terribly bad essay in my final ...
RNZ Pacific Journalist Victor Mambor, who is the chief editor of the West Papuan newspaper and websiteJubi, has received the Oktovianus Pogau Award from the Indonesian-based Pantau Foundation for courage in journalism. The foundation’s Andreas Harsono said Mambor’s decision to return to his father’s homeland and defend the rights ...
RNZ News Green Party MP Chlöe Swarbrick is brushing off concerns a temporary rent freeze in flood-hit Auckland would just see landlords hike rents even more when the controls were lifted — arguing they should stay permanently. More than 20 organisations have signed a letter urging Minister for Auckland Michael ...
Iwi leaders have accused National and ACT of "fanning the flames of racism", urging the prime minister to be brave and not walk away from partnership on three waters. ...
About this time last week it had become apparent that Auckland was in for a bit more than just a wet Friday. While the state of emergency remains in place for another seven days, it appears the worst should now be behind us. Last night, Niwa shared a fascinating thread ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra ShutterstockIndigenous Australians are respectfully advised that the following includes the names and images of some people who are now deceased. The Reserve Bank of Australia ...
The government has confirmed the money will be spent in Northland, including unlocking greenfields land and transport upgrades like a new bridge in Kamo. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabrielle Appleby, Professor, UNSW Law School, UNSW Sydney Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed that sometime between August and November this year, the Australian people will go to a referendum for the first time since 1999. We’ll be asked whether we support ...
Viewers across the United States were today shown a slice of New Zealand, with a reporter for Good Morning America broadcasting live from Rotorua. Robin Roberts, a co-anchor for the popular morning TV show, has been touring the country this week. During her visit to Rotorua’s Te Puia centre, she ...
They can be environmentally unsound and are a symbol used to shame millennials, but everyone still loves an avo. I love avocados, always have, always will. The buttery golden-green flesh from a perfectly ripe avocado is a culinary blessing. Today I’d love to simply wax poetic about twisting open a ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin (Penguin Press, $50) The beautiful ...
A new poem by Robin Peace. To the kahikatea I see from my bed Thinking inside the square, the ellipse, the round of what life is, I only see the trees. Not only as if that were the only thing I see, but only as if the tree matters more. ...
A week ago, Elton John’s first Auckland show was called off at the last minute. What was it like getting there, being there, and trying to return home afterwards?Elton John has long been a blessing for our ears, but in recent years his Auckland shows have been cursed. His ...
For Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown, sorry seems to be the hardest word to say The mayoral chains must have been heavy this week for Auckland’s Wayne Brown, as his response to last week’s flood garnered its own veritable torrent of scandals and media scrutiny. Almost exactly one week on from ...
For Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown, sorry seems to be the hardest word to say The mayoral chains must have been heavy this week for Auckland’s Wayne Brown, as his response to last week’s flood garnered its own veritable torrent of scandals and media scrutiny. Almost exactly one week on from ...
Ours Not Mines is cautiously excited about reporting that the Government is drafting legislation to ban new mines on conservation land. The anti-mining group's spokesperson, Morgan Donoghue says: "The Government has been promising us some action for ...
People who enjoy the outdoors for recreation, fishing and hunting will lose rights under the Natural and Built Environments Bill. Fish & Game New Zealand chief executive Corina Jordan says the proposed replacement for the Resource Management ...
Auckland mayor Wayne Brown has conceded he “dropped the ball” during last Friday’s major flooding event. The state of emergency in the super city has today been extended for a further seven days, though Brown said he expects it will be lifted early. After a week of defensiveness over his ...
As the reality TV juggernaut returns for a new season, Tara Ward steps into the minds of the show’s relationship experts to assess the compatibility of this year’s brides and grooms. Married at First Sight: Australia returns on Monday night, and by season ten, you’d think the show’s relationship experts ...
Auckland’s state of emergency is expected to be extended for another seven days, according to the Herald. It was due to expire overnight after being declared a week ago, the day of the worst flooding in the super city. While weather conditions have improved, the city is continuing to experience ...
Proposed pay equity claim settlements for school librarians and science technicians have been reached between the Ministry of Education and NZEI Te Riu Roa, Secretary for Education, Iona Holsted and NZEI Te Riu Roa president, Mark Potter, announced ...
Members of NZEI Te Riu Roa negotiating on behalf of school librarians, library assistants and science technicians are excited to announce that proposed pay equity settlements are ready to be voted on by their colleagues. They include pay increases of up to ...
The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) is calling for Michael Wood, the Minister of Transport, and now Auckland, to cancel the light rail project immediately. Auckland Light Rail was never going to happen, as our group has repeatedly said dozens of ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has been asked to intervene following confirmation today that the Government plans to implement a ban on all extractive sector activities on the conservation estate. Wayne Scott, CEO of the Aggregate and Quarry Association, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato Getty Images The heated (and often confused) debate about “co-governance” in Aotearoa New Zealand inevitably leads back to its source, Te Tiriti o Waitangi. But, as its long-contested meanings demonstrate, very little ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Hunter, Lecturer in Art and Performance, Deakin University Jodie Hutchinson/Red StitchReview: Wittenoom, directed by Susie Dee, Red Stitch Deep in the remote Pilbara region of Western Australia, the town of Wittenoom lies empty, desolate … and contaminated. Wittenoom ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Oliver Bown, Postdoctoral fellow, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock The past few years have seen an explosion in applications of artificial intelligence to creative fields. A new generation of image and text generators is delivering impressiveresults. Now AI has also found ...
New Zealand’s egg shortage is hitting cruise ships too – forcing the crew of one vessel to hatch a poaching plan. This story was first published on Stuff. On the hunt for eggs, a crew from a luxury cruise ship got cracking and hatched a cunning plan. Earlier this week, Stuff ...
Now demolished, the First Church of Christ Scientist was a masterclass of architectural imagination. Kate Linzey visits the site on which it once stood, to learn more. The object is delicate and small. Small enough to sit in the palm of my hand and weighing less than 300 grams. It ...
When your food parcel arrives before the emergency alert, you know something’s not working properly.This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. I’ve spent the last week desperately and at times fruitlessly attempting to drain and then sweep my whānau home of knee-deep water, pull up ...
Drongo-gate continues for another day with the Herald reporting that Auckland’s mayor has been caught out using the slang term for a second time. It comes this time from a former minor mayoral candidate, Mike Kampkes, who said he received a message from Brown in response to a media release ...
How does Aotearoa stop relying so heavily on agriculture to prop up our economy? Online tax and accounting service Hnry just raised $35m to grow its software on-demand service across the globe. Bernard Hickey talks with AirTree partner Jackie Vullinghs about how venture capitalists are funding Aotearoa’s fastest growing, least-polluting ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Guastella, Professor and Clinical Psychologist, Michael Crouch Chair in Child and Youth Mental Health, University of Sydney Shutterstock With childcare and schools starting the new year, parents might be anxiously wondering how their child will adapt in a new ...
I am delighted to announce the appointment of John Price ONZM as the new Director Civil Defence Emergency Management and Deputy Chief Executive Emergency Management for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). John has been a member of the ...
Coromandel Watchdog of Hauraki are calling on the new Prime Minister and new Minister of Conservation Willow Jean Prime to immediately implement the 2017 promise to ban new mining activity on conservation lands. “ The mining industry group Straterra ...
How does Aotearoa stop relying so heavily on agriculture to prop up our economy? Online tax and accounting service Hnry just raised $35m to grow its software on-demand service across the globe. In the latest episode of When the Facts Change, Bernard Hickey talks with AirTree partner Jackie Vullinghs about how ...
There’s a fear that highlighting menopause will undermine women, especially at work. But what have centuries of secrecy achieved for us? Are you sick of hearing about menopause? Kim Hill is. The living legend of Aotearoa broadcasting told actor Robyn Malcolm (also a legend) on her Saturday Morning show on RNZ ...
Dunedin city council has reached an agreement to save Foulden Maar from commercial mining. The maar is the site of a crater lake from 23 million years ago with the diatomite of the lake preserving fossils and a climate record covering 100,000 years from that period. It is fantastic news for Otago University ...
Some are speculating whether the Auckland Mayor's leadership is circling the drain. James Elliott hopes they're right. There’s never been a week quite like it. It was the week when the rains came. All of them. Even the rain from Spain that was supposed to fall mainly on the plain, came. ...
The Bus and Coach Association supports the Government’s decision to continue half-price fares on public transport services. The fare reduction was set to expire on 31 March 2023, but will now continue to 30 June 2023. “Half-price fares have cost ten-times ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards. Political Roundup: Hipkins’ bread and butter reshufflePolitical scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins continues to be the new broom in Government, re-setting his Government away from its problem areas in his Cabinet reshuffle yesterday, and trying to convince voters that Labour is focused ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards. Political Roundup: Chris Hipkins hires a lobbyist to run the BeehiveNew Zealand Prime Minister, Chris Hipkins, speaking when Minister of Education, at NZEI Te Riu Roa strike rally on the steps of the New Zealand Parliament, 15th August 2018. Image; Wiki Commons. New Zealand is ...
New Zealand Politics Daily is a collation of the most prominent issues being discussed in New Zealand. It is edited by Dr Bryce Edwards of The Democracy Project. Items of interest and importance todayCO-GOVERNANCE, WAITANGI, THREE WATERS Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Blowing Off The Froth: Why Chris Hipkins Must Ditch ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brian Tweed, Senior lecturer, Massey University Shutterstock/Renata Apanaviciene As we approach another Waitangi Day, we should be thinking again about what Te Tiriti o Waitangi means. As the late Moana Jackson commented, the meaning of Te Tiriti will be ...
Even prime ministers get caught in bad weather. It’s a week on from the devastating flooding that hit Auckland and Northland and Chris Hipkins has been forced to drive north for the start of Waitangi weekend commemorations after his plan was turned away from Kerikeri airport (twice). Today will see ...
Less than a year ago, co-governance had a future, at least as potentially accepted terminology. Now some iwi leaders want the label removed and replaced, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell 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 decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia to not replace the late Queen with Charles on the Aussie $5 note should indicate to our Reserve Bank that it’s time to change the NZ $20 note” said Lewis Holden, campaign chair of New ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christian Wolf, Associate Professor, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Australian National University Somchat Parkaythong/Shutterstock Black holes are bizarre things, even by the standards of astronomers. Their mass is so great, it bends space around them so tightly that nothing can escape, even ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Revell, Associate Professor in Environmental Physics, University of Canterbury Getty Images The ozone layer is on track to heal within four decades, according to a recent UN report, but this progress could be undone by an upsurge in rocket ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Clune, Honorary Associate, Government and International Relations, University of Sydney At the New South Wales election on March 25 a 12-year-old Coalition government will be seeking re-election. Hoping to return as premier is Liberal leader Dominic Perrottet – a political conservative ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Trauer, Associate Professor, Monash University Anastelfy/Shutterstock The XBB.1.5 subvariant, known informally as “Kraken”, is the latest in a menagerie of Omicron subvariants to dominate the headlines, following increasing detection in the United States and United Kingdom. But there ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Madeline Combe, Doctoral student, University of Technology Sydney Shutterstock As the economist Herman Daly pithily said, the economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment – not the reverse. Nature makes our lives possible through what scientists call ecosystem ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Jefferson, Lecturer in Education, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock Grit. Don’t quit. That’s the mantra many parents may have in mind when they, like me, spend what feels like years ferrying children to a seemingly endless variety of sports and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Humphery-Jenner, Associate Professor of Finance, UNSW Sydney Sam Shere/Wikimedia Commons A few weeks ago, Gautam Adani was indisputably India’s richest man. Now his fortune is slipping away as the stocks of his many companies crash, thanks to the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Divna Haslam, Senior Research Fellow, Queensland University of Technology Shutterstock Have you ever found yourself scrolling through social media and noticed you felt a bit down? Maybe a little envious? Why aren’t you on a yacht? Running a startup? Looking ...
Robert Fisk is a rare beacon of light in a dimming world.
Here he provides valuable insights on the geopolitical events going on in Turkey.
“A US trade war with Turkey over a little known pastor? Don’t believe a word of it.
For here’s the real list of Erdogan’s crimes. He is buying the Russian S-400 missile system for Turkey. He refuses to accept US support for America’s Kurdish YPG allies. He allowed Islamist fighters to pour over Turkey’s border into Syria along with a lot of weapons, mortars and missiles – to which Washington had no objections at the time since the US was trying to knock Erdogan’s former friend Bashar al-Assad off his perch. Then, after shooting down a Russian aircraft along the Syrian border in November 2015 – for which he was immediately boycotted by Moscow – Erdogan cuddled up to Putin. It was thus the Russians and the Iranians who first warned Erdogan of the impending “Gulen coup” against him in July 2016. They had been listening in to the Turkish military’s internal radio traffic – and tipped off the Sultan of Istanbul.
And now Erdogan is helping Iran to dodge US sanctions which were imposed after Trump flagrantly tore up the 2015 nuclear agreement, and – in a decision demonstrating the cowardly response of the EU’s own oil conglomerates to Trump’s insanity – has announced that he will continue to import Iranian oil. Thus will Washington’s further threat of increased oil sanctions against Iran be blunted. Sunni Saudi Arabia, one of Trump’s closest allies – where religious freedom for the likes of Pastor Brunson has never existed – is already furious with Erdogan. Not long ago, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman denounced Turkey as part of a “triangle of evil” – the other bits of the “triangle” being Shiite Iran and militant Islamists.
So you can see how things are lining up in the Middle East right now. “
Read the whole article here,
Your daily dose of vaccination against the lies of the msm.
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/us-turkey-trump-erdogan-trade-war-a8493956.html
Thanks fisk. For pointing out that America is taking non-violent and justified actions. Obama would have gone to war
Stupid
“Obama would have gone to war”
Turkey is a nato country, there is certain difficulties with going to war there.
But you have forgotten Trumps oft repeated questions about a war between US and Venezuela, only a fool would think Trump is less war-monger than Obama
https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-asked-if-he-could-invade-venezuela/
How many invasions has trump authorised?
How many invasions has trump led?
How many drone strikes has trump ordered?
actions speak louder than words. I don’t like the ginger fool, but he doesn’t talk out of both sides of his mouth on peace like obama did
None, but Obama also authorised none
None but Obama also led none
Obama did use bombing and drone strikes more than Bush but Trump;
Trump is ordering airstrikes at 5 times the pace Obama did –
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/trump-is-ordering-airstrikes-at-5-times-the-pace-obama-did-2017-4?r=US&IR=T
US counter terror air strikes double in Trump’s first year – https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2017-12-19/counterrorism-strikes-double-trump-first-year
Under Trump, U.S. Launched 8 Airstrikes Against ISIS in Libya. It Disclosed 4. – https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/08/world/africa/us-airstrikes-isis-libya.html
The more you know.
touche. the more you know
Robert Fisk is a brilliant and highly informed commentator on Middle Easter affairs. His “Great War for Civilisation” is a must read for anyone who wants an in depth analysis of the political situation there, although much has happened since he wrote that tome.
Yes but he captures the history as it feeds the complexity and paints an excellent picture to that point.
Highly recommend especially his osama bin laden coverage.
Amen Marcus, Fisk’s book is to be recommended.
I have done it twice now and am keen to read it again.
@Ed, “Your daily dose of vaccination against the lies of the msm.”
I Like that.
Isn’t it interesting that most of the most regular and balanced live debates on current affairs come from Press TV (Iran), RT (Russia) and Al Jerezza (Qatar), now I am not saying these countries are beacons of democracy, but they at least these networks offer regular and balanced debates on important world news, which is either almost non existent on MSM or when is presented, so short they they often lack substance and/or context.
And the other thing that RT/Al Jerezzra/Democracy Now/Press TV and The Real News do that MSM don’t do any longer, now that any narrative that doesn’t follow party line is shut down, is give Fisk, John Pilger, Noam Chomsky, Glenn Greenwald and Max Blumenthal (amongst others) a platform to speak.
Fuck you labour .giving mpi the right to enter any farm without a warrant??
You are dead to me .and any party that supports them is dead to me .
Cunts
But unions is ok?
Perhaps if biosecurity and stock movement rules had been adhered to this step wouldn’t be necessary. You can’t have it both ways. If you want M Bovis sorted you have to accept that regular checks may be necessary. The market was left to police itself. It failed.
That is a piss poor excuse to try to justify this change
Police need a warrant to raid a gang pad full of drug dealers, but MPI can now rock on in or undercover surveil, seize property, at the drop of a hat.
This is coming from the same people who went ballistic over the GCSB working with the SIS monitoring kiwis crims.
They are farmers, not criminals
Another sell out by the Greens
I can smell the hypocrisy on their breath
I’m getting close to drawing the pension and grew up and worked most of my life around the construction industry. In that game you come across most types and degrees of dodgy bastards. And I got to know, for better or worse quite a few.
Over the last 10 years I’ve been doing a lot of work on and around farms. I always thought agriculture was an honest industry, undertaken by people with integrity and good faith. Some, probably most, farmers I’ve dealt with are people of the highest moral standing with the greatest honesty and integrity you’ll ever meet.
But the dodgy bastards in the industry are in another league all together. And it’s accepted. Total dishonesty, violence when challenged, and you’ll never get anything in writing so there’s never any proof. Stock appearing on a property, then get retagged, plant with illegible identification numbers, but always just enough to get the right parts, and plenty more shit.
The idea that agriculture is some how cleaner than driven snow is utter bullshit. Refusal to obey, and operate under the law is criminality. There’s plenty of evidence from the M. Bovis debacle of farmers operating outside the law by refusing to comply with NAIT, or subverting the intent of NAIT. And really the only reasons to not tag is because they are either too lazy (or cashflow challenged), or having the tag on is going to stuff up their dodgy scheme.
Agriculture is no different to any other struggling industry, some will push the limits for gain at someone else’s cost. In other industries those outside the law feel the sanction of central or local government. Somehow agriculture feels it is exempt from this sanction.
Plenty of agencies can enter a property without a search warrant. Many acts give warrant powers to government officials (both central and local) to gather evidence and enforce. Worksafe and council building, planning and health as examples. MPI already have extensive warrant power.
It seems to me that BEFORE ANY compensation is paid the farmer HAS to show compliance with NAIT
It was voluntary
Nothing “voluntary” about NAIT chum
“Anyone in charge of cattle or deer must comply with NAIT regulations. The same rules apply whether you have one animal or 1000.”
http://www.nait.co.nz/nait-basics/farmers-and-lifestylers/
It is now, but it wasn’t then
That is why I used the word was
Alway’s been my understanding that it was compulsory on cattle and deer, with an initial phase in period.
Just some people thought it didn’t apply to them
Indeed it was. And compensation should be paid to the farmers who made the responsible choice.
Otherwise we’re just subsidising biological negligence.
I have no doubt there are dodgy ones
But this doesn’t show why there should be entrance and seizure without authority
Entry would be under the authority of the act. Plenty of existing examples of that already.
Police can use Misue of Drugs Act to act without a warrant
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1975/0116/82.0/DLM436101.html
But if they have been gathering information for some time a standard warrant is not an issue to get.
They can get your phone records/bank records without warrants now , as its done under the ‘maintenance of law and order’. Doesnt even need evidence of a crime in the first place
So you are putting farmers in the same class as drug dealers
Thanks
That’s how they act so doing so seems reasonable.
Any business that serves food can be inspected without notice, will have to have a food safety plan ready upon demand, training notices on staff etc etc. Failure to provide demanded documentation, failure to strict adherence to the food safety plan can and will result in fines, downgrading of the business etc.
that is usually how the non compliant businesses are caught.
Now why should farmers be exempt from this?
Maybe the farmer should welcome this action, so that the ‘rotten apples’ which are only a few here and there of course, can be found and kicked out of the box before all the other apples go rotten too.
Farming is a business and as such you have good an bad farmers. Farmers are no more special then any other proffession in this country. They are no more and no less ‘real NZ’ then any other Kiwi who happens to not work in farming.
They are no more and no less prone to abusing the system then others in other profession.
Maybe its time Farmers understand that they actually demand special status in a country where two thirds of people literally are too poor to buy their butter and milk.
Also how much tax payers moneys is going to be squandered on M Bovis clean up? The very least the taxpayer who is not a farmer but is having funds used to dig them out of their own cow shite is that the farmers might have to open for inspections day and night.
All business people these days are on drugs! The drug is profit, and more profit. Very addictive and many will go the extra mile to get the moolah, on or off farms, Queen Street farmers and lawyers, building companies and anywhere there is money to be made. And if they make a success of their business, they will sell it, because it is the money drug they want, not just a good living for themselves and family.
Labour inspectors have some interesting powers.
And that’s without even getting into the Health Act, which is damned near totalitarian. Even the routine admin stuff, rather than the outbreak emergency controls.
Best you familiarise yourself with the Search and Surveillance Act 2012.
The problem being that many are criminals – they just haven’t been caught yet.
It is not an excuse Chris T – it is a reason.
Farmers will have to put up and shut uop. They have consistently gone light on following the right practices, and not taken responsibility for controlling those who have made no or little effort to manage their businesses ethically.
No. It’s a perfectly valid reason for this change. We need to protect ourselves from these people.
Farmers that didn’t follow the movement rules, to avoid taxes, are criminals.
Currently costing us all, more than the gangs did.
Agree 100% Riffer
Is it not true that MPI have to observe all rules that cover farms now? That would mean health and safety requirements such as reporting to the farmer first and being excluded from the farmhouse, and so on, as is normal?
Just as Union Officials must do when entering a farm to visit an union member, as Jacinda spent several question times pointing out to Simon in the House over the last two weeks. But I divert … Sorry …
Fisheries officers have been doing it for years. What’s the difference?
How does it go….. nothing to hide, nothing to fear…
I think Electricity Providers and Telephone Providers have right of Entry to your home. They used to have that right. Still so?
You’ve read the article from “Stuff” published last December then. The protocol seems reasonable to me considering the threat that myrtle rust presents to the horticulture industry. Pity about your language – doesn’t suggest a great range of vocabulary.
Lol – you are dead to me – ott buddy
“Fuck you labour .giving mpi the right to enter any farm without a warrant??”
That would be under existing biosecurity rules, just as Police can enter without a warrant in certain circumstances -misuse of drugs act etc. and SIS can burgle your place without warrants
Ok, a lot of speculation going on here – including my own in this comment.
I really have not followed this closely but my understanding is that the changes to the National Animal Identification and Tracing Act are to realign it with the Search and Surveillance Act which was adopted under the National Government in 2012. This realignment has become urgent due to the M. Bovis emergency and the lack of compliance – by a few – with the NAIT requirements.
Here is the Bill Digest giving an outline of the Amendment Bill and its purpose:
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/bills-and-laws/bills-digests/document/52PLLaw25631/national-animal-identification-and-tracing-amendment-bill
A quick troll through the Hansard records of the debates in the House on the Amendment Bill in the last few days seems to confirm my comments above.
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/bills-and-laws/bills-proposed-laws/document/BILL_78997/tab/hansard
If you only read the The third reading debate, the last item in the list in the link (in particular Damian O’Connor’s background speech), and the first item in the list (the last debate yesterday) this will give a pretty good outline of the situation and the ‘faux’ outrage from the Opposition led by Nathan Guy. In the last item in the list, Mark Patterson of NZF, himself a farmer, gives a good explanation of the need for urgency – as does Gareth Hughes.
The Bill passed its third reading unanimously – with all Parties including National passing it and no Nos – at 1.08 mins in this video.
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/combined/HansDeb_20180816_20180816_12/tab/video?page=2
So, sorry bwaghorn – I don’t know who you are going to vote for in the future.
Why should farmers be allowed to commit criminal acts?
All these lefties would be scanning blue murder if the govt decided winz could rock into a solo parents house to make sure they are living alone
Because benefit fraud is the same as spreading disease throughout the sector?
A warrant would not be hard to get
Fucking hypocrites.
If a warrant isn’t hard to get, it defeats the purpose of having a warrant system in the first place.
Basically, let’s say an inspector comes to the farm gate looking for noncompliant cows. You say “fuck off”, and while they’re off getting a warrant you truck any non-compliant cows to another location. Not only is a warrant ineffecive, it actually motivates the transmission of diseases the noncompliant cows might have.
Now let’s look at a single parent living alone – the presence of a person doesn’t indicate a cohabiting relationship. That requires a long term pattern to be established. So immediate powers to enter without warrant are a bit pointless in that case, no?
It’s not hypocrisy to recognise that the same protection that prevents unnecessary invasion in one instance is actually counterproductive in another.
Do you have any proof farmers are hiding infected animals?
The main problem with it being traced was caused because young calves could be legally shifted without nait tags .
But hay it’s only farmers and this government got elected by playing the wedge politics card against them so why should I be surprised.
That’s why we have inspectors.
We have a load of proof that farmers won’t control infections by themselves.
No, it’s not only farmers. Several organisations don’t need warrants – the health sector is significantly more powerful than the justice sector in that regard.
You’re just pissed because your industry is being held accountable for its abject failure to protect itself, and now the government needs to clean up the mess.
I think bwaghorn had a very difficult day at work yesterday because he got it for being a leftie and supporting the pretty communist that’s going to chuck farmers off their farms. It wasn’t a good day to be a leftie on a farm yesterday. The bullshit was flowing strong.
But really it was only the seriously dodgy side of framing throwing a spaz that it’s going to be a lot harder to do the dodgy stock sales and movements now that NAIT is much tighter and actually enforced.
The actual political situation was pointed out by veutoviper in 2.8 above https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-17-08-2018/#comment-1514840
The third reading passed unanimously, with all parties speaking in support. Including National.
Nice fantasy chump . .
I’ve been in sheep and beef for 8 years and havent seen any one actively rout nait . Slow to take up yes but every cattle beast I’ve sent off since nait arrived has had a nait tag in its ear . And every one that has come on has had a nait tag in its ear .
But you clowns believe what you hateful little minds want .
In two years labour will realise it’s lost the fight on mb . The chance of stopping it is long gone thanks to the useless nats . .
I’ll have to hope top hangs in their
Actually, from a disease control perspective, unless it has an endemic wildlife vector in the way that TB has, eradication of a virus from a controlled population only requires tracking to identify exposed animals, even without a vaccine.
Guinea worm comes to mind.
Do you know how hard mb is to track . Our local very up to date vet told us at a recent meeting it can only be found when an animal is shedding cells . It only sheds cell sporadically.
That only effects the math in the same way a longer incubation time effects the math.
If I have ubiquitous surveillance of a population, any positive test means I can track exactly which individuals had transmission-likely contact with the infected individual. So all of those other individuals get tested or quarantined or (in the case of livestock) culled.
A few iterations of that, and the disease is eradicated. The only factor that changes is the number of iterations – how much effort we put into it.
“Wedge Politics” – what a joke- it was the clowns in Morrinsville, led by the “Jolly old Fed of Farmers” who played the wedge card – will never forget the image of “Worzle Gummige” holding up the “pretty communist” placard. Desperate measures by sore losers. Labour’s Agriculture Ministers from Aubrey Begg and beyond have all been respected by the farming community even though it stuck in ts craw to admit it.
You do understand that that would only work if people were really pissed off with the actions of farmers right?
You know, things like polluting our waterways, getting special treatment from government, not being prosecuted when they should be etcetera.
Basically, the farmers brought it on themselves by being a bunch of self-righteous, self-important and overly entitled arseholes.
Just like you’re being now.
What is it that these farmers are doing with their cows?
lol
They can’t go into the farmer’s house without a warrant.
Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity. ~Horace Mann
Australia Hits Worst Greenhouse Gas Emissions On Record
https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2017/12/australia-hits-worst-greenhouse-gas-emissions-on-record/
Australia world’s largest coal exporter
US Energy Information Administration, EIA – November 25, 2011
This Must Stop – New Zealand has a role to play.
Australia is our closest geographical neighbor, Australia is also our closest cultural cousin.
What we do here in New Zealand, has an impact in Australia.
You better believe it
Sir Peter, (Professor), Gluckman, the government’s top science adviser, has said that New Zealand’s greatest contribution to fighting climate change, will be by “setting an example”.
In my opinion that example must be for New Zealand to strike an iconic death blow against the local coal industry.
If we can’t do it, how can we ask our Australian neighbours and cultural cousins to?
The very least, we need to do, is urgently impose an immediate moratorium on the opening of all new coal mines.
Our other regional neighbours in the Pacific have called on New Zealand and Australia to put a total stop to all coal production.
Pacific leaders call for coal mining to be shut down to save island nations from effects of climate change
Eric Tlozek – ABC News, September 8, 2015
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said that climate change is our Nuclear Free Moment.
Prime Minister Ardern needs to make it our Coal Free Moment.
Anything less, is surrender.
Another great leader once said, “We don’t do these things because they are easy, we do them because they are hard”.
And from an earlier era, another Prime Minister, facing up to existential crisis – Said this:
The Uninhabitable Earth
Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: What climate change could wreak — sooner than you think.
David Wallace-Wells – New York Magazine, July 10, 2017
Mum, When you were Prime Minister. What did you do about climate change?
Not sure about sharing from facebook but this map makes very scary viewing, but them im sure its all happened before and its only scaremongering.
if that doesnt work it was from this site , the world seems to be on fire.
https://www.globalforestwatch.org/
When I see how cruelly Australians treat refugees. I can’t help but wonder. How do they think they might be treated when the time comes.
Which on our current trajectory of inaction, it surely will.
https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2018/08/15/Stop-Hothouse-Earth/?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=150818
Yes, it is achievable. “But it will demand a united global effort”.
There is one thing missing….
Leadership…..
The immortal Aretha Franklin.
Respect.
I cry a little tear for you
She was epic in the Blues Brothers.
She was awesome when she sang Natural Woman on the national party bus… Oh whoops that was someone else.
Oh bloody hell !… its morning again,… ugh…
re Bridges Expenses And it also forgets, bizarrely, that the car he was in is charged out at a far
Hosking reports this
Oppo’ do pay a higher rate apparently
Have no idea why.
Seems a bit stupid to me
Agree
Thats because he likely had a crown limo and driver tag along for his regions tour.
Not only do you get the standard rate but its PLUS accomodation costs
Limos arent in every town and city. Mostly the bigger ones with I think one car based in Dunedin but a few more in Christchurch, more again in Auckland and a big chunk in Wellington. There may be one or 2 in waikato etc.
As well when there isnt a car available they have private limos on call and they might be on a ‘spot’ rate and higher than the standard crown limo rate
Just heard on the wireless… simons crown limo rides are charged out at twice the rate of Ministers. Thanks for explaining a bit more Duke as to why that would be.
Find it hard to believe that he didn’t know this before his ‘road’ trip.
It’s something all of us consider when planning a ‘road trip’ … the cost of the journey.
He could have flown in then asked the local MP to drive him around.
Or were local nat MP’s also enjoying looking fancy in the limo?
Everything Duke said applies equally to Ministers.
If Winston, for example was to turn up in Hastings to go to the races he is certainly going to expect to have a Limo there for him.
It still doesn’t seem to be any rationale for the double rate for the Leader of the Opposition or for the Speaker.
The higher rate is only mentioned in the expenses returns for this year. I wonder if it was put in, probably at Winston’s request, so that it would make the Leader of the Opposition look extravagant? Knowing what Winston is like it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest.
It certainly seems to have worked. Look at all the people on this site who are rabbiting on about how Bridges is supposedly more extravagant than Little or Ardern were. He isn’t, it is just a little smear tactic by the current Coalition of Losers who have fiddled the accounting rules to make it look like that..
Anyone here going to the Green Party AGM?
I understand that all the MPs have been ordered to attend.
The problem they have is getting the 2 other people they need to get a quorum.
Aren’t you thinking of the Association of C*nts and Tossers?
Their broom closet was packed shoulder to shoulder
The first part anyway.
“Association of C*nts”.
Hasn’t the XX chromosome co-leader of the Green’s copyrighted this name for the Green Party?
Relieved to learn you believe in chromysomies wally, they’re not the Devil’s Slinkies after all then.
I’ve never heard of “chromysomies” Gobby.
I presume they are some product of your warped imagination.
I know about chromosomes though.
“Devil’s Slinkies” got a chuckle here 🙂
I’m unable to personally attend. But I’m hopeful there will be discussion on what the Greens are doing to help the poor offset new environmental charges (such as significantly increasing tip fees) the Greens are championing.
Fuck off Chairman we all know you no member.
Save it, egg.
Na stop going when they cancelled the folk dancing and applied a dress, make up, hair and use of deroderant code 😊
A 92 year old in a rest home with little covering urine soaked bedclothes and covered with something fairly thin and window open.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018658500/govt-needs-to-intervene-in-aged-care-patient-s-son
There is momentary concern that will die away till the next open complaint.
This will have a contradictory on the call for euthanasia. Instead of bringing in a principled matter for choice, all the authorities involved will resist fiercely saying that what is required is better care and that presently it is a disgrace.
The nostalgic past is our zeitgeist in today’s society. Plus ‘shoulds’ as a way to cope with problems that require action by government in line with expressed wishes from the citizens. And a response to the statistics concerning population bulges and mismatched spending so it is more on the old than the young who are being starved of funding and attention to their needs at the start of what should be their full, active life.
yet another example of regulatory capture
What is also interesting is that the family went to some disputes tribunal to get the award (aka I think it’s their rest home fee’s refunded) but health and disability and the rest home industry are all ok with poor conditions and poorly trained staff even though people (or the state) are paying in excess of $1000 a week for care that they obviously expect to be quality for their loved one? No wonder the rest home industry seem to have one of the highest returns on the share market when you just put a few poorly trained and cheap people in and the regulators seem to say it’s optional to attending to the patients needs promptly.
Speaking of complaints here is the top ten companies complained about to the commerce commission. (from Granny) Other companies like power and banking I think have their own complaints bodies and are regulated to be allowed to rip off customers which is probably why nobody bothers to complain anymore.
Revealed: New Zealand’s most complained about companies
Viagogo
Vodafone
Spark
Foodstuffs
2 Degrees
Woolworths
Air New Zealand
Noel Leeming
Wilsons parking
Sky
vocus
The Warehouse
The corporate portal
Trade Me
Harvey Norman
Brand developers
Ticketmaster
Luxstyle Apps
Contact energy
NZ post
I wonder if they are the ones who feel that business confidence is down?
If so, maybe their customer service needs addressing instead.
No surprises to see retail telco high up and in numbers on that list.
Vodafone would be probably top if their customers had stayed to complain. The fact they were allowed to Hoover up the fibre links of Telstraclear and drive that into the dust is a total fail in terms of retail v wholesale segregation.
Watch that space as the race to the bottom gathers pace.
Maybe later, if I can organize 240V power supply and access to the internet, I’d really like to to have an in depth discussion about the link between the current wording of the euthanasia bill and the very real possibility that those who need a high level of hands on care will, out of despair, feel obliged to request the blue juice.
I personally believe that all debate about euthanasia should be suspended until we sort out the serious problems with providing safe care for disabled and elderly.
Maybe later.
Hi Rosemary, did you hear the two interviews that Kathryn Ryan on Nine to Noon has had in the last two days on the wording of the Euthanasia Bill? Well worth a listen if you can.
Yesterday was two members of the Australian Advisory Board who are in NZ at present:
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018658341/proposed-euthanasia-bill-in-nz-needs-tweaking
Today it was Paula Tesoriero, the Disability Commissioner, who has very grave concerns re the current wording.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018658517/assisted-dying-bill-undermines-disabled-people
Peripherally listened yesterday…was totally engrossed and cheering Paula on as we were hurtling towards Kaitaia this morning.
FWIW, IMHO, Paula Tesoriero has really stepped up to the role of Disabilities Commissioner. She had large shoes to fill, taking over from Paul Gibson.
Over the rattle of the diesel, I’m sure I heard her talk about the despair some living with disability experience when trying to access vital funded supports.
And then some numpty contacted Natrad saying Paula had no place speaking on behalf of all disabled…”and if he were disabled” etc etc…. The short answer to numpty would be stfu until you have actually lived with a significant disability for an appreciable amount of time..then comment.
For many, the thought of being disabled, of being dependent on others for sometimes the most basic of cares, is beyond comprehension and they will state categorically they would rather be dead.
Extrapolating, they would see those who do need that level of support as what? A burden on society? A waste of vital resources? That they should do the ‘decent thing’ and check out? Because they, in their limited experience and even more limited imagination, could not envisage any kind of worthwhile life without all their functions intact.
The situation right now for those who require a reasonably high level of support is dire. And I do not exaggerate. The story of the old lady lying in her own pee is not rare. Stories of disabled and vulnerable elderly being neglected and abused (sometimes unto death) are tragically not unusual or isolated.
And what Robert Love was saying about the inadequacies of the complaints and monitoring processes is sadly correct.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018658500/govt-needs-to-intervene-in-aged-care-patient-s-son
‘Who watches the watches?’
ACC claimants have rights and entitlements enshrined by law. Those with need for supports who are not covered by ACC, who are under MOH:DSS or a DHB, have no entitlements and few rights. A bureaucrat can decide that such and such will not be provided and there is no avenue of complaint. Serious incidents of inadequate care that leads to harm or death can take years to wend their way through the Health and Disability Commission complaints process…and seldom result in prosecution.
(NB…Paula Tesoriero is attached to the Human Rights Commission not the Health and Disability Commission. )
The whole system is dysfunctional and treats users with little or no respect.
The current disability System Transformation which is marketed as solving all such problems is superficial window dressing being rolled out in yet another pilot with a full roll out nationwide not expected for nearly another decade.
And this System Transformation does not, and this is specifically stated in the System Transformation documentation, give users any entitlement to the supports they need.
This is unacceptable in a country that has given a select group of disabled citizens such entitlement.
The disparities, the gross inequities between ACC and others is a stain on New Zealand and until this is addressed, there should be no discussion of euthanasia outside of definite terminal illness at all.
And having said that, I’d be tempted to make it a further condition to progressing this Bill that this crappy little travesty is sorted.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018618748/hospices-deprived-of-strong-painkillers-due-to-safety-concerns
Re Paula Tesoreiro, I too have a lot of respect for her as we worked in the same government department some years ago and worked together on one or two issues. Top notch intellectually, more than able and willing to stand her ground, and a lovely person as well. I knew she would do well as Disability Commissioner (as you say within the HRC) – and sadly despite the recent problems within that agency.
I am well aware and have major concerns re the existing problems for those with disabilities, in poverty etc. As I think I have mentioned before, I too have disabilities and I and my doctors have been hitting our heads against a brick wall in getting me some support.
However, personally I do think we need to have the euthanasia discussion despite these other situations – but I am definitely not convinced that the bill as it is currently drafted is in any way acceptable for many of the reasons raised by Paula, and others including yourself.
Thanks.
Got a number?
Reply to ChrisT 6.1
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/106338625/nz-first-mps-could-end-up-300k-out-of-pocket-if-they-flout-party-rules
‘NZ First’s constitution states any of its MPs who resign or are expelled from the party are personally liable for up to $300,000 if they don’t leave Parliament immediately.
The clause states if the MP is either an electorate MP or a list MP, they have up to three days to vacate their seat in Parliament, or pay up.’
One way to make sure plebs (sorry MPs) toe the line winston wants I guess
So is that the market price of an MP? I like the transparency of this NZ1st team. If a housing contract has a value of… 😉
Or maybe it’s just a way of ensuring that the voters don’t get their intentions overturned by Nats and Nat cronies throwing their (copious) money around to turn MPs against their own parties?
So in a sense, you could see it as keeping money out of politics. Protecting the voters from National Party money in effect.
Winston, having once been inside the tent, probably has a better understanding of the dark heart of National than most. And this attack on him looks like another nail in the coffin of any future Nat-NZF coalition. Dumb politics from National.
Nice.
Get fired by Winston for not doing what he says and then have three days to leave or get fined 300 grand
I see no way this could possibly have any effect on an MPs actions at all
Smearing again? – not doing what he says? Rubbish – your fear is showing is all.
Fear of what exactly?
You tell me – the list is no doubt long.
Thats nice dear
Puckwit’s wit – there’s hardly even a little bit, but belittling women we find, he’s got energy and time.
Yes dear
I say yes dear to hide my fear
My knees are fairly quivering
The meany Winnie makes me feel queasy
Even my reflection looks withering
Thats nice dear
With furrowed brow and tightened sphincter
The little man sat and fretted on the future
If our dark forces are forever in the dark
Then who the hell will hear me when I bark?
or maybe:
With furrowed brow and puckered sphincter
The little rogue sat and fretted on the future
If Judith’s dark forces are forever in the dark
Then who the hell will hear me when I bark?
Yes dear
Your eyes are cloudy
Is it raining inside you?
You fall for ages.
So this is why I don’t vote the WinnieFirst party… but how is it news exactly? I mean each party has its own internal processes, isn’t that like part of the deal of a democracy? That we have a wide range of ideas that come together and get mixed and debated and we get a good output? I mean who didn’t know that the WinnieFirst party was all about Winston?
next you will be telling us that ACT are a go nowhere party that are too controlled by self-interest business people and are in no way a liberal party, which they have just cottoned onto and want to change to the far-right populist party of the rich
Well when you look at “waka jumping” its mostly (not always) happens to NZFirst, why?
What is about NZFirst that makes this happen, maybe instead of trying to charge someone 300 grand (which I don’t think would stand up in court) maybe NZFirst should see whats happening internally
I think most of us know why, NZF is a populist party, which revolves around Winston. And yes that means what Winston says goes, who doesn’t know that? but then that is how it started and is the basis of policy. I actually trust Winston to do what he says, with the cravat that he really says he will do anything with any real certainty, so he can normally find a way to twist what he said into what he actually did…
Waka-jumping isn’t only NZF of course, and really this is all a bit of a smoke-screen around the troubles of ACT and the inability of National to not look deeply divided.
Heres a list of Winstons bottom lines, well at least some of them, so you can judge for yourself about the veracity of what he says
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/election/2017/10/the-comprehensive-list-of-winston-peters-bottom-lines.html
“inability of National to not look deeply divided.”
Nationals on 45% so that line will only start to work if/when they hit 35% or o
Almost all of those have a high likelihood of happening. I guess that means Winston’s trustworthy these days.
As for your confusing poll results with internal stability… well, there’s an investigation as to whether the nats have a leaker on their hands.
They haven’t happened yet so no Winston isn’t trustworthy
https://thespinoff.scdn5.secure.raxcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/winston_peters_no-e1455067432260.jpg
Given that there’s no timeframe on most of those other than “this term”, there’s a high likelihood he’s trustworthy, then.
Of course, your attitude is the sort of thing that meant the nats are in opposition rather than government.
Meh, National needed a good clean out anyway, be good for them to have a term or two out of power to remind them what its all about
So they don’t look deeply divided but they need a good clean out.
Sounds legit lol
The cleanout hasn’t finished yet, still a ways to go
I’m sure the ones to be cleaned out are totally happy about it. Otherwise there might be deep division in the nats lol
They’re past their used by date so f**k ’em
lol
You’re really helping the biggest losers present a united front there. Soimon would be proud.
Oh please theres no such thing a political party without divisions but deep divisions, thats another story and when you’re on 45% you’ll keep quiet
Until those percentages start to meaningfully drop
We’ll see if Mallard’s investigator decides whether the nat caucus are keeping quiet 🙂
35% is as good as 45% with no friends.
Has Simon been telling lies?
Ron Mark contradicts Bridges’ claims; who to believe, who to believe?? Mr Pants-on-fire?
Food quality around Europe is mixed, bit down. The cows haven’t got so much grass, but they will be getting feed the dodgy potatoes, ya might say.
The weather is affecting land prices, not. Land prices continue to rise with QE.
Actually the Left Party in Germany have made a popularist policy suggestion regarding agricultural lease prices. If there is no income coming from the land due to drought, then farmers should be able to escape paying the full price to the land owner. Govt will have to rule on it, which will be a bit complex. Actually this one goes back to the bible, as an option to just pay a percent of your harvest to the land owner.
What a fundamentally stupid idea. If people can’t make a decent living from the land they need to stop doing what they are doing and do something else.
Yeah, farmers are better off working in factories where the pay is better. Why eat food, when we could simply eat the poor?
Yeah, time to reduce herd size a bit and build up feed reserves. Organic requires larger feed reserves, as they usually have less maize and grain which are more market accessible.
Getting one step ahead of the game seems to be the biggest barrier to organic conversion. Similar with cropping, as cropping is generally dependent on manure from animals. Could say the same regarding debt ratio, requiring more reserves to weather conversion.
Simon Bridges tried to poach Ron Mark and a couple of other NZ First MPs according to Winston Peters:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=12108668
Bridges denies it:
So, did he make the approach late last year instead. 😉
Edit: I know he wasn’t leader of the Nats until Feb of this year, but that needn’t stop him from having a go.
Doing the ground work late last year. Understandable.
Exactly what those who aspire to his job are doing right now.
Judith Collins is loving it. She’s got her… I’m a nice gal too, but I’m better’n stronger than Jacinda hat on.
Awww yeah!
“Mark did not return a call for comment but in a text message said “Wow, how did you find out about that.” ”
LOL – time to stop telling untruths Simon you dumbarse.
Memo to Ron Mark.
Don’t try using Irony.
People like Marty don’t understand it and think you are being serious.
Stick to using your middle finger.
Lol I don’t think you know what irony is – just cos it’s spelt i-ron-y doesn’t mean Ron marks did it.
You could be a Rasta and saying I Ron irie but somehow i doubt that.
Notice Bridges is lying by saying didnt have a conversation
Doesnt mean he didnt have a chat or a few words or that other situation: ‘a discussion’
Bridges needs to learn form Trump – lie big, little lies dont change anything
Normally these sort of things arent done by the party leaders, to give them deniability.
But as you mention Bridges was ‘a go to guy’ until he became leader in Feb.
@Anne, we all know it is only a matter of time before the Natz try to bribe individual MP’s to destable the government. It’s worked for them before.
Interesting that Winston mentions this after the good behaviour bond comes out, diversion by any chance?
“Ron Mark backs Winston Peters on approach Simon Bridges made to him.”
OOps Simon old chap.
“Ron Mark says National leader Simon Bridges talked to him about a deal during a flight earlier this year, contradicting Bridges’ claim no such approach was made.
“It’s true. Simon and I were next to each other on a flight from Auckland to Wellington in May. He bought it up out of the blue during a conversation we were having.”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12108791
300 grand hanging over your head would make anyone say whatever Winston wants them to say
No puck it is the dirty filthy wee gnat bumbling idiot simon that has been caught out AGAIN – whats that about 3 times this week so far?
Yeah I’m not particularly interested in what Ron “happy for the media to describe him ex-SAS” Mark has to say
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11956076
NZ First leader Winston Peters is asking why Mark didn’t simply follow the instructions he was given.
Mark isn’t offering any answers. He did not respond to requests for an interview and did not answer questions. A spokesman said: “This matter has now been dealt with and we consider it closed.”
Well did he or didnt he follow unstructions this time – you seem a bit confused.
Defence minister Ron Mark was specifically told he was breaking all the rules wearing his military medals but went ahead and did so anyway.
Documents show Mark was told on October 27 – just after being sworn in as Minister of Defence – that his rack of medals was a breach of protocol and rules.
The NZ First deputy leader went on wearing his medals until November 15 when the Herald revealed he was in breach of the regulations governing decorations.
Mark’s medals wrongly placed his Omani service in a position over prominence over his New Zealand service. Also, wearing the Omani medals wrongly suggested he had the required permission from the Governor General’s to wear a foreign decoration.
In the 20 days since Mark learned his medals were a breach of the Crown’s rules on decorations and honours, he wore them while standing in front of veterans, next to the Chief of Defence Force, with foreign leaders and while inspecting troops.
So what Puck?
Stop trying to divert attention PR. You’re usually better than that.
Who cared a damm – apart from a bunch of bureaucratic military pin prickers – what medals he wore and where he wore them. What a load of puerile nonsense.
Bridges took a leaf out of Trump’s book and tried to gerrymander the political stability of the country for personal political gain and then lied about it. An infinitely worse offence than a row of medals not in the right order.
“Who cared a damm”
It actually matters to a lot of people, it means something plus he ignored all advice when told what he was doing was incorrect
Hes the minister of defence, hes a former serving soldier, he damn well should be getting the absolute bare minimum correct
Ask him what he would have done if one of the soldiers under him had worn their uniform incorrectly on parade
It matters
But did Bridges try to poach Mark?
And later claim he hadn’t??
Ask him what he would have done if one of the soldiers under him had worn their uniform incorrectly on parade.
He wouldn’t have given a damm – unless they were wearing their jacket inside out or their pants back to front then he might have. 😀
It’s time the
medalpin-prickers grew up and looked around them. There’s a big wide world needing urgent attention. My father had a heap of medals from two world wars but never wore them. He was more interested in the here and now.As an ex member of the NZDF, ADF and a veteran i couldn’t really give a rats ass, how old Ronnie wear his goddam gongs, yes there are grumpy old shell backs (usually they No Mates voters) who don’t have a life outside of the Forces, who have SFA to do but complain but do SFA to fix the problems. All I want from Ronnie is to stop the rot of the 30 odd yrs of under spending, neglect, and to provide better welfare/ conditions of service to Defence personal, Defence families and to the veterans now and into the future as they don’t have union to back them like the every other Government employee has.
If some old grizzle dick came up and told me I was wearing my gongs around the wrong way if I was the NZ MoD, then that I will ask this simple question.
What is more important my medals which I have one NZ gong (NZDM) among my other 9 or 10 gongs or the welfare issues of Defence members, underfunding issues of the NZDF or the welfare of Veterans?
If they say my NZDM is out of place, so you don’t give shit about NZDF or Veterans problems so piss off and get a life.
Had some muppet in NZ try and tell me last year “Your NZDM should be at the front and not a the rear of your row of medals as Foreign Medals are always to the rear etc etc?” My reply was “Ah you must be a National voter then?” He said yes and I’ll it leave to your imagination on the spray I give this muppet and his muppet mates in a pub in Dunedin.
no contract can breach the law…its unenforceable
In bad news from Antartica,
“The awful news that all but two penguin chicks have starved to death out of a colony of almost 40,000 birds is a grim illustration of the enormous pressure Antarctic wildlife is under. The causes of this devastating event are complex, from a changing climate to local sea-ice factors, but one thing penguins, whales and other marine life don’t need is additional strain on food supplies.
Over the next year we have the opportunity to create an Antarctic Ocean Sanctuary – the largest protected area on Earth – which would put the waters off-limits to the industrial fishing vessels currently sucking up the tiny shrimp-like krill, on which all Antarctic life relies.”
From
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/13/penguins-starving-death-something-very-wrong-antarctic
Here is a petition to the EU – Russia and China are the two main blockers
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/antarctic_ocean_loc_fr_pa/?slideshow
I wonder how Australia feels about this, being the home of the CCAMLR.
They seem very ‘upbeat’ about the scientific awesomeness of the management of the fisheries and its sustainability. They seem to have ‘forgotten’ to include a speaker to talk about the wider ecosystem.
“A National Science Week (Australia) public seminar to help people understand the connections between commercially available krill products, human health claims and the biology and ecology of this tiny crustacean.
Find out why Hobart is the global centre of krill science and krill fishery management and how each of the relevant institutions are connected through international scientific and government networks.
Dr So Kawaguchi talked about his research on krill biology and ecology and Dr Laura Laslett discussed her research on the medicinal value of krill oil.
Dr Keith Reid, Science Manager for CCAMLR, outlined how fishing for krill is regulated by this international body and how fishing limits are informed by the best available scientific studies on krill and their ecosystems.”
https://www.ccamlr.org/en/fisheries/krill-fisheries-and-sustainability
We are so fucked…
There were 34 newcomers on the NBR Rich List this year – many of which made their fortunes in the grocery trade.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/106288425/supermarket-owners-banking-super-profits-nbr-rich-list-shows
Meanwhile, figures from the Ministry of Social Development show 26,000 more hardship grants for food were given out compared with the June quarter last year.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018658324/surge-in-families-seeking-food-parcels.
It will be interesting to see what impact Labour’s Family Package will have on the demand for hardship grants going forward.
Could we (please) link up the super-wealthy food purveyors, the supermarket barons, with the very poor needers of food and just let the former receive the needs of the latter, as an ongoing gesture of thanks for their good fortune, from those rich-listers?
And yet those who have made it to the list that are Pak n Sav owners can achieve this and still sell below the competitors ?
And as someone who has a family member working there they pay above min wage and is treated well.
Perhaps we should be asking their competitors why that is the case ??
Good to hear Pak n Sav pay above min wage and treat staff well. One of the biggest reasons for NZ lack of productivity is that for 30 years the business community has been taught to get employee’s as cheap and subservient as possible, keep them on casual and temporary contracts or subcontractor contracts so there is not much loyalty, rip off customers and ‘confuse’ them and then they wonder why there are worker and skills “shortages” and they are falling behind the rest of the world in productivity and customer services!!! Doh!
Look at Germany, they make things, and they have strong worker rights, pay higher wages and employ educated people (free university education in Germany). Unfortunately NZ decided to go down the Asian path of high inequality and low wages combined with western neoliberalism and government privatisations and deregulation.
Judging from what’s happening the penny hasn’t dropped yet for most NZ business and government that they are about to be out competed due to their incompetence and reliance of lowest common denominator and contempt for both consumer and employee and selling the country off for peanuts over the past decades.
Supermarkets may decide to screw their suppliers instead of their workers.
Also they may limit what brands they will carry, so that turnover ratio targets must be met or you are out. They will drop good lines which are replaced by some from another country. They will copy a good selling line from a company and sell it under their own brand name. It may in fact still be made by the original company, I don’t know, but it is a way to smother innovated products and also prevent the other company from building its own brand and reputation.
They can conduct phony wars against other supermarket chains. This was done a few years ago with milk, and the loss of profit was passed on also to the dairy suppliers. In Australia they have invoked nationalistic emotions and taken other country’s products off their shelves, which included ours.
Everything is calculated, and the giant stores with their convenient parking are hard to compete against by small local business people forming part of the core local business enterprise. The money leaches out of local pockets and most of it flows onwards to others’ capital accretions.
I agree with you greywarshark. Many on this site are very anti farmers, (and some with good reason) but primary producers are also people being screwed over by middle men, like supermarkets.
Also with supermarkets they are cutting costs by for example not employing qualified butchers, but instead ring in orders of meat from a warehouse where it comes pre cut.
The issue with this is, that the meat can be 3 months old and so they use a gas in the packaging to keep it looking fresh. They also have special lights etc so that the food looks better than it actually is in real life.
When they analysed the food with gases which is used in other countries to keep food longer they found that a salad looked fresh, but had lost all it’s nutrition when packaged with the long life gases.
So food can look fresh now, but actually be old and have zero nutritician but the consumers are being fooled.
All this to make more and more profit while people are being ripped off nutrition from their own food!
One would expect being lower priced than their competitors would see them attract more customers , thus make their money by selling more.
And while they may pay above the minimum wage, they don’t pay the Living Wage.
Good links The Chairman. Interesting so many making a fortune from just owning one supermarket. Maybe the commerce commission are a bit amiss when they dropped their investigation on Countdown – instead they need to search further a field.
Also these firms are creaming the money, while often the employee’s are on poor working conditions and Close to minimum wages, aka the taxpayer (nurses and teachers for example) are then paying taxes like WFF and accomodation benefits for their employees wages while the supermarket owner makes the rich list! Something is wrong. Apparently a family on minimum wages with 2 kids needs a $5000 wage top up per family from the government to cover the short fall of wages.
I’m not against people being rich, but it should not be on having poorly paid employees, corporate welfare and overcharging customers.
Thanks SaveNZ. And as usual, some good points made by greywarshark and yourself.
The sector is basically a duopoly, thus consumers, suppliers and employees are all being squeezed as the two dominant players thrive.
I commented on this yesterday, and to Wayne you may find this of interest
How the union is NOT supporting its own members, IMO NZEI your lack of representing “YOUR” members over the last 9 years and letting the Nat govts off lightly and making the current govt appear to be the enemy is highly embarrassing to say the least.
Perhaps there is a need for performance pay for good teachers as the union is not working for them. “She wants to see the pay scale reflective of experience rather than qualification, and said there was a place for performance pay.” These teacher support the union how about the union returning the favour ?
“Of more than 2500 responses, 66 per cent said they earned under $71,000, and dozens of commenters said they had also been locked out of progressing up the pay scale because they only held a diploma.”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/106321443/teachers-with-40-years-experience-stuck-on-59600-because-of-pay-inequality
Herodotus, I am a secondary school teacher, not an NZEI member. But I doubt that NZEI is going to undergo a membership collapse because of the tendentious argument you put that teacher unions betray good teachers by not approving of performance pay.
All teachers have been underpaid, and before you even speak of performance pay, you need to pay a decent salary to all teachers first. I think tis is what NZEI is aiming at, and you are wasting your breath in trying to sow dissension.
Try all those teachers who are paid $15-$17k below their fellow teachers for doing the same job.
At my local school on Wednesday 40-50% of the teachers were at school. This is a school with a roll excessive of 700 primary students.
It may be an isolated case. but it speaks of the support for the unions, and of those 5 are Q1 or Q2 level.
So you say all teachers are underpaid, what about those who are severely underpaid ?? Or do you agree that Q1-4 should be on a similar pay scale ?
Farage is on his way to a gig in Sky City where he will peddle Brexit.
If you want “all I need to know about Brexit” in one video……………here it is:
I see facebook is now censoring the left. Oh well we get what we deserve, right? TeleSUR English page taken down again.
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2018/08/telesur-english-facebook-censorship-news
People more often than not simply do not see the traps…and they walk right into them…
Point out the traps…and get called names, abused or labelled into some or other plagiarized transplanted term…
THE LEFT!
Strikes me that having an “Evening post “to go to as an extra venue for those that have to work in the day time could be good .While its interesting to get home from work switch on the comp and see whats been happening during the day on TS its also hard work scrolling thru whats usually hundreds of comments and half a doz posts .I often think wouldnt it be nice if there was a smaller space for those who only have the time for a couple of hours in the eve .In a sense the days activities and opinions are already “old news” by the end of the day .Might make a few more people come out of the woodwork also .
That is what the Daily Review posts are for, Weston. These go up nightly at about 5.30pm Mon to Friday.
Thanks for replying vv but as much as open mike is oversubscribed especially by the same people {just saying }you could say daily review is under subscribed …i just thought something new might have the effect of capturing a bit more of the available market so to speak .. in fishermans terms if nothings biting change your bait or your method location etc .Dont get me wrong im in awe of a great many of the regulars and posters here and grateful the site exists and to everyone who makes it happen .
I understand what you are saying re the size of OM vs DR, but it is my impression (rightly or wrongly) that the imbalance is a fairly recent phenomenon. The number of comments on OM certainly seems to be reaching record numbers, while the DR comment numbers seem to have gone down. I am one of those who have been around TS for many years and it is interesting how things change over time. Daily Review was introduced just a couple of years ago – cannot remember when exactly.
Lots of things could have affected the comment distribution in recent months – eg being a post election year, loss of some authors with fewer separate posts, time of year (eg winter). Re the latter, I find that with age and retirement I am going to bed earlier in the evening but then wake up in the early hours and do what you are NOT supposed to do – reach for the IPAD. Hence my reply to you at 4.25am!
Lprent probably has lots of information re changes in patterns etc but he is so hardworking and generous with his time, energy etc to keep TS going I would not like to ask him, especially now that he seems to spend a lot of time overseas with his paid work.
Kris Faafoi is “committed to ensuring the wheels of commerce move smoothly and that New Zealand capitalises on every advantage it can to grow our economy, jobs wages and opportunities.”
Sounds good, but actions speak louder than words and in Parliament he utters a snide, nasty remark about a fellow parliamentarian. His impulse to hurt and offend smudges his reputation as a Labour member.
Let’s get this straight alcohol is run by big business who spend there lobbing mone to distort the true negative fact’s of there prouduct’s .
Here you are It’s a man made chemical drug that will kill you instantly if you drink it to fast it can kill you slowly by over loading your liver the liver is the body’s filter no liver no life it has carcinogenic properties that cause cancer it over load’s our police work load every weekend as well as hospitals firefighters ambulance service and this all cost mone. People are killed every day because of this drug .
Mean while mone talks about how our consumption of this drug has lowered by a quarter since the 1970 but what they have not said is the alcohol % have we drink have has gone up by at least 100% you see the 00.1 Are the fake it till you make it people they don’t care it there profits are directly linked to there products killing people of Papatuanuku and her creatures Ana to kai .
Ka kite ano link is below
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/106343048/alcohol-harm-more-than-triple-the-cost-of-all-treaty-claims-so-far–economist
Good morning Newshub Nation I totally agree with the lady how fake fact’s fake new’s it’s start’s grabbing te tangata reality the more tangata that are exposed to it and the more that start believing these lies the 00.1% have been doing this to us for century’s
Look at the nose’s being cut off those beautiful statues in Egypt.
And reducing our carbon use to at least – 99% of today’s use will make our country great and wealthy Ka kite ano P.S looking after our moko’s it;s busy time’s Eco supports the Green Party 100%
The reality with these under cover sandfly is that there handler’s like to recruit the young people fresh out of police school why because they are easy to intimidate manipulate and mold there reality into believing that what there handler’s are telling them is true why don’t they hire people in there 30’s + to do this job well they have a better grasps on reality and are not as easy to sell lies to or intimidate into backing there corrupt move’s on te tangata How do I know this well this man’s story’s and a few other’s said they were recruited stright out of police school nice and easy to mold into the undercover system’s Greg O’Connor Ana to kai
Ka kite ano P.S one of these people can not take his flash fishing boat out to sea because he is being Eco Maori shamed lol
There you go a good story to back up my wrath against The organization that make or use SUGAR in there prouduct’s link below Ka kite ano
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/aug/18/cases-of-type-2-diabetes-among-young-people-rise-41-in-three-years
You know what they had a soft drink and sweet’s machine all around the hospital what’s worse is they had one right out side the mokopuna’s ward this sugar vending machine’s should be banned from all hospitals Ka kite ano
I see the OIL baron are using there money to attack The Great Visionary Elon Mus credibility all over the media If the OIL baron get there way we will all be in the—–while they swim in there oil mone .
Ka Kaha Elon nobody perfect E hoa you keep up your good work you are one of the many people who are going to change our energy system’s to green electricity carbon free energy
Eco Maori supports you 100 % ka kite ano
P.S unlike some other leader who is championing old failing energy carbon
Because of those wanker sandflys actions my Mokopunas is still suffering in pain do they give a shit no I will be laughing at them in a court house muppets and all these ashole that no what’s going on are just as bad as them
The Justice system serves the Wealthy a free pass or impunity this man bashed people knocked them on the ground and was still hitting them on the ground and he gets to fly back to Britain to play cricket what example does that set for the Mokopunas link below Ka kite ano
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/cricket/106272398/england-cricketer-ben-stokes-found-not-guilty-in-assault-trial
Well back get my Mokopuna checked once again at the lakes care and the smart ass sandflys send in one of there muppets red necks I wonder how the can sleep at nite the way they behave O that’s right the Sun shines out there elites ass and We are just savages Ka kite ano
Here is a great leader who we have lost I agree with his last speech at the head of the UN secretary General I see a pattern emerging I will let you know later link below Ka kite ano
Kofi Annan, former UN secretary general, dies
The sandflys don’t give a shit about there actions causeing my Mokopunas pain an suffering for weeks I don’t give a shit who get mud in there faces from now on anything I find on the net I’m going to throw it in there faces they are scared – – – – reap what you sow muppets Ana to kai P.S I at the hospital with my Mokopuna at the minute
This is what Aotearoa would have started to look like if we did not ban foreign buyers from buying Property. The real estate mone men say that they were only a minority of buyers yea right Aotearoa real estate market is mone for jam if you can afford to play the games.
Link below Ka kite ano
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/18/san-francisco-poop-problem-inequality-homelessness
P.S I read 15 years ago that Aotearoa was going to be the home for the wealthy and famous it also priditived the homeless problem we got now