Reminds me of the tip newsletters that recommended shares.
Price was pushed up by buying on the recommendation and then the those who tipped the shares they had bought before the recommendation.
Wanganui collegiate and others.
A spokesperson for the independent schools has made some reference to the treasury making a net gain from increased subsidy to these schools. Of course she did not factor in all the tax kick-backs that individual families receive through “charitable” status of these schools, declaring donation here, donation there…
What donation – what tax kickback ?
You do talk bullshit.
Any donation to a registered charity is tax recoverable – eg Salvation Army.
Wanganui Collegiate – crap.
The pricks have ethnically cleansed their name! It was still spelt with the H last time I looked, which was during the great debate over how to keep our maori history hidden, sorry, how to spell the city’s name. The school was used as an example of common, long time usage with an H in it.
The latter was stripped naked while in solitary confinement (in spite of low risk of suicide) and while on the subject of fair trials, anyone noticed, thanks to Naomi Wolf, the latest US Supreme Court five-four ruling that anyone can be strip-searched upon arrest for any offence (however minor) at any time?
“When the Police released their annual crime statistics earlier this month they also announced they will no longer collect statistics that specifically identified family violence-related offences.
Yeah, like that’s really to help. /sarc
To be able to do something about an ill you need to know about it.
The Freudian slip which was most revealing was when the police spokesperson on 3news (the deputy commissioner?) referred to a need to be able to compare stats across different precincts.
Only we are not talking about within NZ – he was referring to Australia and the US….
Sovereignty? What sovereignty? As far as the cops are concerned NZ is just a police precinct! One that must be aligned under the undeniable imperative of ‘best practice’ (/sarc)
There was a time when we made our own laws, ones that suited NZ – now thanks to operation UNITE our laws will be written for us in Canberra and Washington. We will never get to vote on these policies and yet we will be forced to live under them
I’m beginning to think that the police deserved to be heckled by Tiki Tane.
Had a nodding acquaintance with those or similar stats (I think the DV forms). Year on year comparisons were pointless because different regions adopted them at different rates between and within different districts, so the deniability for shite stats over several years was always “reporting factors”. Now they’re being ditched just as they might form a baseline of data? Quelle surprise.
Not publishing the Domstic Violence statistics – lots of flow on effects the Nacts will lurve…
If you don’t measure it you can deny it exists.
There are some 70,000 to 80,000 recorded instances a year and rising. There are some 20,000 protection order breaches.
Number of protection orders made these days – around 1,500 a year under a watered down law Nact put in place but now there will be no basis for suggesting a tougher law. [and where are all the law’noder dudes – oh that’s right not really a crime huh?]
No stats – no need to fund the Women’s Refuge and other like programmes.
No stats – can make Family Court reforms at will including fees.
No stats No protection orders – makes it harder to protect children inside the family court system. Much easier to paint her (and the children) as just being unco-operative, not frightened, and push court fees at these discussions around “access”. These discussions are costing c.$75m per annum.
No stats No protection orders – Number of males who don’t apply for custody around 92% but without the violence stats her custody/parenting can be seen as “Competed for and voluntary” not protective of the kids.
No stats No protection orders Her parenting – she “won” it she can pay for it so don’t need to firm up the rules so child support is paid. Removes any desire of the Courts to make adequate money orders as benefits tighten. Money thr’ the courts is currently a pathetic joke.
Lastly, this clears the way for the big Nact “bene bashing” which has strong overtones of the behaviour associated with DV. Make her do it all, make her pay for it all, and someone will be supervising just in case she doesn’t.
Can’t wait for the day when someone stands up in parliament and points out that a large junk of the DPB and WFF is a reward to males for their DV. Not all I know, but when we have DV stats we can hazard a guess.
The DPB lifestyle subsidy for males protects their assets and income from the needs of their children.
And in my experience this sort of stuff really lights up women right across the political spectrum
along the lines of “just what is he doing – anything at all?”
Perhaps the NZ police establishment are like the NZ military establishment.
I’ve just finished Hager’s ‘Other People’s Wars‘ and, frankly, the picture he paints (in a well-supported, scholarly manner) is of a military (and military/intelligence/MFAT bureaucracy) intent not on serving New Zealand’s interests as articulated by the government of the day but, principally, on being able to play with the ‘big boys’ (aka ‘traditional allies’).
To my mind, that attitude skates very close to the wind of treason, if not legally then certainly morally.
the picture he paints is of a military (and military/intelligence/MFAT bureaucracy) intent not on serving New Zealand’s interests as articulated by the government of the day but, principally, on being able to play with the ‘big boys’ (aka ‘traditional allies’).
I havn’t read the book, but that is certainly what happened in the 1980s and early 1990s.
I was a civilian working on an Air Force base for five years between 1987 and 1992 – the years of the big standoff with the USA. I can tell you there were plenty of Air Force personnel on the ground who were pissed off with David Lange and co. for buggering up their cosy relationship with their American counterparts. So much so, I had to hide my anti-nuclear sympathies. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough. Someone got wind of it, and I came under a lot of suspicion. From personal experience I can attest to the paranoia that was rampant at that time.
“The Freudian slip which was most revealing was when the police spokesperson on 3news (the deputy commissioner?) referred to a need to be able to compare stats across different precincts”
– Was that the official announcement of the NZ police state?
Meet the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency (ANZPAA)
ANZPAA is committed to conducting all business activities legally, with strict observance to the highest standards of integrity and propriety. Good corporate governance is a fundamental part of the culture and business practice of ANZPAA.
Why am I not reassured by the fact they feel the need to tell us that they are committed to acting legally?
And why does the mention of 'good corporate governance sent the bad kind of shivers down my spine?
Who is really calling the shots when it comes to law enforcement policy in NZ?
“ANZPAA is committed to conducting all business activities legally, with strict observance to the highest standards of integrity and propriety. Good corporate governance is a fundamental part of the culture and business practice of ANZPAA.”
– The propaganda rule book is short
1: Make people believe you are, what in fact you are not
2: Do whatever needs to be done to protect rule one
Formed under the last Labour Government by the looks of it….Argh, continuity of agenda!
The latter was stripped naked while in solitary confinement (in spite of low risk of suicide) and while on the subject of fair trials, anyone noticed, thanks to Naomi Wolf, the latest US Supreme Court five-four ruling that anyone can be strip-searched upon arrest for any offence (however minor) at any time?
Humanity continues on its Suicidal Fossil Fuel extraction course which is accelerating Climate Change. (Feel free to accuse me of scare mongering but this is what Lucy Lawless was protesting for on an oil rig set for the new Arctic Frontier enabled by the melting ice cap.)
“As Ice Cap Melts, Militaries Vie for Arctic Edge”
“I will say it again… When a few billion tons, (two or three), of methane gas escapes into our atmosphere from that melting ice and permafrost, there won’t be any more fighting… It will cause runaway, irreversible global warming and soon after when billions more tons release, it will kill every single person on the planet….. Any who argue it or deny it are either crazy or stupid.
It is absolutly “unbelieveable” that world governments are determined to get the oil and minerals and ignore the science that proves the Arctic methane is the most serious issue humanity has ever faced in human’s recorded history.
“Unbelieveable” is the wrong word,,, because it is happening. “
In this mornings Herald you can find the word “growth” repeated ad nauseum. The most nauseous is the Ruth Richardson column in which she thinks that “growth” is possible, but only if you gut the “public” sector and privatise the lot. Ideological metaphysics at its most pathetic. Just reading this bollocks is enough to give you instant brain fade.
In a round about way this relates to the “unbelievable”….we are constantly bombarded with ideas and terms that we are supposed to “believe”. You are not supposed to question or propose that all is not as presented. You can empirically demonstrate that the ice is melting, science backs you up, but we are still supposed to believe two diametrically opposed propositions… we can stop global warming AND we must carry on growing.
What we have fallen to is lazy thinking that prevents challenging orthodoxy (the preserve of those in power / in the money). We are encouraged to believe it is somebody elses problem (an SEP), and that a magic party called “they” will fix it. There are no “they”, there is only us individuals, and we need to get together and take up our pitchforks and poke those who would encourage us to believe in “they” as far as the metaphorical gallows.
Yeah good old Ms Richardson thinks that the ipad and iphone owning youth will fight the “control” of the Government. Of course, you have to weathly enough in the first place to buy the technology….
The risk area is a methyl hydrates in cool shallow seas around the Arctic and Antarctic where rapid temperature changes in those regions could potentially cause shifting ocean currents. The problem is that the methane is “locked” by a temperature/pressure gradient with some quite sharp phase changes. In the polar regions shallow seas the lock is less on the pressure and more on the temperature.
A rapid shift in the temperature of the surrounding water across a wide enough area in a shallow sea like the Ross sea or the like could cause some extensive rapid releases.
The problem as usual is the lack of knowledge because the required information has never been systematically collected. We don’t know how sensitive current movements are to climate shifts. We don’t have good estimates of the amount of methane in those areas. We don’t know how much would reabsorbed into seawater because we don’t fully understand the observed processes.
It is a risk factor that more work needs to be done on…
Excellent article A very apt summary of the situation.
Poverty was a growing problem that was exacerbated by the way it was dealt with, she said.
“If you privatise the support for people in poverty, or for people on welfare, or for people in need of assistance, then you are growing the industry. You are creating an industry and growing it.”
One good thing about poverty in this day and age, it is catching. And lets face it if we don’t want fracking, or ‘drilling’ for methane hydrates, then we have to all get a lot poorer.
We all have to accept we are pasted the age of growth, and that most defiantly includes population.
That is one good thing about peak oil, eventually it will level out the irregularities in this system, as we all join the same class, the hungry one)
Can anyone shine a light on why John Key would be out of the country when a high profile Chinese delegation is visiting NZ? Couldn’t he have rescheduled? Is he trying to avoid them or was it a mistake?
We have a similar ‘think tank’ in NZ, it is of the same ilk as Richardson’s and of course the Business Round Table- they are out and out neoliberal parasites and troughers.
The main difference between Lotto and SkyCity’s pokie machines is the return they provide to communities. While SkyCity only gives 2.5% to a charitable trust, NZ Lotteries distributes 20% of the profits from Lotto to communities throughout New Zealand…
Agreed, the constant ‘Lotto’ stories annoy the shit out of me. Often multiple lead stories. We’ll have maybe a big overseas one, one about a local recent winner, and a follow up story on the last local winner.
They breathlessly report on a lotto story like it is a great human interest story or something. To me it is absolutely no different to a story about someone winning a big texas hold’em game at skycity, or about some nice old lady that popped into SC to put her last $2 in a slot machine and won a $50k jackpot. What’s the difference it’s all gambling. One thing that burned in my memory was watching a jaded world weary looking woman efficiently checking ticket after ticket at one of those self checking machines, literally dozens of them, chucking them all in the bin one after the other, then walking up to the counter and asking how many more lotto tickets she could get for 80 bucks. What’s the difference between that and pokies seriously.
It’s all a bit hypocritical that they play concerned personality about Skycity expanding, yet treat a lotto winners like nobel prize winners of our times. A bit of consistancy at the very least would be nice and less tiring.
What’s the difference you ask… well if you’d bothered to read the article you’d know that around 80% of problem gamblers use pokies as their primary mode of gambling. Don’t get me wrong; I think Lotto is a crock as well. But the social issues created by problem gambling from addictive pokies are far worse.
Good points. I’m just trying to make the point that Lotto is gambling too. And that it’s a shame we treat the winners as heros. There are much more important reasons to celebrate our fellow folks than them getting lucky in some mainstream money competition whatever it’s form.
But that’s madness! Think of the inefficiencies! Think of all the lost profits! Think of all the money that will now be going to the government and not offshore! Madness!
Couldn’t help but notice he dropped his lady friend of many years within 24hrs of Paula Bennett walking back into his life. Well he would woudn’t he. She’s a cabinet minister (no less) on a hefty salary?
The mainstream financial press have been keen to quote Alesina and Perotti (1995) and related publications in the 1990s which purported to show how nations that engaged in fiscal contraction at a time when economic growth was faltering were able to recover. These article are used to justify the fiscal austerity now being imposed at massive cost in many nations.
However the same commentators have not seen fit to quote or refer to Perotti’s 2011 research which demonstrates that the conditions that might have allowed some nations (in isolation) to successfully grow during a period of fiscal consolidation are not present now in Europe or elsewhere and so fiscal austerity will only cause damage.
Why are the conservatives so selective in their citations? No need to answer – we all know it.
Surprise, surprise, conservatives and associated libertarians are cheery picking their sources to prove their theory when reality proves them wrong.
From the graph we can see in past recessions that oil prices crashed which enabled countries to ramp up energy consumption and everything else that comes with that. This time is different because after an initial price crash oil prices have steadily been climbing since 2009. The age of cheap energy is over and with it the age of growth is also over.
What a joke Russell Norman is, a green party leader to be rabbiting on about the high value of the NZ$ WTF?
What would the Green Party be happy with? A NZ dollar @ 45 cents US would do what?
It would make raping the New Zealand environment so mush easer for everyone the government is selling NZ to ….. how green is that?
But it would more than likely drive petrol through the $3.00 mark, forcing ‘greenies’ to walk more, maybe a hidden agenda?
What a dick
But Norman was going on about how good for the economy a low dollar would be?
The ‘economy’ is what is killing what Norman is meant to be standing for??? Isn’t that what the greeds are all about? …. ‘Giving’ the children a brighter future …. or was that National?
A high NZ$ is not an effective barrier. – True ‘they’ can print any amount of money to buy NZ regardless.
And lets face it there are only 2 places worth investing in globally at the moment, funeral homes and new Zealand.
Unfortunately for the environment to support seven billion + people, we will all have to have a foot print the size of a Portuguese peasant, so as distasteful as it is, the above link is a good thing.
And just when we were all getting use to the 48 inch+ wide screen.
Only while resource extraction from the environment allows it to. When that extraction goes into permanent decline then the world will no longer be able to support 7b.
The worms will live in every hostIt's hard to pick which one they eat the mostThe horrible people, the horrible peopleIt's as anatomic as the size of your steepleCapitalism has made it this wayOld-fashioned fascism will take it awaySongwriter: Twiggy Ramirez Read more ...
Hi,It’s almost Christmas Day which means it is almost my birthday, where you will find me whimpering in the corner clutching a warm bottle of Baileys.If you’re out of ideas for presents (and truly desperate) then it is possible to gift a full Webworm subscription to a friend (or enemy) ...
This morning’s six standouts for me at 6.30am include:Rachel Helyer Donaldson’s scoop via RNZ last night of cuts to maternity jobs in the health system;Maddy Croad’s scoop via The Press-$ this morning on funding cuts for Christchurch’s biggest food rescue charity;Benedict Collins’ scoop last night via 1News on a last-minute ...
A listing of 25 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 15, 2024 thru Sat, December 21, 2024. Based on feedback we received, this week's roundup is the first one published soleley by category. We are still interested in ...
Well, I've been there, sitting in that same chairWhispering that same prayer half a million timesIt's a lie, though buried in disciplesOne page of the Bible isn't worth a lifeThere's nothing wrong with youIt's true, it's trueThere's something wrong with the villageWith the villageSomething wrong with the villageSongwriters: Andrew Jackson ...
ACT would like to dictate what universities can and can’t say. We knew it was coming. It was outlined in the coalition agreement and has become part of Seymour’s strategy of “emphasising public funding” to prevent people from opposing him and his views—something he also uses to try and de-platform ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Are we heading ...
So the Solstice has arrived – Summer in this part of the world, Winter for the Northern Hemisphere. And with it, the publication my new Norse dark-fantasy piece, As Our Power Lessens at Eternal Haunted Summer: https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/issues/winter-solstice-2024/as-our-power-lessens/ As previously noted, this one is very ‘wyrd’, and Northern Theory of Courage. ...
The Natural Choice: As a starter for ten percent of the Party Vote, “saving the planet” is a very respectable objective. Young voters, in particular, raised on the dire (if unheeded) warnings of climate scientists, and the irrefutable evidence of devastating weather events linked to global warming, vote Green. After ...
The Government cancelled 60% of Kāinga Ora’s new builds next year, even though the land for them was already bought, the consents were consented and there are builders unemployed all over the place. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political ...
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on UnsplashEvery morning I get up at 3am to go around the traps of news sites in Aotearoa and globally. I pick out the top ones from my point of view and have been putting them into my Dawn Chorus email, which goes out with a podcast. ...
Over on Kikorangi Newsroom's Marc Daalder has published his annual OIA stats. So I thought I'd do mine: 82 OIA requests sent in 2024 7 posts based on those requests 20 average working days to receive a response Ministry of Justice was my most-requested entity, ...
Welcome to the December 2024 Economic Bulletin. We have two monthly features in this edition. In the first, we discuss what the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update from Treasury and the Budget Policy Statement from the Minister of Finance tell us about the fiscal position and what to ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi have submitted against the controversial Treaty Principles Bill, slamming the Bill as a breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and an attack on tino rangatiratanga and the collective rights of Tangata Whenua. “This Bill seeks to legislate for Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles that are ...
I don't knowHow to say what's got to be saidI don't know if it's black or whiteThere's others see it redI don't get the answers rightI'll leave that to youIs this love out of fashionOr is it the time of yearAre these words distraction?To the words you want to hearSongwriters: ...
Our economy has experienced its worst recession since 1991. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, December 20 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above and the daily Pick ‘n’ Mix below ...
Twas the Friday before Christmas and all through the week we’ve been collecting stories for our final roundup of the year. As we start to wind down for the year we hope you all have a safe and happy Christmas and new year. If you’re travelling please be safe on ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the year’s news with: on climate. Her book of the year was Tim Winton’s cli-fi novel Juice and she also mentioned Mike Joy’s memoir The Fight for Fresh Water. ...
The Government can head off to the holidays, entitled to assure itself that it has done more or less what it said it would do. The campaign last year promised to “get New Zealand back on track.” When you look at the basic promises—to trim back Government expenditure, toughen up ...
Open access notables An intensification of surface Earth’s energy imbalance since the late 20th century, Li et al., Communications Earth & Environment:Tracking the energy balance of the Earth system is a key method for studying the contribution of human activities to climate change. However, accurately estimating the surface energy balance ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guests and , ...
“Like you said, I’m an unreconstructed socialist. Everybody deserves to get something for Christmas.”“ONE OF THOSE had better be for me!” Hannah grinned, fascinated, as Laurie made his way, gingerly, to the bar, his arms full of gift-wrapped packages.“Of course!”, beamed Laurie. Depositing his armful on the bar-top and selecting ...
Data released by Statistics New Zealand today showed a significant slowdown in the economy over the past six months, with GDP falling by 1% in September, and 1.1% in June said CTU Economist Craig Renney. “The data shows that the size of the economy in GDP terms is now smaller ...
One last thing before I quitI never wanted any moreThan I could fit into my headI still remember every single word you saidAnd all the shit that somehow came along with itStill, there's one thing that comforts meSince I was always caged and now I'm freeSongwriters: David Grohl / Georg ...
Sparse offerings outside a Te Kauwhata church. Meanwhile, the Government is cutting spending in ways that make thousands of hungry children even hungrier, while also cutting funding for the charities that help them. It’s also doing that while winding back new building of affordable housing that would allow parents to ...
It is difficult to make sense of the Luxon Coalition Government’s economic management.This end-of-year review about the state of economic management – the state of the economy was last week – is not going to cover the National Party contribution. Frankly, like every other careful observer, I cannot make up ...
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Remember those silent movies where the heroine is tied to the railway tracks or going over the waterfall in a barrel? Finance Minister Nicola Willis seems intent on portraying herself as that damsel in distress. According to Willis, this country’s current economic problems have all been caused by the spending ...
Similar to the cuts and the austerity drive imposed by Ruth Richardson in the 1990’s, an era which to all intents and purposes we’ve largely fiddled around the edges with fixing in the time since – over, to be fair, several administrations – whilst trying our best it seems to ...
String-Pulling in the Dark: For the democratic process to be meaningful it must also be public. WITH TRUST AND CONFIDENCE in New Zealand’s politicians and journalists steadily declining, restoring those virtues poses a daunting challenge. Just how daunting is made clear by comparing the way politicians and journalists treated New Zealanders ...
Dear Nicola Willis, thank you for letting us know in so many words that the swingeing austerity hasn't worked.By in so many words I mean the bit where you said, Here is a sea of red ink in which we are drowning after twelve months of savage cost cutting and ...
The Open Government Partnership is a multilateral organisation committed to advancing open government. Countries which join are supposed to co-create regular action plans with civil society, committing to making verifiable improvements in transparency, accountability, participation, or technology and innovation for the above. And they're held to account through an Independent ...
Today I tuned into something strange: a press conference that didn’t make my stomach churn or the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Which was strange, because it was about the torture of children. It was the announcement by Erica Stanford — on her own, unusually ...
This is a must watch, and puts on brilliant and practical display the implications and mechanics of fast-track law corruption and weakness.CLICK HERE: LINK TO WATCH VIDEOOur news media as it is set up is simply not equipped to deal with the brazen disinformation and corruption under this right wing ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Acting Secretary Erin Polaczuk is welcoming the announcement from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden that she is opening consultation on engineered stone and is calling on her to listen to the evidence and implement a total ban of the product. “We need ...
The Government has announced a 1.5% increase in the minimum wage from 1 April 2025, well below forecast inflation of 2.5%. Unions have reacted strongly and denounced it as a real terms cut. PSA and the CTU are opposing a new round of staff cuts at WorkSafe, which they say ...
The decision to unilaterally repudiate the contract for new Cook Strait ferries is beginning to look like one of the stupidest decisions a New Zealand government ever made. While cancelling the ferries and their associated port infrastructure may have made this year's books look good, it means higher costs later, ...
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Today is a special member's morning, scheduled to make up for the government's theft of member's days throughout the year. First up was the first reading of Greg Fleming's Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill, which was passed unanimously. Currently the House is debating the third reading of ...
We're going backwardsIgnoring the realitiesGoing backwardsAre you counting all the casualties?We are not there yetWhere we need to beWe are still in debtTo our insanitiesSongwriter: Martin Gore Read more ...
Willis blamed Treasury for changing its productivity assumptions and Labour’s spending increases since Covid for the worsening Budget outlook. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, December 18 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above ...
Today the Auckland Transport board meet for the last time this year. For those interested (and with time to spare), you can follow along via this MS Teams link from 10am. I’ve taken a quick look through the agenda items to see what I think the most interesting aspects are. ...
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Probably about the only consolation available from yesterday’s unveiling of the Half-Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) is that it could have been worse. Though Finance Minister Nicola Willis has tightened the screws on future government spending, she has resisted the calls from hard-line academics, fiscal purists and fiscal hawks ...
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Long story short: the Government’s austerity policy has driven the economy into a deeper and longer recession that means it will have to borrow $20 billion more over the next four years than it expected just six months ago. Treasury’s latest forecasts show the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s fiscal strategy of ...
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AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi are saying that the Government should do the right thing and deliver minimum wage increases that don’t see workers fall further behind, in response to today’s announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased by 1.5%, well short of forecast inflation. “With inflation forecast ...
Oh, I weptFor daysFilled my eyesWith silly tearsOh, yeaBut I don'tCare no moreI don't care ifMy eyes get soreSongwriters: Paul Rodgers / Paul Kossoff. Read more ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob HensonIn this aerial view, fingers of meltwater flow from the melting Isunnguata Sermia glacier descending from the Greenland Ice Sheet on July 11, 2024, near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the ...
In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...
Willis is expected to have to reveal the bitter fiscal fruits of her austerity strategy in the HYEFU later today. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/TheKakaMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, December 17 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast ...
On Friday the government announced it would double the number of toll roads in New Zealand as well as make a few other changes to how toll roads are used in the country. The real issue though is not that tolling is being used but the suggestion it will make ...
The Prime Minister yesterday engaged in what looked like a pre-emptive strike designed to counter what is likely to be a series of depressing economic statistics expected before the end of the week. He opened his weekly post-Cabinet press conference with a recitation of the Government’s achievements. “It certainly has ...
This whooping cough story from south Auckland is a good example of the coalition government’s approach to social need – spend money on urging people to get vaccinated but only after you’ve cut the funding to where they could get vaccinated. This has been the case all year with public ...
And if there is a GodI know he likes to rockHe likes his loud guitarsHis spiders from MarsAnd if there is a GodI know he's watching meHe likes what he seesBut there's trouble on the breezeSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan Read more ...
Here’s a quick round up of today’s political news:1. MORE FOOD BANKS, CHARITIES, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTERS AND YOUTH SOCIAL SERVICES SET TO CLOSE OR SCALE BACK AROUND THE COUNTRY AS GOVT CUTS FUNDINGSome of Auckland's largest foodbanks are warning they may need to close or significantly reduce food parcels after ...
Iain Rennie, CNZMSecretary and Chief Executive to the TreasuryDear Secretary, Undue restrictions on restricted briefings This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been ...
This is a guest post by Tim Adriaansen, a community, climate, and accessibility advocate.I won’t shut up about climate breakdown, and whenever possible I try to shift the focus of a climate conversation towards solutions. But you’ll almost never hear me give more than a passing nod to ...
A grassroots backlash has forced a backdown from Brown, but he is still eyeing up plenty of tolls for other new roads. And the pressure is on Willis to ramp up the Government’s austerity strategy. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 8, 2024 thru Sat, December 14, 2024. Listing by Category Like last week's summary this one contains the list of articles twice: based on categories and based on ...
I started writing this morning about Hobson’s Pledge, examining the claims they and their supporters make, basically ripping into them. But I kept getting notifications coming through, and not good ones.Each time I looked up, there was another un-subscription message, and I felt a bit sicker at the thought of ...
Once, long before there was Harry and Meghan and Dodi and all those episodes of The Crown, they came to spend some time with us, Charles and Diana. Was there anyone in the world more glamorous than the Princess of Wales?Dazzled as everyone was by their company, the leader of ...
The collective right have a problem.The entire foundation for their world view is antiscientific. Their preferred economic strategies have been disproven. Their whole neoliberal model faces accusations of corporate corruption and worsening inequality. Climate change not only definitely exists, its rapid progression demands an immediate and expensive response in order ...
Just ten days ago, South Korea's president attempted a self-coup, declaring martial law and attempting to have opposition MPs murdered or arrested in an effort to seize unconstrained power. The attempt was rapidly defeated by the national assembly voting it down and the people flooding the streets to defend democracy. ...
National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...
After years of advocacy, the Green Party is very happy to hear the Government has listened to our collective voices and announced the closure of the greyhound racing industry, by 1 August 2026. ...
In response to a new report from ERO, the Government has acknowledged the urgent need for consistency across the curriculum for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools. ...
The Green Party is appalled at the Government introducing legislation that will make it easier to penalise workers fighting for better pay and conditions. ...
Thank you for the invitation to speak with you tonight on behalf of the political party I belong to - which is New Zealand First. As we have heard before this evening the Kinleith Mill is proposing to reduce operations by focusing on pulp and discontinuing “lossmaking paper production”. They say that they are currently consulting on the plan to permanently shut ...
Auckland Central MP, Chlöe Swarbrick, has written to Mayor Wayne Brown requesting he stop the unnecessary delays on St James Theatre’s restoration. ...
Kiwis planning a swim or heading out on a boat this summer should remember to stop and think about water safety, Sport & Recreation Minister Chris Bishop and ACC and Associate Transport Minister Matt Doocey say. “New Zealand’s beaches, lakes and rivers are some of the most beautiful in the ...
The Government is urging Kiwis to drive safely this summer and reminding motorists that Police will be out in force to enforce the road rules, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“This time of year can be stressful and result in poor decision-making on our roads. Whether you are travelling to see ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says Health New Zealand will move swiftly to support dozens of internationally-trained doctors already in New Zealand on their journey to employment here, after a tripling of sought-after examination places. “The Medical Council has delivered great news for hardworking overseas doctors who want to contribute ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has appointed Sarah Ottrey to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). “At my first APEC Summit in Lima, I experienced firsthand the role that ABAC plays in guaranteeing political leaders hear the voice of business,” Mr Luxon says. “New Zealand’s ABAC representatives are very well respected and ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced four appointments to New Zealand’s intelligence oversight functions. The Honourable Robert Dobson KC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, and the Honourable Brendan Brown KC has been appointed as a Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants. The appointments of Hon Robert Dobson and Hon ...
Improvements in the average time it takes to process survey and title applications means housing developments can progress more quickly, Minister for Land Information Chris Penk says. “The government is resolutely focused on improving the building and construction pipeline,” Mr Penk says. “Applications to issue titles and subdivide land are ...
The Government’s measures to reduce airport wait times, and better transparency around flight disruptions is delivering encouraging early results for passengers ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Improving the efficiency of air travel is a priority for the Government to give passengers a smoother, more reliable ...
The Government today announced the intended closure of the Apollo Hotel as Contracted Emergency Housing (CEH) in Rotorua, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. This follows a 30 per cent reduction in the number of households in CEH in Rotorua since National came into Government. “Our focus is on ending CEH in the Whakarewarewa area starting ...
The Government will reshape vocational education and training to return decision making to regions and enable greater industry input into work-based learning Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds says. “The redesigned system will better meet the needs of learners, industry, and the economy. It includes re-establishing regional polytechnics that ...
The Government is taking action to better manage synthetic refrigerants and reduce emissions caused by greenhouse gases found in heating and cooling products, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds says. “Regulations will be drafted to support a product stewardship scheme for synthetic refrigerants, Ms. Simmonds says. “Synthetic refrigerants are found in a ...
People travelling on State Highway 1 north of Hamilton will be relieved that remedial works and safety improvements on the Ngāruawāhia section of the Waikato Expressway were finished today, with all lanes now open to traffic, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“I would like to acknowledge the patience of road users ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds, has announced a new appointment to the board of Education New Zealand (ENZ). Dr Erik Lithander has been appointed as a new member of the ENZ board for a three-year term until 30 January 2028. “I would like to welcome Dr Erik Lithander to the ...
The Government will have senior representatives at Waitangi Day events around the country, including at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, but next year Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has chosen to take part in celebrations elsewhere. “It has always been my intention to celebrate Waitangi Day around the country with different ...
Two more criminal gangs will be subject to the raft of laws passed by the Coalition Government that give Police more powers to disrupt gang activity, and the intimidation they impose in our communities, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. Following an Order passed by Cabinet, from 3 February 2025 the ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Justice Christian Whata as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Whata’s appointment as a Judge of the Court of Appeal will take effect on 1 August 2025 and fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Hon Justice David Goddard on ...
The latest economic figures highlight the importance of the steps the Government has taken to restore respect for taxpayers’ money and drive economic growth, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Data released today by Stats NZ shows Gross Domestic Product fell 1 per cent in the September quarter. “Treasury and most ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Minister of Education David Seymour today announced legislation changes to strengthen freedom of speech obligations on universities. “Freedom of speech is fundamental to the concept of academic freedom and there is concern that universities seem to be taking a more risk-averse ...
Police Minister, Mark Mitchell, and Internal Affairs Minister, Brooke van Velden, today launched a further Public Safety Network cellular service that alongside last year’s Cellular Roaming roll-out, puts globally-leading cellular communications capability into the hands of our emergency responders. The Public Safety Network’s new Cellular Priority service means Police, Wellington ...
State Highway 1 through the Mangamuka Gorge has officially reopened today, providing a critical link for Northlanders and offering much-needed relief ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“The Mangamuka Gorge is a vital route for Northland, carrying around 1,300 vehicles per day and connecting the Far ...
The Government has welcomed decisions by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and Ashburton District Council confirming funding to boost resilience in the Canterbury region, with construction on a second Ashburton Bridge expected to begin in 2026, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Delivering a second Ashburton Bridge to improve resilience and ...
The Government is backing the response into high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Otago, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says. “Cabinet has approved new funding of $20 million to enable MPI to meet unbudgeted ongoing expenses associated with the H7N6 response including rigorous scientific testing of samples at the enhanced PC3 ...
Legislation that will repeal all advertising restrictions for broadcasters on Sundays and public holidays has passed through first reading in Parliament today, Media Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “As a growing share of audiences get their news and entertainment from streaming services, these restrictions have become increasingly redundant. New Zealand on ...
Today the House agreed to Brendan Horsley being appointed Inspector-General of Defence, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Mr Horsley’s experience will be invaluable in overseeing the establishment of the new office and its support networks. “He is currently Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, having held that role since June 2020. ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government has agreed to the final regulations for the levy on insurance contracts that will fund Fire and Emergency New Zealand from July 2026. “Earlier this year the Government agreed to a 2.2 percent increase to the rate of levy. Fire ...
The Government is delivering regulatory relief for New Zealand businesses through changes to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act. “The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill, which was introduced today, is the second Bill – the other being the Statutes Amendment Bill - that ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed further progress on the Hawke’s Bay Expressway Road of National Significance (RoNS), with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board approving funding for the detailed design of Stage 1, paving the way for main works construction to begin in late 2025.“The Government is moving at ...
The Government today released a request for information (RFI) to seeking interest in partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned land with low farming and conservation value (excluding National Parks) Forestry Minister Todd McClay announced. “Planting trees on Crown-owned land will drive economic growth by creating more forestry jobs in our regions, providing more wood ...
Court timeliness, access to justice, and improving the quality of existing regulation are the focus of a series of law changes introduced to Parliament today by Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee. The three Bills in the Regulatory Systems (Justice) Amendment Bill package each improve a different part of the ...
A total of 41 appointments and reappointments have been made to the 12 community trusts around New Zealand that serve their regions, Associate Finance Minister Shane Jones says. “These trusts, and the communities they serve from the Far North to the deep south, will benefit from the rich experience, knowledge, ...
The Government has confirmed how it will provide redress to survivors who were tortured at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit (the Lake Alice Unit). “The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care found that many of the 362 children who went through the Lake Alice Unit between 1972 and ...
It has been a busy, productive year in the House as the coalition Government works hard to get New Zealand back on track, Leader of the House Chris Bishop says. “This Government promised to rebuild the economy, restore law and order and reduce the cost of living. Our record this ...
“Accelerated silicosis is an emerging occupational disease caused by unsafe work such as engineered stone benchtops. I am running a standalone consultation on engineered stone to understand what the industry is currently doing to manage the risks, and whether further regulatory intervention is needed,” says Workplace Relations and Safety Minister ...
Mehemea he pai mō te tangata, mahia – if it’s good for the people, get on with it. Enhanced reporting on the public sector’s delivery of Treaty settlement commitments will help improve outcomes for Māori and all New Zealanders, Māori Crown Relations Minister Tama Potaka says. Compiled together for the ...
Mr Roger Holmes Miller and Ms Tarita Hutchinson have been appointed to the Charities Registration Board, Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Louise Upston says. “I would like to welcome the new members joining the Charities Registration Board. “The appointment of Ms Hutchinson and Mr Miller will strengthen the Board’s capacity ...
More building consent and code compliance applications are being processed within the statutory timeframe since the Government required councils to submit quarterly data, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “In the midst of a housing shortage we need to look at every step of the build process for efficiencies ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey is proud to announce the first three recipients of the Government’s $10 million Mental Health and Addiction Community Sector Innovation Fund which will enable more Kiwis faster access to mental health and addiction support. “This fund is part of the Government’s commitment to investing in ...
New Zealand is providing Vanuatu assistance following yesterday's devastating earthquake, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. "Vanuatu is a member of our Pacific family and we are supporting it in this time of acute need," Mr Peters says. "Our thoughts are with the people of Vanuatu, and we will be ...
The Government welcomes the Commerce Commission’s plan to reduce card fees for Kiwis by an estimated $260 million a year, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says.“The Government is relentlessly focused on reducing the cost of living, so Kiwis can keep more of their hard-earned income and live a ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour has welcomed the Early Childhood Education (ECE) regulatory review report, the first major report from the Ministry for Regulation. The report makes 15 recommendations to modernise and simplify regulations across ECE so services can get on with what they do best – providing safe, high-quality care ...
The Government‘s Offshore Renewable Energy Bill to create a new regulatory regime that will enable firms to construct offshore wind generation has passed its first reading in Parliament, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says.“New Zealand currently does not have a regulatory regime for offshore renewable energy as the previous government failed ...
A separate passport, citizenship and membership of the United Nations are only available to fully independent nations, Winston Peters' office says. ...
By Emma Andrews, Henare te Ua Māori Journalism Intern at RNZ News The New Zealand fuel company Z Energy is swapping out street names for “correct” kupu on service stops around the country, with the help of local hapū. When Z took over 226 fuel sites from Shell in 2010, ...
Summer reissue: Was it a false measurement, a full-blown conspiracy or just some mild incompetence? Mad Chapman uncovers the truth of Maddi Wesche’s final throw. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julie Old, Associate Professor, Biology, Zoology, Animal Science, Western Sydney University Dmitry Chulov, Shutterstock At this time of year, images of reindeer are everywhere. I’ve had a soft spot for reindeer ever since I was a little girl. Doesn’t everyone? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Grozdana Manalo, Career Services Manager (Education), University of Sydney hedgehog94/Shutterstock Getting casual work over summer, or a part-time job that you might continue once your tertiary course starts, can be a great way to get workplace experience and earn some extra ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ty Ferguson, Research associate in exercise, nutrition and activity, University of South Australia Peera_Stockfoto/Shutterstock It’s never been easier to stay connected to work. Even when we’re on leave, our phones and laptops keep us tethered. Many of us promise ourselves we ...
The NZ Media Council upheld the complaint under principle four: comment and fact On 5 September 2024, The Spinoff published a brief article titled Made in Palestine, found in 1970s Hastings, which highlighted an upcoming art exhibition featuring photographs of vintage cosmetic products labelled “Made in Palestine.” The piece, described ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kasey Symons, Lecturer of Communication, Sports Media, Deakin University We are well and truly in cricket season. The Australian men’s cricket team is taking centre stage against India in the Border Gavaskar Trophy series while the Big Bash League is underway, as ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Woods, Lecturer, Nursing, Faculty of Health, Southern Cross University FTiare/Shutterstock Summer is here and for many that means going to the beach. You grab your swimmers, beach towel and sunscreen then maybe check the weather forecast. Did you think to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Saman Khalesi, Senior Lecturer and Discipline Lead in Nutrition, School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences, CQUniversity Australia Dean Clarke/Shutterstock The holiday season can be a time of joy, celebration, and indulgence in delicious foods and meals. However, for many, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ari Mattes, Lecturer in Communications and Media, University of Notre Dame Australia Late Night With The Devil. Maslow Entertainment Marketing is critical to the success of commercial films, and companies will often spend half as much again on top of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Francisco Jose Testa, Lecturer in Earth Sciences (Mineralogy, Petrology & Geochemistry), University of Tasmania The Conversation As a kid, it was tough for me to grasp the massive time scale of Earth’s history. Now, with nearly two decades of experience as ...
Te Pāti Māori has had to adopt a new way of debating, operating and even thinking in Parliament in response to the Government’s “onslaught” against te ao Māori, co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer says.In an end-of-year interview with Newsroom, the Te Tai Hauauru MP reflected on how 2024 has differed from her ...
Opinion: The latest Trends in International Mathematics and Science report was announced earlier this month, yet it didn’t get the flurry of media attention and political hand-wringing that typically accompanies these announcements. This might be because it presented good news, or you could argue, no news; the results paint a ...
NewsroomBy Dr Lisa Darragh, Dr Raewyn Eden and Dr David Pomeroy
At long last, The Spinoff shells out for a nut ranking. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to be a member today.It recently came to The Spinoff’s attention ...
I was one of hundreds of people who lost my government job this week. Here’s exactly how it played out. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to be a ...
Summer reissue: One anxiously attentive passenger pays attention to an in-flight safety video, and wonders ‘Why can’t I pick up my own phone?’ The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up ...
Summer reissue: Why do those Lange-Douglas years cast such a long shadow 40 years on? The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to be a member today. First published June ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp');Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions.The post Newsroom daily quiz, Monday 23 December appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The Government’s social housing agency has backed out of a billion-dollar infrastructure alliance that would have built about 6000 new homes in Auckland – less than 18 months after signing a five-year extension.Labour says the decision to rip up the contract and sell off existing state houses could lead to ...
An unrelenting faith in “swift transition” has driven Tauranga Whai to their first Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa championship. At a boisterous Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre, the visiting Tokomanawa Queens were blown away 90-71 in the final.Whai led by 20 points at halftime as their urgent movement and unflinching faith in three-point shooting from anywhere ...
ByKoroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor New Zealand’s Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) says impending bad weather for Port Vila is now the most significant post-quake hazard. A tropical low in the Coral Sea is expected to move into Vanuatu waters, bringing heavy rainfall. Authorities have issued warnings to people ...
Cosmic CatastropheThe year draws to a close.King Luxon has grown tired of the long eveningsListening to the dreary squabbling of his Triumvirate.He strolls up to the top floor of the PalaceTo consult with his Astronomer Royal.The Royal Telescope scans the skies,And King Luxon stares up into the heavensFrom the terrestrial ...
Spinoff editor Mad Chapman and books editor Claire Mabey debate Carl Shuker’s new novel about… an editor. Claire: Hello Mad, you just finished The Royal Free – overall impressions? Mad: Hi Claire, I literally just put the book down and I would have to say my immediate impression is ...
Christmas and its buildup are often lonely, hard and full of unreasonable expectations. Here’s how to make it to Jesus’s birthday and find the little bit of joy we all deserve. Have you found this year relentless? Has the latest Apple update “fucked up your life”? Have you lost two ...
Despite overwhelming public and corporate support, the government has stalled progress on a modern day slavery law. That puts us behind other countries – and makes Christmas a time of tragedy rather than joy, argues Shanti Mathias. Picture the scene on Christmas Day. Everyone replete with nice things to eat, ...
Asia Pacific Report “It looks like Hiroshima. It looks like Germany at the end of World War Two,” says an Israeli-American historian and professor of holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University about the horrifying reality of Gaza. Professor Omer Bartov, has described Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza as an ...
The New Zealand government coalition is tweaking university regulations to curb what it says is an increasingly “risk-averse approach” to free speech. The proposed changes will set clear expectations on how universities should approach freedom of speech issues. Each university will then have to adopt a “freedom of speech statement” ...
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone New York prosecutors have charged Luigi Mangione with “murder as an act of terrorism” in his alleged shooting of health insurance CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month. This news comes out at the same time as ...
Pacific Media Watch The union for Australian journalists has welcomed the delivery by the federal government of more than $150 million to support the sustainability of public interest journalism over the next four years. Combined with the announcement of the revamped News Bargaining Initiative, this could result in up to ...
MONDAY“Merry Xmas, and praise the Lord,” said Sheriff Luxon, and smiled for the camera. There was a flash of smoke when the shutter pressed down on the magnesium powder. The sheriff had arranged for a photographer from the Dodge Gazette to attend a ceremony where he handed out food parcels to ...
It’s a little under two months since the White Ferns shocked the cricketing world, deservedly taking home the T20 World Cup. Since then the trophy has had a tour around the country, five of the squad have played in the WBBL in Australia while most others have returned to domestic ...
String these three articles together: This morning in the Herald: Sky city boss wants more cashless pokies, and says lotto does more harm: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10799411
Why the Dept of Internal affairs has banned the cashless pokie machines Skt City is asking the government to legislate to let them have more of: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10799166
Yesterday afternoon in the Herald: Parents of kids found screaming their heads of in a van outside sky city go to court:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10799336
There are lots of kinds of evil: but I think this one is right up there.
So Mum and Dad can now seek to profit at the expense of their fellow kiwis…what a propaganda campaign this is!
Will be interesting to see how many shares Mr and Mrs Aldgate manage to secure.
Pump and Dump
Reminds me of the tip newsletters that recommended shares.
Price was pushed up by buying on the recommendation and then the those who tipped the shares they had bought before the recommendation.
How the US prints out of thin air the money that we hand our real assets over for
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/implications-failed-monetary-system
Check out the video.
The new blankets and beads.
Wanganui collegiate and others.
A spokesperson for the independent schools has made some reference to the treasury making a net gain from increased subsidy to these schools. Of course she did not factor in all the tax kick-backs that individual families receive through “charitable” status of these schools, declaring donation here, donation there…
What donation – what tax kickback ?
You do talk bullshit.
Any donation to a registered charity is tax recoverable – eg Salvation Army.
Wanganui Collegiate – crap.
Whanganui Collegiate, guys.
Tena koe TRP.
Seems the school doesn’t see it that way just yet
http://www.collegiate.school.nz/
And seems others might consider changing accountants.
The pricks have ethnically cleansed their name! It was still spelt with the H last time I looked, which was during the great debate over how to keep our maori history hidden, sorry, how to spell the city’s name. The school was used as an example of common, long time usage with an H in it.
For example, this item from days gone by.
Bloody ringies, think they own everything. Even history.
Why is RNZ National playing the BBC instead of Nine-to-Noon right now?
Had an extended fire alarm in Wellington Studios.
For some light relief: the DimPost has an excellent post on the home-rennovation adventures of Bill English. Link in blogroll.
9.30 to Noon is back on now 😉
(fire alarm apparently)
Thanks.
Contrasts.
A civilised country. Someone gets a fair trial, despite being accused of a terrible atrocity.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/video.cfm?c_id=2&gal_objectid=10799457&gallery_id=125113
An un-civilised country. Someone is imprisoned without trial for blowing the whistle on atrocities.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_Manning
Attacks on whistleblowers can take many forms…in NZ we also like to shoot messengers, but not the same way they get it done in the military
The latter was stripped naked while in solitary confinement (in spite of low risk of suicide) and while on the subject of fair trials, anyone noticed, thanks to Naomi Wolf, the latest US Supreme Court five-four ruling that anyone can be strip-searched upon arrest for any offence (however minor) at any time?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/apr/05/us-sexual-humiliation-political-control
Sorry, but allowing Breivik the freedom to make fascist salutes and a media platform from which to express his views is ridiculous.
Not OK to hide domestic abuse figures
Yeah, like that’s really to help. /sarc
To be able to do something about an ill you need to know about it.
Now we see how the list of 10 things the govt was going to “sort out” will be handled
“Women’s Refuge CEO Heather Henare has been told it’s so police can align themselves with Australian authorities”
– Why on earth would this be relevant!
What an absolute crock!
The Freudian slip which was most revealing was when the police spokesperson on 3news (the deputy commissioner?) referred to a need to be able to compare stats across different precincts.
Only we are not talking about within NZ – he was referring to Australia and the US….
Sovereignty? What sovereignty? As far as the cops are concerned NZ is just a police precinct! One that must be aligned under the undeniable imperative of ‘best practice’ (/sarc)
There was a time when we made our own laws, ones that suited NZ – now thanks to operation UNITE our laws will be written for us in Canberra and Washington. We will never get to vote on these policies and yet we will be forced to live under them
I’m beginning to think that the police deserved to be heckled by Tiki Tane.
Had a nodding acquaintance with those or similar stats (I think the DV forms). Year on year comparisons were pointless because different regions adopted them at different rates between and within different districts, so the deniability for shite stats over several years was always “reporting factors”. Now they’re being ditched just as they might form a baseline of data? Quelle surprise.
Humphrey Appleby would be proud.
Not publishing the Domstic Violence statistics – lots of flow on effects the Nacts will lurve…
If you don’t measure it you can deny it exists.
There are some 70,000 to 80,000 recorded instances a year and rising. There are some 20,000 protection order breaches.
Number of protection orders made these days – around 1,500 a year under a watered down law Nact put in place but now there will be no basis for suggesting a tougher law. [and where are all the law’noder dudes – oh that’s right not really a crime huh?]
No stats – no need to fund the Women’s Refuge and other like programmes.
No stats – can make Family Court reforms at will including fees.
No stats No protection orders – makes it harder to protect children inside the family court system. Much easier to paint her (and the children) as just being unco-operative, not frightened, and push court fees at these discussions around “access”. These discussions are costing c.$75m per annum.
No stats No protection orders – Number of males who don’t apply for custody around 92% but without the violence stats her custody/parenting can be seen as “Competed for and voluntary” not protective of the kids.
No stats No protection orders Her parenting – she “won” it she can pay for it so don’t need to firm up the rules so child support is paid. Removes any desire of the Courts to make adequate money orders as benefits tighten. Money thr’ the courts is currently a pathetic joke.
Lastly, this clears the way for the big Nact “bene bashing” which has strong overtones of the behaviour associated with DV. Make her do it all, make her pay for it all, and someone will be supervising just in case she doesn’t.
Can’t wait for the day when someone stands up in parliament and points out that a large junk of the DPB and WFF is a reward to males for their DV. Not all I know, but when we have DV stats we can hazard a guess.
The DPB lifestyle subsidy for males protects their assets and income from the needs of their children.
And in my experience this sort of stuff really lights up women right across the political spectrum
along the lines of “just what is he doing – anything at all?”
Perhaps the NZ police establishment are like the NZ military establishment.
I’ve just finished Hager’s ‘Other People’s Wars‘ and, frankly, the picture he paints (in a well-supported, scholarly manner) is of a military (and military/intelligence/MFAT bureaucracy) intent not on serving New Zealand’s interests as articulated by the government of the day but, principally, on being able to play with the ‘big boys’ (aka ‘traditional allies’).
To my mind, that attitude skates very close to the wind of treason, if not legally then certainly morally.
the picture he paints is of a military (and military/intelligence/MFAT bureaucracy) intent not on serving New Zealand’s interests as articulated by the government of the day but, principally, on being able to play with the ‘big boys’ (aka ‘traditional allies’).
I havn’t read the book, but that is certainly what happened in the 1980s and early 1990s.
I was a civilian working on an Air Force base for five years between 1987 and 1992 – the years of the big standoff with the USA. I can tell you there were plenty of Air Force personnel on the ground who were pissed off with David Lange and co. for buggering up their cosy relationship with their American counterparts. So much so, I had to hide my anti-nuclear sympathies. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough. Someone got wind of it, and I came under a lot of suspicion. From personal experience I can attest to the paranoia that was rampant at that time.
“The Freudian slip which was most revealing was when the police spokesperson on 3news (the deputy commissioner?) referred to a need to be able to compare stats across different precincts”
– Was that the official announcement of the NZ police state?
Meet the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency (ANZPAA)
Why am I not reassured by the fact they feel the need to tell us that they are committed to acting legally?
And why does the mention of 'good corporate governance sent the bad kind of shivers down my spine?
Who is really calling the shots when it comes to law enforcement policy in NZ?
“ANZPAA is committed to conducting all business activities legally, with strict observance to the highest standards of integrity and propriety. Good corporate governance is a fundamental part of the culture and business practice of ANZPAA.”
– The propaganda rule book is short
1: Make people believe you are, what in fact you are not
2: Do whatever needs to be done to protect rule one
Formed under the last Labour Government by the looks of it….Argh, continuity of agenda!
The latter was stripped naked while in solitary confinement (in spite of low risk of suicide) and while on the subject of fair trials, anyone noticed, thanks to Naomi Wolf, the latest US Supreme Court five-four ruling that anyone can be strip-searched upon arrest for any offence (however minor) at any time?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/apr/05/us-sexual-humiliation-political-control
Humanity continues on its Suicidal Fossil Fuel extraction course which is accelerating Climate Change. (Feel free to accuse me of scare mongering but this is what Lucy Lawless was protesting for on an oil rig set for the new Arctic Frontier enabled by the melting ice cap.)
“As Ice Cap Melts, Militaries Vie for Arctic Edge”
Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/04/16-1
“I will say it again… When a few billion tons, (two or three), of methane gas escapes into our atmosphere from that melting ice and permafrost, there won’t be any more fighting… It will cause runaway, irreversible global warming and soon after when billions more tons release, it will kill every single person on the planet….. Any who argue it or deny it are either crazy or stupid.
It is absolutly “unbelieveable” that world governments are determined to get the oil and minerals and ignore the science that proves the Arctic methane is the most serious issue humanity has ever faced in human’s recorded history.
“Unbelieveable” is the wrong word,,, because it is happening. “
In this mornings Herald you can find the word “growth” repeated ad nauseum. The most nauseous is the Ruth Richardson column in which she thinks that “growth” is possible, but only if you gut the “public” sector and privatise the lot. Ideological metaphysics at its most pathetic. Just reading this bollocks is enough to give you instant brain fade.
In a round about way this relates to the “unbelievable”….we are constantly bombarded with ideas and terms that we are supposed to “believe”. You are not supposed to question or propose that all is not as presented. You can empirically demonstrate that the ice is melting, science backs you up, but we are still supposed to believe two diametrically opposed propositions… we can stop global warming AND we must carry on growing.
What we have fallen to is lazy thinking that prevents challenging orthodoxy (the preserve of those in power / in the money). We are encouraged to believe it is somebody elses problem (an SEP), and that a magic party called “they” will fix it. There are no “they”, there is only us individuals, and we need to get together and take up our pitchforks and poke those who would encourage us to believe in “they” as far as the metaphorical gallows.
Thanks bored very insightful! 1+
Disease will grow like cancers…doesn’t make it good for you.
Yeah good old Ms Richardson thinks that the ipad and iphone owning youth will fight the “control” of the Government. Of course, you have to weathly enough in the first place to buy the technology….
Great post Bored!
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/20/arctic-methane-is-catastrophe-imminent/
Found this interesting ,at least in regards to underwater deposits there are varied opinions. Kinda hope they’re right.
It is pretty accurate from what I know.
The risk area is a methyl hydrates in cool shallow seas around the Arctic and Antarctic where rapid temperature changes in those regions could potentially cause shifting ocean currents. The problem is that the methane is “locked” by a temperature/pressure gradient with some quite sharp phase changes. In the polar regions shallow seas the lock is less on the pressure and more on the temperature.
A rapid shift in the temperature of the surrounding water across a wide enough area in a shallow sea like the Ross sea or the like could cause some extensive rapid releases.
The problem as usual is the lack of knowledge because the required information has never been systematically collected. We don’t know how sensitive current movements are to climate shifts. We don’t have good estimates of the amount of methane in those areas. We don’t know how much would reabsorbed into seawater because we don’t fully understand the observed processes.
It is a risk factor that more work needs to be done on…
All about frozen stuff.
http://nsidc.org/cryosphere/frozenground/methane.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/vast-methane-plumes-seen-in-arctic-ocean-as-sea-ice-retreats-6276278.html
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2011/04/fracking-methane/
Biggest growth “industry” in NZ?
So, three decades of neo-liberalism has made most NZers worse off. Yes, most:-
A few people have benefited though.
Excellent article A very apt summary of the situation.
Poverty was a growing problem that was exacerbated by the way it was dealt with, she said.
“If you privatise the support for people in poverty, or for people on welfare, or for people in need of assistance, then you are growing the industry. You are creating an industry and growing it.”
Profiteering out of poverty!
One good thing about poverty in this day and age, it is catching. And lets face it if we don’t want fracking, or ‘drilling’ for methane hydrates, then we have to all get a lot poorer.
We all have to accept we are pasted the age of growth, and that most defiantly includes population.
That is one good thing about peak oil, eventually it will level out the irregularities in this system, as we all join the same class, the hungry one)
Can anyone shine a light on why John Key would be out of the country when a high profile Chinese delegation is visiting NZ? Couldn’t he have rescheduled? Is he trying to avoid them or was it a mistake?
I don’t think Key is our Acting PM anymore tbh.
Maybe Murray forgot to tell him.
Reading this article made me feel like I needed to take a shower! Many many things to be weary of in this!
based on that polemic platitude to profit,
it looks like ol’ Ruthie has officially decided to stop thinking.
“Ruth Richardson is a former Finance Minister. This article is an edited extract from The Next 10 Years, published by London-based think tank Reform”
– Bruce Richardson has sold/souled out in every sense of the word!
We have a similar ‘think tank’ in NZ, it is of the same ilk as Richardson’s and of course the Business Round Table- they are out and out neoliberal parasites and troughers.
Lotto worse than pokies?
The main difference between Lotto and SkyCity’s pokie machines is the return they provide to communities. While SkyCity only gives 2.5% to a charitable trust, NZ Lotteries distributes 20% of the profits from Lotto to communities throughout New Zealand…
Lotto is still rubbish for NZ communities.
Agreed, the constant ‘Lotto’ stories annoy the shit out of me. Often multiple lead stories. We’ll have maybe a big overseas one, one about a local recent winner, and a follow up story on the last local winner.
They breathlessly report on a lotto story like it is a great human interest story or something. To me it is absolutely no different to a story about someone winning a big texas hold’em game at skycity, or about some nice old lady that popped into SC to put her last $2 in a slot machine and won a $50k jackpot. What’s the difference it’s all gambling. One thing that burned in my memory was watching a jaded world weary looking woman efficiently checking ticket after ticket at one of those self checking machines, literally dozens of them, chucking them all in the bin one after the other, then walking up to the counter and asking how many more lotto tickets she could get for 80 bucks. What’s the difference between that and pokies seriously.
It’s all a bit hypocritical that they play concerned personality about Skycity expanding, yet treat a lotto winners like nobel prize winners of our times. A bit of consistancy at the very least would be nice and less tiring.
Bread and circusses shite the lot of it.
What’s the difference you ask… well if you’d bothered to read the article you’d know that around 80% of problem gamblers use pokies as their primary mode of gambling. Don’t get me wrong; I think Lotto is a crock as well. But the social issues created by problem gambling from addictive pokies are far worse.
Good points. I’m just trying to make the point that Lotto is gambling too. And that it’s a shame we treat the winners as heros. There are much more important reasons to celebrate our fellow folks than them getting lucky in some mainstream money competition whatever it’s form.
courtesy of FB
http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/416828_379740562037721_240086252669820_1501737_143006544_n.jpg
Saw this one today, reminded me of some of the duty trolls around here: http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/545595_207594646020585_112775652169152_6253207_171889876_n.jpg
+1 Excellent.
Eswar Prasad, an economist at Cornell University and a former top official at the International Monetary Fund, said Kim’s medical background gave him vital experience in solving problems facing developing nations.
“He will need to dispel any notion that he is there to serve the interests of the US rather than the interests of developing countries,” Prasad said
But they put a “black man” in chage who won a peace prize, so you can’t call him racist or a neo-con warmonger…..wait a minute…
Argh, now I see what these “appointments” are for!
Argentina has nationalised YPF, the former and once again state oil company, as a matter of public interest.
http://www.eleconomista.es/flash/noticias/3898343/04/12/Argentina-nacionaliza-YPF.html
Google translation
But that’s madness! Think of the inefficiencies! Think of all the lost profits! Think of all the money that will now be going to the government and not offshore! Madness!
Just a bit of fluff to end the day with.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/6754244/Minister-weds-her-old-flame
Couldn’t help but notice how Paula’s new husband looks very much like Murray McCully!!
Couldn’t help but notice he dropped his lady friend of many years within 24hrs of Paula Bennett walking back into his life. Well he would woudn’t he. She’s a cabinet minister (no less) on a hefty salary?
Yeah cynical I know but….
There’s something odd about that photo too. He doesn’t really look like he’s present.
I’m worried about what’s going to happen to the dog 🙁
Deny the facts when they contradict the theory
Surprise, surprise, conservatives and associated libertarians are cheery picking their sources to prove their theory when reality proves them wrong.
Thanks for this Mr Bastard.
Austerity works when economic growth is guaranteed, as it has been for most of the last thirty years. The IMF defines a global recession as a period where GDP growth is less than 3%. The last time average GDP growth in first world countries was close to that was in 2007. We have essentially been in a recession since 2007 with little chance of increasing growth by anything close to the required levels due to the high price of oil. This graph here shows it all: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5Cjs5tNgpAI/T4fVFKUjH3I/AAAAAAAAADo/4xWusSBm68g/s1600/Crude+oil+prices,+advanced+economies+GDP+growth+and+recessions,+1970-2012.jpg
From the graph we can see in past recessions that oil prices crashed which enabled countries to ramp up energy consumption and everything else that comes with that. This time is different because after an initial price crash oil prices have steadily been climbing since 2009. The age of cheap energy is over and with it the age of growth is also over.
http://www.southernlimitsnz.com/2012/04/prediction-is-messy-business-and-has.html
Gas fracking is fine, even if it does cause earthquakes.
After all, the market for gas and oil has now ‘decided’ that the risks are worth it.
Fracking? What fracking? Carry on. It’s business as usual.
What a joke Russell Norman is, a green party leader to be rabbiting on about the high value of the NZ$ WTF?
What would the Green Party be happy with? A NZ dollar @ 45 cents US would do what?
It would make raping the New Zealand environment so mush easer for everyone the government is selling NZ to ….. how green is that?
But it would more than likely drive petrol through the $3.00 mark, forcing ‘greenies’ to walk more, maybe a hidden agenda?
What a dick
Robert a low NZ$ would make petrol and diesel much more expensive yes.
That is actually a good thing, in terms of encouraging transition and encouraging people to listen to the likes of yourself.
A high NZ$ is not an effective barrier.
But Norman was going on about how good for the economy a low dollar would be?
The ‘economy’ is what is killing what Norman is meant to be standing for??? Isn’t that what the greeds are all about? …. ‘Giving’ the children a brighter future …. or was that National?
A high NZ$ is not an effective barrier. – True ‘they’ can print any amount of money to buy NZ regardless.
And lets face it there are only 2 places worth investing in globally at the moment, funeral homes and new Zealand.
“Settlers” Hate Tour in Hebron 20-08-2011
Life under the iron heel of the Israeli jackboot….
JohnKey’s Brighter Future…
Nice DtB, I like it .
Unfortunately for the environment to support seven billion + people, we will all have to have a foot print the size of a Portuguese peasant, so as distasteful as it is, the above link is a good thing.
And just when we were all getting use to the 48 inch+ wide screen.
The environment supports 7B+ people now mate, and I don’t know about you, my eco-footprint is quite a bit bigger than a Portuguese peasants.
Only while resource extraction from the environment allows it to. When that extraction goes into permanent decline then the world will no longer be able to support 7b.
Yep, I know. We’re in overshoot as it is right now.