“The leak shows our government demanding rules that would lead to preventable suffering and death in Pacific Rim countries, while eliminating opportunities to ease financial hardship on American families and our health programs at home,” said Peter Maybarduk, director of Public Citizen’s Global Access to Medicines Program.
Prolonging suffering just so a few people can be richer.
I had a quick read Draco, I have to say, and I am a legal layman but it seemed there were clauses in their that allowed any country to protect it’s health and citizens concerning medications, as a get out clause to allow meds, IDNK but reading the pdf it looked like a load of complicated clauses that could employ some hard up legal beagles struggling to survive on a low income many years of high earnings in the name of clarifying a paragraph or ten.
Why do they make this crap so flaming unintelligible. I mean seriously heard of English?
Everything is copyrighted, unless it’s a life or death matter. Pretty simple stuff really.
They should get me to do it. I’d be freaking brilliant.
Remember, none of this is written up for the sake of clarity or ‘free markets.’ It is there to generate a lot of grey areas for corporations to move in, and to obscure any possibility of moral or ethical discussions under a tonne of technicalities.
Just take a look at the language: ‘Free trade’ or ‘Free Markets’
Trade is something that involves exchange and, in this day and age, involves money. i.e there is nothing ‘free’ about trade.
The use of the word ‘free’ is a contradictory term. It is contradictory to the nature of the subject, and this contradiction indicates propaganda is involved i.e. manipulation of people’s attitudes on the subject is present.
Plus, why would a free trade agreement require anything more than a few A4 sheets of paper? I agree that you can sell your stuff in my country and vice versa. What requires thousands of pages of documents?
Arranging a free-for-all for those who already have plenty, involves complexity due to having to work out how to by-pass any sound and principled protections built into a given country’s laws, is my guess. 🙂
That and making sure that the power elite in each country are treated fairly and equitably by the power elite in other countries. For ordinary people – sorry.
We won a seat at the UN, Is that good or bad? IDNK, however I expect we will create more deaths under John Key than ever before. What will our contribution be? To side with the USA as puppies of Obama or to stand tall and make the right calls independent of other countries interests time will tell I suppose.
But if Key starts chasing and killing for oil, Keys days will be numbered, I and the rest of the country will be kicking him to the kerb if we are grouped responsible for innocent deaths in the name of oil flow by a psychopathic liar.
Be aware Key, be very fucking aware.
PS…. 2017, if you don’t vote National we will lose the UN seat, wait for it folks wait for the media bias.
The bitter irony, NZ is being sold on what we used to be (fairness, egalitarianism, a fair go) before the same people now selling it off began destroying those very qualities. Similarly for our Independence.
What a load of rubbish. Vernon may very well be right. He has at least 25% chance of that. And Little is indeed a popular candidate.
But lets face it, this is just another example of lazy journalism. And we should pull the media up on these lazy stories, even if Little happens to be the candidate you are supporting. (Next time, there is as much chance that their lazy idle speculations will pick somebody you don’t support).
I want to see the evidence for Small’s assertions. It’s not written as an opinion: eg “I think Little has the greatest chance of winning” It’s stated that “Little noses ahead” Oh really? How exactly was this measured? By how many percentage points Vernon?
When you read Small’s article, I have a strong suspicion that Small has simply fished comments from the Standard. It’s a compliment to the Standard if that is true, but still not a process that I support, unless the source for what he says is specified.
Otherwise I could suggest, with the same level of accuracy: “Vernon Small produces worst political report for 17 October by 7.85%”
We have to remember that most journos don’t want to suicide their careers, and also that it is the editors and subs who come up with the actual headlines etc.
Yes, and this leads back to the issue over government policies that create joblessness. It makes people much more compliant when they know they will have difficulty replacing their job.
I really do view wealth disparity and joblessness as the biggest issues that need addressing – nothing else is able to change, or function heathily, until there is less concentration of power.
And this is the nub, isn’t it. Why would people who have the power and leverage today, allow that power to be distributed? They wouldn’t, of course. If anything, they want it further concentrated, into fewer and fewer hands: theirs.
This also speaks directly to issues of underemployment and low pay. Encouraging masses of working class and under class to be more engaged in society, and giving them adequate financial resources to do it with, goes right against the principle of concentrating power.
+1 I don’t suppose you saw that program on Prime about British Manor Houses last night?
It was rather a surprise because it didn’t solely focus on mansions, it went through a quick history of the state of Britain leading up to World War I, and, oh boy, were there very pointed comments about the effects of concentration of wealth.
I don’t even know if it is a series or not (tend to randomly switch on & watch stuff)- it was on after ‘Downton Abbey’
One thing I didn’t know was that the British Parliament, when trying to bring in policies to address the serious wealth disparity, kept being blocked by the House of Lords and that the King/Queen of the time ended up allowing them to be by-passed.
It is so interesting that those in privilege will actively block others’ from even semi-decent improvement in their conditions.
I view this is what is happening in NZ. There are many people that are comfortable and they are refusing to allow even small gains for those who are not comfortable.
I am so ashamed and disgusted by my fellow NZers at the moment.
One could even go so far as saying ‘I’m sorry for being a New Zealander’. 😉
I view this is what is happening in NZ. There are many people that are comfortable and they are refusing to allow even small gains for those who are not comfortable.
I am so ashamed and disgusted by my fellow NZers at the moment.
if many more people got to own houses, what will happen to my rental property portfolio! no!!! i worked hard and i take responsibility for my hard earned wealth. those other people should take responsibility for their miserable state.
At least Vernon signed it. Puts him streets ahead of the “anonymous editorial” crowd.
He includes this comment/ quote:
Parker said it would be a competitive race. ‘‘You can’t have a competition without competition, but that’s not to say that it has to be war without guns.’’
Conversely, the threat of capital flight gets strengthened in the face of any policy being proposed that does not privilege the speculators and super rich.
Note that in the US, investment banks and billion dollar hedge funds have already become slum lords, buying up masses of distressed and abandoned properties, turning themselves into a corporate landlord class.
Well Joseph Parkers boxing career has limitations .That is quite clear after his points decision against a short,old journeyman.Hate to see him against a real international pro.
We should definitely head into Iraq again with the USA, this time they’ve got the Iraq plan properly sorted out. Rly.
(Unfortunately I think we’re going to be on the Security Council pushing a purely US agenda…I see McCully is already pushing for “reform” of the security council)
I see McCully is already pushing for “reform” of the security council
When I see McCully saying “reform”, we know that his idea of reform would be directly in contrast to ours and that the interests he would further would be quite opposite to what we would consider.
Reform has been a real problem for the UN for years.
The reform issue is a compounded problem because resolution has been stymied for decades
The initial problem was that the UN was not reflecting the changing world; neither the increasing diversity (due to increased membership) nor the changing powers. i.e it was set up when Russia and the US were the main powers, China is on the main body now, but places like India, Brazil or Japan are not. (Also places like Africa & Muslim countries?
The reforms require a profoundly thoughtful, principled and wide perspective and also an ability for those that are currently on the Security Council to be inclusive i.e. release their grip and share their power with the new powers.
I am not holding my breath that the type of intelligence that is required for resolution, will be provided by NZ’s actors because our government continually display a lapdog type attitude toward the US and show a distinct tendency to be sellouts.
In short, they are acting like mindless lunatics in their own country, so why should they be any different on the world stage. All that will be achieved is they will disgrace NZ on the world stage even more than they have already done.
“Reform has been a real problem for the UN for years.”
The UN was the pet project of an American aristocrat president (Roosevelt) built on land donated by what was at the time the wealthiest family in the world (Rockefeller).
Its purpose was and always has been defensive: to protect and defend the interests of the wealthiest American imperialists. There will never be any “reforms” at the UN which do not serve their interests.
Did I correctly hear today that we are so lucky to get Security Council position as it will help us when we have Trade talks. Isn’t that slightly obscene using Security Council post to talk trade?
Not really connected to intensive dairy farming contamination of water supplies but????
“He said investigating the outbreak was complex – the yersinia pathogen could spread from animal waste into water supplies, then into a vegetable growing area.”
I wonder where the quarantined paddock is in relation to water source?
Flogging off our state housing stock, falling dollar making our houses and land even more of a bargain for overseas speculators, cynically gaming the OIA, etc etc, t’would be enough to make one quite worried were it not for the prospect of a BRIGHT SHINEY NEW FLAG!!!!
I’d say he’ll be gone sooner than later, if the right job emerges.
You get the feeling his heart really isn’t in it anymore, which isn’t really surprising.
“I’d say he’ll be gone sooner than later, if the right job emerges.
You get the feeling his heart really isn’t in it anymore, which isn’t really surprising.”
You get the feeling you just made shit up. There’s nothing in that article to support what you just said.
The odds of Parker leaving before DC would be far greater. I just heard Mike Williams labeling DP as his pick as the winner in the leadership contest. A certain kiss of death. Parker will be extremely lucky if he gets 3rd, even that looks remote from what I’m observing.
The only setting up done to Parker is self inflicted. He is setting himself up to fail miserably and is totally delusional calling for a referendum on the raising of the retirement age. This guy is going to self distruct something shocking at the end of the hustings I kid you not.
bm doesnt actually read the links he posts. it happened only last week when he posted something to do with hager and then asked a question answered in his link. i think he is one of the unpaid tr**olls
Asked about former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s comment that failed leaders should leave politics, Mr Cunliffe said if people were calling for that from him “perhaps they ought to do that in order of succession … there are two others ahead of me”.
Nice sharp retort. This is why Labour members are going to miss Cunliffe at the helm.
+1 listening to Robertson on Jackson’s show now. May call him to raise the deadwood issue. Skirting the issue and saying the new blood comes thru raising the party vote is true. However getting back to reality of today Grant ‘the party vote dropped.’ What we want to hear is there will be a clean out, no if no buts Grant.
My point is he won’t speak out because his support base within caucus is ‘mostly’ deadwood, therefore his campaign is not in the interest of the party but him self. If he believes running with Ardern is the answer it is not. She will roll him and the division continues pretty much spelling the demise of the party as being able to be relevant.
The Herald sure know how to spin stuff. The printed version has this headline on the front page:
“Cunliffe: I’ll never stand again”
Then the article contains this:
“While he intended to stay in Parliament this term, he was (sic) yet to decide whether to stand again in 2017.”
Yet to decide =/= never stand again.
So the headline is clearly wrong. It seems the MSM’s levels of comprehension leave a great deal to be desired.
There is nothing wrong with Cunliffe reviewing things. I would expect all MPs to review their position and decide if they are bringing something to politics and if not then they should consider alternative career options.
I don’t have access to the printed version but the on-line version referenced does quote him directly as saying “I am not intending to run for the leadership again.”
A headline really does have to be brief and the one you quote does seem to be accurate as far as the leadership goes, which is the primary news in the story.
To give a headline which tells the full story would mean one that was as long as the full story.
Would you really want a headline that said something like
“Cunliffe: At his point in time my intention is that I’ll never stand for the leadership of the Labour Party again, although I will remain in Parliament as an MP until at least 2017 when I may, or may not, stand as an MP again, depending on what I think of my prospects of being able to get a reasonably senior role in the shadow cabinet and whether any other options might be available”
That would be a reasonable summary of the story but a bit much to put in large type don’t you think?
Oh hell. It was meant to be “at THIS point”
Although I guess that “HIS point in time” makes a certain amount of warped sense doesn’t it? DCs view of things always seemed a bit askew from most peoples.
MS
In politics ‘never say never’. I suspect that David Cunliffe will be forced back again by popular demand probably after his successors make a mess of it and that he will eventually take over as Prime Minister from John Key.
Anything’s possible.
The Intercept reported today that for months before his house was raided, Hager had also been working with Glenn Greenwald and The Intercept, preparing to report stories based on the Snowden documents.
Hager doesn’t know if this contributed to the decision to raid his house, but the fact that the raid happened so shortly afterwards is disturbing to say the least. According to Hager, the New Zealand government has been nervous about the publication of New Zealand-related Snowden revelations and has made various moves, publicly and privately, to prepare for their eventual publication.
Great that those outside NZ can see the significance of the Hager raid. Even if the police find nothing about the “hacker”, the collateral damage to Nicky’s reputation and the loss of privacy over other research that he is doing, and the chilling effect on others who would wish to come forward in confidence, those are the worries.
Of course there will be no direct link from politicians to police but given the reluctance of the police to act on other complaints, you would wonder if Mr Key’s government would have any motive to “get” Nicky and send a warning to others.
Yes, and even if that’s not true, that it’s a coincidence, the fact remains that many people have now lost confidence in the government because of Dirty Politics and how they handled it (Key’s casualness esp).
edit, afaik the police don’t have the seized material. It got sealed and sent to the courts until the hearing to decide if the police can look at it. What I want to know now is if the police can use or share information not related to the warrant used to do the raid.
I think Nicky’s lawyer (Mr Price?) insisted that every item be sealed and labelled and receipted by the police. Good thinking pending the court challenge to the confiscation.
Of course losing all your tools and resources for the foreseeable future must be a curse.
So if that’s true, and the police didn’t look at anything during the search, then it makes the theory that the govt is fishing less likely. But it doesn’t lessen the probability that the govt knew of his connections with the Snowden team and were monkey wrenching.
From that FirstLook link: the ability of New Zealand police officers to cavalierly raid the home of a reporter who has criticized the government in power threatens to establish a dangerous precedent everywhere reporters operate.
If we learned anything from the M.o.T. it is surely that the NZ gov provides an entry-point for the Spymaster powers that be. Glenn’s work would likely be so securely encrypted as to evade the usual metadata mop-ups on the net, which would necessitate a hands on approach to securing it, by those international surveillance chiefs. And, they took discs, documents, camera and “dozens of other items”. (Why anyone would believe for a millisecond that they were merely after “the hacker” – evades me.)
It is similar to the KDC raid. Our overlords, the international spymasters, have long arms indeed. In a year of depressing news-events, this is one of the most sobering.
Today, Thursday 16 October 2014, WikiLeaks released a second updated version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Intellectual Property Rights Chapter. The TPP is the world’s largest economic trade agreement that will, if it comes into force, encompass more than 40 per cent of the world’s GDP. The IP Chapter covers topics from pharmaceuticals, patent registrations and copyright issues to digital rights. Experts say it will affect freedom of information, civil liberties and access to medicines globally. The WikiLeaks release comes ahead of a Chief Negotiators’ meeting in Canberra on 19 October 2014, which is followed by what is meant to be a decisive Ministerial meeting in Sydney on 25–27 October.
I guess the last 6 years fronting the media every week defending Goff and then Shearer would have exhausted any sense of humour by the time Culiffe came and went. I can not see it returning being the butt of Robo’s jokes. With Mallard being mooted as assistant speaker of the house, perhaps he will get a few laughs when Mallard kicks Little out for dancing during readings.
And who needs State Housing?
“Finance Minister Bill English says the proceeds from selling state houses are unlikely to be spent on new state houses and may go into the Consolidated Account.
“I mean, if we want less stock, there’s not much point in rebuilding stock with it.”
Because Robertson knows his chances of winning the leadership contest on his own is about zero. So he’s rolling out Ardern to stand beside him in the hope her presence will attract more votes for him.
With Adern he should win, remember this is still the 2 groups within caucus fighting for the leadership and shadow cabinet positions. The result will be very tight, however Grant does fancy he has the edge. More caucus votes and a reasonable amount of second votes from the Afiliates. The membership vote he will benefit from the popularity of Ardern.
It effect the deadwood are sticking it to the membership by declaring their vote in advance. This makes a mockery of a leaders contest when one side is campaigning on 2 tickets. While Mahuta may want the deputy role, the DW can install Robertson, Parker, Adern or the likes of King, Goff, Shearer or who ever takes their fancy. Good for them the joke will be short lived. A licence for the membership to turn up with knives at conference.
Two things
1) Ardern is not particularly popular with the membership.
2) Grant demonstrated that he couldn’t count last year, and he still can’t count.
Their pretty much in death rattle mode. Myself and others are thinking of starting a party and would stand a better chance of getting over 5% than they do of winning in 2017.
Your correct with the name bang on actually however the old social credit party have that name covered. Social Democrats for Change I think they go by.
CPA-Communities Protecting Animals.
Designed to be a voice solely for animals. You can judge a society on how many pets are being mistreated, putdown etc. Trim up the Tory vote and sit on the cross benches. Something like that would be a go. Register the dog owner. Far too many Pitbull’s get the automatic death penalty if they end up at the SPCA, they won’t re house just put em down. There are enough humans that rightly don’t give a damn about politics but do about animals. So worth a crack. Of course any Bill that is going to impact on the welfare of poorer citizens pets gets rejected of course lol. There is a lawyers group that have formed to lobby and write legislation framework too. Hmm wonder is bent Bankie can be an advisor from jail?
Yes I think it is a go afterall if the God Botherers can pull 4% the chances are it would get across the line. The threshold should be lower but the elite will defend 5% tooth and nail. A animal welfare party has the advantage of willing cashed up donators, and the ability to have committees and candidates in probably every electorate in NZ canvassing the party vote.
Stand alone party and it would pull a cross section of votes but within out getting a polling survey done by some snake oil outfit like Hooton’s, I would say 60% of the centre upwards vote in reality. On the cross benches you have the ability to deal if it’s a tight margin. And of course cross party support on animal welfare is a populistic. Just look at the drug testing U turn that only Banks championed till the issue become main stream popular in an election year.
Grant Robertson is in Willie Jackson’s show on Radio Live.
He says there is no such thing as an ABC faction.
I turned off the radio in case he stated discussing the moon landing and Chem Trails.
Perhaps Labour need to get more litigious toward the media, (or at least make public statements about errors of fact), because as far as I know, there have been substantially more public complaints from Labour MPs about what is discussed here on The Standard than what Vance wrote in her article.
ianmac: the evidence of the ABC group is there for all to see, including Shearer’s recent orchestrated media campaign (5-6 separate media appearances/interviews) putting the knife between departing Leader David Cunliffe’s shoulder blades.
Shearer didn’t confidently step up and organise all this just on his lonesome, he was part of a group of MPs.
An active, outspoken and articulate left wing membership is a real threat to right wing corporate policies, and not a threat to left wing principles or sound democracy, at all – in fact the above qualities strengthen left wing principles & democracy – so I can only conclude that the MPs in Labour and others, that are criticising the left wing blogs, have an agenda that is incompatible with left wing and democratic principles.
blue leopard, I suspect that half the bullshit about Labour and the supposed ABC lot came from the Right and created and fueled by Whaleoil. Certain journalist kept on repeating it but without anything better than “Party Insiders tell me” stuff. Where-ever it was sourced it did a great job of creating a massive loss of confidence in the Party.
Wonder if a Labour Review would test the existence of the ABCs?
I hope Olwyn doesn’t mind, but I think her comment on yesterdays ‘Open Mike’ is appropriate for this discussion. I still don’t know how to link to a comment so here is a cut and paste:
16 October 2014 at 8:30 pm
Today on the bus, I think I suddenly grasped the perspective of Labour’s right wingers. I was thinking about Shearer’s recent claim that the LP had been hijacked. Then I remembered Puddleglum quoting Shane Jones as saying, ““I’ve never said this on the record, but I was deeply influenced in a positive way by the figures of the Lange Government. I didn’t do my due diligence to discover how much the Labour Party had changed.”
It seems to me that these people think that the neo-liberal, globalist faction wrested the LP off the old fashioned, unenlightened socialists and that it is now theirs: that the Clark years were merely a transition, allowing people a period of acclimatisation to the new system. Where I see a need to “get the party back” they see the threat of counter-revolution. If I am right then it is very unfortunate that they hold this view at a time when the people who think they are Labour’s constituency desperately need allies in the public sphere.
(my bold).
In my response I gave her a relatively recent personal example which I believe bears out the point she is making.
When certain members of the caucus claim there is no ABC club then they are officially correct. There was/is no club of people called the “ABC Club” in Labour. But in practical terms it exists as a group of people consisting of Labour parliamentarians – and a coterie of supporters outside of parliament – who think pretty much as Olwyn has described in the section which I have highlighted.
@ Anne
Linking to and placing comment address. Try this – you call up the actual comment, you go to the writer’s name and date in blue and click on that so it shows up in the address line at the top of the screen.
Point and right click on that address and choose select, then point and right click again and press copy, transfer to where you want to place link.
That’s the dummies way (mine) but works. You might select this and copy and put it in your notes for when you need it.
Yes, I just read the email through from Grant Robertson to labour members and it is similar. On the e-mail Robertson highlights that he will “listen to all New Zealanders”, well I suggest for starters he listen to New Zealanders talking about the out of control rabble who are the labour Party caucus. He along with the other contenders need to be clear how they are going to deal with the caucus issue…for him to deny there is an ABC faction: unbelievable.
Willie Jackson: “Were you the captain of the Anyone But Cunliffe Club?”
Grant Robertson: “There is no such club.”
Mmm, there is no such club just like there was no Cabinet Club.
Oh, towards the end of that clip – “massively talented guy” Kelvin Davis will be “given an appropriate role” if Grant is leader. Stuart Nash also will have important role to play.
Mr Ure: your lamentations and questions are in vain. Grant Robertson is a very strong candidate with a very good change of winning the leadership challenge.
Kelvin Kelvin Kelvin……find a ladder……climb it……pull it up……not so far that look like Bennet. Gonna be PM one day. Hopes. Fuck the people. All about Kelvin. No respect. Sorry.
Yes it probably isn’t (yet) – but psychologically if the Greens ever overtake Labour in an opinion poll then Labour really will be in trouble.
Once that barrier is breached people will begin to see the Greens not just as a “protest vote” (leaving aside the core Green vote which seems to be sitting at 10%) – it will then start to genuinely attract even more of the left. The next hammering blow would probably if the Unions start to de-affiliate (does such a word exist?). A killing blow would be if any Unions affiliate with the Greens.
Labour have got a long way before they hit bottom. A smart Green Party would presume to assume the mantle “leader of the Opposition”.
The NZ public will continue to punish Labour’s apparent disunity – neither the broader public, nor the media, nor the caucus have the maturity to deal with primary runoffs. And there will be more of them before 2020.
The post-leadership vote caucus will know that anyone who wins will struggle to displace those fault lines of loyalty displayed in the leadership vote. There is no real secrecy to the vote. The factions, I believe, are permanent. This unintended consequence of the constitutional reforms will keep Labour in the 20’s.
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The exploration lays bare the terrifying science, the shattered political process, the unrelenting industry special interests and the civic stasis that have brought us to this social, moral and ecological crossroads.The film also takes us behind-the-scenes of the efforts to organize the largest climate rally in the history of the planet during the UN world climate summit.
This is the story of our unique moment in history. We are living through an age of tipping points and rapid social and planetary change. We’re the first generation to feel the impacts of climate disruption, and the last generation that can do something about it. The film enlarges the issue beyond climate impacts and makes a compelling call for bold action that is strong enough to tip the balance to build a clean energy future.”
Andrew Little’s AMA on NBR. I’ve got mixed feelings about him. Like DC, he won’t talk about welfare, but leaves us to read between the lines. Unfortunately they could be read either way.
Wekarawshark 5.56
If welfare is a dirty word, what hope for those relying on the left to return to a
reciprocal, interactive community-type of society?
I won’t find out what he says because a subscription is required and the NBR – National Business Review minimum for an individual is $130 for 6 months.
@ wekawarshark
I’ve been hearing about these paywalls and hadn’t run into one just when I wanted to read about something. Ouch. It doesn’t do much for me, I wouldn’t get my moneysworth out of it and anyway I like to keep my money for the big bills I need to pay. NBR is a nice to have.
I find that there are so many requests for money from genuine organisations doing genuinely good things that I have to think twice about extra spending.
I’ll try and remember that they put the page up for free for a time (24hrs? Just that business day?). There’s a few here with NBR subs, but most won’t.
well no ones interested in boxing here then!Obviously this site is infected with pacifists,lesbians and wimps that have no time for the merits of manly pugilistic endeavour.They don’t know,dont care,-how far removed from the noble kiwi ideals of rugby,racing and beer has this pale imitation of kiwi heritage called the Labour Party travelled?;)
Revealed: The woman who triggered Shearer’s downfall
Friday Aug 23, 2013 by Claire Trevett, the New Zealand Herald’s deputy political editor
I’m putting this up given the recent statements/melt down by David Shearer in which he accused David Cunliffe of the GFC, the bombing of Hiroshima and the high price of coffee.
“But the Herald has learned MP Maryan Street was preparing a motion of no confidence in Mr Shearer for Tuesday’s meeting.
Plans were also being made to send a delegation to him before that to ask him to stand down rather than force the confidence vote.
The MPs involved were certain the motion would have succeeded if it had been required.
Ms Street would not comment yesterday, but it is understood she decided to front the motion because of growing concerns among MPs over Mr Shearer’s inability to fire as leader and his poor poll ratings.
A source said there had been discussions for months, but nobody was willing to force the issue until Ms Street stepped up.”
“The resignation will trigger Labour’s new leadership selection rules for the first time, giving votes to party members and affiliated unions, as well as MPs.
Gallery The most likely contenders are David Cunliffe and Grant Robertson; both have said they will decide over the next few days whether to run.
Mr Cunliffe said Mr Shearer’s decision had come as a surprise and he did not know what had prompted him to believe he had lost the confidence of his caucus. “We respect he has come to a decision he believes is in the best interests of the Labour Party.”
Mr Robertson said he had been a loyal deputy to Mr Shearer, and had supported him throughout his 20 months as leader. “Everybody in the caucus, as everybody in the wider Labour Party, would like to see us doing better in the polls and David has obviously reflected on that. He made his own decision.”
Andrew Little would not rule out seeking the leadership, but because he is a first-term MP he may be wary of making the run before he is ready. Shane Jones is also unlikely to contest it because he believes he would not get the support. David Parker and Phil Goff both ruled it out.
Labour MPs yesterday said they were saddened by Mr Shearer’s decision, and described him as a man of integrity who had done his best. But none said he had made the wrong decision.”
I really should not go read the herald. Big story about the number of women on the DPB(now called something else) dropping and somehow we should thank Nact? Reprinted press release by the look of it. Do they have to be so uncritical?
Could it perhaps have something to do with the demographics of an aging population meaning fewer people in that age group?
Or possibly women(who are much more likely to be on the DPB) no longer attempting to look after the kids because its nearly impossible at the current levels of harassment.
And more boasting about fewer teen parents on benefits- no mention of whether the birthrate for this category has fallen or whether they are simply not receiving any money- which should be a huge concern for everyone.
This film presents a huge social problem called technological unemployment. Whilst doing so, the film also presents two potential solutions to this major social issue. The transitional path described in the film concerns a transition towards a job guarantee program of environmentally sustainable, socially and scientifically beneficial jobs through a public service program organised by the government, coupled with an eventual transition towards an Unconditional Basic Income.
Happens I’m sort of watching The Graham Norton Show right now. TV3. 9.10 pm Thursday. Hugh Grant and two other very appealing guests.
Does this resonate with anyone ? Paul Henry, world famous in New Zealand apparently, is a MUCH less entertaining, MUCH less bright, MUCH more viperish, Graham Norton rip-off.
Yeah. And Henry’s what we’ve gotta be satisfied with. Yeah ? Really ?
Oh this is fucked, pretensious, Auckland New Zealand then. Snotty wee narcissist Henry. The self proclaimed Prince of the Media. Jeez-uz !
PS – Graham Norton has a considerable and oft-paraded distaste for Hoorah Henry David Cameron. Which is excellent.
Speed learning on today’s economics with Mark Blyth – The Austerity Delusion – in an attractive Scottish brogue.
And it’s condensed so there is more economics and wall charts than from your average lecturer in only 22 minutes. You will be surprised and amazed and you will almost understand what Treasury is thinking, and you may be able to replace one of those useless theories of a human being who if they were truly competitive and efficient, would have tenders for their jobs and therefore cost us half the salary burden.
And you will love him if you are a leftie. He was brought up in Dundee, Scotland by his grandmother and went to school there when schools still worked, and there were opportunities for work also in those days. And so welfare made this guy, plus mothering skills, and now he is an Ivy-league professor in the USA. That’s how the system was supposed to work with social mobility, he says, but now it doesn’t – it’s broken.
A few days ago, a friend sent me a link to a health-related FB page that had published a post from a homeopathist, offering homeopathic “vaccination”¹ against measles (using something called a “Morbillinum nosode” at a “potency” of 200C, which I’ll explain shortly). I followed the link, left a comment ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh This year marks the 20th anniversary of the La Gabarra massacre. The community organised an event to remember the most well-known of the horrendous heart-breaking events that befell the communities of this area of the municipality of Tibú: the massacre carried out on August 21st 1999. ...
There was another police chase in Christchurch this morning, resulting in a crash which killed one person and injured five more. Because someone died, the chase is being investigated by the Independent Police Conduct Authority. And based on previous reports by the IPCA, we know how it will go: the ...
Just a month ago we saw the biggest protest in a generation as people marched to demand stronger action on climate change. A core demand of the protesters was to strengthen the Zero Carbon Bill's target to net-zero by 2040. So what is the government's response? Judging by the ...
Back in 2010, I wrote about the strange tale of the zombie ants, which do the bidding of their fungal overlords. (They’re not an isolated example; a range of parasites change their hosts’ behaviour. See here and here for example – though as you’ll find, the toxoplasmosis story may be ...
Shouldn't That Be: "Wrong White Crowd"? Rather than apportion guilt, would it not have been wiser for the makers of Land Of The Long White Cloud to accept that the Pakeha of 2019 are not – and never will be – “Europeans”? Just as contemporary Maori are not – and ...
One, Two, Many Truths: With the collapse of “actually existing socialism” in 1991, the universities of the West found themselves saddled with a new mission. With their ideological competitors now soundly defeated they were no longer required to demonstrate the superiority of capitalist values. Their job now was to cement ...
by the Council of Disobedient Women We call on the Council of Trade Unions to show some fortitude and take a stand with your sisters. Unionists know that there is a material world, otherwise workers could simply identify out of poverty. They could declare themselves Well Paid. Why stop ...
I spent some time reading the Regulatory Impact Statement and Bill of Rights Act advice for the government's odious control order scheme today. I am not impressed with either of them. Starting with the RIS, it is built on some pretty questionable assumptions. For example:Unless individuals have been convicted of ...
#NoFly: Walking the talk on climate change, by Shaun Hendy. BWB Texts, 2019. Reviewed by Robert McLachlan In June 2018, Swede Maja Rosén founded We stay on the ground with a pledge not to fly in 2019, and a goal of persuading 100,000 other Swedes to join her. In August, ...
We all know that NZ First is a party of and for old people who hate the young. But they've topped their previous pedophobia with a proposal that all young people be forced to do 100 hours community work:NZ First wants all young people to do 100 hours of community ...
A couple days ago the NZ Herald published a story with the headline, “Science says Bella Hadid is world’s most beautiful woman“, and followed up with the ridiculous statement that Supermodel Bella Hadid has been declared as the world’s most beautiful woman following a scientific study into what constitutes as ...
A Sustainable Proposition: With as much as 18 percent of the electorate declaring itself “undecided” about who to vote for, there is obviously plenty of space for a party like former Green Party member, Vernon Tava's, about-to-be-launched "Sustainable NZ Party" to move into. The most hospitable political territory for such ...
Keir Starmer has hinted that Labour might vote in favour of the Johnson government's shoddy deal, with the proviso that a second referendum is attached:Speaking to BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show, he said: “We will see what that looks like but it makes sense to say that by whatever ...
In 1994, I was the editor for an issue of Planet magazine focused on cannabis, its culture and the prospects for the end of its prohibition. Part of that issue was an interview with 'Ringo', an experienced cannabis dealer.I recently posted my essay from that issue, and I figured it ...
Dr Helen Waite, sports sociologist and former elite athlete, on the invasion of women’s sport by men and the anti-scientific and misogynist ideology used to rationalise it. ...
As Brexit comes to a grisly conclusion (perhaps) people on all sides are saying intemperate and uwise things. Some, like the Daly Mail, have been doing it for years.People as normally level headed as Jon Lansman are calling for automatic deselection of MPs who vote against a (likely) Labour three ...
I've got one source saying more Labour MPs than expected are mulling whether to vote for the deal - including names who were not on the letter to Juncker and Tusk— Emilio Casalicchio (@e_casalicchio) 17 October 2019 I've compiled a list of possible reasons why Labour ...
On Wednesday, the government was loudly telling us that it needed to legislate to allow it to impose "control orders" - effectively a parole regime, but imposed without charge, prosecution, conviction or real evidence - on suspected terrorists because they couldn't be prosecuted for their supposed crimes. Today, it turns ...
On Monday, the Hit and Run inquiry heard from NZDF's former director of special operations, who claimed that the defence Minister knew everything about the Operation Burnham raid. Today, the inquiry heard from that (former) Minister - and it turns out that he didn't know nearly as much as NZDF ...
Yoga gurus and cult leaders – I’ve seen a few. Two weeks ago, I unknowingly joined an alleged new-age cult at the Kāpiti coast, together with a giant kraken and some neatly dressed pensioners who would make any book club proud.They were among the two hundred people of all ages ...
The last decade has seen a trend of increasing weapons availability to police. Assault rifles. Tasers on every hip. Guns in cars. And following the march 15 massacre, pistols on every hip, all over the country. At the same time, its also seen an increase in the abuse of force: ...
In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been busy preparing for our summer paper on Science Communication. Looking for something amusing about ‘risk’ in science, I came across this neat xkcd.com cartoon about why so many people come knocking on my door (or phoning me, or emailing me) desperately wanting ...
by John Edmundson The International Socialist Organisation (ISO) have recently reposted a February article, by Romany Tasker-Poland, explaining ISO’s position in the “trans rights” debate. It is available on their website and on their Facebook Page. The article sets out to explain why “socialists support trans rights”. It reads more ...
"Auckland City Mission: 10% of Kiwis experiencing food insecurity", RNZ, 16 October 2019:About half a million people are experiencing food insecurity, according to new research from the Auckland City Mission. Food insecurity, or food poverty, is defined as not having enough appropriate food. The City Mission said over the last ...
Media Statement for Immediate Release 16th October 2019 “Fake News” from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers Despite comments from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers—Herald Newspaper Tuesday Oct 15th–there is very little evidence ...
Would You Buy A Used Propaganda Video From This Man? Bridges and the National Party’s strategists have discovered that the ideas and attitudes considered acceptable by today’s editors and journalists are no longer enforceable. The rise and rise of the Internet and the social media platforms it spawned means that ...
There is plenty of evidence of the way the business mentality has permeated every level of society since the recrudescence of market liberalism 35 years ago. You only need to think of how citizens in need of help from their government, their state, their country, are now routinely described as ...
John MacCormickOver the last 40 years, New Zealanders – and people in other countries – have experienced big changes in the jobs they do and where they live and work. These changes include: a decline in manufacturing jobs an increase in jobs in ‘information-intensive’ industries (which are better paid ...
Nick Wilson, Leah Grout, Mereana Wilson, Anja Mizdrak, Phil Shoemack, Michael BakerProtecting waterways has the benefits of: (1) protecting water from hazardous microbes; (2) minimising cancer risk and other problems from nitrates in water; (3) avoiding algal blooms that are hazardous to health; (4) protecting mahinga kai uses (cultural ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women In a press release today Massey University announced it has decided to rebrand and reorientate after struggling to be a University for grown-ups. For some time the University has wanted to be a safe play space for wee-woke-misogynists who have been really badly triggered ...
After a brief dalliance with 'hard Revoke' it looks like the Lib Dems are changing ground on on Brexit, with leader Jo Swinson reverting to calling for a second referendum on Johnson's deal.The party has tabled an amendment to the Queen’s speech requesting that any deal brought back from Brussels ...
The government has decided that someone has done Something Bad. But despite their belief, there seems to be no evidence that they have actually broken the law. So the government's solution is to pass a retrospective law allowing them to be punished anyway, on a lower standard of proof. If ...
So, Judith Collins has done a Facebook rant about climate change, peddling the same shit National has been shovelling for the past twenty years: the impacts are overstated, there's no need to do anything about it, and its too hard anyway (oh, and its so unfair that people who peddle ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzThere is a lot of discussion on the benefits of ...
I came across this song quite by accident. If it isn't one of Greta Thunberg's favourites - it should be.Video courtesy of YouTube.This post is exclusive to Bowalley Road. ...
Last month, NZDF's shoddy coverup of what it knew about civilian casualties in Operation Burnham began to fall apart, with the revelation that a report on the matter, which NZDF claimed not to have, had been sitting in an NZDF safe for the past nine years. Yesterday, the man responsible ...
While many imagine that countries like the USA and Europe dominate space activities, in fact India is now a major player on this stage. It launches satellites for its own purposes and also commercially, and has constellations orbiting our planet and returning data of vital importance to that nation in ...
Thanks to a report from the Acting Inspector General of Intelligence and Security following a complaint by Nicky Hager, we have come to find out that the SIS illegally spied on Mr. Hager on behalf of the NZDF after publication of Hager’s 2011 book, Other People’s Wars. The NZDF justified ...
COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING MYTH 1: Global temperatures are rising at a rapid, unprecedented rate. FACT: The HadCRUT3 surface temperature index, produced by the Hadley Centre of the UK Met Office and the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, shows warming to 1878, cooling to 1911, ...
For the past week, Extinction Rebellion has been peacefully protesting in London to demand action on climate change. The British government's response? Ban their protests:Police have banned Extinction Rebellion protests from continuing anywhere in London, as they moved in almost without warning to clear protesters who remained at the movement’s ...
An essay by Judith Collins MP reported on Carbon News yesterday seems to show an alarming shift in attitude within the National Party. Collins argues against the Zero Carbon Bill, the Paris Agreement, and downplays the magnitude of climate impacts. The Paris Agreement was adopted in December 2015 and ratified ...
When they were running for election, Labour promised to overhaul the Employment Relations Act and introduce fair pay agreements to set basic pay and conditions on an industry level, preventing bad employers from undercutting good ones. They followed this up by establishing a working group, which reported back in January ...
A list of indicators of bad science – many of these are found in articles promoted by anti-fluoride activists. Anti-fluoride activists have been pouring money into a scaremongering campaign warning pregnant women not to drink fluoridated water. They claim fluoride will lower the IQ of their future child. Fluoride ...
Nothing Left To Say: Labour's pollster, Stephen Mills, remains swaddled-up in the comforting myths of the 1980s. As if the experience of Roger Douglas’s genuinely radical post-Muldoon policy agenda was literally a once-in-a-lifetime thing – as much as the party could possibly absorb for at least the next 50 years.MEMO ...
The Royal Commission on abuse in care is very significant for the disability community. For many decades last century, thousands of disabled children, and adults who managed to survive, were locked away from families and communities. This was not for anything they had done, but for the perceived threat their ...
With an unfair voting system, uneven electorates and an un-elected upper house, the UK's "democracy" is barely worthy of the name. But now the government wants to make it worse:The government has been accused of suppressing voters’ rights with the potential disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of people after plans ...
Back in the 90's and early 2000's, the building industry was building leaky homes which should never have been granted consent. Now it turns out they've been building dodgy office blocks as well:New imaging technology has revealed hundreds of major buildings nationwide have defective or missing concrete or reinforcing steel. ...
Local body election results were released over the weekend, to joy or despair depending on where you live. In Auckland, Phil Goff trounced John Tamihere, who is muttering darkly about running for Parliament again (but which party would want him?) Wellington is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Weta Workshop, except ...
How could government evolve over the next decades? Reports of democracy’s imminent demise are greatly exaggerated. However, satisfaction with political systems in many countries is low, so there is much to do for governments of all political stripes to improve relevance and trust. Digital technologies are seen as one ...
Two years have now gone by since the Friday afternoon when my university-student son and I headed out of our Barcelona flat to a nearby primary school, designated as a polling station for the vote that was to be held the following Sunday: the referendum on Catalonia’s independence from Spain ...
Overruled: The joint decision of Finance Minister, Grant Robertson (Labour) and his Associate Minister, David Parker (Labour) arguably the two most powerful ministers in Jacinda Ardern’s government, to grant OceanaGold the consents which Land Information Minister, Eugenie Sage (Greens) had earlier denied them, offers bitter proof of how hard fighting ...
More than double the number of people who will vote in this year’s local body elections have tried marijuana or urinated somewhere they shouldn’t have. As local elections look set for the lowest turnout in decades, with many regions falling well short of 40%, the Government is exploring a number ...
A Statement on Abortion Law Reform by the Council of Disobedient Women On the eve of bringing an end to antiquated, anti-women abortion laws Green MP Jan Logie intends to write women out of the Bill. With a stroke of the pen, the woke are aiming for total erasure ...
Musings continue apace about “the experienced businessman!” soon to be taking up a National Party MP position. Or to be more accurate, being parachuted into a seat to shut down their former MP Jamie-Lee Ross, who despite his own shortcomings shed at least some more light on the inner workings ...
The Ugandan government wants to murder gay people:Uganda has announced plans to impose the death penalty on homosexuals. The bill, colloquially known as “Kill the Gays” in Uganda, was nullified five years ago on a technicality, but the government said on Thursday it plans to resurrect it within weeks. The ...
Hassan Vally, La Trobe UniversityWho doesn’t want to know if drinking that second or third cup of coffee a day will improve your memory, or if sleeping too much increases your risk of a heart attack? We’re invested in staying healthy and many of us are interested in reading ...
Freedom Of Speech? The Säuberung (cleansing by fire) was the work of the German Student Union which, on 10 May 1933, under the watchful eye of the Nazi Reichminister for Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, consigned 25,000 books to the flames in a ritual exorcism of “un-German thought”. According to the logic of the ...
“There can be no such thing as kaupapa Māori political parties or politics in Aotearoa” (Willie Jackson, Labour Party (2017). Māori TV, General/List Election Special) I begin with that claim because at the time, I was confounded at first that it fell out of Willie Jackson’s mouth, and then ...
New Zealand has prided itself for decades with regard to its lack of pollution, and all will be aware that the ‘100% Pure New Zealand‘ meme is under threat through land, water and air pollution of various causes. There is another type of contamination that the country also faces: light ...
New Zealand’s media is doing its part in Japan, reassuring those in the path of the storm that they won’t miss any rugby while away from their flooded homes. New Zealand sports reporters stationed in Japan for the Rugby World Cup have had the rare and heartwarming opportunity to inform ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones is the only Cabinet member in favour of putting it all on green. As Finance Minister Grant Robertson finds himself with an enormous $7.5 billion surplus, the Government has begun intense, at times contentious conversations about whether to put the money on red or black at ...
by Susanne Kemp At the start of September close to 100,000 school teachers went on strike in Jordan. They demanded a 50% pay rise. A pay rise actually agreed to by the regime back in 2014. In early October, however, in the face of government repression and threats, the teachers’ ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzWhy do people still think climate change isn’t real?David ...
Back in 2011, journalist Nicky Hager published Other People's Wars, an expose on NZDF's activities over the previous decade of the "war on terror". NZDF didn't like this, and especially didn't like the fact that it was base don leaks from their own. So, they had the SIS investigate him ...
The Zero Carbon Bill is due back from select committee in two weeks, and will likely pass its final stages in November. So naturally, farmers are planning a hate-march against it. But they're not just demanding lower methane targets so they can keep on destroying the planet; they're also demanding ...
Last year, California burned. This year, to stop it happening again (or rather, to stop themselves from being found liable if it happens again), Pacific Gas and Electric is cutting power to half the state for a week:Schools are closed. Traffic lights down. Tunnels dark. Businesses unopened. Hospitals running on ...
The Best Way: Missing from the on-line voting debate is any reference to the voting system that produces turn-out figures ranging from 77 to 93 percent of registered voters. The voting system used to collect and count the votes cast in our parliamentary elections. The system that involves citizens making ...
Among the great new bunch of political friends we have been making recently is the excellent Australian-based Marxist gender-critical site, Freer Lives. So we asked the comrade who set up that blog to write something for Redline on the blog, himself, his analysis of the rise of gender politics and ...
by Don Franks The Auckland City Mission is struggling with a 40 percent increase in demand for food parcels this year. A total of 23,020 were needed by June. Last month Missioner Chris Farrelly told the Herald the “cupboards are bare” and without an emergency food drive, he can’t see ...
Journalist Andrew Dickens, reporting from the 2019 New Zealand First Conference, states that the Party once again proved “they are more than a sideshow”. In his op-ed article for NewstalkZB, Mr Dickens said he has always been an admirer of the Party, saying they are “a true centrist party”. “[NZ ...
New Zealand First's potential policy of compulsory community service for ages 15-19 years old has been getting support from those in the industry. A policy remit was passed during their recent Conference in Christchurch, gaining the support of a majority of its membership. Party leader Winston Peters has been talking ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says the Party hopes to decide it’s stance pill testing at music festivals "before the season of concern", with festivals generally held during the summer months. Mr Peters' comments come in an interview with TVNZ's Q+A and follow a remit from the party's youth ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says he has been told to be "alert" to potential cost blowouts for the light rail project in Auckland. Mr Peters said no such concerns were raised with him from ministerial colleagues, including Transport Minister Phil Twyford of the Labour Party. He suggested that ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters Leader of New Zealand First The Benefits of having New Zealand First in the Centre: Security, Experience & Balance 2.00pm, 20th October 2019 Ladies and Gentlemen Thank you all for your warm welcome to this, the party’s 26thConvention. Speaking on behalf of caucus colleagues, it’s great to ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs Fletcher Tabuteau is travelling to the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu this week to continue toadvance important bilateral relationships in our region consistent with thePacific Reset. Mr Tabuteau will engage in a range of bilateral meetings and visit New Zealand development ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is predicting a hard Brexit for the United Kingdom, as he believes British Prime Minister Boris Johnson won’t be able to negotiate terms before the October 30 deadline. The Minister, who was one of the first to publicly come out and predict British voters would leave ...
Speaking at the Council of Trade Unions' (CTU) biennial conference, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters told unionists that any future attacks on the Government won't work. "Now, we are being attacked by the union movement in this country. You can have your views but I'm here to say standing ...
We want every New Zealander to be happy, safe, and healthy. To do this, we need to support strong, safe communities, and a robust and efficient health system. ...
Defence Minister Ron Mark has used his powers to overrule a noise complaint ruling against Whenuapai airbase on the grounds of "national security". The Environment Court last month released a ruling in favour of a private developer, declaring the Auckland airbase had to comply with noise restrictions when it performs ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has opened fire against "unreconstructed morons" after NZ First MP Shane Jones was photographed on holiday holding an AR-15 rifle. Mr Peters is defending Mr Jones, telling Magic Talk host Peter Williams that his MP was just having fun "like most people do". "The ...
New Zealand First Deputy Leader and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau was in attendance during the morning blessing of the Rotorua Lakefront development project. Around 60 people gathered on the shores of Lake Rotorua, including city mayor Steve Chadwick and deputy Dave Donaldson. The Lakefront development is a ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones is considering reining in on conversions of farmland to forestry, and also issued a warning to foreign-owned forestry companies that make up nearly 75 per cent of the industry. He said too many foreign companies had not provided enough access for domestic processors to get timber. ...
Speaking to Radio NZ, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the tightening of the parental category visa is a direct result of the Party’s coalition negotiations with the Labour Party. He said the new changes switch the financial onus from the parent moving to New Zealand to the child ...
The Coalition Government is set to cut red tape in the building and construction sector in an effort to allow more houses to be built, including prefabricated houses. The changes will enable the mass factory production of "high quality" buildings, slash the likely number of building inspections for factory produced ...
Since coming into Government, we’ve worked hard to tackle homelessness and make sure everyone has a warm, dry home. And today, on World Homeless Day, we want to report back and update you on our progress so far. ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has hit back at National Party leader Simon Bridges who criticized the Coalition Government’s approach to crime, and said that the latter isn't credible in his attack on the Government over gang recruitment. "We've got as massive drug problem in this country. It is ...
New Zealand Mānuka honey exporters have welcomed an initiative by the Coalition Government to help secure the term “mānuka honey” to be used exclusively by Kiwi exporters, ensuring that our multimillion-dollar industry is protected. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones had recently announced that a Provincial Growth Funding of $5.7 ...
Political commentator Mike Hosking has labelled New Zealand First leader Winston Peters as “the voice of reason in a government soft on drugs”, for the Party’s stance on drug testing at music festivals. “If common sense is worth a vote, Winston Peters is quids in,” Mr Hosking said. The Labour ...
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau has announced Provincial Growth Funding to ensure work opportunities in Turangi and Whanganui, through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi. A fund of $500,000 will go to Rafting NZ in Turangi for a 16-week river guide training course to train ...
Treasury has shown that the Coalition Government has a $7.5 billion surplus, which is $4 billion higher than what was expected in the 2019 Budget unveiled last May. It is also $2 billion higher than the actual surplus unveiled this time last year, and at a size that has not ...
Official Information Act figures released to NZME show there were 350 assaults on officers in the year to the end of June, 79 more than the year before. The increase in attacks have sparked calls for more legal protection for first responders to be enacted. The assaults included officers being ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
We're making progress on tackling the long-term challenges: from homelessness, to strengthening border security, to bringing banking back New Zealand's small towns. ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones has backed the ambitious plan to move Auckland’s port to Northport, at Whangarei harbour, which he says will be the “King Kong of infrastructure”. The plan is part of the recommendations of a six-person independent working group, which has recommended the Ports of Auckland be ...
A six-member independent working group selected the option of moving Auckland’s port to Northport, in Whangarei, ahead of other options. In what could be New Zealand’s most ambitious infrastructure project yet, a major expansion of the Marsden Point port could happen within 15 years. The project, officially called the “Upper ...
The final Electricity Price Review recommended prohibiting prompt payment discounts but allowing “reasonable” late fees. The findings of this review was welcomed by the Coalition Government, but they hope companies will follow through with its recommendations without regulations needed to be passed. Meridian Energy had already stopped prompt payment discounts, ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi,will invest nearly $600,000 to ensure work opportunities for locals in Turangia and Whanganui, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “I’m pleased to announce the PGF ...
An export-led economy is one of New Zealand First’s key principles, and our commitment to achieving this is shown by the continuing skyrocketing demand for our beef and sheep meat exports. Beef + Lamb New Zealand's New Season Outlook 2019-20 report forecasts beef, lamb and mutton prices to lift from ...
A Bill to improve prison security and ensure the fair, safe, and humane treatment of people in prison while upholding public safety has passed its third reading. Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says the Corrections Amendment Bill makes a number of changes to ensure the Corrections Act 2004 is fit for ...
Minister for Māori Development, Nanaia Mahuta, has selected Arihia Bennett MNZM, Chief Executive Officer of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, as the Te Puni Kōkiri appointed representative on the New Zealand-China Council. The New Zealand-China Council (the Council) was established in 2012 as a New Zealand led and funded organisation ...
Responsibility for processing the small number of Southern Response claims still to be settled will be transferred to EQC by the end of the year. “As claim numbers reduce, it no longer makes sense for the Crown to have two organisations processing the remaining Canterbury claims,” Grant Robertson says. “Since ...
Health Minister David Clark is encouraging Whanganui residents to take up the opportunity for free bowel screening, which can detect cancer early when it’s easier to treat. Over the next two years 12,000 Whanganui locals, aged 60 to 74 will be invited to participate in the National Bowel Screening ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio, heads to Oslo today to represent New Zealand at the sixth Our Ocean Conference, which is being hosted by the Norwegian Government from the 23-24 October. “The Our Ocean Conference mobilises real action on issues like marine plastic pollution and the impacts of ...
Two secondary-school initiatives are being expanded as part of the Government’s plan to see more young New Zealanders take up a trade to help close the skills gap. This includes the largest single increase in Trades Academy places in recent years. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Education Minister Chris ...
Session 4: Pacific Connectivity – Youth, Media and New Opportunities Kia ora tatou katoa and Warm Pacific greetings to one and all. Representatives of Tainui, the local people of the land, or manawhenua – the indigenous peoples of this area – have welcomed you this morning in accordance with ...
The Government today announced its support for a project that could substantially reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions from cattle. The announcement was made as part of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor’s visit to Nelson’s Cawthron Aquaculture Park. The Cawthron Institute will receive $100,000 from the Government’s ...
Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni has welcomed the first reading of the New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran’s Pension Legislation Amendment Bill. “Every New Zealander has a stake in New Zealand Superannuation and Veteran’s Pension,” says Carmel Sepuloni. “They are our most common form of social assistance – nearly 800,000 New ...
Babies in Auckland aged six months and over can receive a free vaccination and children will all have access to vaccines, Associate Minister of Health Julie Anne Genter announced today at Papatoetoe High School. The move comes as part of Government efforts to step up the fight against measles. ...
***Check against delivery*** Good morning. It is a pleasure to be here, and to have the honour of opening this important conference on behalf of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. Let us take the opportunity to acknowledge all the people who have helped make today possible, including our special ...
Police Minister Stuart Nash says the safety of frontline officers and members of the public will be the focus of a new trial of specialist Police response teams in three of our largest urban centres. Police have this morning released details of an initiative to be trialled in Counties Manukau, ...
The Minister of Fisheries is calling for entries for a new public award to celebrate innovation in our seafood sector. “I have established the Seafood Sustainability Awards to recognise and celebrate those throughout industry, tangata whenua and communities who demonstrate outstanding dedication and innovation towards the sustainability of New Zealand’s ...
Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter welcomes leaders in the private sector taking action on closing their gender pay gaps to ensure a fairer workplace for all New Zealanders. Ms Genter today launched a new report, Addressing the gender pay gap and driving women’s representation in senior leadership, from the Champions for ...
Government Ministers today welcomed the release of a marine environment report highlighting the four key issues affecting our oceans, estuaries and coastlines. The release underlines the importance of government proposals to combat climate pollution, ensure clean freshwater, protect biodiversity, make land use more sustainable, and reduce waste and plastic. Environment ...
The Government has approved funding for a new acute mental health facility for Waikato which will provide better care and support to people with mental health and addiction issues. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Health Minister Dr David Clark announced the $100 million project to replace the aging Henry Rongomau ...
The Government is making progress on its goal to integrate te reo Māori into education by 2025, with over 500 teachers and support staff already graduating from Te Ahu o te Reo Māori, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. Kelvin Davis made the announcement at an awards ceremony in Waikanae today, for ...
Statistics Minister James Shaw has welcomed the first release of 2018 Census data. The first release of data today, 23 September, includes key data on population, regional growth, the number of homes and the size of different ethnic groups in New Zealand. Data from the 2018 Census will support the ...
Minister for Statistics James Shaw today announced a public consultation on a proposed algorithm charter for government agencies. The charter has been developed by the Government Chief Data Steward in response to growing calls for more transparency in government use of data. Computer algorithms – procedures or formulas for solving ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor, Climate Change Minister James Shaw and visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte co-hosted a business roundtable in Auckland this morning focused on working together to address climate change. “The Netherlands is an important partner for New Zealand. We share a strong agricultural history. Sustainable agribusiness and ...
The Government is taking action to build an inclusive economy where more of us receive our fair share at work and businesses can compete on great products and services, not undercutting wages and conditions, Immigration and Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. Two consultations launched today seek feedback ...
The future for New Zealand’s threatened indigenous freshwater fish looks brighter with the passing of the Conservation (Indigenous Freshwater Fish) Amendment Bill in Parliament today said Minister of Conservation, Eugenie Sage. “Until now, our freshwater fish legislation has been 20 years out of date. We have lacked effective tools to ...
At 1.30pm tomorrow, hundreds of thousands of Kiwis will join about 65 million people around the globe in ShakeOut, the world’s biggest earthquake drill. The annual drill is to remind people of the right action to take during an earthquake which is to Drop, Cover, Hold, and to practise their ...
Kiwis are benefiting from higher wage growth and low inflation under the Coalition Government. Stats NZ data out today shows the rise in the cost of living remains low, as annual Consumers Price Index (CPI) inflation fell to 1.5% in September from 1.7% in June. “The low inflation comes as ...
New Zealand’s economic strength and resilience has been recognised in a major update on the state of the global economy. The IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook released overnight shows a reduced global growth forecast over the next two years as issues like the US-China trade war and Brexit take hold. ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little has today introduced a new Bill to prevent terrorism and support the de-radicalisation of New Zealanders returning from overseas. The Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill gives the New Zealand Police the ability to apply to the High Court to impose control orders on New Zealanders who ...
A Bill that proposes targeted changes to simplify the processes for Māori land owners when engaging with the Māori Land Court has had its First Reading today. “The approach taken by the Government is to ensure that the protection of Māori land remains a priority as we seek to improve ...
Let me first thank all the new unionists and members in the room. There is nothing more important to improving people’s working lives than people making the decision to care, to get on board and help, to take up the reins and get involved. Congratulations to you. You bring the ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark has signed a certificate exempting the activity of engine testing at Whenuapai Airbase from the Resource Management Act 1991. The Act gives the Minister of Defence the power to exempt activities for the purposes of national security. The certificate will mean the recent Environment Court ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced New Zealand will join the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action while attending APEC meetings in Chile. The objective of the 39 member Coalition is to share information and promote action to tackle climate change. It was formed in April this year, in ...
Feedback sought– Lyttelton commercial zone parking The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Poto Williams, is seeking feedback on a proposal to remove on-site car parking requirements for new developments in the Lyttelton commercial zone. The proposal, by Christchurch City Council, asks that powers under section 71 of the Greater ...
Hon Minister Poto Williams Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration MEDIA STATEMENT Tuesday 15 October 2019 Feedback sought – Hagley Oval The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Poto Williams, is seeking feedback on a proposal about Hagley Oval. The proposal was developed by Regenerate Christchurch ...
Ladies and gentlemen, NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff, members of respective unions – thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. This might be preaching to the choir, but the importance of trade unions in New Zealand’s historical arch is difficult to understate. And it is my belief that ...
"Let’s start by acknowledging that it has been a huge year. " Police Association Annual Conference James Cook Grand Chancellor Hotel Wellington Nau mai, haere mai. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, ka nui te mihi, ki a koutou katoa. President of the Police Association, Chris Cahill; Members of the Association and ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters and Minister of Defence Ron Mark have announced the New Zealand Government’s decision to again deploy a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 (P-3) maritime patrol aircraft to support the implementation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions imposing sanctions against North Korea. New ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand continues to have serious concerns for peace and stability in north-east Syria. “Recent reports that hundreds of ISIS-affiliated families have fled from a camp are deeply concerning from a humanitarian and security perspective”, Mr Peters says. “While we acknowledge Turkey’s domestic security ...
Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor is warning travelling Kiwis to be vigilant as the high-season for the crop-eating brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is under way. “We’re on high alert to stop BMSB arriving in NZ. The high season runs until April 30 and we’ve strengthened our measures to stop stink ...
The Government is moving swiftly to change the law to improve the welfare and pastoral care of students living in university halls of residence and other tertiary hostels. Cabinet has agreed to several changes, including creating a new mandatory Code of Practice that sets out the duty of pastoral care ...
The Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage has launched a new comprehensive trapping guide for community trappers to help them protect our native birds, plants and other wildlife, at Zealandia in Wellington today. ‘A practical guide to trapping’, has been developed by the Department of Conservation (DOC), and was launched during ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter welcomes PHARMAC’s move to improve access to long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs). PHARMAC has today announced it will fund the full cost of Mirena and Jaydess for anyone seeking long term contraception, lifting previous restrictions on access to Mirena. “I welcome women having greater choices ...
By Rebecca Ananian-Welsh Australians picked up their morning papers yesterday to find heavily blacked-out text instead of front-page headlines. This bold statement was instigated by the “Your Right to Know” campaign, an unlikely coalition of Australian media organisations fighting for press freedom and source protection. A key reform advocated by a ...
Surrounding sites evacuated and one reported hospitalised in serious condition as blaze rips through two floors of the under-construction building in the Auckland CBDLast updated: 6.30pmParts of central Auckland have been brought to a standstill this afternoon after a major fire broke out shortly after 1pm at the Sky City ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Phil McManus, Professor of Urban and Environmental Geography: Head of School of Geosciences, University of Sydney In the wake of a shocking ABC report on the dismal end of many racehorses’ lives in slaughterhouses, many Australians are questioning whether the horse racing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mohiuddin Ahmed, Lecturer of Computing & Security, Edith Cowan University Machines and the internet are woven into the fabric of our society. A growing number of users, devices and applications work together to produce what we now call “big data”. And this ...
After an unusually nasty campaign for their country, Canada has gone to the polls. They’ve decided that Justin Trudeau will continue as prime minister, but just like in New Zealand, he’ll have to work with coalition politics. What’s happened?After a brutal and at times humiliating campaign, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau has ...
“The Prime Minister must publicly support an immediate ban on Gay Conversion Therapy . If I was Jacinda I would feel morally obligated to give more confidence on where I stand, when I have asked for, and received, support from that community.” ...
New abortion law marks significant and needed progress for reproductive rights in New Zealand Amnesty International has today made its submission to the Abortion Legislation Committee in Wellington. The rights at stake in the legislation include the rights ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Transport Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): NZ Transport Agency to Phil Twyford: We should have done better ...
Crisis of Safety and Confidence in our Engineering, Building and Construction Industries Please find attached a copy of an Open Letter from Professor Maan Alkaisi, Spokesperson CTV Families Group. This was sent a short time ago to the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern, ...
Safe speed limits are survivable speed limits and this is what AT has endorsed in its step change decision today. This decision is a landmark that sets the scene for a new focus on road safety in New Zealand. ...
The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) says the inadequate treatment of urology patients in Southern District Health Board is distressing and should serve as a broad reminder to DHB management to listen when specialists raise concerns. ...
Informed via telegram that Netflix has released a full trailer for the new season of The Crown, Tara Ward puts on her best boxhat and white gloves to find out what round three will bring. The good Lorde told us we’ll never be royals, so the first full trailer for the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Dehm, Lecturer, University of Technology Sydney Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie has some sobering reading to do over the coming weeks: an 88-page Senate report into the government-sponsored bill to repeal the medevac law that allow refugees and asylum seekers in Papua ...
Eric Crampton has fun imagining a version of MBIE that worried it could be subject to cartel criminalisation provisions for the anticompetitive regimes it has established. ...
Criminologist Antje Deckert has just completed a two-year study of how women offenders are portrayed in New Zealand newspapers. The results show that journalists are telling very different stories abut Māori and Pākehā. That our criminal justice system is in desperate need of reform and that we need to reduce the ...
China continues its march into the Pacific with a China-Pacific Island Countries Economic Development and Cooperation Forum in Samoa this week. Ahead of the forum, Beijing has signed seven new agreements with Samoa covering education, trade, e-commerce, investment, infrastructure and agriculture. China’s Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua heads his delegation in Apia ...
It might be tempting to yell, but there are more effective ways to talk to doubters about the value of vaccines, write Julie Leask and Maryke Steffens.Your neighbour is telling you about his new baby. He feels nervous about vaccinating, and says he’s considering delaying Lucy’s vaccines.Your mother’s group is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Debra Wain, Academic in Professional and Creaive Writing, Deakin University Why do we tell stories, and how are they crafted? In this series, we unpick the work of the writer on both page and screen. Anna Spargo-Ryan’s debut novel, The Paper House ...
The Movies, a documentary series that celebrates movies and their impact on culture, is available on TVNZ OnDemand today. Sam Brooks pulls some of the best quotes from its galaxy of stars.Ever wanted to get a snapshot of cinematic history without leaving the comfort of your couch, or even your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ronald F Pol, Senior researcher NZ, La Trobe University Money laundering rarely gets as literal as the case in Thailand last week, where police raided homes of a ring suspected of laundering a billion baht (about A$48 million) of drug proceeds and ...
The NZTA chair has acknowledged the agency dropped the ball in its early handling of Auckland's light rail project, as the NZ Infra proposal grips ministers. ...
On Friday it was announced that Armed Offenders Squad patrols will be trialled in Counties Manukau, Waikato and Canterbury over the next six months. The data suggests this will increase police violence and unfairly target Māori, writes Emilie Rākete.Police Commissioner Mike Bush announced on Friday that cars of Armed Offender ...
This summary is provided to assist in the understanding of the Court’s judgment. It does not comprise part of the reasons for that judgment. The full judgment with reasons is the only authoritative document. The full text of the judgment and reasons ...
There’s something about the feeling of wind whipping my face that brings me out of my head and into the moment. Once a month we pedal as a group: recreating the feeling of childlike glee riding our bikes together, writes Helen King.The first bike I learned to ride belonged to ...
More than 10,000 school support staff around the country have begun two weeks of paid union meetings to discuss progress on pay equity, and next steps following the Ministry of Education's failure to present a collective agreement offer. ...
Government ministers are adamant New Zealand’s economic fundamentals are solid, unemployment is at a record low, growth is faster than in Australia, and the surplus in the government accounts and low debt present further opportunities to strengthen the economy. Yet, across the road from the Beehive, the view from the ...
Wellington's mayor-elect Andy Foster says talk about a recount is causing a "distraction" for the council at the start of their term, but the incumbent Justin Lester says it's essential for a democratic process. ...
Police Commissioner Mike Bush has today announced an independent review of the systems and processes NZ Police has in place to address complaints of bullying. ...
The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry has formalised an integrated pathway for survivors to seek justice for the abuse they suffered in State care or in the care of faith-based institutions. ...
The small-claims mediation process is meant to give real people a voice, but the financial and emotional sacrifice just isn’t worth it, writes Jai BreitnauerWhen we moved to the semi-rural dreamland of Te Henga (Bethell’s Beach) in 2017, we couldn’t imagine that anything would be able to tarnish the beautiful ...
The New Zealand Bar Association welcomes a Court of Appeal decision which gives detailed guidance on sentencing people convicted of offences related to the importation, manufacture and supply of methamphetamine. ...
Methamphetamine (meth) dealers who can prove their own addiction caused their drug offending could have their sentences cut by 30 per cent, according to a landmark judgement released by the Court of Appeal. The role of an offender in a drug network ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Ananian-Welsh, Senior Lecturer, TC Beirne School of Law, The University of Queensland Australians picked up their morning papers yesterday to find heavily blacked-out text instead of front-page headlines. This bold statement was instigated by the “Your Right to Know” campaign, an ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul McGreevy, Professor of Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare Science, University of Sydney The slaughter of horses bred for racing in Australia, as revealed in the ABC’s investigation, highlights the challenge of what to do with racehorses when their careers are over. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carlina Black, PhD candidate, La Trobe University It’s a year since the national apology to victims and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse. While national apologies can acknowledge survivors, sorry is just the beginning. Access to healing is needed. Our research shows ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Hepburn, Director of the Centre for Energy and Natural Resources Law, Deakin Law School, Deakin University Right now, two projects have been proposed to import gas from overseas to supply eastern Australia. This is an absurd prospect. Australia is a resource-rich ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Pitman, Senior Research Fellow, Curtin University In a recent nation-wide survey by online tutoring company Cluey Learning, 75% of Australian senior students said their ATAR score would impact on the rest of their life. And more than 80% said a score ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shih-Wen Sue Chen, Senior Lecturer in Writing and Literature, Deakin University There is a new challenger to Disney’s hold on the global animation industry, and he is a Chinese demon child. [embedded content]Ne Zha: Birth of the Demon Child, from Chengdu Coco ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Wellington’s new mayor faces difficult three years, Zero Carbon bill select committee report comes back, and extremist preacher barred from NZPartly because it was a widely unexpected result, the opening days of Wellington mayor Andy Foster’s tenure have been gripping. He ...
Laurence Fearnley, author of a best-selling novel about perfumes, proposes a radical new scheme in which people of refined noses set out together and establish a sniffing group. ...
A string of failures over the past 25 years has drawn attention to the quality of regulatory practice in NZ. Jeroen van der Heijden looks at what we can do differently. ...
After her own troubled teenage years, Fran McEwen doesn't want to see other girls going through the same challenges. So she's running a race across a Middle Eastern desert to help them. ...
Last night, the two titans of the cannabis referendum came together for their first televised debate on the issue – Paula Bennett and Chlöe Swarbrick.From a distance, Paula Bennett and Chlöe Swarbrick don’t feel like the most likely opponents. What with Paula Bennett recently-ish stating she would not seek re-election ...
Andrew Little’s terrorism suppression bill is facing two very different forms of resistance, from National and from the Greens. What is the legislation, and why is it controversial?What this then? The Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill, introduced to parliament by the justice minister, Andrew Little, last Wednesday, seeks to introduce “a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Given her status as holding two vital Senate crossbench votes Pauline Hanson is at times, in the eyes of senior government figures, She Who Must Be Obeyed. And so it was last week, when Hanson ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says he'll be watching out for potential cost blow-outs for Auckland's light rail project, after warnings from a source within the transport industry. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Mercer, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts, Curtin University Fully Sikh, directed by Matt Edgerton, Perth’s Studio Underground The foyer is adorned with colourful fabric and bunting. We’re welcomed by the sounds of Indian music while members of the Sikh community offer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Mercer, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts, Curtin University Fully Sikh, directed by Matt Edgerton, Perth’s Studio Underground The foyer is adorned with colourful fabric and bunting. We’re welcomed by the sounds of Indian music while members of the Sikh community offer ...
New Zealand First leader and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters with Governor General Dame Patsy Reddy and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.Trying to make sense of the New Zealand First party can be difficult at the best of times. Political journalists and commentators attempt to work out where the party ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.TV3 sale Tim Batt (Metro): What if THREE’s problem isn’t TVNZ but… MediaWorks? Alex Braae ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Miller, Professor of Violence Prevention and Addiction Studies, Deakin University Over recent weeks, the alcohol industry has been drumming up mediadiscussion around Australia’s new drinking guidelines. Australia’s guidelines on alcohol consumption are under ongoing review by the National Health and ...
Extremist Baptist pastor Steven Anderson has just been blocked from entering New Zealand, making us the 34th country to reject his hate speech-filled sermons. American pastor Steven Anderson of the Faithful Word Baptist Church has been denied entry to New Zealand on character grounds, putting a stop to his plans to ...
Twenty years ago Stephen Chbosky had a massive hit with coming-of-age novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Now the director/producer/scriptwriter is back with an epic, kid-centric horror. Early on in Stephen Chbosky’s frustrating new horror novel, Imaginary Friend, its seven-year-old protagonist Christopher is sitting down to watch his favourite cartoon, ...
Hold on to your sponge nubbins, New Zealand’s loveliest reality show Great Kiwi Bake Off is back for a second serving. Before the show’s return on November 3, Tara Ward takes a sneak peek at 2019’s contestants. Lay me down on a soft bed of whipped cream and swab my forehead with a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ronald F Pol, Senior researcher NZ, La Trobe University Money laundering rarely gets as literal as the case in Thailand last week, where police raided homes of a ring suspected of laundering a billion baht (about A$48 million) of drug proceeds and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wilfred Wang, Lecturer, Communications & Media Studies, Monash University The Australian society has changed significantly since cemeteries in Victoria were planned and designed 150 years ago. But there haven’t been any major redevelopment or review of the community’s changing requirements for what ...
NZ Post’s failure to maintain an adequate postal voting infrastructure has been the subject of two submissions to Parliamentary Select Committees by the Postal Workers Union since the last Local Authority postal vote in 2016. The union maintained that ...
New Zealand honey growers appear to have so far avoided the heavy hand of the Australian government in their dispute with apiarists across the Tasman. ...
A downturn in Tourism Holdings' (THL) vehicle sales business in the United States is likely to have a material negative affect on its full year results, the company warns. ...
The troubled Auckland Light Rail project is back in the news again, and not for good reasons. So what does it all mean for transport and traffic congestion in New Zealand’s biggest city?What’s all this then?It seemed like such a good plan at the time. Over the course of 10 ...
Open mike 17/10/2014 
Open mike is your post.
A few days ago, a friend sent me a link to a health-related FB page that had published a post from a homeopathist, offering homeopathic “vaccination”¹ against measles (using something called a “Morbillinum nosode” at a “potency” of 200C, which I’ll explain shortly). I followed the link, left a comment ...1 hour ago
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh This year marks the 20th anniversary of the La Gabarra massacre. The community organised an event to remember the most well-known of the horrendous heart-breaking events that befell the communities of this area of the municipality of Tibú: the massacre carried out on August 21st 1999. ...1 hour ago
There was another police chase in Christchurch this morning, resulting in a crash which killed one person and injured five more. Because someone died, the chase is being investigated by the Independent Police Conduct Authority. And based on previous reports by the IPCA, we know how it will go: the ...5 hours ago
11 hours ago
by the Council of Disobedient Women We call on the Council of Trade Unions to show some fortitude and take a stand with your sisters. Unionists know that there is a material world, otherwise workers could simply identify out of poverty. They could declare themselves Well Paid. Why stop ...1 day ago
Keir Starmer has hinted that Labour might vote in favour of the Johnson government's shoddy deal, with the proviso that a second referendum is attached:Speaking to BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show, he said: “We will see what that looks like but it makes sense to say that by whatever ...1 day ago
In 1994, I was the editor for an issue of Planet magazine focused on cannabis, its culture and the prospects for the end of its prohibition. Part of that issue was an interview with 'Ringo', an experienced cannabis dealer.I recently posted my essay from that issue, and I figured it ...3 days ago
Media Statement for Immediate Release 16th October 2019 “Fake News” from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers Despite comments from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers—Herald Newspaper Tuesday Oct 15th–there is very little evidence ...5 days ago
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz There is a lot of discussion on the benefits of ...6 days ago
Thanks to a report from the Acting Inspector General of Intelligence and Security following a complaint by Nicky Hager, we have come to find out that the SIS illegally spied on Mr. Hager on behalf of the NZDF after publication of Hager’s 2011 book, Other People’s Wars. The NZDF justified ...1 week ago
COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING MYTH 1: Global temperatures are rising at a rapid, unprecedented rate. FACT: The HadCRUT3 surface temperature index, produced by the Hadley Centre of the UK Met Office and the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, shows warming to 1878, cooling to 1911, ...1 week ago
A list of indicators of bad science – many of these are found in articles promoted by anti-fluoride activists. Anti-fluoride activists have been pouring money into a scaremongering campaign warning pregnant women not to drink fluoridated water. They claim fluoride will lower the IQ of their future child. Fluoride ...1 week ago
More than double the number of people who will vote in this year’s local body elections have tried marijuana or urinated somewhere they shouldn’t have. As local elections look set for the lowest turnout in decades, with many regions falling well short of 40%, the Government is exploring a number ...2 weeks ago
Musings continue apace about “the experienced businessman!” soon to be taking up a National Party MP position. Or to be more accurate, being parachuted into a seat to shut down their former MP Jamie-Lee Ross, who despite his own shortcomings shed at least some more light on the inner workings ...2 weeks ago
“There can be no such thing as kaupapa Māori political parties or politics in Aotearoa” (Willie Jackson, Labour Party (2017). Māori TV, General/List Election Special) I begin with that claim because at the time, I was confounded at first that it fell out of Willie Jackson’s mouth, and then ...2 weeks ago
Journalist Andrew Dickens, reporting from the 2019 New Zealand First Conference, states that the Party once again proved “they are more than a sideshow”. In his op-ed article for NewstalkZB, Mr Dickens said he has always been an admirer of the Party, saying they are “a true centrist party”. “[NZ ...6 hours ago
We're rebuilding our hospitals, protecting our oceans, and taking mental health seriously. ...4 days ago
A Bill to improve prison security and ensure the fair, safe, and humane treatment of people in prison while upholding public safety has passed its third reading. Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says the Corrections Amendment Bill makes a number of changes to ensure the Corrections Act 2004 is fit for ...2 hours ago
By Rebecca Ananian-Welsh Australians picked up their morning papers yesterday to find heavily blacked-out text instead of front-page headlines. This bold statement was instigated by the “Your Right to Know” campaign, an unlikely coalition of Australian media organisations fighting for press freedom and source protection. A key reform advocated by a ...36 mins ago
Surrounding sites evacuated and one reported hospitalised in serious condition as blaze rips through two floors of the under-construction building in the Auckland CBDLast updated: 6.30pmParts of central Auckland have been brought to a standstill this afternoon after a major fire broke out shortly after 1pm at the Sky City ...1 hour ago
Changes to how courts deal with meth-related offending can only go so far thanks to current laws. And that's how it's going to stay. ...3 hours ago
“The Prime Minister must publicly support an immediate ban on Gay Conversion Therapy . If I was Jacinda I would feel morally obligated to give more confidence on where I stand, when I have asked for, and received, support from that community.” ...3 hours ago
The failure to get the National Party on board over the returning foreign fighters legislation means it will now be delayed. ...3 hours ago
Eric Crampton has fun imagining a version of MBIE that worried it could be subject to cartel criminalisation provisions for the anticompetitive regimes it has established. ...5 hours ago
China continues its march into the Pacific with a China-Pacific Island Countries Economic Development and Cooperation Forum in Samoa this week. Ahead of the forum, Beijing has signed seven new agreements with Samoa covering education, trade, e-commerce, investment, infrastructure and agriculture. China’s Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua heads his delegation in Apia ...6 hours ago
Fonterra has increased its forecast farmgate milk price for the current dairy season, sighting strong demand for the co-op's milk. ...8 hours ago
Government ministers are adamant New Zealand’s economic fundamentals are solid, unemployment is at a record low, growth is faster than in Australia, and the surplus in the government accounts and low debt present further opportunities to strengthen the economy. Yet, across the road from the Beehive, the view from the ...10 hours ago
Otago can boast having the cleanest air in NZ but it’s not in the mountains of Central Otago or on the windswept beaches of Dunedin. ...11 hours ago
A government agency puts a scientist off-limits after the re-discovery of an oyster parasite. ...14 hours ago
The uptake rate of a free whooping cough vaccine during pregnancy to protect newborns is described as dismal. ...14 hours ago
Laurence Fearnley, author of a best-selling novel about perfumes, proposes a radical new scheme in which people of refined noses set out together and establish a sniffing group. ...14 hours ago
A string of failures over the past 25 years has drawn attention to the quality of regulatory practice in NZ. Jeroen van der Heijden looks at what we can do differently. ...14 hours ago
Urgent action on climate change will be costly. But inaction could be four or five times more expensive, according to new climate accounting. ...14 hours ago
After her own troubled teenage years, Fran McEwen doesn't want to see other girls going through the same challenges. So she's running a race across a Middle Eastern desert to help them. ...14 hours ago
Andy Foster was backed by Sir Peter Jackson for the Wellington mayoralty, but his election victory was about more than that. ...15 hours ago
A sudden change in the interpretation of how Immigration NZ makes decisions relating to partnership visas has been labelled racist and unjust. ...22 hours ago
Winston Peters has warned those serving their own 'egregious self-interests' in the Pacific. ...1 day ago
New Zealand honey growers appear to have so far avoided the heavy hand of the Australian government in their dispute with apiarists across the Tasman. ...1 day ago
A downturn in Tourism Holdings' (THL) vehicle sales business in the United States is likely to have a material negative affect on its full year results, the company warns. ...1 day ago
WikiLeaks Publishes TPP Intellectual Property Chapter
Prolonging suffering just so a few people can be richer.
I had a quick read Draco, I have to say, and I am a legal layman but it seemed there were clauses in their that allowed any country to protect it’s health and citizens concerning medications, as a get out clause to allow meds, IDNK but reading the pdf it looked like a load of complicated clauses that could employ some hard up legal beagles struggling to survive on a low income many years of high earnings in the name of clarifying a paragraph or ten.
Why do they make this crap so flaming unintelligible. I mean seriously heard of English?
Everything is copyrighted, unless it’s a life or death matter. Pretty simple stuff really.
They should get me to do it. I’d be freaking brilliant.
Remember, none of this is written up for the sake of clarity or ‘free markets.’ It is there to generate a lot of grey areas for corporations to move in, and to obscure any possibility of moral or ethical discussions under a tonne of technicalities.
plus one…
Just take a look at the language: ‘Free trade’ or ‘Free Markets’
Trade is something that involves exchange and, in this day and age, involves money. i.e there is nothing ‘free’ about trade.
The use of the word ‘free’ is a contradictory term. It is contradictory to the nature of the subject, and this contradiction indicates propaganda is involved i.e. manipulation of people’s attitudes on the subject is present.
Plus, why would a free trade agreement require anything more than a few A4 sheets of paper? I agree that you can sell your stuff in my country and vice versa. What requires thousands of pages of documents?
Not even a pretence of true free trade, actually.
Arranging a free-for-all for those who already have plenty, involves complexity due to having to work out how to by-pass any sound and principled protections built into a given country’s laws, is my guess. 🙂
That and making sure that the power elite in each country are treated fairly and equitably by the power elite in other countries. For ordinary people – sorry.
just like the word “aspiration” being manipulated by RWNJs
+1 Yes, surely what they really should be saying is ‘exasperation’ 🙂
Go on, say “big pharma”. You know you want to. You antivaxxers can’t resist it.
is that another of those ‘labels’..that isn’t really true..?
..what wd u prefer in its’ place..?
..how about ‘blood-sucking-vampires’..?
We won a seat at the UN, Is that good or bad? IDNK, however I expect we will create more deaths under John Key than ever before. What will our contribution be? To side with the USA as puppies of Obama or to stand tall and make the right calls independent of other countries interests time will tell I suppose.
But if Key starts chasing and killing for oil, Keys days will be numbered, I and the rest of the country will be kicking him to the kerb if we are grouped responsible for innocent deaths in the name of oil flow by a psychopathic liar.
Be aware Key, be very fucking aware.
PS…. 2017, if you don’t vote National we will lose the UN seat, wait for it folks wait for the media bias.
It’s a two year term
Yay we won but colour me cynical.
A good reason to check out The Herald every now and then … Dita De Boni on NZ’s independence.
Dita is right on the mark, on all points.
The bitter irony, NZ is being sold on what we used to be (fairness, egalitarianism, a fair go) before the same people now selling it off began destroying those very qualities. Similarly for our Independence.
Dita de Boni
A rare independent voice
.
Stuff: Little noses ahead (by Vernon Small)
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10627075/Little-noses-ahead-in-Labour-race
What a load of rubbish. Vernon may very well be right. He has at least 25% chance of that. And Little is indeed a popular candidate.
But lets face it, this is just another example of lazy journalism. And we should pull the media up on these lazy stories, even if Little happens to be the candidate you are supporting. (Next time, there is as much chance that their lazy idle speculations will pick somebody you don’t support).
I want to see the evidence for Small’s assertions. It’s not written as an opinion: eg “I think Little has the greatest chance of winning” It’s stated that “Little noses ahead” Oh really? How exactly was this measured? By how many percentage points Vernon?
When you read Small’s article, I have a strong suspicion that Small has simply fished comments from the Standard. It’s a compliment to the Standard if that is true, but still not a process that I support, unless the source for what he says is specified.
Otherwise I could suggest, with the same level of accuracy: “Vernon Small produces worst political report for 17 October by 7.85%”
Journalism is dead in the MSM in this country.
Some journos are getting it right.
We have to remember that most journos don’t want to suicide their careers, and also that it is the editors and subs who come up with the actual headlines etc.
Yes, and this leads back to the issue over government policies that create joblessness. It makes people much more compliant when they know they will have difficulty replacing their job.
I really do view wealth disparity and joblessness as the biggest issues that need addressing – nothing else is able to change, or function heathily, until there is less concentration of power.
And this is the nub, isn’t it. Why would people who have the power and leverage today, allow that power to be distributed? They wouldn’t, of course. If anything, they want it further concentrated, into fewer and fewer hands: theirs.
This also speaks directly to issues of underemployment and low pay. Encouraging masses of working class and under class to be more engaged in society, and giving them adequate financial resources to do it with, goes right against the principle of concentrating power.
+1 I don’t suppose you saw that program on Prime about British Manor Houses last night?
It was rather a surprise because it didn’t solely focus on mansions, it went through a quick history of the state of Britain leading up to World War I, and, oh boy, were there very pointed comments about the effects of concentration of wealth.
Was a very good program. Well worth the watch.
Ahhh missed that one will have to keep an eye out for it.
I don’t even know if it is a series or not (tend to randomly switch on & watch stuff)- it was on after ‘Downton Abbey’
One thing I didn’t know was that the British Parliament, when trying to bring in policies to address the serious wealth disparity, kept being blocked by the House of Lords and that the King/Queen of the time ended up allowing them to be by-passed.
It is so interesting that those in privilege will actively block others’ from even semi-decent improvement in their conditions.
I view this is what is happening in NZ. There are many people that are comfortable and they are refusing to allow even small gains for those who are not comfortable.
I am so ashamed and disgusted by my fellow NZers at the moment.
One could even go so far as saying ‘I’m sorry for being a New Zealander’. 😉
Haha you so crack me up 😀
🙂
I view this is what is happening in NZ. There are many people that are comfortable and they are refusing to allow even small gains for those who are not comfortable.
I am so ashamed and disgusted by my fellow NZers at the moment.
if many more people got to own houses, what will happen to my rental property portfolio! no!!! i worked hard and i take responsibility for my hard earned wealth. those other people should take responsibility for their miserable state.
+1 Kiwiri Exactly [& yuck!]
@ melancholy large-cat..
i thought it was a ripper of a doco..
..one of those ones where you walk away with a more nuanced/complete view..the mark of a good doco..
..it told you more than multi-boxed sets of that soap that preceeded it ever could..
..and wasn’t that soap so fucken boring..?
..i reached the stage where i welcomed the fire..
..hoping it wd burn the whole turgid mess to the ground..
..alas..no..
lol!
Secrets of the Manor House
This one?
Yes, that looks like it! Wow it is on youtube – I recommend watching it!
At least Vernon signed it. Puts him streets ahead of the “anonymous editorial” crowd.
He includes this comment/ quote:
Parker said it would be a competitive race. ‘‘You can’t have a competition without competition, but that’s not to say that it has to be war without guns.’’
no one can possibly know who is ahead, except if they have polled caucus, and then they can ONLY claim to know how caucus will go.
exactly
New Zealand.
For sale.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11343693
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11343791
Oh great, NZers to become even worse off as international money flows even faster into NZ.
Conversely, the threat of capital flight gets strengthened in the face of any policy being proposed that does not privilege the speculators and super rich.
Kiwiri Raided 11.42
Good point. Easy in , easy out. GIGO.
Also open season on state housing
Probably not as bad as this lot …no?
“We can sell to anybody,” Mr English said
It’s what they do best.
Not “Working for NZ”. Rather, “Selling Out NZ” !
Are State houses not classified as assets?
Prior to the election Key categorically stated that there would be ‘no more asset sales’ in his third term.
Just another untruth ?
@ wyndham…
..yes..
..you can put that one on the shelf next to his pre-election promises not to take us into yet another long-war in the middle east..
Or his promise not to raise GST.
if we do last term..we will have to call in blip…
Note that in the US, investment banks and billion dollar hedge funds have already become slum lords, buying up masses of distressed and abandoned properties, turning themselves into a corporate landlord class.
Well Joseph Parkers boxing career has limitations .That is quite clear after his points decision against a short,old journeyman.Hate to see him against a real international pro.
And the scaremongering begins….
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11343734
Now did NZ get the seat for being good a good little puppy, By just sitting there and getting it’s head patted by it’s master?
Oh, FFS, now ISIS has chemical weapons left over from Iraq that the US conveniently forgot to remove after not finding any?
+1 DTB The lunatics have well and truly taken over the asylum.
We should definitely head into Iraq again with the USA, this time they’ve got the Iraq plan properly sorted out. Rly.
(Unfortunately I think we’re going to be on the Security Council pushing a purely US agenda…I see McCully is already pushing for “reform” of the security council)
I see McCully is already pushing for “reform” of the security council
When I see McCully saying “reform”, we know that his idea of reform would be directly in contrast to ours and that the interests he would further would be quite opposite to what we would consider.
Reform has been a real problem for the UN for years.
The reform issue is a compounded problem because resolution has been stymied for decades
The initial problem was that the UN was not reflecting the changing world; neither the increasing diversity (due to increased membership) nor the changing powers. i.e it was set up when Russia and the US were the main powers, China is on the main body now, but places like India, Brazil or Japan are not. (Also places like Africa & Muslim countries?
The reforms require a profoundly thoughtful, principled and wide perspective and also an ability for those that are currently on the Security Council to be inclusive i.e. release their grip and share their power with the new powers.
I am not holding my breath that the type of intelligence that is required for resolution, will be provided by NZ’s actors because our government continually display a lapdog type attitude toward the US and show a distinct tendency to be sellouts.
In short, they are acting like mindless lunatics in their own country, so why should they be any different on the world stage. All that will be achieved is they will disgrace NZ on the world stage even more than they have already done.
I sincerely hope I am incorrect over this.
@ blue leopard
“Reform has been a real problem for the UN for years.”
The UN was the pet project of an American aristocrat president (Roosevelt) built on land donated by what was at the time the wealthiest family in the world (Rockefeller).
Its purpose was and always has been defensive: to protect and defend the interests of the wealthiest American imperialists. There will never be any “reforms” at the UN which do not serve their interests.
Did I correctly hear today that we are so lucky to get Security Council position as it will help us when we have Trade talks. Isn’t that slightly obscene using Security Council post to talk trade?
DTB
Duh??
Well Grant Robertson says this is a great thing, and we all know Grant Robertson wouldn’t lie.
Wow! My opinion of Grant has just skyrocketed . . . not.
Not really connected to intensive dairy farming contamination of water supplies but????
“He said investigating the outbreak was complex – the yersinia pathogen could spread from animal waste into water supplies, then into a vegetable growing area.”
I wonder where the quarantined paddock is in relation to water source?
Flogging off our state housing stock, falling dollar making our houses and land even more of a bargain for overseas speculators, cynically gaming the OIA, etc etc, t’would be enough to make one quite worried were it not for the prospect of a BRIGHT SHINEY NEW FLAG!!!!
and we get to have two flag referendums..(!)
..aren’t we spoilt for diversions..?
Looks like Cunnliffe’s calling it a day.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11343759
I’d say he’ll be gone sooner than later, if the right job emerges.
You get the feeling his heart really isn’t in it anymore, which isn’t really surprising.
“I’d say he’ll be gone sooner than later, if the right job emerges.
You get the feeling his heart really isn’t in it anymore, which isn’t really surprising.”
You get the feeling you just made shit up. There’s nothing in that article to support what you just said.
The odds of Parker leaving before DC would be far greater. I just heard Mike Williams labeling DP as his pick as the winner in the leadership contest. A certain kiss of death. Parker will be extremely lucky if he gets 3rd, even that looks remote from what I’m observing.
Well, this time, if someone like Parker ends up getting set up like Shearer, let’s hope Cunliffe doesn’t get scapegoated again.
The only setting up done to Parker is self inflicted. He is setting himself up to fail miserably and is totally delusional calling for a referendum on the raising of the retirement age. This guy is going to self distruct something shocking at the end of the hustings I kid you not.
bm doesnt actually read the links he posts. it happened only last week when he posted something to do with hager and then asked a question answered in his link. i think he is one of the unpaid tr**olls
or lowly paid 😉 (hence his sloppiness).
Nice sharp retort. This is why Labour members are going to miss Cunliffe at the helm.
clever…. needed more of that during the debates…
that is a keyesque retort, after 24 hours of practice
+1 listening to Robertson on Jackson’s show now. May call him to raise the deadwood issue. Skirting the issue and saying the new blood comes thru raising the party vote is true. However getting back to reality of today Grant ‘the party vote dropped.’ What we want to hear is there will be a clean out, no if no buts Grant.
Going by the poor attempt in his electorate and his party vote, the new blood coming through is more likely green.
My point is he won’t speak out because his support base within caucus is ‘mostly’ deadwood, therefore his campaign is not in the interest of the party but him self. If he believes running with Ardern is the answer it is not. She will roll him and the division continues pretty much spelling the demise of the party as being able to be relevant.
Not true in terms of clearing out the deadwood though, esp if the deadwood holds on to the higher list positions or hold on to safe electorate seats.
The Herald sure know how to spin stuff. The printed version has this headline on the front page:
“Cunliffe: I’ll never stand again”
Then the article contains this:
“While he intended to stay in Parliament this term, he was (sic) yet to decide whether to stand again in 2017.”
Yet to decide =/= never stand again.
So the headline is clearly wrong. It seems the MSM’s levels of comprehension leave a great deal to be desired.
There is nothing wrong with Cunliffe reviewing things. I would expect all MPs to review their position and decide if they are bringing something to politics and if not then they should consider alternative career options.
I don’t have access to the printed version but the on-line version referenced does quote him directly as saying “I am not intending to run for the leadership again.”
A headline really does have to be brief and the one you quote does seem to be accurate as far as the leadership goes, which is the primary news in the story.
To give a headline which tells the full story would mean one that was as long as the full story.
Would you really want a headline that said something like
“Cunliffe: At his point in time my intention is that I’ll never stand for the leadership of the Labour Party again, although I will remain in Parliament as an MP until at least 2017 when I may, or may not, stand as an MP again, depending on what I think of my prospects of being able to get a reasonably senior role in the shadow cabinet and whether any other options might be available”
That would be a reasonable summary of the story but a bit much to put in large type don’t you think?
“at this point in time”, lol
Oh hell. It was meant to be “at THIS point”
Although I guess that “HIS point in time” makes a certain amount of warped sense doesn’t it? DCs view of things always seemed a bit askew from most peoples.
That front page of today’s Herald is a shocker! Not the look of a newspaper to be taken seriously.
I thought it was quite clearly talking about Cunliffe’s intention to never stand for leader again.
They have the quote in the article that he’ll never stand again for leader, the headline is “I’ll never stand again”.
MS
In politics ‘never say never’. I suspect that David Cunliffe will be forced back again by popular demand probably after his successors make a mess of it and that he will eventually take over as Prime Minister from John Key.
Anything’s possible.
International fundraiser for Hager at $6,000 after a day.
https://freedom.press/bundle/nicky-hager-legal-defense
https://freedom.press/blog/2014/10/help-support-new-zealand-investigative-reporter-nicky-hagers-legal-defense-fund
Then there is this (from second link),
The Intercept reported today that for months before his house was raided, Hager had also been working with Glenn Greenwald and The Intercept, preparing to report stories based on the Snowden documents.
Hager doesn’t know if this contributed to the decision to raid his house, but the fact that the raid happened so shortly afterwards is disturbing to say the least. According to Hager, the New Zealand government has been nervous about the publication of New Zealand-related Snowden revelations and has made various moves, publicly and privately, to prepare for their eventual publication.
More on the raid, and Hager’s relationship with the Snowden crew – https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/10/16/nicky-hager-raid/
Great that those outside NZ can see the significance of the Hager raid. Even if the police find nothing about the “hacker”, the collateral damage to Nicky’s reputation and the loss of privacy over other research that he is doing, and the chilling effect on others who would wish to come forward in confidence, those are the worries.
Of course there will be no direct link from politicians to police but given the reluctance of the police to act on other complaints, you would wonder if Mr Key’s government would have any motive to “get” Nicky and send a warning to others.
There’s a worrying angle that the police (under whose orders?) were also scooping up info about Hager’s work on the Snowden documents.
Yes, and even if that’s not true, that it’s a coincidence, the fact remains that many people have now lost confidence in the government because of Dirty Politics and how they handled it (Key’s casualness esp).
edit, afaik the police don’t have the seized material. It got sealed and sent to the courts until the hearing to decide if the police can look at it. What I want to know now is if the police can use or share information not related to the warrant used to do the raid.
I think Nicky’s lawyer (Mr Price?) insisted that every item be sealed and labelled and receipted by the police. Good thinking pending the court challenge to the confiscation.
Of course losing all your tools and resources for the foreseeable future must be a curse.
So if that’s true, and the police didn’t look at anything during the search, then it makes the theory that the govt is fishing less likely. But it doesn’t lessen the probability that the govt knew of his connections with the Snowden team and were monkey wrenching.
Gov monkey wrenching, yes.
From that FirstLook link:
the ability of New Zealand police officers to cavalierly raid the home of a reporter who has criticized the government in power threatens to establish a dangerous precedent everywhere reporters operate.
(under whose orders?)
If we learned anything from the M.o.T. it is surely that the NZ gov provides an entry-point for the Spymaster powers that be. Glenn’s work would likely be so securely encrypted as to evade the usual metadata mop-ups on the net, which would necessitate a hands on approach to securing it, by those international surveillance chiefs. And, they took discs, documents, camera and “dozens of other items”. (Why anyone would believe for a millisecond that they were merely after “the hacker” – evades me.)
no direct link from politicians to police
It is similar to the KDC raid. Our overlords, the international spymasters, have long arms indeed. In a year of depressing news-events, this is one of the most sobering.
thanks for this weka
fbi is trying to stop new smartphones being encrypted
Today, Thursday 16 October 2014, WikiLeaks released a second updated version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Intellectual Property Rights Chapter. The TPP is the world’s largest economic trade agreement that will, if it comes into force, encompass more than 40 per cent of the world’s GDP. The IP Chapter covers topics from pharmaceuticals, patent registrations and copyright issues to digital rights. Experts say it will affect freedom of information, civil liberties and access to medicines globally. The WikiLeaks release comes ahead of a Chief Negotiators’ meeting in Canberra on 19 October 2014, which is followed by what is meant to be a decisive Ministerial meeting in Sydney on 25–27 October.
https://wikileaks.org/tpp-ip2/pressrelease/
“..Afroman’s Positive ‘Because I Got High’ Remix Should Be The New Stoner Anthem..
..Rapper Afroman has joined the fight to legalize marijuana –
– with a new iteration of the 2000 stoner anthem –
– ‘Because I Got High’..”
(cont..)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/16/afroman-positive-because-i-got-high-remix_n_5995992.html
Phil was Mike Williams with you prior to going on the panel with Plunket this morning? I suspect he has been on the Bob Hope.
i think williams is too much of a miserablist to be a pothead…
..he does not seem to be one – who has ever had much of a grip on fun…
..(he puts the ‘lug’ in ‘lugubrious..)
..and he picked parker..?
..hilarious..!
..i have an (obvious) suggestion for his campaign-song..?
..some ditty about something being handed over in a heavy manner..?
..and/but on a serious note..
..labour need to get its’ head around shit like this..eh..?
“..Labour must redefine what it means to be modern – check Facebook for clues..
…All game-changing governments have presented a new vision of modernity.
The left should be ready..”
(cont..)
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/16/labour-modern-facebook-governments
now..i dunno how strong parker is on ‘visions of modernity’..eh..?
..but i don’t have a lot of faith..
I guess the last 6 years fronting the media every week defending Goff and then Shearer would have exhausted any sense of humour by the time Culiffe came and went. I can not see it returning being the butt of Robo’s jokes. With Mallard being mooted as assistant speaker of the house, perhaps he will get a few laughs when Mallard kicks Little out for dancing during readings.
williams always looks like he is waiting for something really really bad to happen..
..and it’s going to be soon..
rents will be going up soon in many parts of Auckland…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/home-property/10629716/New-CVs-for-Auckland-property
as john key indicated, it is an economy increasingly more attractive for rock stars
And who needs State Housing?
“Finance Minister Bill English says the proceeds from selling state houses are unlikely to be spent on new state houses and may go into the Consolidated Account.
“I mean, if we want less stock, there’s not much point in rebuilding stock with it.”
Asset sales by any other name?”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11344052
I don’t get this. Can someone explain to me the convoluted game involved?
It was damning and utterly, completely and totally bad that, once upon a long time ago, Cunliffe had picked a deputy.
But this weekend at his launch, Grant will have a “running mate”:
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/can-jacinda-ardern-become-labour-s-youngest-ever-deputy-leader-6109910
?
Because Robertson knows his chances of winning the leadership contest on his own is about zero. So he’s rolling out Ardern to stand beside him in the hope her presence will attract more votes for him.
With Adern he should win, remember this is still the 2 groups within caucus fighting for the leadership and shadow cabinet positions. The result will be very tight, however Grant does fancy he has the edge. More caucus votes and a reasonable amount of second votes from the Afiliates. The membership vote he will benefit from the popularity of Ardern.
It effect the deadwood are sticking it to the membership by declaring their vote in advance. This makes a mockery of a leaders contest when one side is campaigning on 2 tickets. While Mahuta may want the deputy role, the DW can install Robertson, Parker, Adern or the likes of King, Goff, Shearer or who ever takes their fancy. Good for them the joke will be short lived. A licence for the membership to turn up with knives at conference.
Two things
1) Ardern is not particularly popular with the membership.
2) Grant demonstrated that he couldn’t count last year, and he still can’t count.
Interesting the media label Nanaia as a Cunliffe stand-in but never mention Robertson (and Jacinda) as part of the ABC gang, which they clearly are.
According to Grant Robertson (speaking to Willy Jackson on Radio Live) there is no such thing as the ABC Club. Srsly.
if the ‘deadwood’ win this one…
..they will set a new benchmark in winning-battle/losing-war..
..labour will slump to the high teens..(they are nearly there anyway..)
..and labour cd well enter the next election about equal with the greens..
..it is like watching a car-crash in slow-motion…
..the possible sidelining of a once great political party..
.i repeat..just more of the same-old/same-old from labour..
..will guarantee not only defeat in 2017..
..but also the possible death-throes of labour itself..
..how neo-liberalism ate labour…
also..i had a look back at the 2011 results for wellington central..
..the result was pretty much the same as this time..
..and my takeaway from that wd be how robertson must have put a lot of time/energy into fixing that obvious/glaring-problem between ’11 and ’14..
..and how well it worked…how successful he was at that task..eh..?
Their pretty much in death rattle mode. Myself and others are thinking of starting a party and would stand a better chance of getting over 5% than they do of winning in 2017.
can i suggest social democrats as a name..
..then you have the definitions of social democracy in other countries..
..that will be easy to reference/inform the public what you are about..
.it will be a branding shortcut..
Your correct with the name bang on actually however the old social credit party have that name covered. Social Democrats for Change I think they go by.
CPA-Communities Protecting Animals.
Designed to be a voice solely for animals. You can judge a society on how many pets are being mistreated, putdown etc. Trim up the Tory vote and sit on the cross benches. Something like that would be a go. Register the dog owner. Far too many Pitbull’s get the automatic death penalty if they end up at the SPCA, they won’t re house just put em down. There are enough humans that rightly don’t give a damn about politics but do about animals. So worth a crack. Of course any Bill that is going to impact on the welfare of poorer citizens pets gets rejected of course lol. There is a lawyers group that have formed to lobby and write legislation framework too. Hmm wonder is bent Bankie can be an advisor from jail?
If the leadership race goes the wrong way why don’t the true left labour people defect to the greens. . just a thought
many already have…and many will … for some it was Cunliffe as Leader or leave Labour and vote Green next time!..
…could explain the latest polls
I was meaning standing members up and jump wakas in to a existing party rather than start agian
i was thinking about flying the idea of an animal welfare party..
..(if the threshold dropped to 3%..but that ain’t gonna happen..)
..and i was trying to keep it non-ideological in other ways..
..but that cd be complicated..(as eventually questions like ‘who wd u support?’ come up..)
..but i was thinking that campaigning/exposing the horrors out there as the main focus wd work most of the time..
..and you still come back to that ‘who wd u support?’-question..
..and no..i couldn’t see a way thru that..
..other possible areas of dissension are the likes of me..vegan..
..and fighting for those reasons..
..and those who will care for some animals..
..yet/but happily eat others…
..it’s complicated..
..and yeah..you have to give banks his dues for his work/support of animal welfare issues..
..and of course all the dog-parks in ak are down to him..
..which is more of a heritage than many pollies can claim..
Yes I think it is a go afterall if the God Botherers can pull 4% the chances are it would get across the line. The threshold should be lower but the elite will defend 5% tooth and nail. A animal welfare party has the advantage of willing cashed up donators, and the ability to have committees and candidates in probably every electorate in NZ canvassing the party vote.
There buy splitting the left vote further . Key will love it
no waghorn..
..you just run a party vote..
..and of course the actions of the vivisectors are just screaming out to be exposed/publicised…
..(you wd probably get unanimity on that one..
..a quarter of a million animals a year..tortured and killed..
..it is a vile self-perpetuating industry of death..)
Would the greens not all ready be anti vivisection. There is already enough wasted vote
nah..!..the greens have animal-welfare up on that same dusty shelf in the corner as cannabis legalisation..
..so far down their list of priorities..
..to be not there at all..
Stand alone party and it would pull a cross section of votes but within out getting a polling survey done by some snake oil outfit like Hooton’s, I would say 60% of the centre upwards vote in reality. On the cross benches you have the ability to deal if it’s a tight margin. And of course cross party support on animal welfare is a populistic. Just look at the drug testing U turn that only Banks championed till the issue become main stream popular in an election year.
i agree about the potency of the messages..
..and as not using dogs to test legal highs show..
..the capacity for wide revulsion at what is done in our name..
..is there to be tapped..
..(especially what the fucken vivisectors do..)
and i agree..swearing to stay on the cross-benches..and to vote issue by issue..
…wd be the best way to go..
..were that to come about..
Grant Robertson is in Willie Jackson’s show on Radio Live.
He says there is no such thing as an ABC faction.
I turned off the radio in case he stated discussing the moon landing and Chem Trails.
lol. Ok, there’s not such thing as neoliberalism either. Or Deadwood. Or Rogernomes. It’s bad to call people names based on their actions.
(am I the only one whose mind keeps flicking to Swearengen, Bullock and co? Not that the Labour caucus is in that league)
Every time I ask for evidence of this ABC group I have yet to receive a credible answer. It may just be a figment of Whaleoil mischief making.
I was wondering about that, too, Ianmac, until I discovered this article which, among other things, contained the following:
Perhaps Labour need to get more litigious toward the media, (or at least make public statements about errors of fact), because as far as I know, there have been substantially more public complaints from Labour MPs about what is discussed here on The Standard than what Vance wrote in her article.
ianmac: the evidence of the ABC group is there for all to see, including Shearer’s recent orchestrated media campaign (5-6 separate media appearances/interviews) putting the knife between departing Leader David Cunliffe’s shoulder blades.
Shearer didn’t confidently step up and organise all this just on his lonesome, he was part of a group of MPs.
The interim leader calls these left blogs venomous with their nasty attacks. I assume she is referring to us lol.
When lies are preferred and truth considered poison, we know that the body politic must be cleaned out and renewed.
The Labour MPs have had more criticism of The Standard/Left wing blogs than they have of the volumes of bullshit the msm spun all year about Labour.
There is something very wrong with this equation.
Remember, they know that National supporters are not the real threat. But an active, outspoken and articulate left wing membership is.
An active, outspoken and articulate left wing membership is a real threat to right wing corporate policies, and not a threat to left wing principles or sound democracy, at all – in fact the above qualities strengthen left wing principles & democracy – so I can only conclude that the MPs in Labour and others, that are criticising the left wing blogs, have an agenda that is incompatible with left wing and democratic principles.
#JustThortI’dSpellitOut
Less ability to backscratch with leaks?
I’m beginning to be of the opinion that half of the bullshit the media spouted about Labour came from inside Labour.
Please, someone, give me some information that helps me rid myself of that awful opinion! 🙁
blue leopard, I suspect that half the bullshit about Labour and the supposed ABC lot came from the Right and created and fueled by Whaleoil. Certain journalist kept on repeating it but without anything better than “Party Insiders tell me” stuff. Where-ever it was sourced it did a great job of creating a massive loss of confidence in the Party.
Wonder if a Labour Review would test the existence of the ABCs?
You’re still looking for objective, empirical evidence when there is none. Your gut instinct will give you the answer required.
I hope Olwyn doesn’t mind, but I think her comment on yesterdays ‘Open Mike’ is appropriate for this discussion. I still don’t know how to link to a comment so here is a cut and paste:
(my bold).
In my response I gave her a relatively recent personal example which I believe bears out the point she is making.
When certain members of the caucus claim there is no ABC club then they are officially correct. There was/is no club of people called the “ABC Club” in Labour. But in practical terms it exists as a group of people consisting of Labour parliamentarians – and a coterie of supporters outside of parliament – who think pretty much as Olwyn has described in the section which I have highlighted.
@ Anne
Linking to and placing comment address. Try this – you call up the actual comment, you go to the writer’s name and date in blue and click on that so it shows up in the address line at the top of the screen.
Point and right click on that address and choose select, then point and right click again and press copy, transfer to where you want to place link.
That’s the dummies way (mine) but works. You might select this and copy and put it in your notes for when you need it.
Got it. I was clicking on to name and address and then trying to copy and paste. 🙁
Thanks greywarshark.
Yes, I just read the email through from Grant Robertson to labour members and it is similar. On the e-mail Robertson highlights that he will “listen to all New Zealanders”, well I suggest for starters he listen to New Zealanders talking about the out of control rabble who are the labour Party caucus. He along with the other contenders need to be clear how they are going to deal with the caucus issue…for him to deny there is an ABC faction: unbelievable.
BD, what was his actual wording, if you can remember?
Have a listen:
http://www.radiolive.co.nz/Grant-Robertson-Im-never-going-to-apologise-for-being-who-I-am/tabid/506/articleID/57436/Default.aspx
It is 11 mins and 59 secs though.
Thank you muchly
I had to get up and grab a coffee, twice, to hear through to the end of the piece. All the best.
worth listening to to see/hear what a reactionary dickwad jackson is…
..(..’you people..’…f.f.s..!..)
..hard for robertson not to look good up against that..
..(and i only lasted ’till 3 min-something..)
From 10:00
Willie Jackson: “Were you the captain of the Anyone But Cunliffe Club?”
Grant Robertson: “There is no such club.”
Mmm, there is no such club just like there was no Cabinet Club.
Oh, towards the end of that clip – “massively talented guy” Kelvin Davis will be “given an appropriate role” if Grant is leader. Stuart Nash also will have important role to play.
‘nash’..?..f.f.s..!
..doesn’t that tell you all you need to know about neo-lib-grant..?
Mr Ure: your lamentations and questions are in vain. Grant Robertson is a very strong candidate with a very good change of winning the leadership challenge.
as i said below..i don’t really fucken care who wins this race to the bottom…
Well said PU. After a lifetime I can’t actually say I’m Labour anymore. Those boys and girls don’t give a fuck for anything but their ‘Careers’.
The first rule of ABC Club: there is no ABC Club
Second rule of ……
Kelvin Kelvin Kelvin……find a ladder……climb it……pull it up……not so far that look like Bennet. Gonna be PM one day. Hopes. Fuck the people. All about Kelvin. No respect. Sorry.
(need a laff..?..)
“..Guy Meets Bird – Bird Drops F-Bomb..
..This guy was sitting on a bench when a bird –
– described as a black crow –
– apparently decided to stop by and say –
– “hey” ‘fuck you’..”
(cont..)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/16/bird-says-fuck-you_n_5998446.html
The latest Roy Morgan puts the Greens and Labour only 5 points apart:
September 29-October 12, 2014 Nat43.5 Lab22.5 Green17.5 NZF7 Maori2 Act0.5 UNF0.5 Con5 Mana1 Int^ Other0.5
Im surprised: That Labour actually got over 20%.
I doubt the GP is really that high.
Yes it probably isn’t (yet) – but psychologically if the Greens ever overtake Labour in an opinion poll then Labour really will be in trouble.
Once that barrier is breached people will begin to see the Greens not just as a “protest vote” (leaving aside the core Green vote which seems to be sitting at 10%) – it will then start to genuinely attract even more of the left. The next hammering blow would probably if the Unions start to de-affiliate (does such a word exist?). A killing blow would be if any Unions affiliate with the Greens.
It may take some time – but the risk is there.
Very good points.
But Lab+Green= 40% Almost a Govt but the Conservative nutters have a rather healthy looking 5%.
Labour have got a long way before they hit bottom. A smart Green Party would presume to assume the mantle “leader of the Opposition”.
The NZ public will continue to punish Labour’s apparent disunity – neither the broader public, nor the media, nor the caucus have the maturity to deal with primary runoffs. And there will be more of them before 2020.
The post-leadership vote caucus will know that anyone who wins will struggle to displace those fault lines of loyalty displayed in the leadership vote. There is no real secrecy to the vote. The factions, I believe, are permanent. This unintended consequence of the constitutional reforms will keep Labour in the 20’s.
It’s the trajectory of the NZ Liberal Party. The Labour Party risks ongoing decline and eventual split up.
on the money..no one will take any notice..unfortunately.
Appears the leader wasn’t the problem with the slight drop.
Exactly. If DC was the problem then the support would have risen.
Naomi Klein says climate activists need to get comfortable attacking capitalism
Disruption: A Call To Act On Climate Change
“When it comes to climate change, why do we do so little when we know so much?’
Through a relentless investigation to find the answer, Disruption takes an unflinching look at the devastating consequences of our inaction.
The exploration lays bare the terrifying science, the shattered political process, the unrelenting industry special interests and the civic stasis that have brought us to this social, moral and ecological crossroads.The film also takes us behind-the-scenes of the efforts to organize the largest climate rally in the history of the planet during the UN world climate summit.
This is the story of our unique moment in history. We are living through an age of tipping points and rapid social and planetary change. We’re the first generation to feel the impacts of climate disruption, and the last generation that can do something about it. The film enlarges the issue beyond climate impacts and makes a compelling call for bold action that is strong enough to tip the balance to build a clean energy future.”
Andrew Little’s AMA on NBR. I’ve got mixed feelings about him. Like DC, he won’t talk about welfare, but leaves us to read between the lines. Unfortunately they could be read either way.
some good questions asked.
http://www.nbr.co.nz/ask-andrew-little#comment-673014
that is because he has absolutely no plans to do anything at all for the poorest..
..that is why he/they won’t talk about it..
..and of course cunliffe confirmed this..with his refusal to answer poverty-questions..
..and then coming out with a policy to raise benefits by inflation-rates..(!)..(that’d be parker..again..eh..?..)
..and that was it..
..and that was why he wd not answer those poverty-questions..
..it is not much of a leap to surmise the same about little..
..about all of them really..
..(except mahuta..maybe..but she has no show..)
..labour 2017 will be offering what labour 2014 did..(probably less..)
..and that means for the poorest..s.f.a…
..it is just incrementalist shades of difference in neo-lib labour..
..some not quite as bad as others..
..but no real fucken difference..in real terms..
..which is why i have no skin in the game..
..i couldn’t really give a fuck who wins..
..because whoever wins..nothing will change…
Wekarawshark 5.56
If welfare is a dirty word, what hope for those relying on the left to return to a
reciprocal, interactive community-type of society?
I won’t find out what he says because a subscription is required and the NBR – National Business Review minimum for an individual is $130 for 6 months.
Damn, didn’t realise that they would paywall that, should have taken a cut and paste 🙁
@ wekawarshark
I’ve been hearing about these paywalls and hadn’t run into one just when I wanted to read about something. Ouch. It doesn’t do much for me, I wouldn’t get my moneysworth out of it and anyway I like to keep my money for the big bills I need to pay. NBR is a nice to have.
I find that there are so many requests for money from genuine organisations doing genuinely good things that I have to think twice about extra spending.
I’ll try and remember that they put the page up for free for a time (24hrs? Just that business day?). There’s a few here with NBR subs, but most won’t.
Crazy price.
People here keen to go to Robertson’s campaign launch – if they are in Auckland?
i might go and ask some awkward questions..
Politicians? Don’t encourage them..
No.
well no ones interested in boxing here then!Obviously this site is infected with pacifists,lesbians and wimps that have no time for the merits of manly pugilistic endeavour.They don’t know,dont care,-how far removed from the noble kiwi ideals of rugby,racing and beer has this pale imitation of kiwi heritage called the Labour Party travelled?;)
Boxing? UFC and MMA mate 😛
Parker looks a bit scrawny, good hand speed though.
how wd u know..?
Just basing my onions on my observations of current and previous heavyweights.
Parker needs a bit more muscle.
oh..i thought you were talking about his ‘hand-speed’…
He’s pretty fast with his punches, but I don’t think there’s enough behind them to make him champ.
you and bob jones shd get together..
..both being boxing-fans..as you are..
Oh such a fucked old expert on everything there BM. I bow. To your big mouth.
Revealed: The woman who triggered Shearer’s downfall
Friday Aug 23, 2013 by Claire Trevett, the New Zealand Herald’s deputy political editor
I’m putting this up given the recent statements/melt down by David Shearer in which he accused David Cunliffe of the GFC, the bombing of Hiroshima and the high price of coffee.
“But the Herald has learned MP Maryan Street was preparing a motion of no confidence in Mr Shearer for Tuesday’s meeting.
Plans were also being made to send a delegation to him before that to ask him to stand down rather than force the confidence vote.
The MPs involved were certain the motion would have succeeded if it had been required.
Ms Street would not comment yesterday, but it is understood she decided to front the motion because of growing concerns among MPs over Mr Shearer’s inability to fire as leader and his poor poll ratings.
A source said there had been discussions for months, but nobody was willing to force the issue until Ms Street stepped up.”
Read the whole story here.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11112967
“The resignation will trigger Labour’s new leadership selection rules for the first time, giving votes to party members and affiliated unions, as well as MPs.
Gallery The most likely contenders are David Cunliffe and Grant Robertson; both have said they will decide over the next few days whether to run.
Mr Cunliffe said Mr Shearer’s decision had come as a surprise and he did not know what had prompted him to believe he had lost the confidence of his caucus. “We respect he has come to a decision he believes is in the best interests of the Labour Party.”
Mr Robertson said he had been a loyal deputy to Mr Shearer, and had supported him throughout his 20 months as leader. “Everybody in the caucus, as everybody in the wider Labour Party, would like to see us doing better in the polls and David has obviously reflected on that. He made his own decision.”
Andrew Little would not rule out seeking the leadership, but because he is a first-term MP he may be wary of making the run before he is ready. Shane Jones is also unlikely to contest it because he believes he would not get the support. David Parker and Phil Goff both ruled it out.
Labour MPs yesterday said they were saddened by Mr Shearer’s decision, and described him as a man of integrity who had done his best. But none said he had made the wrong decision.”
I really should not go read the herald. Big story about the number of women on the DPB(now called something else) dropping and somehow we should thank Nact? Reprinted press release by the look of it. Do they have to be so uncritical?
Could it perhaps have something to do with the demographics of an aging population meaning fewer people in that age group?
Or possibly women(who are much more likely to be on the DPB) no longer attempting to look after the kids because its nearly impossible at the current levels of harassment.
And more boasting about fewer teen parents on benefits- no mention of whether the birthrate for this category has fallen or whether they are simply not receiving any money- which should be a huge concern for everyone.
TRANSITIONS FOR SOCIETY: JOB GUARANTEE AND BASIC INCOME
Happens I’m sort of watching The Graham Norton Show right now. TV3. 9.10 pm Thursday. Hugh Grant and two other very appealing guests.
Does this resonate with anyone ? Paul Henry, world famous in New Zealand apparently, is a MUCH less entertaining, MUCH less bright, MUCH more viperish, Graham Norton rip-off.
Yeah. And Henry’s what we’ve gotta be satisfied with. Yeah ? Really ?
Oh this is fucked, pretensious, Auckland New Zealand then. Snotty wee narcissist Henry. The self proclaimed Prince of the Media. Jeez-uz !
PS – Graham Norton has a considerable and oft-paraded distaste for Hoorah Henry David Cameron. Which is excellent.
Speed learning on today’s economics with Mark Blyth – The Austerity Delusion – in an attractive Scottish brogue.
And it’s condensed so there is more economics and wall charts than from your average lecturer in only 22 minutes. You will be surprised and amazed and you will almost understand what Treasury is thinking, and you may be able to replace one of those useless theories of a human being who if they were truly competitive and efficient, would have tenders for their jobs and therefore cost us half the salary burden.
And you will love him if you are a leftie. He was brought up in Dundee, Scotland by his grandmother and went to school there when schools still worked, and there were opportunities for work also in those days. And so welfare made this guy, plus mothering skills, and now he is an Ivy-league professor in the USA. That’s how the system was supposed to work with social mobility, he says, but now it doesn’t – it’s broken.
Do listen.
http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-10-16/no-time-find-cure-ebola-could-be-contained-faster-quicker-test