After “Super Storm Sandy” struck New York, gaining wall to wall media coverage.
After the deadly tornado struck North Auckland, (following the track of the deadly tornado that struck the same area last year).
After last Tuesday’s “Super Storm” Bopha devastated the southern island of Mindanao in the Philippines, (Despite Super Storm Bopha being “unprecedented” that close to the equator, unlike Sandy this terrible tragedy barely gained a mention in the local media, despite leaving hundreds dead and missing and an estimated 400,000 homeless.)
And due to hit about now, “Super Cyclone Evan” after killing ten people in Samoa is reportedly gaining strength and is bearing down on Fiji. Samoa was savaged by Evan on Thursday leaving four confirmed dead and eight people missing from fishing boats.
However unlike “Super Storm” Bopha, earlier in the week, “Super Cyclone”,Evan has gained the media’s attention here.
<blockquote>In an unusual speech to the nation, Tuilaepa told the largely Christian state that there was a time for every season, and that God balances all things.
“The most poignant concerns that are distressing world leaders at the moment are the disastrous changing weather patterns that will allow the occurrences of cyclones, tsunamis, earthquakes, flooding and other disasters, which all emanates from man abusing the garden that God appointed him to tend, such as the mindless cutting of trees excessively warming the environment resulting in disasters not often experienced before,” he said.
He said deforestation near rivers and streams led to Samoa’s disaster.
“Likewise the extreme deforestation near rivers and streams which, consequently, now results in the loss of lives and the destruction of homes nearby due to flash floodings.” http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/south-pacific/8086706/Fiji-under-curfew-as-cyclone-arrives</blockquote>
Once is a coincidence, twice is a happenstance, three times is a conspiracy
Winston Churchill
As more energy is trapped in the system due to the Greenhouse effect, are these “Super Storms”, “Super Cyclones” and tornadoes to become regular events?
Storms, cyclones, and, tornado’s have for all of history been regular events, attaching the epithet ‘super’ to these weather events is the only thing that is ‘new’ about them…
In 1853 Dobson published a list of 24 Hurricanes from Pacific Island groups, Dobson and several subsequent records were cited in ‘Tropical Cyclones of the Pacific’, (Visher 1925), Visher lists ‘325’ Cyclones passing through the various island groups in the South Pacific,
The record includes Cyclones between 1789 and 1923.
A review of these sources and the data compilation for Western Samoa, (Puaga and LeFale 1988), has resulted in a list of 79 cyclones which have impacted Western Samoa between 1831 and 1990, the list indicated that more than 5 events with winds of 30 or more knots wind speed can be expected each decade….
Google= Probability andf recurrence of tropical cyclones in Western Samoa.
ict.sopac.org/VirLib/TR0106.pdf
Ps, The above is talking of cyclones that actually impact Western Samoa, there’s plenty more that miss which are not included….
So what happens when under the TPPA the U.S. guns and ammo manufacturers decide they’re being unfairly locked out of the NZ market by our relatively restrictive gun laws?
I think this kind of stereotyping is really beneath you, mickey. Non-neurotypical people are no more likely to commit violence than neurotypical people, and labelling all homicidal shooters as “crazy” is just a really good way to stop people taking the scarier parts of America’s gun culture seriously.
You say that, yet here you are rubbishing us for not having faith and trust in Key and his government.
See hs, when all the available facts contradict your beliefs but you continue to hold them, as you’re doing here and in the boot-camp thread and pretty much every time you post anywhere, that’s faith.
And in your case that faith is currently placed in Key and his govt. Pretend all you like, it’s here in black and white.
Apparently you have some facts about changes in gun law or gun importation/export post a potential TPPA care to share ?
My position is there is no evidence nor precedent to support your suggestion that the TPPA or indeed any FTA will lead to any change in gun law, access or importation into or out of NZ.
Given the facts, and the international precedents, the onus is on you to show that the weapons industry won’t have the investor-state provisions of the agreement at its disposal under the TPPA.
I may be wrong but I am pretty sure Australia hasn’t changed its gun laws in light of a free terade deal with the States. Neither has Britian for that matter.
The USA has free trade with 17 different countries all with varying gun laws. Going by this it would seem highly unlikely that we’d have to change ours.
Never mind the whole investor-state issue, never mind that companies will be able to sue NZ if we limit their rights to our markets, never mind what the tobacco companies are up to, and never mind applying the same logic to other industries.
higherstandard says it’s rubbish, despite having been totally schooled every time he has pretended to be an expert on the TPPA, so that’s that.
1) The agreements being made are confidential so you have no way of knowing what Key & Co. intend to sign us up for
2) The whole issue with the TPPA is that it allows foreign companies to seek damages from our government for any law that disadvantages them commercially. It is naive and shortsighted to assume that nothing will happen. As long as we are considering being a party to the TPPA then the sovereignty of our nation is at risk.
@FelixViper – good point. There are so many other nasty consequences of the TPPA that you are the first that I know of to question the guns/ammo issue. God help us if the Amercian gun lobby gets a foot in NZ. Could even force the arming of our police.
The way this government is going it won’t be long that our police are armed any way. They’ve already given the police more power and easier access to guns.
Are you in a position financially or otherwise to make good on your guarantee in the event you are wrong? The head of the Police union is constantly seeking the arming of our police (greater arming) which will require a change “to NZZ’s gun laws”. You may be safe in that the gun lobby (here and overseas) will funnel their message and drive through that organisation so it may never appear it was TPPA driven.
IF tobacco companies selling a product they admit harms and can kill people can sue for damages for not being allowed to have their brand on packets….
I saw Shearer on TV3 not too bad, no stutters as such. But what a dreamer he is. “The Leadership battle is well and truly over,” he says. “Labour had a good year”.
The Leadership battle is NOT over, and Labour had one of the worst years on record I say again. what a dreamer!!!
If that’s a good year for Labour wonder what a bad one looks like.
One after another shoocker from the NACT and sweet FA pinned on them either in the house or ouside it….Dreamer isn’t a word I’d use. Dellusional more like.
When Shearer obtained the leadership I hoped Labour was getting real person to front it rather than a politician, as has always been the case with the Greens.
Alas, with comments such as this and his bland, emptily verbose ‘statements’ carried on this blog Shearer is showing himself to be just another politician with no regard for or appreciation of the fact that his audience might have a shred of intelligence and views of their own rather than empty vessels to be filled with whatever he wants them to believe, even when he doesn’t believe it himself.
Not that I believe Cunliffe would be any better.
Shearer is possibly a good Manager -but never a Leader.
Not the same thing.
Very rare to find both.
Clark was great at both, as she had Heather alongside too.
But perhaps she overmanaged finally.
Shearer saying the leadership issue is over, once again, he is not accpeting the membership’s
wishes with regard to leadership,there are many members and potential voters wanting and expecting a genuine election for leadership in Feb 13, his stance will increase the mana and greens vote in 2014.
Shearer say’s ‘I know nothing, I see nothing, I hear nothing’
His ignorance is bliss.
Something else i noticed during the segment… Kathryn Ryan appeared to be getting her hackles up a bit when both Hooton and mike had a go at Nick Smith. It made me wonder if there is a bit of a personal connection between them.
I used to respect Mike Williams a lot. But somtime over the past few years he seems to have turned into a ‘yes’ man. Says just whatever the current Leadership team wants him to say and I worry about his grwoing policy vacuum – if he has a spine I’m not seeing or hearing it.
Occasionally Williams has taken it to Hooton and humiliated him. The pity of it is that most of the time all he does is, as you say, make a point of finding common ground with Hooton.
Williams is still far better than Josie Pagani, although occasionally even she has taken it to Hooton—and triumphed. Hooton is not impressive when his statements are challenged, so it’s a pity that his opponents so rarely challenge him.
Hooton always says same old rubbish week in week out . lets have debate He is the only one who gets anything out of disscussion.. re just picks up another cheque from RNZ
What was slightly enlightening was Williams joining in with Hooten to bag the Greens Russell Norman,
Hooten, hardly a full to overflowing suitcase of intellectual rigor was again taking to Russell over the Greens willingness to print money to spend into the New Zealand economy according to ‘the little fat toad’, (as opposed to His mate Blubber Boy,’the big fat toad’), ”No Government can print money unless interest rates are zero”, unquote,
What really gets me when such ‘comment’ is allowed to be repeated over and over as Nine to Noon gives Hooten free rein to do, without allowing Russell Norman the courtesy of a reply is that ‘what’s her face’ the presenter and even the pathetic Williams didn’t demand of Hooten a factual basis for such an assertion,
Perhaps ‘the little fat toad’ should have taken more notice of both the US and just held Japanese elections, the Prez quoted during His election campaign openly stated that each month He will print the monies needed and every month until there is ‘a recovery’ He will cause the same to happen,
The next Prime Minister of Japan elected as late as yesterday is promising to do exactly the same thing…
I endorse everything you’ve said about the way Williams, Pagani, Peter Harris (remember HIM?) and a host of other utterly ineffective “commentators from the left” have simply sat back and let Hooton say anything he wants.
Only two people ever challenged him strongly: Laila Harre and Sue Bradford.
Hell yeah ! We’ve no redundancy if stn cross cable goes down and Telecom and partners are taking the piss with pricing on a cable that’s not even fully utilised currently.
Competition is desperately needed to overcome our small population/bottom of the world factors.
More common sense agenda setting from the greens.
As for the actual policy, they’re suggesting taking a cornerstone stake in a second international fibre-optic link, to ensure both competition and redundancy in case of failure. This is priced at $100 million, but as they point out, that’s just 0.8% of the amount National has wasted on its “Roads of National Significance”. national would no doubt complain that investment should be left to the market, but the market has failed to provide this basic infrastructure, therefore its the government’s job to step in – just as it did for electricity and railways in their day.
Secondly, they’re pushing changes to government procurement, to push them towards local providers for IT services, and to use open standards and open source software where possible. Finally, they want to reverse Nationals’ proposed change to the Patents Bill, and outlaw software patents.
I know that you’re being facetious but that would actually be the best option. Selling Telecom means that we’ve lost ~$16b dollars due to the dead weight loss of profit just from Telecom. Adding competition means that we’re now adding in even more costs as well as more of the dead weight loss from profit.
News of the Day in a Moronic Way
The Panel, National Radio, Monday 17 December 2012
Jim Mora: What else have you got for us, Richard?
Richard Langstone: Danny Boyle has turned down a knighthood.
Mora: Oh yes. Maybe he’s hanging out to be Lord Boyle.
Barry Corbett: Ho ho ho ho ho!
Langstone: He he hee heeee heeeee!
Mora: Lord Boyle! Ha ha ha ha ha!
Langstone: It’s not a surprise, really, though, is it? He’s from Lancashire, so he would have thought, I don’t want any of your soft southern honours! A hee heee heeee heeee.
Corbett: Ha ha ha ha ha!
Mora: Ha ha ha ha ha!
Thus a serious moral and political point is reduced to nothing by the lofty thinkers on The Panel.
The best reason for anyone listening to either Nine to Noon or Afternoons with Jim Moron these days is to gain a understanding of just how badly ‘dumbed down’ the political/social discourse has become in New Zealand,
The best defence i can mount on behalf of RadioNZ National is that i got spoiled by Kim Hill….
Um, to be a semantic bore, the reason he could kill that many people was his access to firearms.
His actual motives are unknown. The Secret Service did note in their 2002 report into school shootings that a quarter of shooters in the study had at least a partial motive of getting attention or recognition.
Oh, and that 4/5ths apparently had some sort of grievance before they went berserk.
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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 ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today in Gisborne an investment of $17.27m into bringing “world-leading” food-growing technology and the creation of more than 100 new jobs in the East Coast city. The funding comes from the Provincial Growth Fund, and included a $15 million loan to LeaderBrand, a ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development More than 100 people in Tairāwhiti’s Tolaga Bay will benefit from two employment initiatives supported by the Provincial Growth Fund, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today. “Tolaga Bay is an incredibly tight-knit community, but one in ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is supporting Gisborne business Leaderbrand to produce salad vegetables year round and create more jobs in the Tairāwhiti region, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Our support for Leaderbrand will help them build large greenhouses ...
“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 ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has praised the promise by New Zealand’s biggest banks not to close any provincial branches while the Coalition Government trials regional banking hubs across the country. The Minister said the announce was the “first sign of hope for regional communities”, many of which have ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have delivered an upgrade of the SuperGold Card website and a new smartphone app, which will help unlock the full benefits of the SuperGold Card for 750,000 New Zealand seniors.Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters, ...
Delivering a key election campaign promise, New Zealand First is proud to have accomplished a long overdue upgrade of the SuperGold Card today. At an event in Auckland, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters joined Minister for Seniors Hon. Tracey Martin in unveiling the new website and smartphone app which ...
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 ...
The Government has approved the next stage of a major redevelopment of Taranaki Base Hospital, which will deliver new and improved facilities for patients. Health Minister Dr David Clark has announced details of a $300 million dollar project to build a new East Wing at the New Plymouth hospital. It ...
Extra funding will allow Rural Support Trusts to help farming families, says Minister for Rural Communities and Agriculture Damien O’Connor. “I know that rural families are worried about some of the challenges facing them, including the ongoing uncertainty created by the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak. “Those concerns sit alongside ongoing worries ...
Thank you for the opportunity to be here to present certificates to the 16 graduates who have completed a beekeeping course delivered by the Howard League. Let us start by acknowledging Auckland Prison’s Deputy Prison Director Tom Sherlock, and Acting Assistant Regional Commissioner of Corrections Northern Region Scott Walker - ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson leaves this weekend to attend the APEC Finance Ministers meeting in Santiago, Chile. Discussions between APEC Finance Ministers at the meeting will include the effects of the current global economic uncertainty, risks for APEC economies and sustainable development of the region. While at APEC Grant Robertson ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says for Pacific people, language can be a source of strength. It can help ground us and give us confidence. When we speak them, our languages provide us with an immediate and intimate access to our identity and our story - and ...
The Coalition Government has announced an action plan to improve the wellbeing of disabled New Zealanders by addressing inequalities in play, active recreation and sport. The initiative includes training to develop a workforce that understands the needs of children and young people with a range of impairments, advocacy for fit ...
The construction sector is being freed up to allow more homes to be built more quickly as the Government cuts through some of the red tape of the Building Act. “Every New Zealander deserves a warm, dry, safe home and old inefficiencies in the Building Act make building slow and ...
Four months ago Caroline Shaw bought an e-bike. She explains why they’re the answer to our lethal car culture.Four months ago we took what felt like a huge leap of faith and bought an e-cargo bike. The combination of three things tipped us over the edge: feeling the need to ...
The online magazine that boasted a bigger Instagram following than most New Zealand media has abruptly come to an end. So what was Auckland Mag? Why did it exist? And who was it mysterious founder Dan Rolph? David Farrier investigates. The reply from Dan Rolph at Auckland Magazine came quickly. It came ...
In the wake of the shocking revelations about Three, Duncan Greive assesses the health of New Zealand’s six big media companies.Winston Peters has studied the cold, pitiless heart of a certain strand of New Zealander for four decades now, and has become our foremost expert on both expressing its feelings ...
US justice reform activists Deborah Small and asha bandele say white supremacy and colonialism are at the heart of punitive drug laws. They spoke to Teuila Fuatai about how drug reform can reverse their effects on minority communities. Deborah Small sees Donald Trump as the US Dorian Gray. “He’s the physical ...
Madeleine Chapman spent a day learning about Christchurch through its most famous dishes.What is there do with with a day in Christchurch? Thanks to the inexplicably early check-out times at hotels all over the world and a 7pm flight back to Auckland, I had a full day to wander the ...
Winston Peters says his party is a handbrake on bad ideas and a "supercharged turbo" for good ones - but will it be in the driver's seat come 2020? ...
Our former prime minister secured a meeting with Chinese premier Xi Jinping outside all normal diplomatic channels. Interest’s Jenée Tibshraeny asks what it means for New Zealand’s evolving relationship with the superpower.Former prime minister John Key secured a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week without the involvement of ...
David Robiecontinues his three-part series about travelling in Iran. I stumbled on the scene by chance. Our host family in Iran’s second city Mashhad, a modern and beautiful metropolis that would comfortably fit in New Zealand’s entire population, was taking us on a drive to the outskirts to ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has lashed out at the media, in particular, MediaWorks, just a day after the company announced it was selling off its television arm. ...
About a hundred disgruntled licensed gun owners have descended on the New Zealand First conference to tell the party leader Winston Peters that they feel like victims. ...
New Zealand First members will vote on a policy today that would allow businesses of all sizes to enforce 90-day trials when they employ people straight out of prison. ...
"Each time she held her lighter underneath the pipe and sucked the smoke into the back of her throat, the promise was there": a New Zealand tragedy by Alice Tawhai. ...
With the future of Mediaworks’ TV business hanging in the balance, Al Jazeera news presenter Kamahl Santamaria reflects on what the imperilled channel meant, and continues to mean, to him.I always liked the logo. The fresh bright colours, the nod to a koru in its shape, and just the fact ...
There are still many barriers preventing people from voting in local elections. Laura O’Connell Rapira proposes some social solutions.The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here.To vote in the local elections, I cast ...
What’s really stood out for me being back in Tokyo is the unique qualities of Japan’s spectators, writes Richard Light, professor of sport coaching at the University of Canterbury.The Rugby World Cup has thrown a global spotlight on Japan over recent weeks. Not just the rugby: the distinctive culture and ...
As the New Zealand First Party gathers for its annual conference, the question swirling in the year is how it can carve out a path to avoid electoral defeat in 2020, writes Jo Moir for RNZ. It’s not you, it’s me. It’s a familiar break up excuse that’s used ...
To the early intervention therapists, to the teachers, to the speech therapists, the occupational therapists, music therapists, diabetes nurses and all: you change the world.When I was married almost a decade ago we had the following reading at our wedding:You are holding up a ceilingwith both arms. It is very ...
The faces said it all. The smiles of the European leaders crowded round Boris after the Brexit deal was struck. The deal his opponents – no, pretty much everyone – said was impossible.So what’s in it? The detail is still opaque, but subject to gremlins in the fine print, ...
Iran attracts an onslaught of negative media in New Zealand and Western media. But is it fair or deserved? David Robie has spent several weeks travelling in the country on sabbatical and finds the media negativity far from the reality of the “most friendly” country he has ever visited ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]University of Canberra Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Leigh Sullivan discusses the week in politics with Michelle Grattan. They talk about Alan Jones accusing Prime Minister Scott Morrison of failing the immediate needs of drought-striken farmers, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anita Parbhakar-Fox, Senior Research Fellow in Geometallurgy/Applied Geochemistry, The University of Queensland Last month, scientists uncovered a mineral called Edscottite. Minerals are solid, naturally occurring substances that are not living, such as quartz or haematite. This new mineral was discovered after an ...
The Auckland-based collective talk origins, ambitions and making the rave accessible to everybody.Friendly Potential is an outfit that defies easy summary. They’re among the country’s most ambitious and prolific club promoters. In their almost five-years of operation, they’ve been responsible for the local debuts of electronic music icons including Detroit ...
Analysis: Two polls show support for Labour sliding, the government is accused of breaking another promise and the Greens's refusal to back a bill forces Labour to rely on National to get it through. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kiera Lindsey, University of Technology Sydney One spring morning in 1850, over 8,000 Sydneysiders marched through town to protest the resumption of transportation – the act of sending British criminals to Australia. It was the largest protest in Australia thus far, an ...
Two shareholders of failed insurance firm company CBL are leading a class action against the firm's former directors seeking compensation for financial losses. ...
Sam Brooks recaps the third episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, and wonders why some of these queens don’t know how to sew.This episode asks, and sort of answers the main question that millions of people across the world: why would you come on Drag Race and not know how to sew?!There ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John M Clarke, Team Leader, Regional Projections, CSIRO Last month we lost Dr Penny Whetton – one of the world’s most respected climate scientists and a brilliant mentor to the next generation of researchers. Penny will also be remembered as a passionate ...
Ten moose were upended into the Dusky Sounds in 1910. Now, their descendants are getting their day in the sun.The climate crisis is affecting wildlife all over the country: rockhopper penguin populations are in drastic decline, tuatara eggs aren’t hatching females, and the ice walls keeping predators away from kea ...
Security footage of NZ First MP Clayton Mitchell being thrown out of a Tauranga bar looks unlikely to ever be aired - despite his leader Winston Peters promising a screening. ...
Amnesty International is concerned that Justice Minister Andrew Little's Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill could have the potential to undermine human rights in New Zealand. The Bill would give the New Zealand Police the ability to apply to ...
Expect the old campaigner Winston Peters to be at his belligerent best as he gears up for another election. He’s kept his party alive for 27 years and he shows no sign of quitting. The omens may be bleak—polls this week showed his party below the 5% threshold– but Peters ...
The National Party has agreed to take down any videos breaching the current rules around the use of parliamentary TV footage, as all parties try to reach consensus. ...
Recently the Health Promotion Agency released a report into hazardous drinking in New Zealand. The report shows that Māori who drink alcohol and live in deprived circumstances are less likely to have a harmful relationship with alcohol if they ...
Turkey-US joint-statement on military ops within Syria’s territory.The Turkish Embassy in New Zealand issued Evening Report this unabridged United States of America-Republic of Turkey joint-statement detailing what both sides agreed to regarding Turkey’s military operations within the so-called security zone within Syrian territory near Turkey’s southern border. It is ...
Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash didn’t mention what winners will receive, when he proudly called for entries for a new public award “to celebrate innovation in our seafood sector”. Nor did he mention the cost to taxpayers of this initiative. Point of Order’s checks with the website where more details have ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fiona R Martin, Senior Lecturer in Convergent and Online Media, University of Sydney One of the basic tenets of the ABC Act is independence from government. Yet once again, in contravention to that principle, the federal government is trying to push through ...
A new poem by Auckland poet Lily Holloway.modernity to globalisationwhen I get there as still life and landscape and also portraitureseeking the cacti in small pots who dot the globeslices of pie offer up the vision after the sermonexpressing emotions without coherent narrative supportbecause no artist responded to this callemploying ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is calling on Broadcasting Minister Kris Faafoi to rule out any taxpayer-funded purchase or bailout for Mediaworks’s channel Three. Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “For the last few months Mediaworks ...
The Police Commissioner's announcement that squadcars of officers with automatic rifles will patrol New Zealand's streets is dangerous and unnecessary, according to the criminal justice community organisation People Against Prisons Aotearoa. The ...
News broke this morning that Mediaworks is seeking to sell off, and even contemplating closing, its TV division. What might that mean for journalism?For journalism in New Zealand, the loss of Three’s TV division is a devastating blow. It is not yet known whether any of the news properties will ...
In our defence of our coalition Government policy on climate change, we fully support Government plan to use rail funding for rail infrastructure upgrades to promote use rail infrastructure for freight around NZ. ...
The billions of tonnes of plastic in our oceans isn’t going away any time soon, but innovative companies here and abroad are working together to find silver linings to this daunting problem.Fishing boats head out to sea and set their nets. They go back to shore. They head back out, ...
An EveningReport.nz investigation by Kevin ListKiwibank services. Image by Kevin List.Evening Report looks into the separation of Kiwibank from New Zealand Post, and considers the impact on the public’s access to banking services in their communities.Kiwibank. What’s going on? Kiwibank and New Zealand Post are in the ...
Local Government New Zealand today confirmed what many local election commentators have observed; that more of the voting public cast their ballots in favour of women candidates than ever before. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington (this week we totted up the data a day early, on Wednesday, to let our books ed. ...
New Zealand's mineral manufacturing sector is expected to face some testing times, with softer prices, tighter margins and sluggish export markets. ...
Portugal has been painted by pro-cannabis legalisation groups as a model to follow. Yet just last month, the mayor of Porto contradicted his previous pro-harm reduction position and endorsed reintroducing criminal penalties for drug use in public spaces. ...
Chief of Defence Force Air Marshal Kevin Short announced today the inclusion of six Cook Island First World War soldiers in the New Zealand and Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s official rolls of honour. ...
The latest statistics released by the Health Promotion Agency showing a dramatic fall in the numbers of cigarettes being sold in supermarkets, service stations, and liquor stores are being welcomed by the Vaping Trade Association of New Zealand (VTANZ). ...
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.NZ First Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Where to from here? How NZ First will win in ...
Aotearoa Climate Emergency (ACE), a climate change network, will host a conference in Wellington on 11 November (Armistice Day) to promote holding a Citizens Assembly in 2020, as a way of breaking the current political deadlock on treating climate ...
MediaWorks’ owners have called time after years of losses from its TV division. Sources say the company will announce it is for sale – if no buyers emerge, it will close within months.Three is facing the biggest crisis in its three decade history today, as its ownership will soon announce ...
Sam Brooks reviews Amazon Prime’s Modern Love, an anthology series based on the New York Times column dedicated to ‘love in all its forms’. A first date that ends up in the emergency room. A flagging marriage that finds new energy through tennis. The founder of a dating app who doesn’t ...
If we want to grow support for New Zealand’s aid, we need to get better at partnering with the ‘unlike-minded’ as well as the ‘like-minded’, and much better at telling people what we do with the money they give, says Josie Pagani, Executive ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Orsola De Marco, Astrophysicist , Macquarie University If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au.How are stars made? –Zali, age 8, Karkoo, South Australia. How are stars made? Well, stars are not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gita Mishra, Professor of Life Course Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland All women know to expect the time in life when their periods finish and they reach menopause. Many might even look forward to it. What many women don’t ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul McGreevy, Professor of Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare Science, University of Sydney Since ancient times, horse behaviour, and the bond between horses and humans, has been a source of intrigue and fascination. The horse-lore that has accumulated over the centuries is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachael Wallis, Lecturer and Honorary Research Fellow, University of Southern Queensland A move to the country is often presented in popular culture as an idyllic life, a place where you can escape the pressures of the city. It’s in television shows such ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW The just-announced inquiry into Australia’s retirement income system ought to be anything but run-of-the-mill. Taking place 25 years after the introduction of compulsory superannuation, it provides an opportunity to either fix a broken system, or discard ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Allan McCay, Law Lecturer, University of Sydney The rise of artificial intelligence has led to widespread concern about the role of humans in the workplaces of the future. Indeed, Israeli historian, futurist and publishing sensation Yuval Noah Harari warns in his most ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Saunders, Phd candidate, University of Wollongong Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains images and names of deceased people. You leave Sydney and head for holidays on the South Coast. You plan to catch a quick surf, ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Clayton Mitchell denies accusations around a night out, food insecurity on the rise, and UK PM Boris Johnson secures deal with dubious prospects.NZ First MP Clayton Mitchell has got himself in a spot of late night bother in a Tauranga ...
As the rugby world wrestles with the new reality that players can, and will, be dismissed for accidental contact with an opponent’s head it's worth pondering the fate of three All Blacks not selected for the Ireland quarterfinal. ...
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Open mike 17/12/2012 
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‘
After “Super Storm Sandy” struck New York, gaining wall to wall media coverage.
After the deadly tornado struck North Auckland, (following the track of the deadly tornado that struck the same area last year).
After last Tuesday’s “Super Storm” Bopha devastated the southern island of Mindanao in the Philippines, (Despite Super Storm Bopha being “unprecedented” that close to the equator, unlike Sandy this terrible tragedy barely gained a mention in the local media, despite leaving hundreds dead and missing and an estimated 400,000 homeless.)
And due to hit about now, “Super Cyclone Evan” after killing ten people in Samoa is reportedly gaining strength and is bearing down on Fiji. Samoa was savaged by Evan on Thursday leaving four confirmed dead and eight people missing from fishing boats.
However unlike “Super Storm” Bopha, earlier in the week, “Super Cyclone”,Evan has gained the media’s attention here.
<blockquote>In an unusual speech to the nation, Tuilaepa told the largely Christian state that there was a time for every season, and that God balances all things.
“The most poignant concerns that are distressing world leaders at the moment are the disastrous changing weather patterns that will allow the occurrences of cyclones, tsunamis, earthquakes, flooding and other disasters, which all emanates from man abusing the garden that God appointed him to tend, such as the mindless cutting of trees excessively warming the environment resulting in disasters not often experienced before,” he said.
He said deforestation near rivers and streams led to Samoa’s disaster.
“Likewise the extreme deforestation near rivers and streams which, consequently, now results in the loss of lives and the destruction of homes nearby due to flash floodings.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/south-pacific/8086706/Fiji-under-curfew-as-cyclone-arrives</blockquote>
Once is a coincidence, twice is a happenstance, three times is a conspiracy
Winston Churchill
As more energy is trapped in the system due to the Greenhouse effect, are these “Super Storms”, “Super Cyclones” and tornadoes to become regular events?
Storms, cyclones, and, tornado’s have for all of history been regular events, attaching the epithet ‘super’ to these weather events is the only thing that is ‘new’ about them…
In 1853 Dobson published a list of 24 Hurricanes from Pacific Island groups, Dobson and several subsequent records were cited in ‘Tropical Cyclones of the Pacific’, (Visher 1925), Visher lists ‘325’ Cyclones passing through the various island groups in the South Pacific,
The record includes Cyclones between 1789 and 1923.
A review of these sources and the data compilation for Western Samoa, (Puaga and LeFale 1988), has resulted in a list of 79 cyclones which have impacted Western Samoa between 1831 and 1990, the list indicated that more than 5 events with winds of 30 or more knots wind speed can be expected each decade….
Google= Probability andf recurrence of tropical cyclones in Western Samoa.
ict.sopac.org/VirLib/TR0106.pdf
Ps, The above is talking of cyclones that actually impact Western Samoa, there’s plenty more that miss which are not included….
Pity that the “science” which is “settled” does not support your scare mongering.
Latest from the IPCC
http://climatedepot.com/a/18800/Prof-Pielke-Jr-Analysis-of-UN-IPCC-Draft-report–IPCC-shows-almost-complete-reversal-from-AR4-on-trends-in-drought-hurricanes-floods
But……. Higher temps mean more energy for storms to feed on .. please junk this idea?
BUT….Hotter water ,more petrol for storm engine makes it have more power … please debunk..
So what happens when under the TPPA the U.S. guns and ammo manufacturers decide they’re being unfairly locked out of the NZ market by our relatively restrictive gun laws?
I hate to think but no doubt in Court the gun companies will argue that guns do not kill people, people do …
“the gun companies will argue that guns do not kill people, people do …” This is the dumbest argument in the universe.
Surely it is clear that people with guns kill people.
And people without guns, particularly homicidal maniacs or the insane, will not be able to.
I agree.
It is just the weird place that the US right to bear arms debate has got to.
particularly homicidal maniacs or the insane
I think this kind of stereotyping is really beneath you, mickey. Non-neurotypical people are no more likely to commit violence than neurotypical people, and labelling all homicidal shooters as “crazy” is just a really good way to stop people taking the scarier parts of America’s gun culture seriously.
{ conn usa }4 people dead a few hours ago domestic dispute with girlfriend …. Ban girlfriends or guns ?
[lprent: If you want to assert a fact, then generally link to it so other people can see what you’re talking about. ]
DunnoKeyo version ….
“It a lack of heartbeat that kills people”, how it stopped beating is not my pervue M8!
nothing.
What makes you say that? The tobacco companies certainly don’t share your view.
And what on earth is the point of the agreement if nothing happens?
In that fellow’s case, Felix, “nothing” refers to the amount of thought, and reading, he has put in on the matter.
Not only is your dogwhistle in poor taste it’s been answered in my single statement.
Nothing will change in relation to NZ’s gun laws under a TPPA.
And why not? Do the gun manufacturers not have the “right” to insist their product have open access to New Zealand?
Or do you think Smith & Wesson, etc. are not as hard-headed and brutal as Big Tobacco?
“Do the gun manufacturers not have the “right” to insist their product have open access to New Zealand?”
No.
They WILL if the Key regime gets away with signing the TPP agreement.
Rubbish.
higherstandard, I don’t understand why you have such faith and trust in the government, not to mention John Key and his merry band of robbers.
I have little to no faith in this or any government.
You say that, yet here you are rubbishing us for not having faith and trust in Key and his government.
See hs, when all the available facts contradict your beliefs but you continue to hold them, as you’re doing here and in the boot-camp thread and pretty much every time you post anywhere, that’s faith.
And in your case that faith is currently placed in Key and his govt. Pretend all you like, it’s here in black and white.
Felix
Apparently you have some facts about changes in gun law or gun importation/export post a potential TPPA care to share ?
My position is there is no evidence nor precedent to support your suggestion that the TPPA or indeed any FTA will lead to any change in gun law, access or importation into or out of NZ.
Merry XMAS
Your faith is touching. Misplaced, but touching.
Given the facts, and the international precedents, the onus is on you to show that the weapons industry won’t have the investor-state provisions of the agreement at its disposal under the TPPA.
What international precedents ? What facts ?
The precedents of sovereign governments being sued and/or bullied into submission by corporations under the terms of free-trade agreements, of course.
Silly goose.
Links ?
Relevance to guns and gun law ?
Silly gander.
There’s nothing controversial in what I’ve written. Everything I’ve referred to has been well reported.
However I’m in no mood to chase links for a self-admitted trool who has already had them provided before.
ps I’m not the one who’s trying to present guns and ammo as a special class of product that will magically be unaffected by the TPPA, you are.
Wow another argument you’ve won you are the king of the standard.
I may be wrong but I am pretty sure Australia hasn’t changed its gun laws in light of a free terade deal with the States. Neither has Britian for that matter.
The USA has free trade with 17 different countries all with varying gun laws. Going by this it would seem highly unlikely that we’d have to change ours.
What would you know you RWNJ.
And there’s higherstandard’s whole argument.
Never mind the whole investor-state issue, never mind that companies will be able to sue NZ if we limit their rights to our markets, never mind what the tobacco companies are up to, and never mind applying the same logic to other industries.
higherstandard says it’s rubbish, despite having been totally schooled every time he has pretended to be an expert on the TPPA, so that’s that.
Nothing to see here.
higherstandard
Quite right – what a bullshit comment from Morrissey.
But I suppose all right as it is Monday – he is still churning from the weekend.
You really are a True Believer.
1) The agreements being made are confidential so you have no way of knowing what Key & Co. intend to sign us up for
2) The whole issue with the TPPA is that it allows foreign companies to seek damages from our government for any law that disadvantages them commercially. It is naive and shortsighted to assume that nothing will happen. As long as we are considering being a party to the TPPA then the sovereignty of our nation is at risk.
@FelixViper – good point. There are so many other nasty consequences of the TPPA that you are the first that I know of to question the guns/ammo issue. God help us if the Amercian gun lobby gets a foot in NZ. Could even force the arming of our police.
Lots of things to hunt in NZ.
The way this government is going it won’t be long that our police are armed any way. They’ve already given the police more power and easier access to guns.
Are you in a position financially or otherwise to make good on your guarantee in the event you are wrong? The head of the Police union is constantly seeking the arming of our police (greater arming) which will require a change “to NZZ’s gun laws”. You may be safe in that the gun lobby (here and overseas) will funnel their message and drive through that organisation so it may never appear it was TPPA driven.
IF tobacco companies selling a product they admit harms and can kill people can sue for damages for not being allowed to have their brand on packets….
Arm the police and their life expectations will be shortened. This has been well established in the U.S.A.
Len Snee will vouch for that.
Children speak to Obama, the weeping President….
http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1355617642.html
I saw Shearer on TV3 not too bad, no stutters as such. But what a dreamer he is. “The Leadership battle is well and truly over,” he says. “Labour had a good year”.
The Leadership battle is NOT over, and Labour had one of the worst years on record I say again. what a dreamer!!!
If that’s a good year for Labour wonder what a bad one looks like.
One after another shoocker from the NACT and sweet FA pinned on them either in the house or ouside it….Dreamer isn’t a word I’d use. Dellusional more like.
Either way it’s been another sad year for new zealand society and the future.
Thank you TC I stand corrected.
When Shearer obtained the leadership I hoped Labour was getting real person to front it rather than a politician, as has always been the case with the Greens.
Alas, with comments such as this and his bland, emptily verbose ‘statements’ carried on this blog Shearer is showing himself to be just another politician with no regard for or appreciation of the fact that his audience might have a shred of intelligence and views of their own rather than empty vessels to be filled with whatever he wants them to believe, even when he doesn’t believe it himself.
Not that I believe Cunliffe would be any better.
After the stella successes of
Class sizes
novopay
CH reorganization
Salisbury school
The MOE are now reorganizing the truancy services according to an interview on 9 to noon.
Shearer is possibly a good Manager -but never a Leader.
Not the same thing.
Very rare to find both.
Clark was great at both, as she had Heather alongside too.
But perhaps she overmanaged finally.
Shearer saying the leadership issue is over, once again, he is not accpeting the membership’s
wishes with regard to leadership,there are many members and potential voters wanting and expecting a genuine election for leadership in Feb 13, his stance will increase the mana and greens vote in 2014.
Shearer say’s ‘I know nothing, I see nothing, I hear nothing’
His ignorance is bliss.
The twin to Key, and his “I See Notzink” Shultz’s Joyce and Jabba’
Great to hear Mike Williams agree so much with Matthew Hooton on RadioNZ right now…
Yes I’m also disappointed to hear Mike start every statement with “I agree with Matthew”. Mike must be fishing for BBQ invites.
There is one thing I agree with Hooton on however: “Hekia Parata should be fired.”
Something else i noticed during the segment… Kathryn Ryan appeared to be getting her hackles up a bit when both Hooton and mike had a go at Nick Smith. It made me wonder if there is a bit of a personal connection between them.
I used to respect Mike Williams a lot. But somtime over the past few years he seems to have turned into a ‘yes’ man. Says just whatever the current Leadership team wants him to say and I worry about his grwoing policy vacuum – if he has a spine I’m not seeing or hearing it.
Occasionally Williams has taken it to Hooton and humiliated him. The pity of it is that most of the time all he does is, as you say, make a point of finding common ground with Hooton.
Williams is still far better than Josie Pagani, although occasionally even she has taken it to Hooton—and triumphed. Hooton is not impressive when his statements are challenged, so it’s a pity that his opponents so rarely challenge him.
Unfortunately, he also agreed with Hooton’s generalisation that pregnant women were unfit for work.
What?! You have got to be joking!
About 22:15 onwards.
Hooton: “You’re meant to take leave when you’re pregnant, aren’t you? You take leave from work.”
Ryan: “Keep digging, Matthew…”
Williams: [laughs] “Matthew is quite right”.
Whatever Mahuta’s faults, I don’t think they’re due to her lady-parts.
Why am I completely unsurprised that Matthew Hooton has no fucking idea about the situation of pregnant working people?
I’m trying to listen to it right now, but it hasn’t maintained my attention. It’s a boring rambling discussion, with little that’s enlightening.
Hooton always says same old rubbish week in week out . lets have debate He is the only one who gets anything out of disscussion.. re just picks up another cheque from RNZ
What was slightly enlightening was Williams joining in with Hooten to bag the Greens Russell Norman,
Hooten, hardly a full to overflowing suitcase of intellectual rigor was again taking to Russell over the Greens willingness to print money to spend into the New Zealand economy according to ‘the little fat toad’, (as opposed to His mate Blubber Boy,’the big fat toad’), ”No Government can print money unless interest rates are zero”, unquote,
What really gets me when such ‘comment’ is allowed to be repeated over and over as Nine to Noon gives Hooten free rein to do, without allowing Russell Norman the courtesy of a reply is that ‘what’s her face’ the presenter and even the pathetic Williams didn’t demand of Hooten a factual basis for such an assertion,
Perhaps ‘the little fat toad’ should have taken more notice of both the US and just held Japanese elections, the Prez quoted during His election campaign openly stated that each month He will print the monies needed and every month until there is ‘a recovery’ He will cause the same to happen,
The next Prime Minister of Japan elected as late as yesterday is promising to do exactly the same thing…
I endorse everything you’ve said about the way Williams, Pagani, Peter Harris (remember HIM?) and a host of other utterly ineffective “commentators from the left” have simply sat back and let Hooton say anything he wants.
Only two people ever challenged him strongly: Laila Harre and Sue Bradford.
Good move by the greens:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/8089859/Govt-should-fund-internet-cable-Greens
Hell yeah ! We’ve no redundancy if stn cross cable goes down and Telecom and partners are taking the piss with pricing on a cable that’s not even fully utilised currently.
Competition is desperately needed to overcome our small population/bottom of the world factors.
More common sense agenda setting from the greens.
Nice +1
Liking the Greens more and more! +1
NRT has a good post on it too.
Won’t they just nationalise Telecom? Surely they can’t be thinking of relying on competition to bring the price down. That’s neolib thinking.
I know that you’re being facetious but that would actually be the best option. Selling Telecom means that we’ve lost ~$16b dollars due to the dead weight loss of profit just from Telecom. Adding competition means that we’re now adding in even more costs as well as more of the dead weight loss from profit.
Patrick Cockburn on Syria:
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/syria-the-descent-into-holy-war-8420309.html
News of the Day in a Moronic Way
The Panel, National Radio, Monday 17 December 2012
Jim Mora: What else have you got for us, Richard?
Richard Langstone: Danny Boyle has turned down a knighthood.
Mora: Oh yes. Maybe he’s hanging out to be Lord Boyle.
Barry Corbett: Ho ho ho ho ho!
Langstone: He he hee heeee heeeee!
Mora: Lord Boyle! Ha ha ha ha ha!
Langstone: It’s not a surprise, really, though, is it? He’s from Lancashire, so he would have thought, I don’t want any of your soft southern honours! A hee heee heeee heeee.
Corbett: Ha ha ha ha ha!
Mora: Ha ha ha ha ha!
Thus a serious moral and political point is reduced to nothing by the lofty thinkers on The Panel.
Barry Corbett a lofty thinker? Ha ha ha ha ha ha
Corbett is a Noam Chomsky compared to the drone who’s talking right now, i.e. Chris Wikaira.
The best reason for anyone listening to either Nine to Noon or Afternoons with Jim Moron these days is to gain a understanding of just how badly ‘dumbed down’ the political/social discourse has become in New Zealand,
The best defence i can mount on behalf of RadioNZ National is that i got spoiled by Kim Hill….
Morgan Freemans quote was fake. Apparenly re RNZ panel . but valid ..
Whether it was made up or not, it was NOT valid. It was vacuous.
If Clint Eastwood is the most doo-lally old coot in Hollywood, without a doubt Morgan Freeman is the most boring.
“Glory killing” seems to be gaining traction for these events ,media has a part to play in this? Less focus on killers THAT is the key.
Nonsense. The reason he killed those children was because he had such ready access to those lethal weapons.
If you want censorship, why don’t you and the most boring grandpappy in the world move to North Korea?
If you looking for nonsense look no further than the first part of your comment.
“If you [sic!] looking for nonsense look no further than the first part of your comment.”
What? What was nonsensical about “the first part” of my comment?
“What? What was nonsensical about “the first part” of my comment?”
Just the whole thing. Slowly read what you said and think about it.
edit: I see McFliper has already pointed this out
Um, to be a semantic bore, the reason he could kill that many people was his access to firearms.
His actual motives are unknown. The Secret Service did note in their 2002 report into school shootings that a quarter of shooters in the study had at least a partial motive of getting attention or recognition.
Oh, and that 4/5ths apparently had some sort of grievance before they went berserk.
Not censorship maybe,just read a book on psychology .This might be a new phenomenon?
By “a new phenomenon”, you mean the last link that Jim Mora has latched on to during the superficial web-surfing he does instead of serious reading.
Would be nice if there was more depth. I dream of NZ “HARDTALK” As on BBC Mmmmmmmm
“BBC Hardtalk”? Bad suggestion, my friend. Have you watched it lately? It’s a disgrace.