One group protests by setting up a camp at parliament and clogs up a few streets with cars because their freedoms have been restricted, and for some, their livelihoods have been destroyed through government mandates.
Another group, with a different form of protest, threatens to withdraw vital health resources during a dangerous pandemic.
''Their choice about their job as possibly infecting other people with a serious illness risk was too high for their employer or general public''
Maybe in the past, but debatably now there is little more infection risk than vaccinated people who can also infect others.
"'Those health strikes are usually minimally disruptive- deliberatly and dont involve abusing people for wearing masks or other vile threats''
Time will tell how disruptive if it goes ahead. But if resources are already stretched to the limit, then this action could be the straw that breaks the camels back.
Actually I support nurses and associated staff getting paid what they are worth. It is the only way to stop losing staff to Australia and other countries.
But, whatever you think, the threatened strike action has the potential to have a national impact compared to a very localised impact that the protesters at Wellington are having.
So, if people can support the health workers in their protest, how can they not also support the protesters when the protesters are having a much more localised impact.
"So, if people can support the health workers in their protest, how can they not also support the protesters when the protesters are having a much more localised impact."
Tribalism mainly. Once you have put a stake in the ground, it's hard to move it when the evidence changed.
We have come a long way since the wharfies did their thing in the '50's.
Twas before my time but there seemed to be a lot of deep divisions created or entrenched back then.
Another observation from the front lines of the last couple of nurses strikes. It was that the short-24 hour strikes were largely ineffective as management could reasonably easy cover the shortfalls. Bringing in some office folk, putting off procedures etc.
A longer, 72 hour, or indefinite period would be more effective as it hit the PTB in the balance sheet. The place where it has a noticeable effect, one of the metrics our neo-liberal managers and governance worship.
So, if people can support the health workers in their protest, how can they not also support the protesters when the protesters are having a much more localised impact.
They are having no effect on the government, which, after all, is the main purpose the protest. I suspect that the government will remain firm on this. The protesters might as well go home since all they are doing is disrupting Wellington traffic and businesses.
Apart from that they don't really have a legitimate cause. No-one is forcing the unvaccinated to accept the jab, while the "freedom" lovers are, in fact, denying the employer's freedom to refuse employment to an unvaccinated person in the interests of protecting his staff.
As a side issue Denmark is reporting 46,000 new cases per day. ( jan 31 2022) A country the TV1 News highlighted over its almost complete removal of covid restrictions.
Didnt think that number 46 k infections per day was mentioned, but TV1 story played to its brand by only talking to or about hospitality workers yet again.
In Australia rates of vaccination against COVID-19 are high, and the number of active cases in their Omicron wave peaked (at ~835,000) about one month ago. Going by the Australian response, imho it's unlikely that NZ vaccine mandates will be eased before we are well over our Omicron wave. Anti-mandate protest events and the associated travel will accelerate increase infection rates slightly.
Qld health chief upbeat but mandate wary [12 February]
Queensland’s health chief is “personally reluctant” to repeal a venue vaccine mandate before the end of winter and says it could in fact be the very last pandemic restriction ditched.
“The future of the vaccinated economy … is about balance,” he said on Thursday. “It’s about the proportional benefit that comes from it. It won’t be there forever.”
"There are circumstances when someone [who] is not vaccinated should be considered part of the community and can still be working, can still be treated, still be given that respect," he said.
"Australia has always had a position that it's preferable to have an educated community that does vaccines because they want to and see the benefits.
"I am comfortable to work with SAPOL, with the union, to say let's get people working, let's understand that, while they may not choose to have a vaccine — it may not be a position we necessarily support — wouldn't it be good if we could keep them productive, working safely."
…
Ms Williams said police had "an obligation" to provide a service to the community and "have people in the workplace able to do the job".
"At the moment, in terms of reducing transmission, their personal safety and the safety of the public and other officers, they're not able to come to work," she said.
Premier Steven Marshall said the state had "very few mandates" in place.
"Vaccination is our pathway to reduce restrictions in SA," he said.
They dont use random selection, instead have online panels and offer prizes to their subscribers/panellist for participating with the subject matter promoted in emails
put you in our next quarterly draw for $1,000 cash and the latest iPad Pro worth $1,199! Or you can take the lot in cash: $2,199!
Often their polls are sponsored by pressure groups as well
I pretty much ignore Horizon polls as being worthless these days.
They are completely worthless. That poll as report by gwwnz above would suffer from at least two major statistic errors namely selection bias and non-response bias. I would have given my students an F if they proposed such a sampling method as having any validity. You would think the media would have learnt by now – but they seem determined to repeat the errors of history. Notably the expensive error committed by the Literary Digest in 1936 – one of the most expensive polls ever conducted up until then and utterly wrong in its prediction of the outcome of the 1936 Presidential Election.
Arent the one of the worst DHBs in Palmy for not doing anything urgency even when money for upgraded or new facilities is secured for them
This is one a the main reasons the separate DHBs are being abolished as their have their own little silos and move at their own pace even on projects that have the go ahead
I had thought that too much earlier . The new Social Democrat led government is being railroaded into supporting the Nato nuclear carry weapons for its Luftwaffe.
And is it so recent that everyone has forgotten these predictions from all the US intell agencies. naturally then as now the 'consensus' supports the political view rather than reality on the ground.
'Four U.S. Intelligence Agencies Produced Extensive Reports on Afghanistan, but All Failed to Predict Kabul’s Rapid Collapse'
Or its about a number of things all relevant to irreversible loosening of the stranglehold that the US military has been able to apply to the economic structure of the world. Again we are faced with war hysteria of the same ilk as that from Collin Powell, Bush and Blair. Russia continues to assure that they have no invasion plans. So why the hysteria. Definitely German ability to gain access to cheap Russian gas is one thing but there is also a crisis in US politics as outlined by a past Russian Ambassador, Jack Matlock
Housing affordability in New Zealand has deteriorated to the worst level on record, with the average property worth 8.8 times the average income at the end of last year, a property analyst says.
That ratio was up from 8.3 just three months earlier, and from 7.0 in the last part of 2020, according to CoreLogic’s latest housing affordability report.
It was significantly higher than the long-term average of 5.9, and than previous cycle peaks of 6.1 in 2007 and 7.0 in 2016 to 2017.
The generally accepted definition of “affordable” was house prices of three times the median income.
“It is likely that without substantial changes in housing policy New Zealand will experience the equivalent of the intergenerational scarring, which resulted from the labour market reforms in the 1980s.”
"Amid a fast-widening Omicron outbreak, rates of Delta are holding steady – prompting concerns the nastier variant could keep causing hospitalisations here.
The latest data from ESR showed up to seven per cent of cases being genomically sequenced in New Zealand were Delta, which was still making up the majority of sequenced hospital cases.
…While researchers are still learning about what long-term problems Omicron infections might cause, successive studies have backed early predictions that a given case was typically less severe.
One pre-print study out of the Imperial College London suggested that, compared with Delta, Omicron cases carried an average 15 to 20 per cent lower risk of any hospitalisation – and a 40 to 45 per cent lower risk of actually being admitted.
…Otago University virologist Dr Jemma Geoghegan said contact tracing services should give any detected Delta cases priority – although that wouldn't be so easy with Omicron spreading our resources more thinly.
…In New Zealand, the Ministry of Health doesn't publish variant-specific hospitalisation data."
The mandates were put in primarily to target Delta because it has such a large impact on health resources. It is also the variant that will spreads in confined close spaces – like workplaces and entertainment venues.
So far there are no indications that Omicron is pushing Delta out of the initial communityinfections – which figures. Delta target the lungs first. Omicron targets the throat and nasal. It would not surprise me that people can catch both at the same time.
As your quote says, Delta is still in the NZ community, and is probably still being restricted largely by vaccines and mandates.
Until it is medically known to have been swept aside by omicron, it'd be as foolish as a NSW liberal politician to remove mandates. Having two local epidemics running at the same time is a known route to medical hell.
Just reporting on the article, as I couldn't find data re the strains currently present on the Ministry site.
My partner's co-workers are being contacted after fairly long delays (up to five days after exposure) to go and get tested. It makes me think, as suggested in the article that they may be prioritising getting in contact with Delta infections as they are currently still a significant portion of our daily positives. I'm all good with that approach, it makes sense to me.
I couldn't find data re the strains currently present on the Ministry site.
There won't be much at present. M0H announced back in late Jan (from memory – I didn't take a link) that they would stop looking at variants during routine community testing. I think they're still doing it at the MIQ and for hospitalisations.
The PCR testing is enough to determine that there is covid-19, but takes much more resources to determine variants. Resources that can't be spared as the amount of tests increase.
Where can you get Ukraine news from an unbiased perspective? All the usual suspects, our media, Politico, Guardian, anything from USA, all have a bias.
If you don't at least take in the Russian perspective you cant get balance. Antiwar.com can be a good place to start to find some alternative US voices.
Considering a comment from weston a couple of days ago, questioning the impact of gender ideology on lesbians, I thought about how disconnected we all are – myself included – from other peoples experiences.
Happy heterosexual that I am, when all's said and done I can't help but love the lesbians. When they see a need, they organise, and do it well.
An academic from the US, describes her journey in academia and the pushback and obstacles put in place for researching and speaking about homosexuality and lesbianism in that sphere (Substack article):
I spent years telling myself that academia could change, that my dream career as a research-focused, evidence-collecting, logic-loving professor could still be possible. I’ll be frank: giving up on that dream was the most painful thing I’ve ever done. But I had to do it, to make way for something new.
The concept for Lesbians United began when I left the ivory tower and sat down with a fairly new group of friends to kick ideas around. What could we do to get our community back? What could we do to help fellow lesbians who are suffering, and to prevent future generations from suffering the same?
Our answer was to create an organization diametrically opposed to the postmodernist institutions that have done so much damage to the lesbian community. They revel in ignorance; we have reams of research. They refuse to define their terms; we use clear language. They lie; we tell unmistakable truths. They play purity politics to keep the public distracted; we’re a laser-focused, single-issue organization that takes lesbians of all stripes.
Here in NZ, LAVA formed in 1988, publishes research and writes on issues to do with the impact of gender perspectives on lesbian women, and offers support to female detransitioners.
They are at least attempting to fill the gaps left by other organisations, such as Rainbow Youth in the wider community, that either ignore or superficially mention detransition. (Actually a Rainbow Youth site search for either 'detransition' or 'lesbian' comes up with no results. Apparently, no lesbians in our Rainbow Youth.)
LAVA is a large group of lesbians¹ in their 20s to their 80s. We come in all shapes and sizes and from very different backgrounds. What we have in common is a commitment to working towards lesbian¹ visibility and sex-based women’s rights.
LAVA is decidedly partisan, unashamedly biased in favour of lesbians¹, and fiercely protective of women’s rights.
We don’t IDENTIFY as lesbians¹ – we ARE lesbians¹.
Lesbians¹ are women = adult human females. We are not “queer” or any of the +variations. We reject the word “cis” as derogatory.
We make no apologies for being an exclusive space for lesbians¹.
If you like statements without equivocation, then this will appeal, whether or not you subscribe to their content. You know where they stand.
There's good information there looking at the impact of the updated 'queer' movement.
Oh dear. I came back to The Standard after a long time away to see what content was on it and whether the comments section had improved from the bigoted cesspool it was.
And straight away we see transphobic terf shit. I guess The Standard is still a shitty cesspool.
[if I see you using terf as a slur again on this site I will ban you. Only warning. Reread the Policy and ask if you don’t understand – weka]
I thought this was supposed to be a left-wing progressive website. But here we have an openly bigoted transphobic far right mod. I guess the standard has been captured by the same far right shit as has infected other purportedly left wing blogs.
In short, you're a fucking disgrace, the whole lot of you terfs who go around pretending like you have the remotest conception of how to be progressive or left wing. Sort out your fucking bigotry, and stop pretending to be left wing.
[thanks for making my job easier. I already warned you of a ban, and now you are also attacking an author and mod as well as thinking the site is a person (the site Policy is clear on this). Permanent ban because I see little room for respecting this place and contributing to it – weka]
I will however stop and address the accusations of being right wing. This is a gender identity activism trope, designed to undermine gender critical feminists and is tied to No Debate. You are either too stupid to think beyond the talking points you have been given, or you know full well what the trope is and still chose to use it.
The cutting edge of gender critical feminism is in the UK, it's primarily a movement of left wing women. This is abundantly clear to anyone paying attention and who isn't trying to obscure what is happening. Most left and centre left women want trans people to be ok and to be allowed their right to take full part in society just like everyone else. The beef is with where there is a conflict of rights, and that's not a rw position, it's just bog standard feminism. Women get to have our own politics. That's progressive.
Terf is a weapon used by ideologues and has very clear connections to misogynistic behaviour towards women.
not as the term 'woke' is generally applied here on TS.
'Terf' on the other hand is associated with extreme misogyny, rape threats, death threats, threats of other violence, lesbophobia, targeted and generalised abuse and harassment, dehumanisation of women especially gender critical feminists, sexism, female ageism and body shaming.
This is why when Twitter got called to front up at a Human Rights Committee session of the UK government, the word 'terf' was part of questioning why twitter was so bad at safeguarding women on the platform from harassment, threat, and hate. Twitter acknowledged this and since then it has in fact upheld complaints against the kind of tweets you can see in my link above.
Anyone aware of that and using the term 'terf' is imo well outside the TS policy, and anyone not aware of that needs to educate themselves (and still can't use the term as a slur on TS). At this point in the war, I consider it a wilful ignorance from people that are aware enough to use the word like it was used above.
Sigh. You disagree with someone, so you label them with ignorant insults. Perhaps if you tried engaging with Molly like an adult, you might learn something.
I listened to an interview where the point was made that all sorts of prejudice was not condoned eg racism, ageism, religious intolerance etc.
Who you were attracted to, or more accurately, not attracted to, was an acceptable and legitimate prejudice. The latter part of the last century till now, it would appear some want that to change.
Yes. However, it's not a small movement. Indicative of how far this message has penetrated I return to Stonewall's CEO, Nancy Kelley:
Yet now it has emerged that months before the article appeared Stonewall’s chief executive Nancy Kelley wrote to the editorial director of BBC News to denounce Lowbridge’s work in an apparent attempt to get her piece stopped.
In her email, Kelley suggested that the BBC article would end up being ‘transphobic’ because it represented trans women as ‘sexual predators’, which was a ‘central anti-trans argument’.
She further complained that the ‘highly toxic’ cotton ceiling issue was ‘analogous to issues like sexual racism’.
…
And although she acknowledged that in sexual relationships ‘consent is paramount and we all want who we want’, she added that ‘structural oppression can influence who we want’.
Which is to say that social bias, in this case against those who say they are trans, can affect even our most private thoughts.
It is understood that it took many months of editorial discussions before the article was published on October 26.
Stonewall has appeared to confirm that changes were made to the original piece, although it remains unclear whether this was as a direct result of the leaked email, sent in September 2020.
This email exchange between Stonewall and the BBC was an attempt to stop publication of this article by Caroline Lowbridge:
So, if you gain a knighthood that makes you a highly respected person.
Apparently one such person is about to join the anti-mandate protest next week (hedging his bets there hoping that it might not be necessary for him to attend). And apparently he wants to stretch it to a protest for freedom – (we have become more and more limited in our freedoms).
This from one who benefitted from sucking on the tax-payers nipple on several occasions – one verging on using blackmail "or we'll take our America's cup challenge overseas", and then having milked the Kiwi good will for all it was worth, eventually jumped ship and sailed for the opposition.
Is the destabilisation on the Ukraine border possibly linked to the occupations in world capitals?. There are known links to the primary background agitators, QAnon, Bannon and Trump associates even, amongst others to the Russians, this type of agitation is very similar to Moseley and the Brownshirts in Britain and Il Duce and Blackshirts in Italy as well as right wing movements in other European countries in the late 30s. Asymmetrical warfare and the splintering of effort in opposing countries is very common in the lead up to aggressive invasions. Wouldn’t put it past the Kleputinomaniac- in- Chief.
Yes, she no doubt will spout some obligatory words like she did regarding school kids being discriminated against for not being vaccinated.
This from the OGH website:
''Vision statement
Otago Girls' High School is committed to quality education for all girls in a safe, caring and inclusive environment.
Inspire ~ Empower ~ Challenge~ Dream''
Also there's woke diversity imagery fronting their website. That obviously is bs, too.
You can find this crap on most school sites. And you can bet when it comes to bullying most schools suffer from the Cuddles Costa syndrome.
This type of stuff infuriates me because as someone who has a real problem with Islamic culture in western society, we just get clobbered with this. No one is interested in a reasoned debate.
The only good( I'm hoping) to come out of this situation is I'm ASSUMING, OGH, has a predominately European roll, therefore the chances favour the perpetrators not being Maori…for a change.
Contact zero in a bubble at my SO's work was notified along with more the 100 others as being a close contact of a case who attended a happy clappy devil dodging super-spreader event while symptomatic.
That sounds like a quite irresponsible god-botherer. Probably thought that happy-clapping pheromones would keep the virus at bay.
It is a pity that viruses just look at such events as being a good breeding site.
/sarc
BTW: for anyone who is interested, I am devout agnostic. Don’t know, don’t care, and find the idea of gods being interested in my bowel movements to be somewhat offensive.
''BTW: for anyone who is interested, I am a devout agnostic. Don’t know, don’t care.''
Maybe you should take the plunge and become a material fundamentalist – also known as an atheist? That way, should you ever have to face the big boss, after writing your last post, you can save time on having to explain yourself and reviewing your life.
The big fella can then send you straight on to your second death to join the likes of Johnny Lennon and other non god botherers.
A King Country father and his three young children remain missing more than two months after they were last seen.
Police today confirmed that enquiries were still ongoing to track down Ōtorohanga man Tom Phillips and his two primary-age daughters and son.
Earlier last month, 34-year-old Phillips did not show up for a court date to face a charge connected to an earlier disappearance, with a judge subsequently issuing a warrant for his arrest.
…
Last month, Phillips' ex-wife appealed for the public to help find her missing children once more.
At that stage she told Newshub the father and children hadn't been seen since December 10.
"My babies are missing and there's no trace of them, this time it's been way longer and it's more of a worry. His truck hasn't even been sighted," she said.
"I want people to keep an eye out, you know, they've been missing 34 days. Any pig hunters out there, anyone, if they see any sign of them please let us know."
She added they could be anywhere in New Zealand, including the South Island.
In December, police confirmed they were making inquiries to establish the location of a 34-year-old man and three children "following reports that the male has breached court-ordered conditions".
"There are no immediate concerns for their safety at this time," police said.
It's a funny old world and coincidences can be surprising
496 days since I drank alcohol and well things have been getting me down a little – the parliament protest, the right wingers here gleefully claiming to support the protesters (they support anything that can cause problems for the Labour Government) the anxiety and uncertainty over the covid pandemic because I have multiple co-morbidities et cetera.
So as I was walking to the supermarket and very likely to be breaking my sobriety – a young scruffy unwashed bloke beckons me over on the footpath – I am mentally sighing as this is always followed with(it seems) "can you spare some change please?" I am reaching to my back pocket to get whatever change I had to give to him and he's "nah nah I got something for you" and he gives me three small nice buds!
So I will not be breaking my no alcohol journey just yet
There are good people out there. Kia Kaha Barfly. it is a life long journey. Grant lost his sense of smell and taste with covid. He said it was ultra strange to mix his strawberry metamucil see it, but have no smell or taste. It is coming back a little now.
We're asking people to put comments about the protest under one of the dedicated posts. Would you mind reposting this and then I will delete this one? It keeps OM free for other discussions.
Anyhoo, seems you might be over-egging it when you talk "big hit" for the PM. Sure, he wants a change of mindset, but he's nowhere close to the parliament lawn jerks. For example he reiterates the govt lines on not testing if you're asymptomatic and vaccination. I still have issues with using sweden, uk and aus as justifications for cutting isolation times. Or anything covid-related, frankly.
Not sure he even covered "mandates", might have missed it.
You read like some idiot from aussie where that kind of dimwitted political stupidity is rife. Let just assume that you are as thick as Queensland National party supporter who votes Pauline Hanson and has about the same awareness of actual civics as Trump supporter.
We have had 3 snap elections. 1951, 1984, and 2002.
The first one was purely political after the 1951 waterfront strike. That worked. It was also the last purely political one we had.
The second was probably legit because National couldn’t stop their MPs from crossing the floor and voting with Labour. The questions about it being booze induced may have been simple jealousy by the press gallery at the time. Felt more like desperation, and was rewarded as such.
The third was after a government coalition partner Alliance unallied itself like the Warsaw Pact and the USSR a few years later earlier There were questions about being able to pass legislation due to the multiplicity factions of one remaining in the aftermath. This resulted in a landslide to Labour.
Basically we don’t have many early elections because kiwis aren’t that stupid. It is bad enough having to have one every 3 years. Why would we want to speed it up?
Aussie has a snap election virtually every election. I believe that this has something to do with the infighting of the crimelords and corruption cartels who pay for the campaigns..
But hey, we are aware that aussies like underarm bowling. So I can see how snap elections for corrupt motives appeals to aussies. But please try to learn some actual NZ history.
''You read like some idiot from aussie where that kind of dimwitted political stupidity is rife.''
Yes, many people have told me that. I don't worry about such nastiness. I just keep proving them wrong.
The difference between you and me is you deal with dry facts and political history.
I deal with emotions and undercurrents of power. I'm try to talk things into existence.
See, the New Zealand political landscape is becoming as bone dry as the aussie outback during a drought.
And during this political drought people are becoming more confused, more fractionised and more discontented. Even politicians are acting like headless chooks. Law and order is breaking down.
It will only take one vacuous liberal reporter to innocently ask some politician if an early election is on the cards, and WHOOSH, we have a meme in the publics mind… a possible way out of the morass we are currently enduring. Something to make the pain go away.
Can I guarantee this, no I can't. But I believe anyone who thinks it's not a solid possibility is living in an alternate universe.
Just my musings.
ps- just imagine if ONE protester with a loud hailer stood in front of parliament building and called for an election? A opportunity goes begging.
ONE protester with a loud hailer stood in front of parliament building and called for an election
They'd just be ignored. There is simply nothing in it for the PM, and she is the only person who can call it.
Convincing the GG to allow it without asking the opposition parties would be a big ask as well. It isn't like Labour has a a problem getting a majority on passing legislation or votes of confidence.
I don't even think that the opposition parties would be interested. Maybe Act would because their vote is siphoning away back to National at present. But who listens to them anyway.
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TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
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Which is worse here?
One group protests by setting up a camp at parliament and clogs up a few streets with cars because their freedoms have been restricted, and for some, their livelihoods have been destroyed through government mandates.
Another group, with a different form of protest, threatens to withdraw vital health resources during a dangerous pandemic.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/02/17/10000-health-workers-vote-to-strike-as-omicron-wave-hits/
Their choice about their job as possibly infecting other people with a serious illness risk was too high for their employer or general public
Those health strikes are usually minimally disruptive- deliberatly and dont involve abusing people for wearing masks or other vile threats
''Their choice about their job as possibly infecting other people with a serious illness risk was too high for their employer or general public''
Maybe in the past, but debatably now there is little more infection risk than vaccinated people who can also infect others.
"'Those health strikes are usually minimally disruptive- deliberatly and dont involve abusing people for wearing masks or other vile threats''
Time will tell how disruptive if it goes ahead. But if resources are already stretched to the limit, then this action could be the straw that breaks the camels back.
Actually I support nurses and associated staff getting paid what they are worth. It is the only way to stop losing staff to Australia and other countries.
But, whatever you think, the threatened strike action has the potential to have a national impact compared to a very localised impact that the protesters at Wellington are having.
So, if people can support the health workers in their protest, how can they not also support the protesters when the protesters are having a much more localised impact.
"So, if people can support the health workers in their protest, how can they not also support the protesters when the protesters are having a much more localised impact."
Tribalism mainly. Once you have put a stake in the ground, it's hard to move it when the evidence changed.
That, and 'nazis'. /sarc
The health workers' strikes are timetabled to last 24 hours, then cease.
The "plague campers" occupation "will continue till we get what we want!!"
That's why someone might support the former, not the latter.
That is another take.
We have come a long way since the wharfies did their thing in the '50's.
Twas before my time but there seemed to be a lot of deep divisions created or entrenched back then.
Another observation from the front lines of the last couple of nurses strikes. It was that the short-24 hour strikes were largely ineffective as management could reasonably easy cover the shortfalls. Bringing in some office folk, putting off procedures etc.
A longer, 72 hour, or indefinite period would be more effective as it hit the PTB in the balance sheet. The place where it has a noticeable effect, one of the metrics our neo-liberal managers and governance worship.
So, if people can support the health workers in their protest, how can they not also support the protesters when the protesters are having a much more localised impact.
They are having no effect on the government, which, after all, is the main purpose the protest. I suspect that the government will remain firm on this. The protesters might as well go home since all they are doing is disrupting Wellington traffic and businesses.
Apart from that they don't really have a legitimate cause. No-one is forcing the unvaccinated to accept the jab, while the "freedom" lovers are, in fact, denying the employer's freedom to refuse employment to an unvaccinated person in the interests of protecting his staff.
Infection risk of vaccinated compared to non vaccinated
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/31/the-new-omicron-subvariant-is-more-contagious-but-vaccinated-people-are-less-likely-to-spread-it-study-finds.htmlc
Also mandates apply to super spreader type jobs
As a side issue Denmark is reporting 46,000 new cases per day. ( jan 31 2022) A country the TV1 News highlighted over its almost complete removal of covid restrictions.
Didnt think that number 46 k infections per day was mentioned, but TV1 story played to its brand by only talking to or about hospitality workers yet again.
In Australia rates of vaccination against COVID-19 are high, and the number of active cases in their Omicron wave peaked (at ~835,000) about one month ago. Going by the Australian response, imho it's unlikely that NZ vaccine mandates will be eased before we are well over our Omicron wave. Anti-mandate protest events and the associated travel will accelerate increase infection rates slightly.
I'll tell you what isn't good…when the Minister of Health finds out from the media about the strike.
I notice Stuff is reporting an unreliable poll from Horizon
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/127808790/parliament-protest-new-poll-shows-30-per-cent-of-kiwis-support-antimandate-protest
They dont use random selection, instead have online panels and offer prizes to their subscribers/panellist for participating with the subject matter promoted in emails
Often their polls are sponsored by pressure groups as well
I pretty much ignore Horizon polls as being worthless these days.
They are completely worthless. That poll as report by gwwnz above would suffer from at least two major statistic errors namely selection bias and non-response bias. I would have given my students an F if they proposed such a sampling method as having any validity. You would think the media would have learnt by now – but they seem determined to repeat the errors of history. Notably the expensive error committed by the Literary Digest in 1936 – one of the most expensive polls ever conducted up until then and utterly wrong in its prediction of the outcome of the 1936 Presidential Election.
C'mon Andy, get angry about this family's plight.
The extensions talked about will not make a difference, the beds in MAPU are used by people who have to go through ED. The EDOA beds are similar.
The hospital is too small and the staffing levels and experience are dire in the ED.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/health/127796196/24hour-wait-for-hospital-bed-highlights-urgency-for-ed-upgrade
Arent the one of the worst DHBs in Palmy for not doing anything urgency even when money for upgraded or new facilities is secured for them
This is one a the main reasons the separate DHBs are being abolished as their have their own little silos and move at their own pace even on projects that have the go ahead
I thought it was suspect, 30 per cent is way too low.
We can't have that many elderly and 'work from home class.
what?
Yeah. Sorry, I meant it as a reply to comment 2.
Too fast on the quick-draw and shot myself in the foot.
Not for the first time…
A very plausible analysis of the U.S-Russia-Ukraine situation and the motives driving it.
The Crisis in Ukraine is not about Ukraine. It's about Germany, by Mike Whitney – The Unz Review
I had thought that too much earlier . The new Social Democrat led government is being railroaded into supporting the Nato nuclear carry weapons for its Luftwaffe.
And is it so recent that everyone has forgotten these predictions from all the US intell agencies. naturally then as now the 'consensus' supports the political view rather than reality on the ground.
'Four U.S. Intelligence Agencies Produced Extensive Reports on Afghanistan, but All Failed to Predict Kabul’s Rapid Collapse'
https://www.wsj.com/articles/four-u-s-intelligence-agencies-produced-extensive-reports-on-afghanistan-but-all-failed-to-predict-kabuls-rapid-collapse-11635415201
Or its about a number of things all relevant to irreversible loosening of the stranglehold that the US military has been able to apply to the economic structure of the world. Again we are faced with war hysteria of the same ilk as that from Collin Powell, Bush and Blair. Russia continues to assure that they have no invasion plans. So why the hysteria. Definitely German ability to gain access to cheap Russian gas is one thing but there is also a crisis in US politics as outlined by a past Russian Ambassador, Jack Matlock
Another record …broken!
Housing affordability in New Zealand has deteriorated to the worst level on record, with the average property worth 8.8 times the average income at the end of last year, a property analyst says.
That ratio was up from 8.3 just three months earlier, and from 7.0 in the last part of 2020, according to CoreLogic’s latest housing affordability report.
It was significantly higher than the long-term average of 5.9, and than previous cycle peaks of 6.1 in 2007 and 7.0 in 2016 to 2017.
The generally accepted definition of “affordable” was house prices of three times the median income.
'Drastic fall' in NZ housing affordability takes it to worst level on record | Stuff.co.nz
In 1980 bought our first home for 45k
salary abt 10k
Had 20k from home ownership
And 10k from state advances at 2%ish
But had to get 2nd mort of 14k at 20%
So different balance of affordability cause of the high 2nd mort rate.
Looks like the Salvation Army were more on to it.
“It is likely that without substantial changes in housing policy New Zealand will experience the equivalent of the intergenerational scarring, which resulted from the labour market reforms in the 1980s.”
"Sustained moderation" was never going to cut it.
The Sallies aren't seeking reelection though.
https://www.interest.co.nz/property/108301/pm-jacinda-ardern-says-sustained-moderation-remains-governments-goal-when-it-comes
Of interest to those that were wondering (Herald):
The mandates were put in primarily to target Delta because it has such a large impact on health resources. It is also the variant that will spreads in confined close spaces – like workplaces and entertainment venues.
So far there are no indications that Omicron is pushing Delta out of the initial communityinfections – which figures. Delta target the lungs first. Omicron targets the throat and nasal. It would not surprise me that people can catch both at the same time.
As your quote says, Delta is still in the NZ community, and is probably still being restricted largely by vaccines and mandates.
Until it is medically known to have been swept aside by omicron, it'd be as foolish as a NSW liberal politician to remove mandates. Having two local epidemics running at the same time is a known route to medical hell.
Just reporting on the article, as I couldn't find data re the strains currently present on the Ministry site.
My partner's co-workers are being contacted after fairly long delays (up to five days after exposure) to go and get tested. It makes me think, as suggested in the article that they may be prioritising getting in contact with Delta infections as they are currently still a significant portion of our daily positives. I'm all good with that approach, it makes sense to me.
(Copied to dedicated post to move discussion).
There won't be much at present. M0H announced back in late Jan (from memory – I didn't take a link) that they would stop looking at variants during routine community testing. I think they're still doing it at the MIQ and for hospitalisations.
The PCR testing is enough to determine that there is covid-19, but takes much more resources to determine variants. Resources that can't be spared as the amount of tests increase.
I put up a post.
Where can you get Ukraine news from an unbiased perspective? All the usual suspects, our media, Politico, Guardian, anything from USA, all have a bias.
Al Jazeera?
Look at my earlier post…up the thread.
If you don't at least take in the Russian perspective you cant get balance. Antiwar.com can be a good place to start to find some alternative US voices.
Considering a comment from weston a couple of days ago, questioning the impact of gender ideology on lesbians, I thought about how disconnected we all are – myself included – from other peoples experiences.
Happy heterosexual that I am, when all's said and done I can't help but love the lesbians. When they see a need, they organise, and do it well.
An academic from the US, describes her journey in academia and the pushback and obstacles put in place for researching and speaking about homosexuality and lesbianism in that sphere (Substack article):
Here in NZ, LAVA formed in 1988, publishes research and writes on issues to do with the impact of gender perspectives on lesbian women, and offers support to female detransitioners.
They are at least attempting to fill the gaps left by other organisations, such as Rainbow Youth in the wider community, that either ignore or superficially mention detransition. (Actually a Rainbow Youth site search for either 'detransition' or 'lesbian' comes up with no results. Apparently, no lesbians in our Rainbow Youth.)
If you like statements without equivocation, then this will appeal, whether or not you subscribe to their content. You know where they stand.
There's good information there looking at the impact of the updated 'queer' movement.
Oh dear. I came back to The Standard after a long time away to see what content was on it and whether the comments section had improved from the bigoted cesspool it was.
And straight away we see transphobic terf shit. I guess The Standard is still a shitty cesspool.
[if I see you using terf as a slur again on this site I will ban you. Only warning. Reread the Policy and ask if you don’t understand – weka]
mod note.
I thought this was supposed to be a left-wing progressive website. But here we have an openly bigoted transphobic far right mod. I guess the standard has been captured by the same far right shit as has infected other purportedly left wing blogs.
In short, you're a fucking disgrace, the whole lot of you terfs who go around pretending like you have the remotest conception of how to be progressive or left wing. Sort out your fucking bigotry, and stop pretending to be left wing.
[thanks for making my job easier. I already warned you of a ban, and now you are also attacking an author and mod as well as thinking the site is a person (the site Policy is clear on this). Permanent ban because I see little room for respecting this place and contributing to it – weka]
I will however stop and address the accusations of being right wing. This is a gender identity activism trope, designed to undermine gender critical feminists and is tied to No Debate. You are either too stupid to think beyond the talking points you have been given, or you know full well what the trope is and still chose to use it.
The cutting edge of gender critical feminism is in the UK, it's primarily a movement of left wing women. This is abundantly clear to anyone paying attention and who isn't trying to obscure what is happening. Most left and centre left women want trans people to be ok and to be allowed their right to take full part in society just like everyone else. The beef is with where there is a conflict of rights, and that's not a rw position, it's just bog standard feminism. Women get to have our own politics. That's progressive.
Terf is a weapon used by ideologues and has very clear connections to misogynistic behaviour towards women.
https://terfisaslur.com/
mod note for you.
Hey, Horace.
I understand perhaps Twiitter use may inhibit ability for discourse, but did you have a discussion point?
Can that also apply to 'Woke' as a slur too?
not as the term 'woke' is generally applied here on TS.
'Terf' on the other hand is associated with extreme misogyny, rape threats, death threats, threats of other violence, lesbophobia, targeted and generalised abuse and harassment, dehumanisation of women especially gender critical feminists, sexism, female ageism and body shaming.
https://terfisaslur.com/
This is why when Twitter got called to front up at a Human Rights Committee session of the UK government, the word 'terf' was part of questioning why twitter was so bad at safeguarding women on the platform from harassment, threat, and hate. Twitter acknowledged this and since then it has in fact upheld complaints against the kind of tweets you can see in my link above.
Anyone aware of that and using the term 'terf' is imo well outside the TS policy, and anyone not aware of that needs to educate themselves (and still can't use the term as a slur on TS). At this point in the war, I consider it a wilful ignorance from people that are aware enough to use the word like it was used above.
Sigh. You disagree with someone, so you label them with ignorant insults. Perhaps if you tried engaging with Molly like an adult, you might learn something.
I listened to an interview where the point was made that all sorts of prejudice was not condoned eg racism, ageism, religious intolerance etc.
Who you were attracted to, or more accurately, not attracted to, was an acceptable and legitimate prejudice. The latter part of the last century till now, it would appear some want that to change.
"…it would appear some want that to change."
Yes. However, it's not a small movement. Indicative of how far this message has penetrated I return to Stonewall's CEO, Nancy Kelley:
This email exchange between Stonewall and the BBC was an attempt to stop publication of this article by Caroline Lowbridge:
'We're being pressured into sex by some trans women'
I can only view this perspective of sexual attraction, promoted by Kelley, as regressive. Particularly harmful for homosexuals and lesbians.
So, if you gain a knighthood that makes you a highly respected person.
Apparently one such person is about to join the anti-mandate protest next week (hedging his bets there hoping that it might not be necessary for him to attend). And apparently he wants to stretch it to a protest for freedom – (we have become more and more limited in our freedoms).
This from one who benefitted from sucking on the tax-payers nipple on several occasions – one verging on using blackmail "or we'll take our America's cup challenge overseas", and then having milked the Kiwi good will for all it was worth, eventually jumped ship and sailed for the opposition.
I can so I will … https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/coutts-mansion-wall-causing-controversy
And this, because I'm free … I can do what I want.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/sir-russell-coutts-multi-million-dollar-beach-pad-upsets-neighbours-it-looks-like-a-hospital-or-boarding-house/5SLDC23NIPVH576J7OABJJGAWQ/
And there's also the Crown Terrace Water War
This one has the potential to get quite messy, and not reflect well on Coutts or Otago Regional Council.
Is the destabilisation on the Ukraine border possibly linked to the occupations in world capitals?. There are known links to the primary background agitators, QAnon, Bannon and Trump associates even, amongst others to the Russians, this type of agitation is very similar to Moseley and the Brownshirts in Britain and Il Duce and Blackshirts in Italy as well as right wing movements in other European countries in the late 30s. Asymmetrical warfare and the splintering of effort in opposing countries is very common in the lead up to aggressive invasions. Wouldn’t put it past the Kleputinomaniac- in- Chief.
Bella Hadid just dropped an atomic publicity bomb of 49 million viewers onto those who attacked the Muslim girl at Otago Girls High School.
US supermodel Bella Hadid shares support of Otago High School girl after attack – NZ Herald
Very interesting to see how our PM reacts.
Yes, she no doubt will spout some obligatory words like she did regarding school kids being discriminated against for not being vaccinated.
This from the OGH website:
''Vision statement
Otago Girls' High School is committed to quality education for all girls in a safe, caring and inclusive environment.
Inspire ~ Empower ~ Challenge~ Dream''
Also there's woke diversity imagery fronting their website. That obviously is bs, too.
You can find this crap on most school sites. And you can bet when it comes to bullying most schools suffer from the Cuddles Costa syndrome.
This type of stuff infuriates me because as someone who has a real problem with Islamic culture in western society, we just get clobbered with this. No one is interested in a reasoned debate.
The only good( I'm hoping) to come out of this situation is I'm ASSUMING, OGH, has a predominately European roll, therefore the chances favour the perpetrators not being Maori…for a change.![frown frown](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/confused_smile.png?x42494)
And so it begins.
Contact zero in a bubble at my SO's work was notified along with more the 100 others as being a close contact of a case who attended a happy clappy devil dodging super-spreader event while symptomatic.
That sounds like a quite irresponsible god-botherer. Probably thought that happy-clapping pheromones would keep the virus at bay.
It is a pity that viruses just look at such events as being a good breeding site.
/sarc
BTW: for anyone who is interested, I am devout agnostic. Don’t know, don’t care, and find the idea of gods being interested in my bowel movements to be somewhat offensive.
''BTW: for anyone who is interested, I am a devout agnostic. Don’t know, don’t care.''
Maybe you should take the plunge and become a material fundamentalist – also known as an atheist? That way, should you ever have to face the big boss, after writing your last post, you can save time on having to explain yourself and reviewing your life.
The big fella can then send you straight on to your second death to join the likes of Johnny Lennon and other non god botherers.
If you are a Christian what do you need to do to get into the Lennon gig?
I wouldn't have a clue. I'm not a Christian.
It's hard to see this as anything other than emotional abuse – of other family and friends – and most likely, his ex-wife (Herald article: Missing since December: Ōtorohanga dad Tom Phillips still on run with three children)
It's a funny old world and coincidences can be surprising
496 days since I drank alcohol and well things have been getting me down a little – the parliament protest, the right wingers here gleefully claiming to support the protesters (they support anything that can cause problems for the Labour Government) the anxiety and uncertainty over the covid pandemic because I have multiple co-morbidities et cetera.
So as I was walking to the supermarket and very likely to be breaking my sobriety – a young scruffy unwashed bloke beckons me over on the footpath – I am mentally sighing as this is always followed with(it seems) "can you spare some change please?" I am reaching to my back pocket to get whatever change I had to give to him and he's "nah nah I got something for you" and he gives me three small nice buds!
So I will not be breaking my no alcohol journey just yet
![yes yes](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/thumbs_up.png?x42494)
Bloody well don't Barfly
Stay strong !
3 small Budweisers?
There are good people out there. Kia Kaha Barfly. it is a life long journey. Grant lost his sense of smell and taste with covid. He said it was ultra strange to mix his strawberry metamucil see it, but have no smell or taste. It is coming back a little now.
Keep going you are doing great. G is 5 yrs.
We're asking people to put comments about the protest under one of the dedicated posts. Would you mind reposting this and then I will delete this one? It keeps OM free for other discussions.
https://thestandard.org.nz/convoy-protest-18-2-22/
What a nice thing to do. Very generous of Graeme Hart.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/127796079/new-zealands-richest-person-donates-fishing-boats-tractors-and-food-to-tonga
Yes those are very worthy actions.
Brian Beattie, from the Royal College of Physicians (?) has BASICLY said we need to stop scaremongering about Covid, and learn to live with it.
This is a big big hit for Jacinda.
If things continue down this line, Labour's time in power is limited.
Wot?
Some bloke in the UK ?
"This is a big big hit for Jacinda."
Eh? Nah – Your dreaming mate
"Labour's time in power is limited."
Did anyone ever think that it would be infinite?
No, Noo Zealand I think. Didn't quite get the name.
Sounds like you have had your first roach?
RACP.
There are 30,000 doctors in NZ. None of them seem to be called "Brian Beattie". Maybe he's Australian?
I suspect the rest of your recollection is similarly reliable.
I had 150 kgs on the bar during a bench press. So excuse me for having a faulty memory.
But, thanks to some help….I have a name. Dr Bryan Betty. No link.
150? Oooo, you're ever so butch.
So not even RACP, but RNZCGP.
Anyhoo, seems you might be over-egging it when you talk "big hit" for the PM. Sure, he wants a change of mindset, but he's nowhere close to the parliament lawn jerks. For example he reiterates the govt lines on not testing if you're asymptomatic and vaccination. I still have issues with using sweden, uk and aus as justifications for cutting isolation times. Or anything covid-related, frankly.
Not sure he even covered "mandates", might have missed it.
I forgot I'm on a blog of effete liberals. I didn't mean to offend.![blush blush](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/embarrassed_smile.png?x42494)
My spotter can lift 210 kgs. And germane to this topic – Clint Rickards could lift over 200 kgs.
Any guesses what that woke Cuddles Costa could lift.![laugh laugh](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/teeth_smile.png?x42494)
You can spin it anyway you want and pick holes in my argument like:
''So not even RACP, but RNZCGP.'
The fact of the matter is it's a huge change in the medical mindset of this country.
Jacinda is losing control on a number of fronts.
Early election looming?
You read like some idiot from aussie where that kind of dimwitted political stupidity is rife. Let just assume that you are as thick as Queensland National party supporter who votes Pauline Hanson and has about the same awareness of actual civics as Trump supporter.
We have had 3 snap elections. 1951, 1984, and 2002.
The first one was purely political after the 1951 waterfront strike. That worked. It was also the last purely political one we had.
The second was probably legit because National couldn’t stop their MPs from crossing the floor and voting with Labour. The questions about it being booze induced may have been simple jealousy by the press gallery at the time. Felt more like desperation, and was rewarded as such.
The third was after a government coalition partner Alliance unallied itself like the Warsaw Pact and the USSR a few years
laterearlier There were questions about being able to pass legislation due to the multiplicity factions of one remaining in the aftermath. This resulted in a landslide to Labour.Basically we don’t have many early elections because kiwis aren’t that stupid. It is bad enough having to have one every 3 years. Why would we want to speed it up?
Aussie has a snap election virtually every election. I believe that this has something to do with the infighting of the crimelords and corruption cartels who pay for the campaigns..
But hey, we are aware that aussies like underarm bowling. So I can see how snap elections for corrupt motives appeals to aussies. But please try to learn some actual NZ history.
/sarc
''You read like some idiot from aussie where that kind of dimwitted political stupidity is rife.''
Yes, many people have told me that. I don't worry about such nastiness. I just keep proving them wrong.
The difference between you and me is you deal with dry facts and political history.
I deal with emotions and undercurrents of power. I'm try to talk things into existence.
See, the New Zealand political landscape is becoming as bone dry as the aussie outback during a drought.
And during this political drought people are becoming more confused, more fractionised and more discontented. Even politicians are acting like headless chooks. Law and order is breaking down.
It will only take one vacuous liberal reporter to innocently ask some politician if an early election is on the cards, and WHOOSH, we have a meme in the publics mind… a possible way out of the morass we are currently enduring. Something to make the pain go away.
Can I guarantee this, no I can't. But I believe anyone who thinks it's not a solid possibility is living in an alternate universe.
Just my musings.
ps- just imagine if ONE protester with a loud hailer stood in front of parliament building and called for an election? A opportunity goes begging.
They'd just be ignored. There is simply nothing in it for the PM, and she is the only person who can call it.
Convincing the GG to allow it without asking the opposition parties would be a big ask as well. It isn't like Labour has a a problem getting a majority on passing legislation or votes of confidence.
I don't even think that the opposition parties would be interested. Maybe Act would because their vote is siphoning away back to National at present. But who listens to them anyway.
Before or after you turned the shit cannon on yourself?
Hey Joe…where you goin with the sad argument in your hand:![laugh laugh](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/teeth_smile.png?x42494)
When? got a link?
No, If you don't listen to talkback, you miss out. Sorry.
Some stories have no links.
lols.
Probably not missing out on anything then.
From your perspective- true.
UK did so well/sarc.
Meanwhile, away from the obsession with covid and protests, the government quietly goes about further making it harder to buy a house.
That is nonsense..the banks know it…and so does anyone with an objective view.
What is nonsense? Housing affordability being the worst in history, or the government making up rules without understanding the consequences?
Where's Luxon in all of this. Why isn't he calling for Costa's resignation?
When the liberal press turn on you, you know you have a problem.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/300521443/what-the-police-fail-to-understand-about-camp-freedom
In fact, the jobs of three people are on the line:
1- Jacinda
2- Costa
3- Mallard.
Later in the peace, MAYBE Luxon, James Shaw and the Maori guy with tats who loves grandstanding.
Are there any other government departments you think should primarily be run by opinion piece?
I don't know what you mean?
Figures. Some of us attribute meaning to the statements we make, but that's probably overly restrictive for a free form artist such as yourself.
Tell me concisely what you mean and I will give you an answer. It's not rocket science…is it?![indecision indecision](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/whatchutalkingabout_smile.png?x42494)