Hipkins is doing his SotN speech in about a week's time. I believe it is taking place in South Auckland. In the meantime he did this 30 min. stand-up for the media at Labour's recent retreat. No comparison to Luxon. Hipkins talks substance. Luxon favours platitudes and hyperbole over substance:
Despite those dire times the government, which for part of this time included NZF, managed the economy so that it survived relatively intact. In particular the lockdowns enabled the economy to keep working pretty much as normal except for tourism. We were the envy of the world.
Now we have Luxon and Peters rewriting economic history without a mention of Covid. In fact Robertson's handling of government debt levels over this period put NZ in a much better state than most of the OECD economies.
New Zealand should not be afraid of borrowing and spending more money because the government books are one of the tidiest the world, a senior economist says.
Kiwibank chief economist Jarrod Kerr told Morning Report high net migration was great, but infrastructure was not keeping up.
The problem is that, although the OECD countries only had a rise in their debt levels in 2020 Robbo, having got a severe case of borrow and waste, just kept going. Other countries have lower levels of borrowing than they did at the end of 2020. We are, thanks to Robertson, much more in debt than we were in 2020.
It isn't the $20 billion or so that we borrowed and spent in 2020 that is the problem. It is the much greater amount that he got through in the 3 years when Labour Governed alone.
Where did it all end up? We certainly don't have anything to show for it?
The first graph in Michael Reddell's link (Croaking Cassandra) shows exactly what I said. New Zealand debt rose in a nearly straight line from about 4% in 2019 to around 16% in 2023. It never declined at all and was forecast, by the OECD to keep going up if Labour Party policy continued in 2024-2025
The median result for OECD countries rose from about 30% to 38% in 2020 and then dropped abruptly to around 26% in 2023. They stopped throwing money away and we kept going.
There was no need to keep going as Robertson did. The worst of Covid was over by the beginning of 2021. We just wouldn't accept it.
There are two complications. NZ has the Cullen Fund. I don't know if it is now being drawn upon, but I suspect it is the closest we have got to a Sovereign Fund such as Norway have. Good investment Returns are what got the current Governor of the Reserve Bank his job; that fund and other government actions resulted in us having an increase in net GDP despite higher borrowing on at least one occasion. New Zealand has a higher level of private debt than most countries – and now sadly a higher level of companies operating in New Zealand but substantially owned by overseas shareholders. Tis sees us sending a lot of profit overseas rather than having it to help us through hard times. Hence the discussion about why it would make sense to retain at least some NZ ownership of assets like the Wellington Airport, and similar organisations in other cities.
I don't accept that argument at all Alwyn. You are again parroting Luxon, Seymour and (to his shame) Peters.
Recovering from Covid required some serious government intervention. We are already in a GDP per capita recession despite all of that government spending-it would have been a full-blown economic death-spiral without it.
The Croaking Cassandra graph shows NZ's net government liabilities as a percentage of GDP at 19% versus 28% for the OECD in 2025, which is creditable, and not the disaster you and your C of C friends paint it.
Your argument appears to be that the NZ debt percentage line would have continued to go up after 2025. That would not have happened. As the post-covid economic recovery became complete a Labour-led government would have eased expenditure.
Yes, and I also realise that the interest we have to pay on the $100 billion or so that Robbo borrowed isn't making it any easier to get to a budget surplus. It might not matter if it had actually been invested in something useful but it just seems to have been tossed out with the dishwater.
Things such as upgrading schools and infrastructure, road safety improvements to name just a few. Keeping everyone in jobs during and after COVID. Wasted?
You really want to see waste. Just hold my beer, for the next three years. Watch the recession, happening right now that National, ACT and the reserve Bank have talked the country in to over the past year.
As Key borrowed for tax cuts for the wealthy, while neglecting infrastructure, health, education and other investments for the future. Even road maintenance. While bringing in hundreds of thousands to give the illusion of a growing economy, while leaving a huge spending deficit for a future Government to repair, this Government is determined to go down the same path.
Out of her depth – feel sorry for the kids, missing out on their movies.
Here's how Willis reacted when asked about how much she stood to personally receive from her party’s tax cut proposals:
’In our family of two incomes we’d get $80 a fortnight. And kids, that means instead of movie night meaning DVDs and Tip Top at home, we might go out to the movies.”
Can you give me the exact make up of what that $100 billion was spent on please?
In reality it is a number plucked from the air by Luxon to berate Labour with, when in fact, despite the Covid Crash and despite the Ukraine war induced cost of living/inflation/high interest rates crisis, Robertson kept NZ government borrowing well below the OECD average as the graph I posted above demonstrates.
I have no idea where Robertson squandered all the money he borrowed. I doubt if even he could tell you.
Of course the borrowing was below the OECD average. That was because when he started we had almost no debt. According to the graph you posted it must have been about 1% of GDP
I have no idea where Robertson squandered all the money he borrowed.
Alwyn, if you have no idea, then why would you believe the money was "squandered"? Is it just that not enough dosh was squandered on you?
Our self-serving CoC govt is bent, on squandering tax cuts on landLords.
Optics and illusions in politics [16 March 2024]
There must have been at least some degree of political discomfort about a tax break for landlords coming when so many New Zealanders who don’t own rental properties are “doing it tough”, as Prime Minister Christopher Luxon likes to say. It didn’t help that it came just days after a previous optical failure. That was when Luxon was tangled up in an entirely foreseeable story about claiming a $52,000 accommodation allowance rather than staying in Premier House, in order to live instead in his own mortgage-free Wellington apartment.
Luxon kept repeating that he was “entitled” to the allowance until he saw the light. “Entitled” proved to be an unfortunate choice of word.
Officials side with Government on rent debate, but Treasury wants effective capital gains tax [15 March 2024]
“Treasury considers it unlikely that landlords will pass on the tax change through lower rents in the short run,” the statement said.
…
There was a sting in the tail. The Government is also reducing the 10-year bright-line test, which taxes the capital gains made on rental properties if they are sold within 10 years, back to just two years. Treasury said the Government should can that idea and double the bright-line test to 20 years, or consider extending it even longer, turning it into a capital gains tax on rental property in all but name.
That is what really incensed the, laughably called "centre right" .
The country had an example of the effectiveness of Government putting people first, ahead of 'their' profits. A people working together for good, instead of for the increased wealth of those with the real power.
That can never be forgiven, and must be rubbished as soon as possible. Propaganda mouthpieces and "useful idiots" endlessly chanting the same memes about "economic incompetence" and ‘debt" until people internalise them. Funding and insidious support for US style cookers, to undermine the narrative of the COVID effort. Before we, as a country, remember how "looking after each other" once gave us one of the highest standards of living in the world.
The concerted effort of the right, the enquiry being one, to destroy any idea of the real achievements of the Adern Government over COVID and after, is to ensure that "never again"! are "people to be put before profit." And never again are we to be reminded of the effectiveness of "Governments power for good" if a Government chooses to use it.
“How dare a Government prioritise the ongoing welfare of the people they represent, over short term corporate advantage”.
I have zero sympathy for those who voted for NAct and NZ1. Your example BG is a case in point.
The media are well aware of the CoC's lies and deceit, but they seem afraid to say so – with the surprising exception of Tova O'Brien. It will be interesting to see if her career is affected in any way.
It's happened before. The most notable: when Muldoon banned Tom Scott from media interviews and his speeches – not sure now whether that included the Parliamentary Press Gallery. Fortunately Scott's brilliant writing ability in particular saved his career from disintegrating.
Not sure it works like that Ad. There is virtually nothing Hipkins could do at the moment that would get "mainstream cut-through" – unless it's something that reflects badly on him, the Labour Party or the left generally.
To view the media as a neutral sounding board ignores most of what we know about it. It will change, but the coalition of crackpots has to go even more bonkers and sustain it for longer. Hipkins should still do it of course – no white flags should be raised.
Because most of the the media don't really have any interest in ideas. They are like sports commentators. So for now it's all about how Labour got smashed in an election – will they change leaders, how do they recover, how is their morale, are their fans deserting them, blah blah blah. That story will just get tired – and it eventually becomes that National are underperforming, making mistakes, missing tackles while Labour have new talent and is the new talent up to it, etc. So much of it is rooted in the primacy of personalities over ideas. In that sort of culture, losers are meant to be contrite and ask for forgiveness.
Oh please. What it simply requires is for Hipkins to try. Here's how Hipkins looked so far from Steve Braunias on the weekend:
'Winning an election does not entitle you to act like a dictatorship.
To act like a dictatorship, you need to lose an election. One of the first things I did after leading Labour to a catastrophic loss is that I gathered the few MPs lift standing, and said to them:
"You have no fight left in you. You are without hope. You are weak, in a bad way, finished. The last thing you want to do right now is mount any kind of leadership challenge.
Just go about your business. Walk in circles. Hide in dark corners. The important thing to remember is that I am the leader of the Labour Party. I will always be the leader of the Labour Party. You are feeling sleepy. Close your eyes. I am the leader of the Labour Party. I will always be the leader of the Labour Party. Sleep now. Sleep."
It's worked really well.'
The contrast to Chloe Swarbrick last week could not be starker.
You only have to imagine what an integrated State of the Nation summit with Labour, Greens and TMP would look like.
Unfortunately that's not happening so imagining is all we've got.
It does require that – as I said. But for a period after a heavy election defeat, that is usually not enough. And it’s part of the broader culture which the media reflects back at us – recent losers are worthless, everything they say is to be discounted. Every story, as I said above, is about how down and out they are.
I realize that many of you will not want to read this excellent article byYvonne Van Dongen because it was published on The Platform.
So I will summarize.
Puberty Blockers have been banned for under 18 years in the UK (unless as part of a high quality research study). These drugs are prescribed off label and there is concerning long term side effects and questions over the impact of these drugs on the developing brain.
The Wpath Files. A whistle blower supplied to journalists video chat and email correspondance between members of Wpath, showing that these members of WPath know that kids can't consent to treatments such as PBs, that side effects of hormones include liver cancer.
Comedy genius Graham Lineham who wrote the IT crowd and Father Ted visited NZ and despite having many media interviews lined up, the msm didn't cover his visit. Why? Because he stood up against trans rights activists, speaking up for women and girls and against gender affirming care and was disgracefully de platformed.
You mean the MSM that cheerfully reported various reckons that Posie Parker was a transphobe and Nazi adjacent? That amplified the voices of several politicians that were happy to do a bit of bandwagon jumping, and wave their virtue signaling and ignorant opinions around?
The same cowardly and captured bunch that called Shane Toko (Ashley) Winter a woman and showered him with female pronouns all through his trial, conviction and sentencing for the torture and murder of a vulnerable young woman?
That same media Visubversa! There will be questions asked surely when what some are suggesting is the greatest medical scandal ever, i.e. the medical transition of vulnerable children is exposed. Such as "why didn't we know?" However that excuse wears a bit thin, where sites such as the Standard have allowed us to exercise our free speech rights and allowed us to publish GC stuff and I truly thank the Standard for that
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nicola Willis denies the $5.6 [billion] shortfall, but says she won't guarantee promised tax cuts will arrive in July until the policy has been discussed by Cabinet.
There seems to be some debate about just how big Willis' hole is – hope more service cuts and infrastructure project cancellations aren’t on the cards.
The fiscal gap of $5.6bn currently identified is very likely an underestimate. Climate change funding is supposed to provide $2.4bn for tax cuts. That's now in doubt – with the Climate Commission calling ETS revenue "not a reliable source of income"
Seeing as (going on his words) it is luxons life- mission to give tax cuts to the poor/working class ..(he never mentions the already rich..who of course are lined up for the lions share of those cuts)..
And it seems they haven't got enough dosh to do this..
So here's an idea:..
Yes..give the cuts to those he says he cares the most about..
..but don't give them to the already rich…who don't really need them anyway..
..they are just being greedy/uncaring bastards..if they claim they do..
Anyhoo..that will take care of much of that fiscal hole..eh..?
..and will bring luxons life mission to fruition..
NAct1st talk about reducing taxes, but I do wonder how much greater net income someone on average earnings will have after paying 15% higher rates (either directly or through rent), and paying higher costs for running a vehicle. Then a similar calculation for a beneficiary having the same increase in rates, but higher costs for public transport (and even more if a child was getting free rides . . .
Did National follow through on putting charges back on prescriptions?
big banner headlines in todays WAirarapa Times Age. $375 Million to maintain the wairarapa railway line. how many owners have NZ Rail had since 1984 and why has there been no maintenance done till now?
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
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 ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee White, Senior Lecturer and Horizon Fellow, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney Australia was slow to introduce minimum building standards for energy efficiency. The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) only came into force in 2003. Older homes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Sherwood, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW Sydney The past century of human-induced warming has increased rainfall variability over 75% of the Earth’s land area – particularly over Australia, Europe and eastern North America, new research shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Heynen, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Energy, The University of Queensland A temporary stadium in the Champ-de-Mars, ParisEkaterina Pokrovsky/Shutterstock As Paris prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the sustainability of the event is coming under scrutiny. The organisers have promoted ...
A night of karaoke and community in a pub that feels like a memory. You’d barely even notice it, unless you knew to look. Tucked away behind a liquor store on busy Constable Street is the capital’s last great pub. Newtown Sports Bar is an emblem of the pub culture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Professor in Marine Geology, University of Canterbury Louise Corcoran/Getty Images The decline in the number of doctoral candidates at New Zealand universities is a worrying sign for the country’s effort to build a knowledge-based economy. Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurie Berg, Associate Professor, University of Technology Sydney defotoberg/Shutterstock Migrant worker exploitation is entrenched in workplaces across Australia. Tragically, a deep fear of immigration consequences means most unlawful employer conduct goes unreported. On Wednesday, however, the government officially launched a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania Paris is about to host its third summer Olympics. While we don’t yet know what the legacy of this year’s games will be, let’s take the opportunity to reflect on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Deputy Director, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Griffith University In the wake of the assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, there were calls from bothsides of US politics, as well as internationally, to reduce the brutal, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Keith Rathbone, Senior Lecturer, Modern European History and Sports History, Macquarie University Two high-profile assaults on Australians in Paris have raised concerns about security ahead of the Olympic Games. On Saturday evening, a young woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a ...
Dying is inevitable and, so it seems, is it costing a lot, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.The cost of dying ...
The government took Joyce Harris's first baby and sent her off to a girls' home. Half a century on - and out of oceans of hurt - it asked her to be a mother figure. ...
It’s the deadliest fictional town in the country, but which death has been the most bonkers? Alex Casey looks back at 10 seasons of The Brokenwood Mysteries to find out. Warning: The following ranking story contains famous New Zealand actors appearing to be dead (not alive). The Spinoff has been ...
Water cremation is the biggest thing to happen to the death industry in the last 100 years. Alex Casey meets the people trying to bring it to Aotearoa. Through a set of mirrored doors down the industrial end of Christchurch’s St Asaph Street, death is getting a new lease on ...
Opinion: New Health NZ commissioner Lester Levy is authorised to assume operational leadership – chief executive Margie Apa is effectively relegated to his operational deputy The post All-powerful Levy is feudal baron of a $28b fiefdom appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Curious to see the Deputy Prime Minister do a "state of the nation" speech a week after the Prime Minister did one.
To get a little rise out of mainstream media in politics these days, you need set piece moves like this.
Surely it's time Hipkins did his own "state of the nation" speech, to get similar mainstream cut-through.
Hipkins is doing his SotN speech in about a week's time. I believe it is taking place in South Auckland. In the meantime he did this 30 min. stand-up for the media at Labour's recent retreat. No comparison to Luxon. Hipkins talks substance. Luxon favours platitudes and hyperbole over substance:
Look forward to it.
What gets up my nose about Luxon and his coalition followers is their lies about the NZ economy.
For instance, in the second quarter of 2020, due to Covid, NZ's GDP fell a massive 12.2%, "by far the highest on record."
https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/covid-19-sees-record-12-2-percent-fall-in-new-zealands-economy
Despite those dire times the government, which for part of this time included NZF, managed the economy so that it survived relatively intact. In particular the lockdowns enabled the economy to keep working pretty much as normal except for tourism. We were the envy of the world.
Now we have Luxon and Peters rewriting economic history without a mention of Covid. In fact Robertson's handling of government debt levels over this period put NZ in a much better state than most of the OECD economies.
https://croakingcassandra.com/2023/12/02/government-net-debt-how-does-nz-compare/
I wish that they would stop telling lies.
is the MSM calling NACTF out on this?
Of course not….that seems to be the job of the Standardistas.
feel like writing a Guest Post?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/511766/independent-infrastructure-body-will-help-sustain-record-immigration-economist
https://twitter.com/cameronbagrie/status/1768521403392012389
The problem is that, although the OECD countries only had a rise in their debt levels in 2020 Robbo, having got a severe case of borrow and waste, just kept going. Other countries have lower levels of borrowing than they did at the end of 2020. We are, thanks to Robertson, much more in debt than we were in 2020.
It isn't the $20 billion or so that we borrowed and spent in 2020 that is the problem. It is the much greater amount that he got through in the 3 years when Labour Governed alone.
Where did it all end up? We certainly don't have anything to show for it?
I love right wing tragics when they are being satirical.
I'm afraid that it was Robertson's two terms as Minister of Finance that demonstrated the truth of Karl Marx's statement. To paraphrase what he said.
Robertson's two terms were an example of history repeating. His first term was tragedy. His second was repeating it as farce.
That is not what the graphs show that I posted above Alwyn. You are just perpetuating the lies of your masters.
All 3 years of that Labour-only government was affected by Covid or Covid recovery.
The first graph in Michael Reddell's link (Croaking Cassandra) shows exactly what I said. New Zealand debt rose in a nearly straight line from about 4% in 2019 to around 16% in 2023. It never declined at all and was forecast, by the OECD to keep going up if Labour Party policy continued in 2024-2025
The median result for OECD countries rose from about 30% to 38% in 2020 and then dropped abruptly to around 26% in 2023. They stopped throwing money away and we kept going.
There was no need to keep going as Robertson did. The worst of Covid was over by the beginning of 2021. We just wouldn't accept it.
There are two complications. NZ has the Cullen Fund. I don't know if it is now being drawn upon, but I suspect it is the closest we have got to a Sovereign Fund such as Norway have. Good investment Returns are what got the current Governor of the Reserve Bank his job; that fund and other government actions resulted in us having an increase in net GDP despite higher borrowing on at least one occasion. New Zealand has a higher level of private debt than most countries – and now sadly a higher level of companies operating in New Zealand but substantially owned by overseas shareholders. Tis sees us sending a lot of profit overseas rather than having it to help us through hard times. Hence the discussion about why it would make sense to retain at least some NZ ownership of assets like the Wellington Airport, and similar organisations in other cities.
I don't accept that argument at all Alwyn. You are again parroting Luxon, Seymour and (to his shame) Peters.
Recovering from Covid required some serious government intervention. We are already in a GDP per capita recession despite all of that government spending-it would have been a full-blown economic death-spiral without it.
The Croaking Cassandra graph shows NZ's net government liabilities as a percentage of GDP at 19% versus 28% for the OECD in 2025, which is creditable, and not the disaster you and your C of C friends paint it.
Your argument appears to be that the NZ debt percentage line would have continued to go up after 2025. That would not have happened. As the post-covid economic recovery became complete a Labour-led government would have eased expenditure.
You do realise that the government is no better placed as to reaching a budget surplus and debt levels than Labour?
And not only are we below OECD average debt
https://data.oecd.org/gga/general-government-debt.htm
We are one of the few with net wealth
https://data.oecd.org/gga/general-government-financial-wealth.htm#indicator-chart
"You do realise that ….. "
Yes, and I also realise that the interest we have to pay on the $100 billion or so that Robbo borrowed isn't making it any easier to get to a budget surplus. It might not matter if it had actually been invested in something useful but it just seems to have been tossed out with the dishwater.
Things such as upgrading schools and infrastructure, road safety improvements to name just a few. Keeping everyone in jobs during and after COVID. Wasted?
You really want to see waste. Just hold my beer, for the next three years. Watch the recession, happening right now that National, ACT and the reserve Bank have talked the country in to over the past year.
As Key borrowed for tax cuts for the wealthy, while neglecting infrastructure, health, education and other investments for the future. Even road maintenance. While bringing in hundreds of thousands to give the illusion of a growing economy, while leaving a huge spending deficit for a future Government to repair, this Government is determined to go down the same path.
Was Willo unaware of the impact of this 'technical number' on tax cuts?
Out of her depth – feel sorry for the kids, missing out on their movies.
Reddell notes, as he did last year, that the governments revenues plans are in ruins. So no tax cuts.
The KiwiBank economist says we need to spend more on infrastructure. So not tax cuts, deficit spend (have higher debt) on the right stuff.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/03/18/ex-reserve-bank-economist-says-nows-not-the-time-for-tax-cuts/
Can you give me the exact make up of what that $100 billion was spent on please?
In reality it is a number plucked from the air by Luxon to berate Labour with, when in fact, despite the Covid Crash and despite the Ukraine war induced cost of living/inflation/high interest rates crisis, Robertson kept NZ government borrowing well below the OECD average as the graph I posted above demonstrates.
I have no idea where Robertson squandered all the money he borrowed. I doubt if even he could tell you.
Of course the borrowing was below the OECD average. That was because when he started we had almost no debt. According to the graph you posted it must have been about 1% of GDP
Alwyn, if you have no idea, then why would you believe the money was "squandered"? Is it just that not enough dosh was squandered on you?
Our self-serving CoC govt is bent, on squandering tax cuts on landLords.
Not so many dead people Alwyn. That is something to show.
That is what really incensed the, laughably called "centre right" .
The country had an example of the effectiveness of Government putting people first, ahead of 'their' profits. A people working together for good, instead of for the increased wealth of those with the real power.
That can never be forgiven, and must be rubbished as soon as possible. Propaganda mouthpieces and "useful idiots" endlessly chanting the same memes about "economic incompetence" and ‘debt" until people internalise them. Funding and insidious support for US style cookers, to undermine the narrative of the COVID effort. Before we, as a country, remember how "looking after each other" once gave us one of the highest standards of living in the world.
The concerted effort of the right, the enquiry being one, to destroy any idea of the real achievements of the Adern Government over COVID and after, is to ensure that "never again"! are "people to be put before profit." And never again are we to be reminded of the effectiveness of "Governments power for good" if a Government chooses to use it.
“How dare a Government prioritise the ongoing welfare of the people they represent, over short term corporate advantage”.
I have zero sympathy for those who voted for NAct and NZ1. Your example BG is a case in point.
The media are well aware of the CoC's lies and deceit, but they seem afraid to say so – with the surprising exception of Tova O'Brien. It will be interesting to see if her career is affected in any way.
It's happened before. The most notable: when Muldoon banned Tom Scott from media interviews and his speeches – not sure now whether that included the Parliamentary Press Gallery. Fortunately Scott's brilliant writing ability in particular saved his career from disintegrating.
Why do you have zero sympathy for those voters?
We need a large number of them and come back and vote for Labour/Green if we ever want to see the back of this government.
6 months in and not many of them (if any) seem like they are in a hurry to move left.
I'm reading Tom Scott's autobiography at the moment. Looking forward to the parts where he meets Muldoon.
What is it called BG? I would like to read it.
Suspect it's "Drawn out" by Tom Scott.
You can get it from Auckland Libraries
yep…"Drawn Out"
…how history gets written by election victors
Not sure it works like that Ad. There is virtually nothing Hipkins could do at the moment that would get "mainstream cut-through" – unless it's something that reflects badly on him, the Labour Party or the left generally.
To view the media as a neutral sounding board ignores most of what we know about it. It will change, but the coalition of crackpots has to go even more bonkers and sustain it for longer. Hipkins should still do it of course – no white flags should be raised.
why at the moment?
Because most of the the media don't really have any interest in ideas. They are like sports commentators. So for now it's all about how Labour got smashed in an election – will they change leaders, how do they recover, how is their morale, are their fans deserting them, blah blah blah. That story will just get tired – and it eventually becomes that National are underperforming, making mistakes, missing tackles while Labour have new talent and is the new talent up to it, etc. So much of it is rooted in the primacy of personalities over ideas. In that sort of culture, losers are meant to be contrite and ask for forgiveness.
Oh please. What it simply requires is for Hipkins to try. Here's how Hipkins looked so far from Steve Braunias on the weekend:
'Winning an election does not entitle you to act like a dictatorship.
To act like a dictatorship, you need to lose an election. One of the first things I did after leading Labour to a catastrophic loss is that I gathered the few MPs lift standing, and said to them:
"You have no fight left in you. You are without hope. You are weak, in a bad way, finished. The last thing you want to do right now is mount any kind of leadership challenge.
Just go about your business. Walk in circles. Hide in dark corners. The important thing to remember is that I am the leader of the Labour Party. I will always be the leader of the Labour Party. You are feeling sleepy. Close your eyes. I am the leader of the Labour Party. I will always be the leader of the Labour Party. Sleep now. Sleep."
It's worked really well.'
The contrast to Chloe Swarbrick last week could not be starker.
You only have to imagine what an integrated State of the Nation summit with Labour, Greens and TMP would look like.
Unfortunately that's not happening so imagining is all we've got.
It does require that – as I said. But for a period after a heavy election defeat, that is usually not enough. And it’s part of the broader culture which the media reflects back at us – recent losers are worthless, everything they say is to be discounted. Every story, as I said above, is about how down and out they are.
If that really is the case then all of those Opposition MPs should resign.
But I know they are capable of more.
I also think the voters don't want to know about labour..
..and what they have to say….
They are losers…thrown out of office for non-delivery..
..just yesterday..in term terms..
And I think this will last for about 18 months..
..when hopefully a coherent coalition of the left will be standing there…
..all primed and ready to go..
..and of course hipkins must keep on trying..
..but until then he is pretty much pissing into the prevailing political winds..
..I see ms. swarbrick as the banner-flyer for now..
..as I said..interest in what labour has to say couldn't be lower..
..this leavened with a degree of impatience..that they are even speaking…
I don't know, calling out winstink for acting like the drunk uncle is gold,
I think Peters has finally lost his touch.
Even more curious is that he said there is a 5.6 billion dollar hole facing the present government, which Finance Minister Nicola Willis denies.
Obviously you can't go ahead with tax cuts with such a hole, assuming you don't want to create a banana republic economy, so who's right?
Is Peters giving us advanced notice that National's biggest promise – tax cuts – will no longer be possible?
Or is he just mouthing off, talking a load of nonsense because the audience that he addressed yesterday wouldn't know the difference?
Either is possible.
Peters today retorts that "Hipkins would get drunk on a wine biscuit."
That's Winston's Cossie Club comedy schtick slipping from a groove to a rut.
I thought that both hipkins's 'drunk uncle' jibe..
..and peter's ' drunk on a wine biscuit' retort..
..had comedic merit…
https://theplatform.kiwi/opinions/sex-is-real
I realize that many of you will not want to read this excellent article byYvonne Van Dongen because it was published on The Platform.
So I will summarize.
Puberty Blockers have been banned for under 18 years in the UK (unless as part of a high quality research study). These drugs are prescribed off label and there is concerning long term side effects and questions over the impact of these drugs on the developing brain.
The Wpath Files. A whistle blower supplied to journalists video chat and email correspondance between members of Wpath, showing that these members of WPath know that kids can't consent to treatments such as PBs, that side effects of hormones include liver cancer.
Comedy genius Graham Lineham who wrote the IT crowd and Father Ted visited NZ and despite having many media interviews lined up, the msm didn't cover his visit. Why? Because he stood up against trans rights activists, speaking up for women and girls and against gender affirming care and was disgracefully de platformed.
You mean the MSM that cheerfully reported various reckons that Posie Parker was a transphobe and Nazi adjacent? That amplified the voices of several politicians that were happy to do a bit of bandwagon jumping, and wave their virtue signaling and ignorant opinions around?
The same cowardly and captured bunch that called Shane Toko (Ashley) Winter a woman and showered him with female pronouns all through his trial, conviction and sentencing for the torture and murder of a vulnerable young woman?
That same media Visubversa! There will be questions asked surely when what some are suggesting is the greatest medical scandal ever, i.e. the medical transition of vulnerable children is exposed. Such as "why didn't we know?" However that excuse wears a bit thin, where sites such as the Standard have allowed us to exercise our free speech rights and allowed us to publish GC stuff and I truly thank the Standard for that
Forget about “the technical numbers” – it's all about "the vibe"![laugh laugh](https://thestandardnz.b-cdn.net/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/teeth_smile.png)
There seems to be some debate about just how big Willis' hole is – hope more service cuts and infrastructure project cancellations aren’t on the cards.
She’s still digging…
Craig Renney
@CLRenney
The fiscal gap of $5.6bn currently identified is very likely an underestimate. Climate change funding is supposed to provide $2.4bn for tax cuts. That's now in doubt – with the Climate Commission calling ETS revenue "not a reliable source of income"
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/climate-change-commission-gives-government-a-burping-taxing-inflationary-headache/4QK4JGCHM5DZPAOH2PLG3GWZJ4/
( https://archive.li/BeZMg )
https://twitter.com/CLRenney/status/1769476092182880498
Chaser.
@CLRenney
Please note the date.
https://twitter.com/CLRenney/status/1769476087615303681
We live in a mirror image of a Robin Hood society, one in which resources are indeed being redistributed, not downward, from rich to poor, as Robin Hood was reputed to do, but upward, from poor to rich," Case and Deaton argued.
Seeing as (going on his words) it is luxons life- mission to give tax cuts to the poor/working class ..(he never mentions the already rich..who of course are lined up for the lions share of those cuts)..
And it seems they haven't got enough dosh to do this..
So here's an idea:..
Yes..give the cuts to those he says he cares the most about..
..but don't give them to the already rich…who don't really need them anyway..
..they are just being greedy/uncaring bastards..if they claim they do..
Anyhoo..that will take care of much of that fiscal hole..eh..?
..and will bring luxons life mission to fruition..
..win win..all around..
NAct1st talk about reducing taxes, but I do wonder how much greater net income someone on average earnings will have after paying 15% higher rates (either directly or through rent), and paying higher costs for running a vehicle. Then a similar calculation for a beneficiary having the same increase in rates, but higher costs for public transport (and even more if a child was getting free rides . . .
Did National follow through on putting charges back on prescriptions?
It's national the bottom 75% will get a block of cheese at best, while the 25% get huge amounts ,
big banner headlines in todays WAirarapa Times Age. $375 Million to maintain the wairarapa railway line. how many owners have NZ Rail had since 1984 and why has there been no maintenance done till now?