Here's Tova O'Brien's piece that gives some more context. Treasury did not prepare advice on the effects of these cuts. Not usual practice they argued but a unionist says it was when he worked for Robertson. Action before advice is not good practice generally. Is Willis acting on unsubstantiated 'reckons'?
Is it intentional or ignorance? I suspect a lot was driven by haste to get the major changes going within 100 days and is more driven by political expediency and reckons than considered advice.
Anne Salmond: NZ is a democracy, not a company [11 April 2024]
Opinion: How the weakening or avoiding of parliamentary and external checks and balances on executive power risks NZ becoming more authoritarian
If a Prime Minister thinks of himself as a CEO, with the Cabinet as his executive team, the civil service as his employees (not independent, impartial advisors), and citizens as customers, the recipients of commercial services (not decision-makers on strategic matters), this is the inverse of the way a democracy should be run.
Is Willis acting on unsubstantiated 'reckons'?
"Independent, impartial advisors" would only impede Willux – it's payback time.
And the effects of Willis' (reckon-based) actions don't matter, as long as her poor kids won't ‘suffer’ one more night of DVDs and Tip Top – "the horror, the horror."
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.”
Given how quickly the public service had expanded is it all that bad, surely there is some advantage having skilled people come availble to the more productive sectors of the welli gton economy?
Isn't the exponential increase in Public Service numbers in part at least caused by the exponential increase in immigration numbers over the past decade?
In other words, it has been gathering momentum under both National and Labour governments, eventually requiring more Public Servants to service them.
I guess in part but seems to be exponentially higher than population growth. Certainly the growth in comms staff who seem to be there to avoid real communication between govt and the public has been massive and I dont think it would do any harm to prune a heap of those out.
I can believe that. Having been laid off a private sector job at 60 and being regarded by prospective employers as too old, out of date and probably unmotivated – you eke out what you can for a few years in various gigs and then quit everything with great relief as soon as it's (almost) financially viable to do so. A lot of talent gets wasted. So it's annoying when Luxon witters on about wasteful spending, but seems ignorant of the waste of human intelligence that occurs within the supposedly 'efficient' systems he so worships.
I suppose I was lucky – made redundant in the late 40's and got another job within 3 months. Left that job to retrain and to help look after my parents. Got a new set of qualifications and some experience in a related field and then got a permanent position just before my 58th birthday which carried me through to 66 and retirement. Did contract work in the same field part time for a couple of years – more for interest than $$$$$.
good, simple explanation of the problems with gender self-ID in this snip of a discussion about the Australian case Tickle v Giggle (trans identified male/trans women alleging a women only app discriminated by not allowing him to take part).
Gender identity is unable to be defined in law in any other way than the feelings of the person saying they are trans.
How are women supposed to know that when a man says he is a woman he is a trans woman, and not some creepy dude saying he is a woman?
Roxy Tickle's photo looks male (which is why he was removed from the app), and in subsequent communication (email/phone/text) Sall Grover only had his word that he is a TW.
Tickle has been allowed to change the sex marker on their birth certificate, but again, once you have self- ID law, the only person that can verify their gender identity is the person saying they are a TW. That was the point of self ID law, so that trans people didn't have to go through a medical/legal process to establish that they have a gender identity that means x.
Now apply that to every situation where a man says they are a woman: toilets, changing rooms, women's prisons, rape crisis and refuge shelters, medical exams, personal cares for disabled people and so on (there are additional reasons for not allowing males into women's spaces, TW are male and we exclude males generally fro those spaces for safety, privacy and dignity reasons).
Oxford Union-style debate at MIT, with the following proposition: “Resolved, that sex is biological and binary, and gender identity is no substitute for sex in social policy.”
Alex Byrne, Professor of Philosophy at MIT and author of Trouble with Gender: Sex Facts, Gender Fictions, and Holly Lawford-Smith, Associate Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of Melbourne and author of Gender-Critical Feminism, are arguing in favor of the proposition. Alice Dreger, historian and author of Galileo’s Middle Finger, and Aaron Kimberly, Executive Director of the Gender Dysphoria Alliance and co-host of the Transparency podcast, are arguing against the proposition. Nadine Strossen, professor emerita at New York Law School and former president of the ACLU, is serving as moderator.
Some Gen Zers protest, claiming that higher incomes are a mirage since they do not account for the exploding cost of college and housing. After all, global house prices are close to all-time highs, and graduates have more debt than before. In reality, though, Gen Zers are coping because they earn so much. In 2022 Americans under 25 spent 43% of their post-tax income on housing and education, including interest on debt from college—slightly below the average for under-25s from 1989 to 2019. Their home-ownership rates are higher than millennials at the same age. They also save more post-tax income than youngsters did in the 1980s and 1990s. They are, in other words, better off.
I apologise! Though let us not forget that even the wombs of most tribal Labour hath brought forth sons such as Prebble and Douglas. And even Nash, Jones and Hipkins…
My point being the level of income is somewhat irrelevant if such high barriers to entry exist in the property market and if rents and property prices have increased at the levels they have.
Disposable income gives an idea of the net income of a generation- and that quick google suggests (in the US where there is less of a housing crisis) the younger generations getting a raw deal.
If the contract or employment agreement doesn't provide for severance payments, then the employer doesn't have to pay anything as long as they terminate the contract/employment in line with its provisions and applicable legislation.
It's common for fixed term employees not to be eligible for severance compensation/payments because usually they are short term.
I do wonder if the person in question had proper advice when taking on work as a contractor generally you have a lot less protections no entitlements and far more responsibilites like tax returns ACC and the like. Would need to be earning at least 30% more than an equivlant employee.
I do find it suprising the Ministry under a Lab govt was using contracrors as opposed to fixed term employees for the roles.
And they seem to have confused a fixed term employment contract with a contractor contract.
I was confused about the nature of the contract. I guess we don’t know what the provisions are, but if it specified 3 years then surely unilaterally ending the contract early surely can’t be done. But again we don’t know the conditions.
And if the contractor had 3 years impressed upon them enough to believe that was a meaningful part of their contract, (which does sound suspiciously like an employee relationship in fact) then that is very poor for a hiring practice under a Labour government.
I guess before signing anything check with your union rep.
That pretty tough for you, I can’t imagine how this would feel. As you were on a contract, you will need some legal advice. But there may be a clause that says the contract can be terminated with a notice. This happened to someone I knew whose project was cancelled a couple of years ago. Good luck
It is also hypocritical given many of those very same nations he listed (including South Africa) seemingly don't have a problem with Russia carrying out war crimes in Ukraine.
Doe this mean it's no longer possible to use passwords to confirm at all? you HAVE to use biometrics if your device is capable, facial recognition or fingerprint?
We are getting a terribly long way down the track to total loss of privacy if that's correct.
On Google Play, you can set biometrics (fingerprint or face) as your purchase verification method on mobile devices that have biometric capability. If you set biometrics, it means that you'll be asked to verify that it's you with biometrics each time that you make a purchase through Google Play.
In the coming weeks, there will be a change in how you confirm your setting when you choose biometric verification. For mobile devices, when you're asked to confirm this setting, you'll use your fingerprint or face instead of your Google Account password.
To keep your account secure, turn on purchase verification for every purchase. Avoid sharing passwords with others. If you use biometrics for purchase verification, use caution in storing biometrics of children or others on your device, as those could be used for purchase verification.
Would be an easier sell for google if they were not simultaneously hosting the Israeli AI military targeting systems. Good on the employees for protesting this as its against google policy to be knowingly hosting such systems.
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
It’s being explained as an “inadvertent error”. However, National MP David MacLeod’s excuse for failing to disclose $178,000 in donations for his election campaign last year is not necessarily enough to prevent some serious consequences. A Police investigation is now likely, and the result of his non-disclosure could even see ...
The relentless drone coming out of the Prime Minister and his deputy for a million days now has been that the last government was just hosing money all over the show and now at last the grownups are in charge and shutting that drunken sailor stuff down. There is a word ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed a New Zealand Government plane will head to riot-torn New Caledonia in the next hour in the first in a series of proposed flights to begin bringing New Zealanders home. Today’s flight will carry around 50 passengers with the most ...
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Bryce Edwards writes – Willie Jackson will participate in the prestigious Oxford Union debate on Thursday, following in David Lange’s footsteps. Coincidentally, Jackson has also followed Lange’s footsteps by living in his old home in South Auckland. And like Lange, Jackson might be the sort of loud-mouth scrapper ...
That is the only way to describe an MP "forgetting" to declare $178,000 in donations. The amount of money involved - more than five times the candidate spending cap, and two and a half times the median income - is boggling. How do you just "forget" that amount of money? ...
In this week’s “A View from Afar” podcast Selwyn Manning and spoke about the upcoming US elections and what the possibility of another Trump presidency means for the US role in world affairs. We also spoke about the problems Joe … Continue reading → ...
Hi,Two years ago I briefly featured in Justin Pemberton’s Web of Chaos documentary, which touched on things like QAnon during the pandemic.I mostly prattled on about how intertwined conspiracy narratives are with Evangelical Christian thinking, something Webworm’s explored in the past.(The doc is available on TVNZ+, if you’re not in ...
The Government is leaving the entire construction sector and the community housing sector in limbo. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government released the long-awaited Bill English-led review of Kāinga Ora yesterday, but delayed key decisions on its build plan and how to help community housing providers (CHPs) build ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Daisy Simmons Farmers who can’t sleep, worrying they’ll lose everything amid increasing drought. Youth struggling with depression over a future that feels hopeless. Indigenous people grief-stricken over devastated ecosystems. For all these people and more, climate change is taking a clear toll ...
New Zealand’s relationship with China is becoming harder to define, and with that comes a worry that a deteriorating political relationship could spill over into the economic relationship. It is about more than whether New Zealand will join Pillar Two of Aukus, though the Chinese Ambassador, more or less, suggested ...
Been hoping we would see something like this from Sir Geoffrey Palmer. This is excellent.The present Bill goes further than the National Development Act 1979 in stripping away procedures designed to ensure that environmental issues are properly considered. The 1979 approach was not acceptable then and this present approach is ...
He’s Got The Moxie: Only Willie Jackson possesses the credentials to meld together a new Labour message that is, at one and the same moment, staunchly working-class, union-friendly, and which speaks to the hundreds-of-thousands of urban Māori untethered to the neo-tribal capitalist elites of the Iwi Leaders Forum.IT’S ONE OF THE ...
Tree-huggers may well accuse the Government of giving them the fingers, after Energy Minister Simeon Brown announced new measures to protect powerlines from trees, rather than measures to protect trees from powerlines. It can be no coincidence, surely, that this has been announced at the same as Fisheries Minister Shane Jones ...
Willie Jackson will participate in the prestigious Oxford Union debate on Thursday, following in David Lange’s footsteps. Coincidentally, Jackson has also followed Lange’s footsteps by living in his old home in South Auckland. And like Lange, Jackson might be the sort of loud-mouth scrapper who could take over the Labour ...
Barrister Gary Judd KC’s complaint to the Regulatory Review Committee has sparked a fierce debate about the place of tikanga Māori – or Māori customs, values and spiritual beliefs – in the law.Judd opposes the New Zealand Council of Legal Education’s plans to make teaching tikanga compulsory in the legal curriculum.AUT ...
Alwyn Poole writes – In New Zealand we have approximately 460 high schools. The gaps between the schools that produce the best results for students and those at the other end of the spectrum are enormous.In terms of the data for their leavers, the top 30 schools have ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand First Cabinet Minister Shane Jones has become the best advertisement against the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill. In selling the radical new resource consenting processes, in which ministers can green light any mine, dam, or other major development, Jones seems to be ...
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The split opening up in Israel’s “War Cabinet” is not just between PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his long-term rival Benny Gantz. It is actually a three-way split, set in motion by Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. It was Gallant’s open criticism of Netanyahu that finally flushed Gantz out into the open. ...
On Thursday 17 May, the Mayoral Proposal for Auckland’s Long Term Plan 2024-2034 was passed by Auckland Council, 20 to 1. It is set to be formally adopted by the Governing Body at its June 27th meeting. The entire process took 8 hours, with the vast majority of that time ...
Pakanga o muaTukua, ka ngaroPuritia taku ringaNgaro ana te ara ki pae rauThere's a battle aheadMany battles are lostBut you'll never see the end of the roadWhile you're travelling with meLate yesterday morning I headed to Wynyard Quarter to see Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick give their pre-budget State of ...
Maybe the Prime Minister and his Finance Minister expected the worst, so they mounted a stout defence of the Budget tax cuts to their party faithful at a party conference over the weekend. In turn, they were greeted with applause, which, though it may have been less than wildly enthusiastic, ...
A listing of 34 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, May 12, 2024 thru Sat, May 18, 2024. Story of the week “The legislation I signed today [will] keep windmills off our beaches, gas in our tanks, and ...
TL;DR: Here’s six links that stood out to me in the last day in Aotearoa’s political economy to 6:06am on Sunday, May 19:Aotearoa-NZ is the seventh worst in the OECD’s homelessness rankings, just behind the United States and just ahead of Australia. BlackRock thinks rate hikes actually worsen inflation because ...
Halfway up a historic tower in York, we are neither up nor down. At the top you will have views of a city steeped in antiquity, made and remade by Romans, Normans, Vikings, Tescos. Below, you will find a retired minister happy to tell you all about this most astonishing ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Does breathing contribute to CO2 ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: KiwiRail’s seemingly endless requests for more money is damning. At one point, KiwiRail assured Robertson when he was the Finance Minister that the worst-case scenario would be an extra $300 million before requesting $1.2 billion a few months later. Not what most people ...
No one knows what it's likeTo be the bad manTo be the sad manBehind blue eyesNo one knows what it's likeTo be hatedTo be fatedTo telling only liesHave you ever wondered what life must be like for Mike Hosking? Seeing things in black and white through blue tinted specs? In ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past two week’s editions.Share More Than A FeildingBike bling, London Read more ...
Hi,I think we all made it through another week — congratulations. I’ve been digesting the new Arab Strap record, which is astonishing. In other news, I’m going to be doing a Webworm popup in Auckland, New Zealand on Saturday July 13. I’ll bring a bunch of merch, and some other ...
The Fast-Track Approvals Bill enables cabinet ministers to circumvent key environmental planning and protection processes for infrastructure projects. Its difficulties have been well canvassed. This column suggests a different way of thinking about the proposal. I am going to explore the Bill from the perspective of its proponents with their ...
New Zealand First Cabinet Minister Shane Jones has become the best advertisement against the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill. In selling the radical new resource consenting processes, in which ministers can green light any mine, dam, or other major development, Jones seems to be shooting the proposal in the foot. ...
Buzz from the Beehive Associate Education Minister David Seymour is urging the PostPrimary Teachers Association to put learning ahead of ideology. He wants the union leaders to call off their teachers meetings around the country where they hope to muster the strength to undo the government’s plans to establish several ...
What are police for? "Fighting crime" is the obvious answer. If there's a burglary, they should show up and investigate. Ditto if there's a murder or sexual assault. Speeding or drunk or dangerous driving is a crime, so obviously they should respond to that. And obviously, they should respond to ...
Michael Reddell writes – I got curious yesterday about how the Australia/New Zealand real exchange rate had changed over the last decade, and so dug out the data on the changes in the two countries’ CPIs. Over the 10 years from March 2014 to March 2024, New Zealand’s ...
Graham Adams writes that 20 years after the land march, judges are quietly awarding a swathe of coastal rights to iwi. Early this month, an hour-long documentary was released by TVNZ to mark the 20th anniversary of the land-rights march to oppose Helen Clark’s Foreshore and Seabed Act. The account ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: Suspended Green MP Darleen Tana has passed an unpleasant milestone: she has now been absent for as many parliamentary sitting days as she has been present for this year. Tana is on full pay while she is suspended, and will benefit from a ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is no coincidence that two Labour should-have-been MPs are making the most noise about public sector cuts. As assistant general secretary of the Public Service Association, Fleur Fitzsimons has been at the forefront of revealing where the next round of state sector job ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s becoming a classic case study for why lobbying deals with politicians need greater scrutiny. Former National Minister Steven Joyce runs a lobbying company with a major client – the University of Waikato. The University desperately wants $300m+ of taxpayer funding to establish a ...
This is one of the (extra) weekly columns on music or movies. Plenty of solid analyses of Possession exist online and most of them – inevitably – contain spoilers. This column is more in the way of a first-timer’s aid to getting your initial bearings. You don’t need to have ...
I am painting in oil, a portrait of a manWho has taken all the heart aches,And all the pain he can stand.I am using all the colors of blue,I have here on my stand.I am painting in oil, a portrait of a man.This has been an interesting week for me. ...
Helen Clark joins the Hoon as a special guest talking whether Aotearoa should join Aukus II, and her views on the fast track legislation and how Luxon and the new Government are performing. File Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts ...
With an election due in less than nine months, Britain’s embattled PM, Rishi Sunak, gave a useful speech earlier this week. He made a substantial case for his government, perhaps as compelling as is possible in the current environment. Quite an achievement. His overall theme was security, first pulling ...
Open access notablesPublicly expressed climate scepticism is greatest in regions with high CO2 emissions, Pearson et al., Climatic Change:We analysed a recently released corpus of climate-related tweets to examine the macro-level factors associated with public declarations of climate change scepticism. Analyses of over 2 million geo-located tweets in the U.S. showed that climate ...
You can be all negative about these charter schools if you want, but I’m here to accentuate the positive. You can get all worked up, if you want to, by the contradiction of Luxon saying We’re going to make sure that every school in the country is teaching exactly the same ...
Losing The Room: One can only speculate about what has persuaded the Coalition Government that it will pay no electoral price for unreasonably pushing ahead with policies that are so clearly against the national interest. They seem quite oblivious to the risk that by doing so they will convince an increasing ...
Name suppression decisions can be tough sometimes. No matter your views on free speech, you have to be hard-hearted not to be torn by the tug of the competing arguments. I think you can feel the Supreme Court wrestling with that in M v The King. The case for ...
The Merchants of Menace: The Coalition Government has convinced itself that the “Brahmins’” emollient functions have become much too irksome and expensive. Those who see themselves as the best hope of rebuilding New Zealand’s ailing capitalist system, appear to have convinced themselves that a little bit of blunt trauma is what their mollycoddled ...
When National first proposed its Muldoonist "fast-track" law, they were warned that it would inevitably lead to corruption. And that is exactly what has happened, with Resources Minister Shane Jones taking secret meetings with potential applicants:On Tuesday, in a Newsroom story, questions were raised about a dinner Jones ...
Buzz from the Beehive One day – hopefully – we will push that Russian rascal, Vladimir Putin, beyond breaking point. Perhaps it will happen today, when he learns that Foreign Minister Winston Peters is again tightening the thumbscrews. Peters announced further sanctions, this time on 28 individuals and 14 entities ...
How Labour’s and National’s failure to move beyond neoliberalism has brought New Zealand to the brink of economic and cultural chaos.TO START LOSING, so soon after you won, requires a special kind of political incompetence. At the heart of this Coalition Government’s failure to retain, and build upon, the public ...
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New Zealand’s economic performance and the PM’s vision Michael Reddell writes – When I wrote yesterday morning’s post, highlighting how poorly both New Zealand and its Anglo peer countries have been doing in respect of productivity in recent times (ie, in the case of New ...
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If there was still any doubt as to who is actually running this government – and it isn’t the buffoon from Botany – then this week’s announcement of a huge spend up on charter schools has settled the matter. While jobs and public services continue to be cut in the ...
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The University of Waikato has reworded an advertisement that begins the tender process for its new $300 million-plus medical school even though the Government still needs to approve it. However, even the reworded ad contains an architect’s visualisations of what the school might look like. ACT leader David Seymour told ...
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Yesterday de facto Prime Minister David Seymour announced that his glove puppet government would be re-introducing charter schools, throwing $150 million at his pet quacks, donors and cronies and introducing an entire new government agency to oversee them (the existing Education Review Office, which actually knows how to review schools, ...
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Te Pāti Māori have launched a petition to stop the repeal of Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act. This announcement comes prior to the first reading of the Section 7AA repeal bill in Parliament today. “Section 7AA forces the Government to adhere to Te Tiriti o Waitangi with respect ...
The Government has yet again failed to do the one thing that needs to happen to ensure houses can be built – commit to ongoing funding, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
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Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick have used their State of the Planet speeches to challenge the Government to prioritise people and planet over profit as the delivery of the Budget approaches. ...
The Government’s introduction of legislation that would enable landlords to end tenancies with no reason marks a dark day for the 1.4 million people who rent their home in Aotearoa. ...
The Minister for Mental Health has found the Suicide Prevention Office and mental health support for 111 calls slipping through his fingers, says Labour spokesperson for Mental Health Ingrid Leary. ...
Today’s justification from the Minister for Children for scrapping protections for our tamariki was either a case of ignorance or deliberate deception. ...
The Green Party says the Government’s misguided policy on gangs will fail, following the announcement of the establishment of a national gang unit and district gang disruption units to target gang activities. ...
“With Police pay negotiations still unresolved after six months in Government, Mark Mitchell has today rolled the Commissioner out for a rebrand of their approach to gang crime,” Labour police spokesperson Ginny Andersen said. ...
The Government bringing back 50 charter schools will not increase achievement and is a distraction from the core mission of the education system, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Te Pāti Māori is showing extreme concern over the Environment Select Committees adoption of a lucky dip draw to determine hearings for the Fast Track Approvals bill. Of the 27,000 submissions, 2,900 requested to present. All organisations will be heard; however, the remaining 2,350 submitters will be subject to a ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Kia ora koutou, good morning, and zao shang hao. Thank you Fran for the opportunity to speak at the 2024 China Business Summit – it’s great to be here today. I’d also like to acknowledge: Simon Bridges - CEO of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce. His Excellency Ambassador - Wang ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed a New Zealand Government plane will head to New Caledonia in the next hour in the first in a series of proposed flights to begin bringing New Zealanders home. “New Zealanders in New Caledonia have faced a challenging few days - and bringing ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed a New Zealand Government plane will head to New Caledonia in the next hour in the first in a series of proposed flights to begin bringing New Zealanders home. “New Zealanders in New Caledonia have faced a challenging few days - and bringing them ...
The Coalition Government will introduce legislation this year that will enable roadside drug testing as part of our commitment to improve road safety and restore law and order, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Alcohol and drugs are the number one contributing factor in fatal road crashes in New Zealand. In ...
The Government has announced a series of immediate actions in response to the independent review of Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “Kāinga Ora is a large and important Crown entity, with assets of $45 billion and over $2.5 billion of expenditure each year. It ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour is pleased that Pseudoephedrine can now be purchased by the general public to protect them from winter illness, after the coalition government worked swiftly to change the law and oversaw a fast approval process by Medsafe. “Pharmacies are now putting the medicines back on their ...
Tēnā koutou katoa. Da jia hao. Good morning everyone. Prime Minister Luxon, your excellency, a great friend of New Zealand and my friend Ambassador Wang, Mayor of what he tells me is the best city in New Zealand, Wayne Brown, the highly respected Fran O’Sullivan, Champion of the Auckland business ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced that the Government will make it easier for lines firms to take action to remove vegetation from obstructing local powerlines. The change will ensure greater security of electricity supply in local communities, particularly during severe weather events. “Trees or parts of trees falling on ...
Wairarapa Moana ki Pouakani were the top winners at this year’s Ahuwhenua Trophy awards recognising the best in Māori dairy farming. Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka announced the winners and congratulated runners-up, Whakatōhea Māori Trust Board, at an awards celebration also attended by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister ...
"On the 27th of March, I sought assurances from the Chief Executive, Department of Internal Affairs, that the Department’s correct processes and policies had been followed in regards to a passport application which received media attention,” says Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden. “I raised my concerns after being ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins has announced the appointment of three new District Court Judges, to replace Judges who have recently retired. Peter James Davey of Auckland has been appointed a District Court Judge with a jury jurisdiction to be based at Whangarei. Mr Davey initially started work as a law clerk/solicitor with ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour is calling on the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) to put ideology to the side and focus on students’ learning, in reaction to the union holding paid teacher meetings across New Zealand about charter schools. “The PPTA is disrupting schools up and down the ...
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly today announced the appointment of Craig Stobo as the new chair of the Financial Markets Authority (FMA). Mr Stobo takes over from Mark Todd, whose term expired at the end of April. Mr Stobo’s appointment is for a five-year term. “The FMA plays ...
Surf Life Saving New Zealand and Coastguard New Zealand will continue to be able to keep people safe in, on, and around the water following a funding boost of $63.644 million over four years, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Transport Minister Matt Doocey say. “Heading to the beach for ...
New Zealand and Tuvalu have reaffirmed their close relationship, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand is committed to working with Tuvalu on a shared vision of resilience, prosperity and security, in close concert with Australia,” says Mr Peters, who last visited Tuvalu in 2019. “It is my pleasure ...
New Zealand is gravely concerned about the situation in New Caledonia, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The escalating situation and violent protests in Nouméa are of serious concern across the Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “The immediate priority must be for all sides to take steps to de-escalate the ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon met today with Samoa’s O le Ao o le Malo, Afioga Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II, who is making a State Visit to New Zealand. “His Highness and I reflected on our two countries’ extensive community links, with Samoan–New Zealanders contributing to all areas of our national ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has announced that he has approved Waiheke Island ferry operator Island Direct to be eligible for SuperGold Card funding, paving the way for a commercial agreement to bring the operator into the scheme. “Island Direct started operating in November 2023, offering an additional option for people ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters today announced further sanctions on 28 individuals and 14 entities providing military and strategic support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Russia is directly supported by its military-industrial complex in its illegal aggression against Ukraine, attacking its sovereignty and territorial integrity. New Zealand condemns all entities and ...
A year on from the tragedy at Loafers Lodge, the Government is working hard to improve building fire safety, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “I want to share my sincere condolences with the families and friends of the victims on the anniversary of the tragic fire at Loafers ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for having me here in the lead up to my Government’s first Budget. Before I get started can I acknowledge: Simon Bridges – Auckland Business Chamber CEO. Steve Jurkovich – Kiwibank CEO. Kids born ...
New Zealand and Vanuatu will enhance collaboration on issues of mutual interest, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “It is important to return to Port Vila this week with a broad, high-level political delegation which demonstrates our deep commitment to New Zealand’s relationship with Vanuatu,” Mr Peters says. “This ...
Minister for Land Information, Chris Penk will travel to Peru this week to represent New Zealand at a meeting of trade ministers from the Asia-Pacific region on behalf of Trade Minister Todd McClay. The annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade meeting will be held on 17-18 May ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford will head to the United Kingdom this week to participate in the 22nd Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM) and the 2024 Education World Forum (EWF). “I am looking forward to sharing this Government’s education priorities, such as introducing a knowledge-rich curriculum, implementing an evidence-based ...
Minister of Education Erica Stanford has today thanked outgoing New Zealand Qualifications Authority Chair, Hon Tracey Martin. “Tracey Martin tendered her resignation late last month in order to take up a new role,” Ms Stanford says. Ms Martin will relinquish the role of Chair on 10 May and current Deputy ...
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and President Emmanuel Macron of France today announced a new non-governmental organisation, the Christchurch Call Foundation, to coordinate the Christchurch Call’s work to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online. This change gives effect to the outcomes of the November 2023 Call Leaders’ Summit, ...
Distinguished public servant and former diplomat Sir Maarten Wevers will lead the independent review into the disability support services administered by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. The review was announced by Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston a fortnight ago to examine what could be done to strengthen the ...
Today’s announcement by Police Commissioner Andrew Coster of a National Gang Unit and district Gang Disruption Units will help deliver on the coalition Government’s pledge to restore law and order and crack down on criminal gangs, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. “The National Gang Unit and Gang Disruption Units will ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today expressed regret at North Korea’s aggressive rhetoric towards New Zealand and its international partners. “New Zealand proudly stands with the international community in upholding the rules-based order through its monitoring and surveillance deployments, which it has been regularly doing alongside partners since 2018,” Mr ...
Air Vice-Marshal Tony Davies MNZM is the new Chief of Defence Force, Defence Minister Judith Collins announced today. The Chief of Defence Force commands the Navy, Army and Air Force and is the principal military advisor to the Defence Minister and other Ministers with relevant portfolio responsibilities in the defence ...
Legislation to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act has been introduced to Parliament. The Bill’s introduction reaffirms the Coalition Government’s commitment to the safety of children in care, says Minister for Children, Karen Chhour. “While section 7AA was introduced with good intentions, it creates a conflict for Oranga ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins will this week travel to the UK and Italy to meet with her defence counterparts, and to attend Battles of Cassino commemorations. “I am humbled to be able to represent the New Zealand Government in Italy at the commemorations for the 80th anniversary of what was ...
The upcoming Budget will include funding for up to 50 charter schools to help lift declining educational performance, Associate Education Minister David Seymour announced today. $153 million in new funding will be provided over four years to establish and operate up to 15 new charter schools and convert 35 state ...
“The results of the public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has now been received, with results indicating over 13,000 submissions were made from members of the public,” Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “We heard feedback about the extended lockdowns in ...
Foreign Minister, Defence Minister, other Members of Parliament Acting Chief of Defence Force, Secretary of Defence Distinguished Guests Defence and Diplomatic Colleagues Ladies and Gentlemen, Good afternoon, tēna koutou, apinun tru It’s a pleasure to be back in Port Moresby today, and to speak here at the Kumul Leadership ...
Health, infrastructure, renewable energy, and stability are among the themes of the current visit to Papua New Guinea by a New Zealand political delegation, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Papua New Guinea carries serious weight in the Pacific, and New Zealand deeply values our relationship with it,” Mr Peters ...
The coalition Government is launching Roads of Regional Significance to sit alongside Roads of National Significance as part of its plan to deliver priority roading projects across the country, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The Roads of National Significance (RoNS) built by the previous National Government are some of New Zealand’s ...
A high-level New Zealand political delegation in Honiara today congratulated the new Government of Solomon Islands, led by Jeremiah Manele, on taking office. “We are privileged to meet the new Prime Minister and members of his Cabinet during his government’s first ten days in office,” Deputy Prime Minister and ...
New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amy Maguire, Associate Professor in Human Rights and International Law, University of Newcastle The request by Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), for arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders is a significant step in the effort to ...
RNZ Pacific A New Zealand author, journalist and media educator who has covered the Asia-Pacific region since the 1970s says liberation “must come” for Kanaky/New Caledonia. Professor David Robie sailed on board Greenpeace’s flagship Rainbow Warrior until it was bombed by French secret agents in New Zealand in July 1985 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Renwick, Professor of Agricultural Economics, Lincoln University, New Zealand Fonterra caught the business world by surprise last week with plans to sell off its consumer brands and businesses – including supermarket mainstays such as Anchor, Fresh’n Fruity and Mainland. The move ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Small, Senior lecturer, Above the Bar School of Educational Studies and Leadership, University of Canterbury With an air force plane on its way to rescue New Zealanders stranded by the violent uprising in New Caledonia, many familiar with the island’s history ...
A New Zealand government plane is heading to New Caledonia to assist with bringing New Zealanders home. Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today confirmed it was the first in a series of proposed flights. Peters said the flight would carry around 50 passengers with the most pressing needs from Nouméa ...
Regional councils must focus on building meaningful and enduring relationships with iwi and hapū to support better freshwater management, says the Auditor-General in a new report. ...
Chris Glaudel, Deputy Chief Executive of Community Housing Aotearoa, sees the announcement as a step towards addressing New Zealand’s high and rising levels of homelessness by improving our approach and system to delivering affordable homes. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ali Mamouri, Research fellow, Middle East studies, Deakin University The death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash this week occurred during one of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s most challenging periods. Raisi, a prominent figure in the political elite, ...
The end of universal flu shot funding for under-12s is a step backwards for New Zealand child health, say experts from the University of Auckland and the University of Otago. New Zealand’s decision to no longer offer free influenza vaccines for all children under 12 will likely wipe out recent ...
The PSA is taking action to force the Ministry of Education to comply with its legal obligations to do everything it can to find other roles for staff it is laying off because of the Government’s spending cuts. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrea Waling, Senior Lecturer & Research Fellow, Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University Netflix There has been much excitement in the lead up to the first four episodes of Bridgerton’s season three, featuring leading couple Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa De Bortoli, Senior Research Fellow, Australian Council for Educational Research Taylor Flowe/Unsplash, CC BY Australian teenagers have more disruptive maths classrooms and experience bullying at greater levels than the OECD average, a new report shows. But in better news, Australian ...
Poet, editor and former bookseller Jane Arthur’s debut children’s novel Brown Bird is the story of a shy, self-conscious 11-year-old – partly based on her childhood self – venturing out of her quiet comfort zone. Children’s books are close to my heart because mostly I believe that adults are rings ...
Peter Jackson is bringing Lord of the Rings back to Wellington, producing two new Gollum films in Wellington. Madeleine Chapman (Gollum) argues with Madeleine Chapman (Smeagol) about it. First of all, I can’t believe we’re even having this conversation. Of course it’s great news!I don’t know, it gives me ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a part-time media librarian and superannuitant explains how he spends and saves. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Male Age: 65 Ethnicity: EuropeanRole: Media librarian ...
The Government’s Environmental Select Committee is refusing to engage meaningfully when it matters the most over new fast tracking environmental legislation, says Ngāti Ruanui. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Marsh, Senior Research Fellow in Public Health, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Christoph Soeder/dpa New Zealand’s decision to no longer offer free influenza vaccines for all children under 12 will likely wipe out recent gains in uptake. And it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexis Anja Kallio, Deputy Director (Research), Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University Many young people in contact with the justice system come from backgrounds of extreme poverty, parental abuse or neglect, parental incarceration and disrupted education. These complex traumas often manifest as addictions ...
The agency was found to be underperforming and ‘not financially viable’, explains Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. A damning report A government-ordered ...
Asia Pacific Report For more than 76 years, Palestinians have resisted occupation, dispossession and ethnic cleansing, culminating in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Yet in the midst of this catastrophic seven months of “hell on earth”, it is a paradox that there exists an extraordinary oasis of peace and nature. ...
You’ll never set foot in one. But its emissions still effect you. Shanti Mathias reports on a campaign to make private jet owners pay for their emissions in some way. The private jet passengers saunter down the red carpet, wearing sunglasses and heels; paparazzi cameras flash. The sky is blue, ...
Quality teachers back on the front line can only be a good thing. One of the difficult things we teach in senior English classes at secondary school is the development of an idea. This involves deepening your argument, without instead “going sideways” and merely adding examples while repeating the same ...
It’s 2011 and I am 43 years old. My partner, Christine, and I got together when I was 36. We had been friends for about 10 years before that. One of the first things I asked Christine was whether she wanted to have kids. I had just come out of ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 21 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Opinion: As an indication of the eye-watering sums involved for the mega-prison plans announced two weeks ago by Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell, consider that $932 million has already been spent on a separate facility due to open at Waikeria next year – that’s about $1.5 million for each of the ...
Opinion: People with certain types of health conditions are more likely than others to have their symptoms dismissed, minimised or disbelieved. These conditions are diagnosed based on the patient self-report of symptoms, where there is no definitive diagnostic test that can prove the existence of disease or demonstrate structural or ...
The intensity of it, ironically, can feel like bullying. Social media activism is reaching something of a peak with the war in Gaza, using the hashtag Blockout2024. It started at this year’s MetGala when influencer and model Haley Kalil was caught on video muttering ‘let them eat cake’ – suddenly ...
New Caledonia’s Tontouta International Airport remains closed, and Air New Zealand’s next scheduled flight is on Saturday — although it is not ruling out adding extra services. Air NZ’s Captain David Morgan said on Monday evening flights would only resume when they were assured of the security of the airport ...
Asia Pacific Report As Israel drives the Palestinians deeper into another Nakba in Gaza with its assault on Rafah, the Palestine Youth Aotearoa (PYA) and solidarity supporters in Aotearoa New Zealand tonight commemorated the original Nakba — “the Catastrophe” — of 1948. The 1948 Nakba . . . more than ...
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This episode of A View from Afar podcast was recorded live from 12:45pm May 20, 2024 (NZST). Political scientist Paul Buchanan and Selwyn Manning examine: The United States and how the world is engaging with it geopolitically.Specifically, Paul and Selwyn analyse what has changed in this regard in ...
Analysis - Power is not being abused, but it is not being well managed either. New Zealand democracy, unique and currently brittle, should be handled with greater care, Alexander Gillespie writes. ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicole George, Associate Professor in Peace and Conflict Studies, The University of Queensland On Sunday afternoon, Australian citizens who have been trapped in New Caledonia were called to a meeting at one of the large hotels in the capital, Noumea. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hannah Soong, Senior Lecturer and Socio-cultural researcher, UniSA Education Futures, University of South Australia International students have come under fire from both sides of federal politics in the past week. The Albanese government introduced legislation to parliament last Thursday to put ...
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With Nouméa reeling as mainly young, politically active Kanak people take to the streets and protest, a spirit that has been dormant since the 1980s has awoken. Tāmaki Makaurau-based Kanak Joseph Xulué provides some context.As reports continue to emphasise the fires burning through the streets of Nouméa (the capital ...
2,000 direct job losses in the public sector, and massive cuts to the subcontractor services in design, construction, policy advice, and beyond.
This is how to collapse the Wellington region economy for over a term.
is that intentional? Or are they just ignorant of what they are doing?
Probably want to concentrate power/influence/money in golden triangle of Auckland Hamilton Tauranga.
Here's Tova O'Brien's piece that gives some more context. Treasury did not prepare advice on the effects of these cuts. Not usual practice they argued but a unionist says it was when he worked for Robertson. Action before advice is not good practice generally. Is Willis acting on unsubstantiated 'reckons'?
Is it intentional or ignorance? I suspect a lot was driven by haste to get the major changes going within 100 days and is more driven by political expediency and reckons than considered advice.
I reckon……
Oops. https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350249131/what-finance-minister-asked-about-public-service-cuts
Oh to be a “consultant “ in Wellington. Given the precedent with Joyce, you’ll be able to charge $1000’s a day. And have at least 3 years work.
"Independent, impartial advisors" would only impede Willux – it's payback time.
And the effects of Willis' (reckon-based) actions don't matter, as long as her poor kids won't ‘suffer’ one more night of DVDs and Tip Top – "the horror, the horror."
Chewie on Big Hairy News made the very pertinent comment that the analogy of citizens as clients is wrong. We are, in fact, shareholders.
weka @ 1.1
Ideological. Small Government Syndrome. Getting the country ready for privatisation.
Greedy, shallow, small minded, stupid, uncaring. No grasp of the consequences, or if they do they don't care.
Precisely my response Anne, ideological.
It's happening. Reti wants corporate health care
Given how quickly the public service had expanded is it all that bad, surely there is some advantage having skilled people come availble to the more productive sectors of the welli gton economy?
https://twitter.com/MaxRashbrooke/status/1777799523022078119?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Isn't the exponential increase in Public Service numbers in part at least caused by the exponential increase in immigration numbers over the past decade?
In other words, it has been gathering momentum under both National and Labour governments, eventually requiring more Public Servants to service them.
I guess in part but seems to be exponentially higher than population growth. Certainly the growth in comms staff who seem to be there to avoid real communication between govt and the public has been massive and I dont think it would do any harm to prune a heap of those out.
Wellington has very few other industries other than public service. Not much policy work in Weta Workshop.
Those fired will be either retiring or moving city. Most are just lost to retirement.
Also this guts the PSA's remaining union membership.
I can believe that. Having been laid off a private sector job at 60 and being regarded by prospective employers as too old, out of date and probably unmotivated – you eke out what you can for a few years in various gigs and then quit everything with great relief as soon as it's (almost) financially viable to do so. A lot of talent gets wasted. So it's annoying when Luxon witters on about wasteful spending, but seems ignorant of the waste of human intelligence that occurs within the supposedly 'efficient' systems he so worships.
I suppose I was lucky – made redundant in the late 40's and got another job within 3 months. Left that job to retrain and to help look after my parents. Got a new set of qualifications and some experience in a related field and then got a permanent position just before my 58th birthday which carried me through to 66 and retirement. Did contract work in the same field part time for a couple of years – more for interest than $$$$$.
Now fully retired and enjoying indolence.
Hey congrats but keep your self-satisfied smugness to yourself while thousands of lives are ruined.
We have to go back as far as the late 1980s when Richard Prebble reduced the size of the NZRail work for from 20,000 in 1984 to under 5,000 by 1991.
That's the scale Wellington is facing.
The poll sugar hit National will get in May's budget will ensure they repeat this killoff in 2925.
And this is the last generation of public servants to have any redundancy clause beyond 4 weeks.
This is just the start.
The effects of a (mother of all / black) budget can linger long, but 2925?!!
Just imagine…
https://www.amazon.com.au/World-2050-Think-About-Future/dp/1526600072
How many have lost jobs in parliamentary services?
Found this
https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/01/24/nicola-willis-to-cut-parliaments-budget-by-3-5-million/
good, simple explanation of the problems with gender self-ID in this snip of a discussion about the Australian case Tickle v Giggle (trans identified male/trans women alleging a women only app discriminated by not allowing him to take part).
Gender identity is unable to be defined in law in any other way than the feelings of the person saying they are trans.
How are women supposed to know that when a man says he is a woman he is a trans woman, and not some creepy dude saying he is a woman?
Roxy Tickle's photo looks male (which is why he was removed from the app), and in subsequent communication (email/phone/text) Sall Grover only had his word that he is a TW.
Tickle has been allowed to change the sex marker on their birth certificate, but again, once you have self- ID law, the only person that can verify their gender identity is the person saying they are a TW. That was the point of self ID law, so that trans people didn't have to go through a medical/legal process to establish that they have a gender identity that means x.
Now apply that to every situation where a man says they are a woman: toilets, changing rooms, women's prisons, rape crisis and refuge shelters, medical exams, personal cares for disabled people and so on (there are additional reasons for not allowing males into women's spaces, TW are male and we exclude males generally fro those spaces for safety, privacy and dignity reasons).
26m 30s in this twitter Space replay
https://twitter.com/KowalskiKit/status/1779811830757740658
Hi Weka. Yesterday on The Platform, Leah Panapa interviewed Sall Grover. It was a long form interview which is now paywalled, but the first 12 minutes is on You Tube Sall Grover Talks Tickle v Giggle Case: What is a Woman? (youtube.com).
AND what will the cost of the redunancies be?
Found this-
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/111463683/nearly-30-back-office-workers-have-quit-parliament-in-three-months
Is Sex Binary? Live debate starting 11am NZT
Funny that Erica has found the need to employ contractors to redeploy curriculum rewrite.
After 3 minutes. Not contractors but "Short Term Sprint Group People."
https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018934767
And funny how Seymour has managed to get more kids back to school with a plan about sicknes V attendance. No surprises there.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/04/17/too-sick-for-school-govts-new-advice-for-assessing-a-sniffle/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
I don't see any reference to medical professional opinion in that article. Can't have 'experts' speaking.
We're being governed buy the rich angry denizens of talk back radio, or so it seems.
But..it's all gone to shit…
/
Some Gen Zers protest, claiming that higher incomes are a mirage since they do not account for the exploding cost of college and housing. After all, global house prices are close to all-time highs, and graduates have more debt than before. In reality, though, Gen Zers are coping because they earn so much. In 2022 Americans under 25 spent 43% of their post-tax income on housing and education, including interest on debt from college—slightly below the average for under-25s from 1989 to 2019. Their home-ownership rates are higher than millennials at the same age. They also save more post-tax income than youngsters did in the 1980s and 1990s. They are, in other words, better off.
https://archive.li/jeRZk#selection-1171.0-1171.684 (the economist)
I call BS.
You’re an ACT voter iirc? Apologies if I got that wrong.
Quick google, and this is mean, not median sorry shows costs have gone up- which is a rentier wealth transfer.
disposable income is lowest for Gen Z since the silent generation in the USA and probably worse in NZ as our housing market is worse.
>50 years tribal Labour so please, wash your mouth out with soap!
Anyhoo, the Economist compares income at the same age, statista compares current disposable income.
I apologise! Though let us not forget that even the wombs of most tribal Labour hath brought forth sons such as Prebble and Douglas. And even Nash, Jones and Hipkins…
My point being the level of income is somewhat irrelevant if such high barriers to entry exist in the property market and if rents and property prices have increased at the levels they have.
Disposable income gives an idea of the net income of a generation- and that quick google suggests (in the US where there is less of a housing crisis) the younger generations getting a raw deal.
Labour people. Can anyone explain how one party can unilaterally break a 3 year contract with no compensation?
From the Spinoff:
There is no redundancy pay; no compensation. I’m a contractor. I was employed on a fixed term contract for three years. It lasted six months.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/18-04-2024/what-its-like-to-be-made-redundant-by-the-ministry-of-education
If the contract or employment agreement doesn't provide for severance payments, then the employer doesn't have to pay anything as long as they terminate the contract/employment in line with its provisions and applicable legislation.
It's common for fixed term employees not to be eligible for severance compensation/payments because usually they are short term.
Ahh its all happy days earning the extra money as a contractor… until the worm turns and you're fucked.
I do wonder if the person in question had proper advice when taking on work as a contractor generally you have a lot less protections no entitlements and far more responsibilites like tax returns ACC and the like. Would need to be earning at least 30% more than an equivlant employee.
I do find it suprising the Ministry under a Lab govt was using contracrors as opposed to fixed term employees for the roles.
And they seem to have confused a fixed term employment contract with a contractor contract.
I was confused about the nature of the contract. I guess we don’t know what the provisions are, but if it specified 3 years then surely unilaterally ending the contract early surely can’t be done. But again we don’t know the conditions.
And if the contractor had 3 years impressed upon them enough to believe that was a meaningful part of their contract, (which does sound suspiciously like an employee relationship in fact) then that is very poor for a hiring practice under a Labour government.
I guess before signing anything check with your union rep.
That pretty tough for you, I can’t imagine how this would feel. As you were on a contract, you will need some legal advice. But there may be a clause that says the contract can be terminated with a notice. This happened to someone I knew whose project was cancelled a couple of years ago. Good luck
Does anyone know why Gerry Brownlee met Gloriz in Auckland this week?
Evidence.
Form.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/gerry-brownlee-interviews-golriz-ghahraman-in-new-podcast/VKRHWVFG6OKGUFSIXYV3CABARI/
Reason, now Speaker and ex MP issues.
Footsie with
An interesting idea.
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/4/16/it-is-time-for-a-democratic-world-order
Can’t see it happening. The USA is still a powerful player. Definitely not as long as NZ1 run our foreign policy.
It is also hypocritical given many of those very same nations he listed (including South Africa) seemingly don't have a problem with Russia carrying out war crimes in Ukraine.
I just had this notification from Google Play:
Doe this mean it's no longer possible to use passwords to confirm at all? you HAVE to use biometrics if your device is capable, facial recognition or fingerprint?
We are getting a terribly long way down the track to total loss of privacy if that's correct.
No they're not taking away the password option (at this point) but they really would like us to go biometric. I had the same reaction to you.
https://9to5google.com/2024/04/15/google-play-biometric-verification/
Yanis Varoufakis is right. Digital Serfdom.
With steps to enable and easy transition to a police state.
https://jacobin.com/2024/02/yanis-varoufakis-techno-feudalism-capitalism-interview
Would be an easier sell for google if they were not simultaneously hosting the Israeli AI military targeting systems. Good on the employees for protesting this as its against google policy to be knowingly hosting such systems.
It's official- NZ is broken, in decline, and we are disillusioned and disenfranchised. Can't imagine why.
https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/04/18/new-zealand-broken-and-in-decline-kiwis-say/
Its all in the questions:
First 3 mins.