Lets face facts shall we, labour voted with national more times than the Māori party. Labour stole more land from Māori than any time since the wars. Labour wimped out on closing the gaps because they have no spine. The Māori party got more major initiatives than the greens have been able to.
That said, at worst the Māori party held national in check. At best they stopped them from going full ideological wing nut.
But more importantly, the Māori party will be back in parliament this time round.
Fair analysis (although I disagree on the comparison with the Greens).
I hope they do get back in this time. They've still got too much right wing positioning for me but I think NZ is still way better off with them in the political scene and Māori should have direct representation.
they have lots of good policy (always have done). I was more thinking of Tamihere being elected co-leader. I don't know if that's reflected in the rest of the party.
I would be careful confusing John's social conservatism with his understanding of economics. John gets the need to lift Māori out of the quagmire created for them by 180 odd years of liberalism.
So his staff should have been safe and tested being in the front line.
They should have tested everyone who worked in the front line.
"How’s that positive for Māori?" Good question, I think he there to out the House Negroes which infest NZ politics. A major positive for Māori. He puts Māori front and centre – another positive. Māui, another positive.
On a personal level I like him, he always been nice to the wife and I – he treats disabled people like human beings. Which is more inclusive than many in the labour and NZ1st caucus, and pretty much the whole of the national caucus. Even a couple of ex-greens were a bit shit in that regard.
No, the point is how someone claiming to be left wing, anti neo lib and equality for all, etc. voted for a national support party.
It's not my idea of being anti by voting pro.
Talk of being a handbrake on national is very much bollocks, when they had the votes of act and Dunne to fall back on, and the poverty stats and housing crisis after their nine years sort of say not really.
Both. As all election results are unknown before the votes are cast and counted, but knowing a vote for the maori party, as it was their intention to carry on supporting national, was a vote to keep the status quo and national in power.
Sure it wouldn't have switched the result if they suddenly refused to work with the then government, but no one knew that on the Saturday of the vote.
Presumably National was planning on making the transport announcement sometime in the actual election campaign in the hope of winning a day of that campaign. The fact they’ve been compelled to do it now in order to try and stop the polling slide just shows what a disaster the last few weeks have been for them.
So National plans a busway from Onehunga to the city centre. We all know what that will end up like, there’s one that Labour built on the North Shore. It’s basically a little motorway. So National needs to front up and say which parts of some of the loveliest old heritage suburbs across the isthmus will be wrecked to build their project?
Rail (single track to Penrose) exists into the CBD. Go on MSM ask them which parts of Epsom they'll carve up…btw bus lanes exist last I looked when in akl.
The stupid is off and running akl has much bigger transport fish to fry.
Haven't had a close look at the Nats plan for the Airport but basically it's rail from Puhinui to airport then later light rail from airport to Onehunga.
You are correct that Onehunga to Penrose is single track so that will have to be two-tracked and a heap of level crossings removed if it is to take airport traffic to the CBD. There are no Remuera houses in the way though which is probably why they have proposed it.
Also can't see how they will get around twin changes, at the airport (rail to light rail) and Onehunga (light rail to rail)???
Wasn't the heavy rail option from Puhinui to Airport abandoned because it became too hard / expensive, which is how the light rail proposal came to be the preferred option?
At least with National supporting the Puhinui line Government can get into it straight away. Same with a lot of National's transport 'policy'
Not sure. There was a link put up yesterday to a 2018 GA article pulling apart the proposals for the Puhinui spur.
I got the impression they didn't really attack the idea itself, rather the details around the Wiri interchange, servicing and the expense of tunnelling under the airport itself. Both seem to be resolvable to me. For instance instead of tunnelling, have a raised railway instead.
"Wasn't the heavy rail option from Puhinui to Airport abandoned because it became too hard / expensive, which is how the light rail proposal came to be the preferred option?"
Christ! if that's the case it just shows the extent to which we've fallen.
But no surprises there really – we can't even restore a rail link to Gisborne, or do the obvious basics, the needs of which will become an inevitability in this future space going forward (such as rail to the Earports in places like Christ's Church, Dunny Din, Tear Ranga, The Tron). Even given things like the original MTL, the Managweka deviation, various power projex.
Christ! we can't even get a bloody Transmission Gully done without a load of ticket clippers, risk analysts, consultants and all their hanger's looking for their cut, and then screaming mummy when things start to show up a few people as being the bullshit artists they are.
By the way ( …. that's BTW these days), but does anyone know where the details of the Dominion Road light rail option are? I'd put money on their being incompatible with various future options – things like an inability to use existing infrastructure because of guage differences – that sort of shit.
I'd put money on their being incompatible with various future options – things like an inability to use existing infrastructure because of guage differences – that sort of shit.
There is an issue because they will be two separate systems but they can be connected to the same stations where you simply change trains. This is quite normal in cities with extensive PT coverage.
I believe that's why it's important to have linear solutions which minimise these transfers.
So let's take for instance a hypothetical light rail 'Central Line' running from the airport to Orewa through the CBD. Those carriages would not be able to travel on the CRL but they can run past the CRL stations and be connected to them.
A major flaw with Collins’ plan, if you can call it that, is rail from Wiri to airport, then light rail from airport to Onehunga, then rail again from Onehunga to the CBD. Madness.
Actually, according to Collins when making the announcement with the other caucus members standing behind her, she said "My plan" etc. Then at the end she addressed the media gathered in front of her with this bit of cringe "Are you stunned". OK I admit that I am biased, but that was a very lame performance and unconvincing.
During that presentation yesterday Iwas intrigued at the clapping from people out of sight. Journalists don't usually clap. So was it all Tova O'Brian, or were there other supporters there?
There was a range of people there, mostly Nat MPs and candidates, but also Auckland business types.
And give the Tova-bashing a rest. It's tedious and wrong. She did her job this morning, getting Collins on the record, with a series of self-incriminating statements.
It's not her job to then wake up Labour's campaign team on a Saturday morning and make them use the material Tova's interview has provided. That's up to Collins' opponents.
Compare the stories on Newshub now with the rebuttals by Labour in the last 48 hours (good luck finding them, Grant did one, that's about it, who's the f***ing Transport Minister?), and then tell me who is doing their job better.
Whose job? Labour Ministers? Labour MPs? Labour Comms? Labour Campaign Team? Obviously, whoever it is, they’re missing in action, like a ‘homeless man’ living it up large in a managed hotel.
What are the jobs of the Fourth Estate and Press Gallery in NZ? Are they doing their job well?
Some are, some aren't. Generalising about "The Media" is stupid.
As for Labour, I expect them to grasp the fact that things have changed. This is not Muller, lost at sea. Collins will lie and lie, because that's what she does.
If lies are not rebutted, they win. Anyone who doesn't get that has not been paying attention to modern politics.
If lies are not rebutted, they win. Anyone who doesn't get that has not been paying attention to modern politics.
When/where are these lies uttered? On Twitter or FB? In the Debating Chamber? When lies don’t get exposed immediately, they’ll get a life of their own very quickly, like a virus; they spread and infect others – some are super spreaders.
Lying is a deliberate strategy to control the narrative; rebut the lie and you buy into the narrative and down the rabbit hole. When you do this in public, people will see you go down that (rabbit) hole and thus the hole is real, not imaginary. Job done, mission accomplished.
Come on, there's an obvious difference between magnifying a lie in the way you describe, and responding to something which is already all over the news headlines. It's not about dead cats on the table or a political version of the Streisand effect. Brian Tamaki rants and lies? Sure, ignore, don't give him oxygen. Leader of the opposition launches flagship policy? Very different.
Today was a good example, Collins lied (if only by omission) in her infrastructure speech – they've done no costings for these tunnels through the mountains. Grant Robertson responded, and wins on the 6 pm news:
As the bible says, there's a time for every purpose under heaven. The time for that strategic political action will be if the polls close sufficiently that Labour is risking a loss by not doing so. If! If Judith is a miracle worker… 😒
You are bringing almost poetic touches to the brouhaha swordfish. We can do with your style and novelty and if it can raise consciousness in the soporific in Nuzilland we will be doing a flamboyant flamenco.
I sincerely hope Claire Czabo and her comrades down at Labour Party HQ in Wellington have a word with the people at The Standard. Just a little pep talk about loose lips not only sinking ships, but also deep-sixing the trust and confidence of potentially vital coalition partners.
Last para.
Not many on the left have done as much over that last decade to deep-six the left’s cause than Chris Trotter.
Collins on TV3 "Nation" gives many hostages to fortune. Everything from cost of her road plans (she admits she doesn't know) to her own polling and caucus leaking – even telling her own MPs to leave.
If only Labour had people writing this stuff down and telling the voters. That's not "attack politics", Jacinda. That's Labour's job. Don't let Collins get away with it.
Judith Collins says … "I trust Winston Peters" (link up later).
National leader contradicts front bench spokesman and former leader live on television.
But nobody will notice, because the well-funded Labour comms team won't put it all over social media or put out press statements, because they're under orders to be nice. FFS.
edit
I was impressed by the strong masculine surety of Bishop discussing the plans for infrastructure spending in NZ which will be the (road) making of us.
And he is explaining to citizens again how government works. I am sure I remember Bill English telling us they have to balance their budgets just like householders do. Now Chris Bishop:
He said the programme of works would be paid for by making a significant change in the way the NZ Transport Agency paid for its projects. Currently it's pay as you go – the NZTA takes money in from fuel tax and road user charges and then pays it out for what it wants to build.
This was not the way most businesses and households operated, Bishop said.
National would encourage NZTA to borrow on its own balance sheet. It has an asset base of $26 billion a year in state highways and revenue of $4b a year in fuel tax. Under National's plan they would borrow and pay back the debt over 20 to 30 years, like a household taking out a mortgage.
"That provides quite a significant chunk for the programme we've announced today."
The land and roads that NZTA oversees creates an 'asset base' on which they can borrow. And if they don't pay back the debt then what will happen – will some overseas entity take ownership of our road surfaces? However there is actual money in fuel taxes, and if government told NZTA to charge road tolls that allow for untolled roads for the many poor people, that would mean that the roads could become user-pays and give a financial push towards using rail.
It sounds like that dumb accounting swindle the government have played on hospitals, making the boards pay a tax or something on the land (and buildings?) that we use for physical buildings to provide the health services from. This of course is to ensure efficiency!
Go home Treasury bods and financiers, back to Mont Pelerin or wherever the mythical temple of pure management economics is situated.
I can see the populist appeal but you don’t run the NZ economy like “most businesses and households” and Government borrowing is not “like a household taking out a mortgage”.
It shows a fundamental misunderstanding but it’s more likely deliberately misleading and spreading disinformation. Either way, it is gobsmacking.
Calling for business people who like to comment here to point out the many flaws (AKA BS) but I expect them to stay cowardly silent.
Observer, I really appreciate your comments. I do think that Labour have to be careful with their strategy. I suggest they get a psychologist (Nigel Latta??) on how to deal with a narcissist. Jacinda in depriving of Judith of attention to date, may be the way to go.
Narcissist hate not getting attention. She's out to provoke Ardern. Really important not to be provoked. I saw Parker on the Duncan Garner show with Bridges yesterday. Bridges all upbeat and chirpy. He even called Parker Davo (shades of David Brent). Parker said Davo, no that doesn't work.
Everything Bridges said he said, No that's not true. Simple. Not a lie or fake news….Parker kept smiling. Re Judith's nomination to the leadership he said, something like No that's not going to work.
Look I don't know what Labours strategy should be……….But I do remember the first budget and Bridges got up in parliament and ranted. At the end of it Ardern got up and said "well that was a lot of shouting"
I definitely do not want Ardern to get into a slanging match. She handled both Bridges and Muller well.
But I do want Labour (not Ardern) to point out simple facts.
Bridges says he did not vote for Collins as leader. Bridges says National can't trust Winston. But Collins says she can. Those are all statements on the record. We don't need leaks to find them.
In the last 48 hours we have the usual culprits screeching "Russia hacking and stealing covid research, Russia hacking and stealing covid research" which is completely shot down by the reality of cooperation between many countries.
Russia on Friday unveiled a deal with AstraZeneca to manufacture a COVID-19 vaccine being developed by the pharmaceuticals giant and Oxford University, a move its wealth fund head said showed Moscow had no need to steal vaccine data.
The multiple talks confirm the bloc’s more assertive stance on procuring potential COVID-19 shots and drugs after early U.S. moves in securing promising treatments and vaccines. “We are in talk with several companies on possible COVID-19 vaccines,” a spokesman for the Commission said on Friday, declining to comment on specific firms as negotiations were confidential. More than 150 possible vaccines are being developed and tested around the world to try to stop the pandemic. Of 23 in human clinical trials, at least three are in final Phase III testing – including candidates from China’s Sinopharm and Sinovac Biotech (SVA.O) and AstraZeneca and Oxford University.
Shooting your self in the foot, Nats & Act, economic disaster our children & grand children will be paying this off forever. Judith we are going to build 31b of new roads and 7b is coming out of the covid recovery fund the the prudent govt have not yet spent
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has boosted the popularity of the Liberals, who would likely form a majority government if an election were held today. The Conservatives have taken the biggest hit in the polls since the October election, while the New Democrats have held steady. The Bloc Québécois and Greens have experienced only a modest dip in support.
The Canadian electoral system has a significant element of PR within it. It is a million times better than the FPP system in the UK.
On the basis of the (supposedly terrible) election results in 2019 Corbyn would be PM as head of an SNP/LibDem/Green/Labour coalition if there was MMP in the UK
You are right Scott-I retract that. Canada has a crap FPP system. For some reason I was confusing Canada with the Spanish electoral system which does have a PR element, though not as pure as NZ or Germany.
But my comment re the UK system and Corbyn, above, remains valid.
A big debate going on here in Oz over suppression versus elimination. Most states and territories have in effect eliminated Covid-19 despite state and federal governments having a suppression strategy. The success in most parts of Oz is now threatened by the accelerating upsurge in Victoria whih has spilled over into NSW (which didn't have any border closures with Victoria until last week.) Victoria, NSW and ScoMo are all dithering over more severe restrictions as the numbers of infections and deaths are rising. The debate between eliminationists (pointing to Taiwan and NZ's success) and the suppressionists (claiming that elimination is impossible and economically damaging) is hotting up and the longer the debate goes on with no resolution it's only likely that more damage will be done.
Incidentally, it seems that Victoria's upsurge (over 400 new cases yesterday) was caused by lax quarantine facilities at one or two particular hotels and the use of poorly paid untrained security workers – unlike more rigorous quarantine measures used in other states. NZ has probably dodged a bullet and I'm sure the NZ government is keeping a very wary eye on theVictorian situation.
Collins has also announced a National government would repeal the Resource Management Act completely, and replace it with two new pieces of law.
Just think about that for a moment.
No plan to manage NZ's resources.
Just allow civil engineering contractors, foresters, and farmers to completely trash the environment in the pursuit of more profit. Believe me – I have worked in the industry alongside someone who worked in the civil engineering industry before the RMA, and some of the stories he has to tell of environmental recklessness carried out prior to the RMA are horrifying.
Indeed I see the effects of open slather on the environment by unthinking engineers, miners, foresters, and farmers every day from my lounge window at low tide. Prior to the 1890's the Firth of Thames was navigable up to the town and there were a number of Jetties and wharfs built out into the Firth from the town to receive freight and passengers off the numerous vessels that sailed to and from Auckland as that was the mode of transportation then. The discharge of silt from the mines, and from the land, as foresters and farmers cut down the hillside and riverside trees, has resulted in extensive mudflats that now prohibit navigation in all states of the tide, except high tide. This is but one example of thoughtless behaviour by industries whose only concern is the pursuit of profit.
The thinking by Collins and her cronies is muddled and fallacious. They simply perceive that the environment is a subset of the economy. Nothing could be more removed from the truth.
"I want to hear how Collins would prevent and manage eliminating Covid-19 were it to transmit into the community."
Same here, but so far no mention of any Covid19 policies or plans re community transmission from Collins, despite how highly contagious the disease is. I believe Amy Adams as former National shadow minister of the CovidV19 portfolio was in the process of putting together a Covid19 policy prior to the leadership change. However on becoming leader, Collins killed it off and as far as I know to date, no National MP has taken over Adams' portfolio. These points say Covid19 does not rate a priority for Collins or National! Not good at all.
I have just started reading the Roman themed novels of Lindsey Davis with a smart spy called Marcus Falco getting about like Superman, or Batman? The types of problems he deals with in the book I've read aren't too far away from our present selection. He gets to win obviously, as their have been a large number in the series. That winning, or surviving, makes for good light reading with a positive outcome, to combat the negatives so constant.
There are many ways of ‘dying’ and only one involves actual medical/biological death. In order to survive, everything is allowed, even self-defence. When people feel their livelihood is under threat, e.g. they might lose their job & status, their house & status, or their business & status, it feels to them as if they’re ‘dying’. They will act accordingly and in line with the threat(s). National is very good at tapping into this raw emotion that includes fear & anger and they don’t shy away from fuelling it.
Anne Salmond is a credible voice from the real world.
Does the Opposition realise that our country is in lethal danger, and that a global pandemic is raging? Do they understand that at present, New Zealanders need calm, intelligent, trustworthy leadership, focused on the future and our collective survival?
Below are the parts of the RMA that Collins hates because they give significant protection to natural resources, especially landscape values.
It would be a disaster if she were to be elected-all of these protections would be thrown on the scrap heap in order to help Collins' money hungry developer mates.
5 Purpose
(1) The purpose of this Act is to promote the sustainable management of natural
and physical resources.
(2) In this Act, sustainable management means managing the use, development,
and protection of natural and physical resources in a way, or at a rate, which
enables people and communities to provide for their social, economic, and cultural
well-being and for their health and safety while—
(a) sustaining the potential of natural and physical resources (excluding
minerals) to meet the reasonably foreseeable needs of future generations;
and
(b) safeguarding the life-supporting capacity of air, water, soil, and ecosystems;
and
(c) avoiding, remedying, or mitigating any adverse effects of activities on
the environment.
6 Matters of national importance
In achieving the purpose of this Act, all persons exercising functions and
powers under it, in relation to managing the use, development, and protection
of natural and physical resources, shall recognise and provide for the following
matters of national importance:
(a) the preservation of the natural character of the coastal environment (including
the coastal marine area), wetlands, and lakes and rivers and their
margins, and the protection of them from inappropriate subdivision, use,
and development:
(b) the protection of outstanding natural features and landscapes from inappropriate
subdivision, use, and development:
(c) the protection of areas of significant indigenous vegetation and significant
habitats of indigenous fauna:
(d) the maintenance and enhancement of public access to and along the
coastal marine area, lakes, and rivers:
(e) the relationship of Maori and their culture and traditions with their ancestral
lands, water, sites, waahi tapu, and other taonga:
(f) the protection of historic heritage from inappropriate subdivision, use,
and development:
(g) the protection of protected customary rights:
(h) the management of significant risks from natural hazards.
7 Other matters
In achieving the purpose of this Act, all persons exercising functions and
powers under it, in relation to managing the use, development, and protection
of natural and physical resources, shall have particular regard to—
(a) kaitiakitanga:
(aa) the ethic of stewardship:
(b) the efficient use and development of natural and physical resources:
(ba) the efficiency of the end use of energy:
(c) the maintenance and enhancement of amenity values:
(d) intrinsic values of ecosystems:
(e) [Repealed]
(f) maintenance and enhancement of the quality of the environment:
(g) any finite characteristics of natural and physical resources:
(h) the protection of the habitat of trout and salmon:
(i) the effects of climate change:
(j) the benefits to be derived from the use and development of renewable
energy.
There's nothing muddled or fallacious about her and her cronies' callous indifference.
Ms Collins said she had no idea environmentalists were concerned about digging up wetland areas.
While it is illegal to export raw native timber, 3 News understands Oravida is planning to set up a processing plant so it can send the Kauri offshore as a finished product.
Ms Collins said the concerns have nothing to do with her.
"Does that have anything to do with me? Am I the minister of wetlands? Go and find someone who actually cares about this, because I don't," she said.
"There's a large number of our birds that depend on wetlands for their survival," said Dr Smith.
"It's not my issue. I don't like wetlands – they're swamps," said Ms Collins.
This is all comes less than a month after the Victoria Forest Park controversy, when Energy Minister Simon Bridges signed off the biggest forest park in the country for oil exploration, despite never having heard of it.
⚠️All COVID hospital data on CDC site is now gone!!! It is now managed by a private contractor who got a $10 million no-bid deal awarded in April. Now it’s all directly controlled by HHS political heads. #COVID19
Oravida ( old Mrs Collins says she knows nothing about it) is going to export miles of native timbers to China.
As well, Simon Bridges is going to dig up the largest Wet Lands in Aoteroa and sell the oil off for himself and his national idiots. the Wet Lands will disappear.
I'm quite fond of Krugman, generally speaking. He's scientist enough to be swayed by evidence. I wonder if our Treasury can claim as much.
Krugman writes that he and other mainstream economists “missed a crucial part of the story” in failing to realize that globalization would lead to “hyperglobalization” and huge economic and social upheaval, particularly of the industrial middle class in America. And many of these working-class communities have been hit hard by Chinese competition, which economists made a “major mistake” in underestimating, Krugman says. It was quite a “whoops” moment, considering all the ruined American communities and displaced millions of workers we’ve seen in the interim.
“A peaceful protester in Portland was shot in the head by one of Donald Trump’s secret police,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) wrote in a Thursday tweet that also called out acting DHS secretary Chad Wolf. “Now Trump and Chad Wolf are weaponizing the DHS as their own occupying army to provoke violence on the streets of my hometown because they think it plays well with right-wing media.”
Civil rights advocates suggested the Trump administration is testing the limits of its executive power.
“I think Portland is a test case,” Zakir Khan, a spokesman for the Oregon chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told The Post. “They want to see what they can get away with before launching into other parts of the country.”
Jann Carson, interim executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, called the recent arrests “flat-out unconstitutional” in a statement shared with The Post.
“Usually when we see people in unmarked cars forcibly grab someone off the street, we call it kidnapping,” Carson said. “Protesters in Portland have been shot in the head, swept away in unmarked cars, and repeatedly tear-gassed by uninvited and unwelcome federal agents. We won’t rest until they are gone.”
I have been worried about something like this happening for over a month now since the beginning of the protests in response to the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. That teams of Federal law enforcement, with the majority coming from the Bureau of Prisons Disturbance Response Units (they’re trained to go in one on top of each other into cells or areas of Federal prisons and use maximum force to achieve compliance) and C&BP’s equivalents of Rapid Response Units would be deployed to all the major urban areas, especially those with majority or plurality minority populations (African American, Latinx, or a combination of the two). Specifically, that they will be used in an increasingly visible manner over the next 100 days or so culminating in widespread visible use of them during early voting periods and on election day in or near voting precincts, as well as near mail in ballot drop boxes at municipal facilities. A program of voter suppression under color of law. While the mayors and governors of these states who are Democrats will push back, and the Democratic governors won’t allow their National Guard to be pulled into these operations, the states that have Republican governors aligned with the President like Florida, Georgia, Texas, Ohio, etc, even if the cities being targeted have Democratic leadership (Miami, Tampa, Orlando, Atlanta, Austin, Houston, Cincinnati, etc), will play ball with the President, the Attorney General, and the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security.
[…]
Now that the Republican National Committee is out from under the Federal court imposed requirement not to use paid election monitors, I have long predicted that they would hire off duty law enforcement to work as election monitors while in uniform. While this is what got them in trouble to begin with in the 1980s and resulted in the Federal court order that was finally lifted last year, the RNC knows it works and paired with an escalating use of Federal law enforcement within urban areas between now and the election in November would go along way to suppressing the vote under the color of law.
Much of Pull No Punches is a litany of bland little certainties. But one of the enduring appeals of Collins as a politician is the way she seems animated by rage and bitterness, and these hostilities are expressed throughout the book towards its dark stain, its bad dream – John Key. Here, then, is the joy and the catharsis she felt as an author: utu, served cold.
Briefly, or intermittently, the book comes to life; but it’s only a half-life. Collins omits to deal in any detail with the hacked emails between her and Slater that Hager published in Dirty Politics. Slater’s name is mentioned only in passing in Pull No Punches. She blathered to Andrea Vance of Stuff this weekend, “I mean, honestly, I got about six pages [in Dirty Politics]. John Key and John Key’s office got chapters.” Actually she got 10 pages, and an entire chapter; her name features in the book’s index as heavily as the other goons and operatives implicated in Dirty Politics – Jason Ede, David Farrar, Jordan Williams, Simon Lusk.
She was thick as thieves with Slater for years. Hager writes, "They were drawn together by …a shared attraction to aggressive and often petty attack politics.” Some of their exchanges are actually kind of funny. Their name for Ardern: “My Little Pony.” I think it’s only fair to appreciate Collins as a humourist.
Earlier Steve had this to say in respect of her literary style, following with a prescient comment on the timing of publication:
She declared war on the comma. “Never did I feel so attached to anything I have written as I do to this book. It has been the most cathartic experience.” And then a terrible threat: “I have enjoyed it so much that I will keep on writing.” It’s really not necessary.
What joy, what catharsis? I don’t know if Pull No Punches is intended as a job application as such – you know, to take over as National leader if the hapless Muller fails in September – but it certainly provides a bland and joyless mission statement. The mission is to present herself as invulnerable and impeccable.
I found his review intriguing, inasmuch as he makes a strong analytic case for how the autobiography reveals her character. More one-dimensional than I expected…
Whilst pulicising her book "Pull No Punches" I heard Judith Collins say she was writing another book but needed a good punchy title. After the election maybe "On The Ropes Again" could be a goer ?
😊 Would imply acceptance of defeat though. She'd be more likely to frame it to herself as a temporary glitch. Surprising that she's writing another so soon eh? I suspect she will struggle to find motivation to finish it…
I'm a bit puzzled by this. Canadian whose original intention was a 6 week stay here then moving on to London. Then applied for a work visa and wondering why a work visa hasn't been issued pronto but as far as I can see there are now flights available to both Canada and London so he can continue his journey. Also seems to want to undermine just about any working conditions available locally.
Why is there no push back in the story? He has choices other than a work visa.
Conflicting opinions confuse readers, fatal mistake if you want to win elections. Follow a consolidated message so close to an election. Standing 2 progressive candidates in Auckland Central is stupid. Split the vote and National win. Happened in 3 or four electorates in 2017. No wonder the left is viewed as incompetent, they can not even consolidate their election strategy. Sigh, you have a duty of care re Kiwi's, dont confuse. But then it is said "you cant fix stupid" how true. Seems progressives in NZ a bit slow to comprehend.
[Please pick one user name and stick to it – weka]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
You're new here, so I'll spell it out for you. The site exists to provide space for robust debate. Authors are free to write what they want (there is no editorial control), and frequently disagree with each other. The value in this is that ideas get hashed out and in a strong debate culture the stupid/unhelpful ones tend to torn apart. The useful/interesting ones also get pulled apart and made better. This is normal political process.
Please read the Policy and About so you understand the purpose of the site.
btw, I tend to take a dim view of people who comment in such a way that makes me think they didn't bother to read the post, especially people who then want to use my post to slag off a political party or the left.
Sure, voters like clarity and consistency, which doesn’t mean simple or easy; they’re clever enough and they don’t like being patronised.
So, “the left” is viewed as “incompetent”, presumably by ‘the right’? What do you consider “the left”? Should they talk & act with one voice and pretend they represent ‘the left voters’, whoever those are?
BTW, thanks for picking a different user name but I reckon this could tricky to get exactly right each time; one minor difference/typo will be picked up by the system and your comment will end up pending in Pre-Moderation until a Moderator releases it. Moderators don’t like extra work, least of all in Pre-Election time.
"You have a duty of care re Kiwi's, don't confuse"…………………..how confusing do you think it has been for Kiwis to see the billboards "strong team" and then see three different leaders in less than three months, one who swanned in telling us he was going to be the next PM and now, it seems not…….Bennett, Adams and Kaye gone within weeks……………Shadow health minister criticising Labour for the privacy breaches, then whoops a daisy, turns out he knew that his own team had done the leaking all along……
Very confusing of Adams to say retiring for family reasons then shes back! Now she's gone!!!!!
Labour/Ardern…….completely clear……….Ardern clear about the arrangements re gifting seats……..
You are new here. Feel free to stick around and note the calibre of the debate. So far your contribution falls well below the standard here. You will be shot down every time you contribute unless you lift your game……….but maybe you can't fix stupid
Commenters and readers here do understand that the latest face of the National Party is not one that will change anything at all with regards the future and direction Jacinda Ardern and her team have set for the country – don't you? The bellowing and posturing from the boiled-down National Party leadership will achieve … nothing at all.
We humans are so easily spooked. If you feel that honesty, sincerity and kindness will prevail, the whipped-up "latest developments" will seem like a light rain on your umbrella.
Judith Collins, weka? Have you so little faith in Jacinda's abilities, her support and the circumstances we find ourselves in to fear the actions of a person like Judith Collins? I see a mangy old tomcat, hissing and spitting with people noticing the rank odour of an animal long past it's prime
Good point, which means that the Left wants to hear and talk about stories from the Left. Where is the overarching story for our future from the progressive Left? Till we have one, we will be tempted, forced almost, to look at S & M show put on for us by the Right. Not only are we a willing audience of (paying) spectators, there’s never a shortage, it seems, of willing volunteers to join in.
we appear to be too busy poking a stick at each other, or ostracising each other, to have a coherent and useful overarching story.
And yep about the audience. The posts about the reactionary stuff will garner more engagement, almost every time.
But that too is a self-defeating narrative and I tend to agree with Robert about confidence and how we choose to position ourselves. Will have to think about this.
" not one that will change anything at all with regards the future and direction Jacinda Ardern and her team have set for the country "
National/Collins certainly won't achieve anything for the country. The question is, can their scorched earth, destructive campaign succeed in its real goal: saving enough Nat MPs to force Ardern to cobble together a government she doesn't really want, instead of a clear win.
We can say "impossible", but then that would be ignoring the lessons of Trump, Brexit, ScoMo, etc.
It won't work here. We can only speculate from this point in time but buying into a nervous, insecure story is a personal choice. Nothing is set in stone, all predictions are ephemeral stories. We seem to enjoy insecurity, but my encouragement is to choose confidence and surety. Whipped-up froth can be blown away by the breath of a person secure in their deep belief; there will always be constant erosion from agencies that thrive on insecurity and you know who clasps those to their bosom.
"No" might reflect the population's position and not surprisingly. It's a big stretch and people aren't inclined to go beyond their cultural boundaries. If you don't act with measured, considered confidence, you are agreeing to swirl and twirl with whatever currents are directed your way. What kind of player do you want to be – one at the beck and call of the "other side" or one that chooses a position, intelligently and clearly, then follows that line?
I agree. It's a time of great potential change and the stories we tell determine which way the change goes. Lots of opportunity here. Collins is going to troll the left with everything she's got, best the left find a better story than that reactionary one. What you call measured, considered confidence I might call grounding and knowing our own truth worth.
Why don't you just go fund the lincoln project then?
They'd happily take your money.
And past what, all having to be limited to arguing in the small small ideological world of liberalism. – Yeah I'd like to be past that too, but you and your ilk keep limiting the debate.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
[I have no patience for this shit. Don’t tell me what to do under my own post, and don’t make out I believe something I don’t. If you’re too stupid or caught up in your bah humbug that you can’t see I’m not supporting liberalism, then stay out of my posts.
You do that sly, manipulative, poking at people shit in a conversation with me one more time and I will ban you, no matter where on site it happens. I opened a door to a conversation with you and you just spit in my face. I’m done.
To make it *really* clear, this is entirely an issue of behaviour not politics. You are quite capable of making political arguments, so make them without flaming and then I will respect you again even if I disagree. – weka].
I think Australia has had 16 deaths since they’d ‘eliminated’ and cases surged. Very sad, but a clear indicator you toy with this Coronavirus at your peril.
Today Labour responds with a minor upgrade of Auckland's northwestern motorway for buses, and a cycleway with little transport network use being built on a swamp that will be underwater in most spring tides – and next to impossible to build.
Labour are already very electorally weak on transport, so Collins knows to go for Twyford very hard.
Methinks Labour better have more fuel in the tank of their transport policy if they think they are going to outflank National on transport.
Yeah or you could just turn on the radio or TV news.
Seriously if it deserved a blog post it would have got one. They were all well established projects, just re-released since the Auckland Council cut them. Both Greens and Labour need a better plan this.
It is good form to include a link so that others can read it too and follow up if they wish. People forget here all the time and we remind them here all the time. Without exceptions 😉
A point you will get to see when someone releases his comments from the filter. Or he could just do what four moderators have asked and change his email address and then you would have seen his comments immediately.
Indeed, and they have just had to raise the NW motorway 5m for that reason. 2m of that was because the road had dropped either side of the Oakley Estuary Bridge.
The new bit on the city side of that bridge is already sinking but that is probably due to Steven Joyce cutting corners.
I imagine the Whau River path would be designed to an accepted profile of what is to come.
I released his two comments about 4 hours after they were submitted because I had been away and nobody else was around, it seems. Ad’s not stupid so I don’t know what his problem is.
On a different note:
Boardwalk Height
Here’s our best attempt to describe the boardwalk height in plain English. We hope this will help with your submission.
The standard height of the boardwalk is 2.9m above mean sea level (i.e. the Auckland Vertical Datum, AVD). The seabed on the western bank of the Whau River is slightly above this mean sea level and therefore the boardwalk deck would actually be about 2.8m above the seabed. This will vary as the seabed level changes along the route of the board walk. The boardwalk deck is approximately 1.38m above water level at mean high tide.
However, NZ doesn’t have cycling in its blood or genes like the Dutch, it is not part of the NZ culture and therefore not of the NZ infrastructure, sadly. Maybe with e-bikes and e-scooters it will change, slowly. In Amsterdam, you can easily beat a car or PT on a bicycle with no gears and leg-power only on a short-distance trip. When traffic is shite, the bicycle wins on medium-distance trips too. And it is free!
it is beautiful but the first thing I see is taking twice as long to get somewhere. Please tell me the curvy path is because of the landscape, access and engineering, not because someone wanted to make a curvy path?
form following function and other form? I don't know the area so don't have a grasp of why they would build it like that. A curve is more interesting, unless you are walking to work and it takes you 20 mins instead of 15. Some people won't mind, others will.
If you want your commenting privilege back, you need to write a nice and compelling apology to Lprent. Let us know if you want/need the link to when/where things went pear-shaped.
Crikey. Times are tough in Australia. Back to where we were weeks ago.
Acting on the advice of Australia’s acting Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly, Morrison has written to the Speaker of the House of Representatives to request that the sitting fortnight commencing August 4 not be held.
Well there are many here discussing JC. (Not the biblical fellow.)
I would like to discuss the difference between the two Leaders.
Jacinda Ardern has proven herself here and overseas as caring and informed, and is much admired.
JC was given a role that involved going overseas, and true to type she used that occasion to promote her husband's business and herself.
For that and other mis-steps she was demoted by John Key. WOW!!
She hopes we will forget that and trust her with our sick Kauri Covid and Recovery.
Sorry Judith, you just haven't got it, and Tova should have said "You are not a 10..
but you don't listen do you? !!’
Today I have a hoarding on our section for Labour Jacinda and Claire in Rotorua. The stop sign has been shifted or we would have had one for Tamati as well. Go Labour!! I am biased.. Go the Greens as well!!
Everyone should have opportunity's to own a whare.
That's correct the system has been screwed in favour of the people who have asset whena at the expense of the people who don't the renters next minute they tell you it's better to rent and quote the trickle down effects year right.
One point I would like to make is there should not be a dividing things like baby boomers millennials race we are all on motherearth together and need to make great choices for our future.
Hipkins is doing the right thing for New Zealanders already living in Australia, but there’s now a growing risk of a fresh surge of net emigration of frustrated young Kiwis across the Tasman. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Employers here in Aotearoa are desperate to keep their best-trained, most-productive ...
This post contains two guest posts from readers, both of which were sent to us after the flooding on Friday 27 January, both of which discuss how we handle our stormwater. This is a guest post from Ed Clayton, who’s written for us before about Auckland’s relationship with freshwater, ...
TLDR: For paying subscribers, here’s the key breaking news, scoops and links I’ve found since 4 am this morning, as of 7 am, including:A 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed more than 2,200 in Turkey near its border with Syria; ReutersMetService has warned a new cyclone is forming north of Aotearoa that ...
The politics of Waitangi and the Treaty evident over the weekend have moved into a new space. The politics of Waitangi and the Treaty evident over the weekend have moved into a new space. There is a new wave of Maori activism, which sees the Treaty as a living ...
Originally published by The Hill After decades of failure to pass major federal climate legislation, Congress finally broke through last year with the Inflation Reduction Act and its close to $400 billion in clean energy investments. Energy modeling experts estimated that these provisions would help the U.S. cut its carbon pollution ...
Apology Accepted? “I dropped the ball on Friday, I was too slow to be seen …The communications weren’t fast enough – including mine. I’m sorry for that.”–Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown.HOW OFTEN do politicians apologise? Sincerely apologise? Not offer voters the weasel words: “If my actions have offended anyone, then I ...
At first blush, Christopher Luxon’s comment at the parliamentary powhiri at Waitangi this year sounded tone deaf. The Leader of the Opposition in talking about the Treaty of Waitangi described New Zealand as “a little experiment”. It seemed to diminish the treaty and the very idea of our nation. Yet ...
THE (new) Prime Minister said nobody understands what co-governance means, later modified to that there were so many varying interpretations that there was no common understanding. BRIAN EASTON writes: Co-governance cannot be derived from the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It does not use the word. It ...
A brief postscript to yesterday’s newsletter…Watching the predawn speeches just now, the reverence of those speaking and the respectful nature of those listening under umbrellas in the dark. I felt a great sadness at the words from Christopher Luxon last evening still in my head. The singing in the dark accompanied ...
by Don Franks While on holiday,I stayed a few days in Scotland with a friend who showed me one of the country’s great working-class achievements. It was a few miles out of central Edinburgh, a huge cantilever bridge across the river Forth. The Forth Bridge was the first major structure ...
Time To Call A Halt: Chris Hipkins knows that iwi leaders possess the means to make life very difficult for his government. Notwithstanding their objections, however, the Prime Minister’s direction of travel – already clearly signalled by his very public demotion of Nanaia Mahuta – must be confirmed by an emphatic and ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 29, 2023 thru Sat, Feb 4, 2023. Story of the Week Social change more important than physical tipping points1.5-degree Goal not plausible Photo: CLICCS / Universität Hamburg Limiting global ...
So Long - And Thanks For All The Fish: In the two-and-a-bit years since Jacinda Ardern’s electoral triumph of 2020, virtually every decision she made had gone politically awry. In the minds of many thousands of voters a chilling metamorphosis had taken place. The Faerie Queen had become the Wicked ...
Look at us here on our beautiful islands in the South Pacific at the start of 2023, we have come so far.Ten days ago we saw a Māori Governor General swearing in our new PM and our first Pasifika Deputy PM, ahead of this year’s parliament where they will be ...
The Herald’s headline writers are at it again! A sensible and balanced piece by Liam Dann on the battle against inflation carries a headline that suggests that NZ is doing worse than the rest of the world. Check it out and see for yourself if I am right. Is this ...
Photo by Anna Demianenko on UnsplashTLDR: Here’s my longer reads and listens for the weekend for sharing with The Kaka’s paying subscribers. I’ve opened this one up for all to give everyone a taste of the sorts of extras you get as a full paying subscriber.Subscribe nowDeeper reads and listens ...
Hello from the middle of a long weekend where I’m letting the last few days unspool, not ready, not yet, to give words to the hardest of what we heard.Instead, today, here are some good words from other people.Mother CourageWhen I wrote last year about Mum and Dad’s move to ...
Workers Now is a new slate of candidates contesting this year’s general election. James Robb and Don Franks are the people behind this initiative and they are hoping to put the spotlight on working people’s interests. Both are seasoned activists who have campaigned for workers’ rights over many decades. Here is ...
Buzz from the Beehive Politicians keen to curry favour with Māori tribal leaders have headed north for Waitangi weekend. More than a few million dollars of public funding are headed north, too. Not all of this money is being trumpeted on the Beehive website, the Government’s official website. ...
Insurers face claims of over $500 million for cars, homes and property damaged in the floods. They are already putting up premiums and pulling insurance from properties deemed at high risk of flooding. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: This week in the podcast of our weekly hoon webinar for paying subscribers, ...
Our Cranky Uncle Game can already be played in eight languages: English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish. About 15 more languages are in the works at various stages of completion or have been offered to be done. To kick off the new year, we checked with how ...
The (new) Prime Minister said nobody understands what co-governance means, later modified to that there were so many varying interpretations that there was no common understanding.Co-governance cannot be derived from the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It does not use the word. It refers to ‘government’ on ...
It’s that time of the week again when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kaka. Jump on this link for our chat about the week’s news with special guests Auckland Central MP Chloe Swarbrick and Auckland City Councillor Julie Fairey, including:Auckland’s catastrophic floods, which ...
In March last year, in a panic over rising petrol prices caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the government made a poor decision, "temporarily" cutting fuel excise tax by 25 cents a litre. Of course, it turned out not to be temporary at all, having been extended in May, July, ...
This month’s open thread for climate related topics. Please be constructive, polite, and succinct. The post Unforced variations: Feb 2023 first appeared on RealClimate. ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two fresh press releases had been posted when we checked the Beehive website at noon, both of them posted yesterday. In one statement, in the runup to Waitangi Day, Maori Crown Relations Minister Kelvin Davis drew attention to happenings on a Northland battle site in 1845. ...
It’s that time of the week again when I’m on the site for an hour for a chat in an Ask Me Anything with paying subscribers to The Kaka. Jump in for a chat on anything, including:Auckland’s catastrophic floods, which are set to cost insurers and the Government well over ...
Australia’s Treasurer Jim Chalmers (left) has published a 6,000 word manifesto called ‘Capitalism after the Crises’ arguing for ‘values-based capitalism’. Yet here in NZ we hear the same stale old rhetoric unchanged from the 1990s and early 2000s. Photo: Getty ImagesTLDR: The rest of the world is talking about inflation ...
A couple of weeks ago, after NCEA results came out, my son’s enrolment at Auckland Uni for this year was confirmed - he is doing a BSc majoring in Statistics. Well that is the plan now, who knows what will take his interest once he starts.I spent a bit of ...
Kia ora. What a week! We hope you’ve all come through last weekend’s extreme weather event relatively dry and safe. Header image: stormwater ponds at Hobsonville Point. Image via Twitter. The week in Greater Auckland There’s been a storm of information and debate since the worst of the flooding ...
Hi,At 4.43pm yesterday it arrived — a cease and desist letter from the guy I mentioned in my last newsletter. I’d written an article about “WEWE”, a global multi-level marketing scam making in-roads into New Zealand. MLMs are terrible for many of the same reasons megachurches are terrible, and I ...
Time To Call A Halt: Chris Hipkins knows that iwi leaders possess the means to make life very difficult for his government. Notwithstanding their objections, however, the Prime Minister’s direction of travel – already clearly signalled by his very public demotion of Nanaia Mahuta – must be confirmed by an emphatic ...
Open access notables Via PNAS, Ceylan, Anderson & Wood present a paper squarely in the center of the Skeptical Science wheelhouse: Sharing of misinformation is habitual, not just lazy or biased. The signficance statement is obvious catnip: Misinformation is a worldwide concern carrying socioeconomic and political consequences. What drives ...
Mark White from the Left free speech organisation Plebity looks at the disturbing trend of ‘book burning’ on US campuses In the abstract, people mostly agree that book banning is a bad thing. The Nazis did us the favor of being very clear about it and literally burning books, but ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has undergone a stern baptisim of fire in his first week in his new job, but it doesn’t get any easier. Next week, he has a vital meeting in Canberra with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, where he has to establish ...
As PM Chris Hipkins says, it’s a “no brainer” to extend the fuel tax cut, half price public subsidy and the cut to the road user levy until mid-year. A no braoner if the prime purpose is to ease the burden on people struggling to cope with the cost of ...
Buzz from the Beehive Cost-of-living pressures loomed large in Beehive announcements over the past 24 hours. The PM was obviously keen to announce further measures to keep those costs in check and demonstrate he means business when he talks of focusing his government on bread-and-butter issues. His statement was headed ...
Poor Mike Hosking. He has revealed himself in his most recent diatribe to be one of those public figures who is defined, not by who he is, but by who he isn’t, or at least not by what he is for, but by what he is against. Jacinda’s departure has ...
New Zealand is the second least corrupt country on earth according to the latest Corruption Perception Index published yesterday by Transparency International. But how much does this reflect reality? The problem with being continually feted for world-leading political integrity – which the Beehive and government departments love to boast about ...
TLDR: Including my pick of the news and other links in my checks around the news sites since 4am. Paying subscribers can see them all below the fold.In Aotearoa’s political economyBrown vs Fish Read more ...
TLDR: Including my pick of the news and other links in my checks around the news sites since 4am. Paying subscribers can see them all below the fold.In Aotearoa’s political economyBrown vs Fish Read more ...
In other countries, the target-rich cohorts of swinging voters are given labels such as ‘Mondeo Man’, ‘White Van Man,’ ‘Soccer Moms’ and ‘Little Aussie Battlers.’ Here, the easiest shorthand is ‘Ford Ranger Man’ – as seen here parked outside a Herne Bay restaurant, inbetween two SUVs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / ...
In other countries, the target-rich cohorts of swinging voters are given labels such as ‘Mondeo Man’, ‘White Van Man,’ ‘Soccer Moms’ and ‘Little Aussie Battlers.’ Here, the easiest shorthand is ‘Ford Ranger Man’ – as seen here parked outside a Herne Bay restaurant, inbetween two SUVs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / ...
Transport Minister and now also Minister for Auckland, Michael Wood has confirmed that the light rail project is part of the government’s policy refocus. Wood said the light rail project was under review as part of a ministerial refocus on key Government projects. “We are undertaking a stocktake about how ...
Sometime before the new Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced that this year would be about “bread and butter issues”, National’s finance spokesperson Nicola Willis decided to move from Wellington Central and stand for Ohariu, which spreads across north Wellington from the central city to Johnsonville and Tawa. It’s an ...
They say a week is a long time in politics. For Mayor Wayne Brown, turns out 24 hours was long enough for many of us to see, quite obviously, “something isn’t right here…”. That in fact, a lot was going wrong. Very wrong indeed.Mainly because it turns ...
One of the most effective, and successful, graphics developed by Skeptical Science is the escalator. The escalator shows how global surface temperature anomalies vary with time, and illustrates how "contrarians" tend to cherry-pick short time intervals so as to argue that there has been no recent warming, while "realists" recognise ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Here’s a quick roundup of the news today for paying subscribers on a slightly frantic, very wet, and then very warm day. In Aotearoa’s political economy today Read more ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Here’s a quick roundup of the news today for paying subscribers on a slightly frantic, very wet, and then very warm day. In Aotearoa’s political economy today Read more ...
Tomorrow we have a funeral, and thank you all of you for your very kind words and thoughts — flowers, even.Our friend Michèle messaged: we never get to feel one thing at a time, us grownups, and oh boy is that ever the truth. Tomorrow we have the funeral, and ...
Lynn and I have just returned from a news conference where Hipkins, fresh from visiting a relief centre in Mangere, was repeatedly challenged to justify the extension of subsidies to create more climate emissions when the effects of climate change had just proved so disastrous. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The ...
Lynn and I have just returned from a news conference where Hipkins, fresh from visiting a relief centre in Mangere, was repeatedly challenged to justify the extension of subsidies to create more climate emissions when the effects of climate change had just proved so disastrous. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The ...
A new Prime Minister, a revitalised Cabinet, and possibly revised priorities – but is the political and, importantly, economic landscape much different? Certainly some within the news media were excited by the changes which Chris Hipkins announced yesterday or – before the announcement – by the prospect of changes in ...
Currently the government's strategy for reducing transport emissions hinges on boosting vehicle fuel-efficiency, via the clean car standard and clean car discount, and some improvements to public transport. The former has been hugely successful, and has clearly set us on the right path, but its also not enough, and will ...
Buzz from the Beehive Before he announced his Cabinet yesterday, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced he would be flying to Australia next week to meet that country’s Prime Minister. And before Kieran McAnulty had time to say “Three Waters” after his promotion to the Local Government portfolio, he was dishing ...
The quarterly labour market statistics were released this morning, showing that unemployment has risen slightly to 3.4%. There are now 99,000 people unemployed - 24,000 fewer than when Labour took office. So, I guess the Reserve Bank's plan to throw people out of work to stop wage rises "inflation", and ...
Another night of heavy rain, flooding, damage to homes, and people worried about where the hell all this water is going to go as we enter day twenty two of rain this year.Honestly if the government can’t sell Three Waters on the back of what has happened with storm water ...
* Dr Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Chris Hipkins continues to be the new broom in Government, re-setting his Government away from its problem areas in his Cabinet reshuffle yesterday, and trying to convince voters that Labour is focused on “bread and butter” issues. The ministers responsible for unpopular ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins continues to be the new broom in Government, re-setting his Government away from its problem areas in his Cabinet reshuffle yesterday, and trying to convince voters that Labour is focused on “bread and butter” issues. The ministers responsible for unpopular reforms in water and DHB centralisation ...
Hi,It’s weird to me that in 2023 we still have people falling for multi-level marketing schemes (MLMs for short). There are Netflix documentaries about them, countless articles, and last year we did an Armchaired and Dangerous episode on them.Then you check a ticketing website like EventBrite and see this shit ...
Nanaia Mahuta fell the furthest in the Cabinet reshuffle. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: PM Chris Hipkins unveiled a Cabinet this afternoon he hopes will show wavering voters that a refreshed Labour Government is focused on ‘bread and butter cost of living’ issues, rather than the unpopular, unwieldy and massively centralising ...
Nanaia Mahuta fell the furthest in the Cabinet reshuffle. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: PM Chris Hipkins unveiled a Cabinet this afternoon he hopes will show wavering voters that a refreshed Labour Government is focused on ‘bread and butter cost of living’ issues, rather than the unpopular, unwieldy and massively centralising ...
Shortly, the absolute state of Wayne Brown. But before that, something I wrote four years ago for the council’s own media machine. It was a day-in-the-life profile of their many and varied and quite possibly unnoticed vital services. We went all over Auckland in 48 hours for the story, the ...
Completed reads for January Lilith, by George MacDonald The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (poem), by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Christabel (poem), by Samuel Taylor Coleridge The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok, by Anonymous The Lay of Kraka (poem), by Anonymous 1066 and All That, by W.C. Sellar and R.J. ...
Pity the poor Brits. They just can’t catch a break. After years of reporting of lying Boris Johnson, a change to a less colourful PM in Rishi Sunak has resulted in a smooth media pivot to an end-of-empire narrative. The New York Times, no less, amplifies suggestions that Blighty ...
On that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth.Genesis 6:11-12THE TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS that dumped a record-breaking amount of rain on Auckland this anniversary weekend will reoccur with ever-increasing frequency. The planet’s atmosphere is ...
Buzz from the Beehive There has been plenty to keep the relevant Ministers busy in flood-stricken Auckland over the past day or two. But New Zealand, last time we looked, extends north of Auckland into Northland and south of the Bombay Hills all the way to the bottom of the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters When early settlers came to the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers before the California Gold Rush, Indigenous people warned them that the Sacramento Valley could become an inland sea when great winter rains came. The storytellers described water filling the ...
Wayne Brown managed a smile when meeting with Remuera residents, but he was grumpy about having to deal with “media drongos”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: In my pick of the news links found in my rounds since 4am for paying subscribers below the paywall:Wayne Brown moans about the media and ...
Wayne Brown managed a smile when meeting with Remuera residents, but he was grumpy about having to deal with “media drongos”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: In my pick of the news links found in my rounds since 4am for paying subscribers below the paywall:Wayne Brown moans about the media and ...
Dr Bryce Edwards writes – Last night’s opinion polls answered the big question of whether a switch of prime minister would really be a gamechanger for election year. The 1News and Newshub polls released at 6pm gave the same response: the shift from Jacinda Ardern to Chris Hipkins ...
Kia ora e te whānau. Today, we mark the anniversary of the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi - and our commitment to working in partnership with Māori to deliver better outcomes and tackle the big issues, together. ...
We’ve just announced a massive infrastructure investment to kick-start new housing developments across New Zealand. Through our Infrastructure Acceleration Fund, we’re making sure that critical infrastructure - like pipes, roads and wastewater connections - is in place, so thousands more homes can be built. ...
The Green Party is joining more than 20 community organisations to call for an immediate rent freeze in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, after reports of landlords intending to hike rents after flooding. ...
When Chris Hipkins took on the job of Prime Minister, he said bread and butter issues like the cost of living would be the Government’s top priority – and this week, we’ve set out extra support for families and businesses. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to provide direct support to low-income households and to stop subsidising fossil fuels during a climate crisis. ...
The tools exist to help families with surging costs – and as costs continue to rise it is more urgent than ever that we use them, the Green Party says. ...
The Government is investing in a suite of initiatives to unlock Māori and Pacific resources, talent and knowledge across the science and research sector, Research, Science and Innovation Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Two new funds – He tipu ka hua and He aka ka toro – set to ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta departs for India tomorrow as she continues to reconnect Aotearoa New Zealand to the world. The visit will begin in New Delhi where the Foreign Minister will meet with the Vice President Hon Jagdeep Dhankar and her Indian Government counterparts, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and ...
Over $10 million infrastructure funding to unlock housing in Whangārei The purchase of a 3.279 hectare site in Kerikeri to enable 56 new homes Northland becomes eligible for $100 million scheme for affordable rentals Multiple Northland communities will benefit from multiple Government housing investments, delivering thousands of new homes for ...
The Government is supporting one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most significant historic sites, the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, as it continues to recover from the impacts of COVID-19. “The Waitangi Treaty Grounds are a taonga that we should protect and look after. This additional support will mean people can continue to ...
A memorial event at a key battle site in the New Zealand land wars is an important event to mark the progress in relations between Māori and the Crown as we head towards Waitangi Day, Minister for Te Arawhiti Kelvin Davis said. The Battle of Ohaeawai in June 1845 saw ...
More Police officers are being deployed to the frontline with the graduation of 54 new constables from the Royal New Zealand Police College today. The graduation ceremony for Recruit Wing 362 at Te Rauparaha Arena in Porirua was the first official event for Stuart Nash since his reappointment as Police ...
The Government is unlocking an additional $700,000 in support for regions that have been badly hit by the recent flooding and storm damage in the upper North Island. “We’re supporting the response and recovery of Auckland, Waikato, Coromandel, Northland, and Bay of Plenty regions, through activating Enhanced Taskforce Green to ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has welcomed the announcement that Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, will visit New Zealand this month. “Princess Anne is travelling to Aotearoa at the request of the NZ Army’s Royal New Zealand Corps of Signals, of which she is Colonel in Chief, to ...
A new Government and industry strategy launched today has its sights on growing the value of New Zealand’s horticultural production to $12 billion by 2035, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said. “Our food and fibre exports are vital to New Zealand’s economic security. We’re focussed on long-term strategies that build on ...
25 cents per litre petrol excise duty cut extended to 30 June 2023 – reducing an average 60 litre tank of petrol by $17.25 Road User Charge discount will be re-introduced and continue through until 30 June Half price public transport fares extended to the end of June 2023 saving ...
The strong economy has attracted more people into the workforce, with a record number of New Zealanders in paid work and wages rising to help with cost of living pressures. “The Government’s economic plan is delivering on more better-paid jobs, growing wages and creating more opportunities for more New Zealanders,” ...
The Government is providing a further $1 million to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced today. “Cabinet today agreed that, given the severity of the event, a further $1 million contribution be made. Cabinet wishes to be proactive ...
The new Cabinet will be focused on core bread and butter issues like the cost of living, education, health, housing and keeping communities and businesses safe, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has announced. “We need a greater focus on what’s in front of New Zealanders right now. The new Cabinet line ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins will travel to Canberra next week for an in person meeting with Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. “The trans-Tasman relationship is New Zealand’s closest and most important, and it was crucial to me that my first overseas trip as Prime Minister was to Australia,” Chris Hipkins ...
The Government is providing establishment funding of $100,000 to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced. “We moved quickly to make available this funding to support Aucklanders while the full extent of the damage is being assessed,” Kieran McAnulty ...
As the Mayor of Auckland has announced a state of emergency, the Government, through NEMA, is able to step up support for those affected by flooding in Auckland. “I’d urge people to follow the advice of authorities and check Auckland Emergency Management for the latest information. As always, the Government ...
Ka papā te whatitiri, Hikohiko ana te uira, wāhi rua mai ana rā runga mai o Huruiki maunga Kua hinga te māreikura o te Nota, a Titewhai Harawira Nā reira, e te kahurangi, takoto, e moe Ka mōwai koa a Whakapara, kua uhia te Tai Tokerau e te kapua pōuri ...
Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Social Development and Employment, has activated Enhanced Taskforce Green (ETFG) in response to flooding and damaged caused by Cyclone Hale in the Tairāwhiti region. Up to $500,000 will be made available to employ job seekers to support the clean-up. We are still investigating whether other parts ...
The 2023 General Election will be held on Saturday 14 October 2023, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “Announcing the election date early in the year provides New Zealanders with certainty and has become the practice of this Government and the previous one, and I believe is best practice,” Jacinda ...
Jacinda Ardern has announced she will step down as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party. Her resignation will take effect on the appointment of a new Prime Minister. A caucus vote to elect a new Party Leader will occur in 3 days’ time on Sunday the 22nd of ...
MediaRoom column: On the eve of a Cabinet decision on the fate of the proposed public broadcasting merger, questions emerge over the engagement by the TVNZ chief executive of two former National government aides to change the narrative and push TVNZ's view on the Government's plan Within weeks of taking over ...
Olivia Sisson performs a good old-fashioned cost comparison – and it might change the way you buy your veges.The price of food in New Zealand is shocking. So, how to cope? The recommendations are starting to feel like the avo-toast-flat-white trope. Cut those items out and there it is, ...
An early morning fire at an egg-laying farm in Orini, Waikato yesterday has claimed the lives of at least 50,000 hens. The farm is operated by New Zealand’s largest egg producer Zeagold, the country’s biggest egg producer, whose eggs are sold under ...
The Natural and Built Environment Bill and Spatial Planning Bill will make resource management issues worse and should be withdrawn, Federated Farmers has told the Environment Select Committee. "Farmers agree the costly, slow and unpredictable processes ...
New police minister Stuart Nash has met with new health minister Ayesha Verrall to talk about the issue with the aim of preventing ram raids. Nash wants to speed up the scheduled reduction of dairies that can sell cigarettes. Nash made the comments at a police graduation ceremony in Porirua last ...
It’s Tuesday, February 7 and welcome to a special edition of The Spinoff’s live updates. Stewart Sowman-Lund will be on the ground in Canberra today as PM Chris Hipkins meets with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese. What you need to know Chris Hipkins will meet Australian PM ...
Politicking by politicians was less overt but whether there was less politics probably depends on your definition of the word and what lay beneath the optics, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
Why is it becoming harder to achieve debt-free status? Money Sweetspot is a new company that uses compassion and incentives to help people pay off their debts. Co-founder Sasha Lockley talks to Simon about using gamification to increase financial literacy, breaking the cycle of poverty, and how she intends to ...
Prime minister Chris Hipkins is heading to Australia today for his first face-to-face meeting with an international leader. He’ll be meeting with Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese during his single-day visit to Canberra. The Spinoff live updates will be on the ground in Australia as the meeting takes place and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By C Raina MacIntyre, Professor of Global Biosecurity, NHMRC Principal Research Fellow, Head, Biosecurity Program, Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney Pexels/Uriel Mont The question of whether and to what extent face masks work to prevent respiratory infections such as COVID and influenza ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Mackinnon, Professor and Director, Centre for Clean Energy Technologies and Practices, Queensland University of Technology Superconducting cables transmit electicity without lossesShutterstock For most of us, transmitting power is an invisible part of modern life. You flick the switch and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Munro, Professor, Faculty of Education and Arts, Australian Catholic University Shutterstock Many students are returning to school this year face a renewed focus on grammar. Just before Christmas, the NSW curriculum was overhauled to include the “explicit teaching of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Debra Dudek, Associate professor, School of Arts and Humanities, Edith Cowan University Universal Life is full of surprises – some pleasant and some painful – but there can be no surprises without expectations. We expect the sun to come up ...
News stories have honed in on the fact Wayne Brown and his staff were left off a ‘vital’ email distribution list on the night of the Auckland floods. But internal emails from the mayor’s chief of staff show he was getting regular briefings from officials.Internal council emails obtained by ...
In a reality shaped by climate crisis, how do you think and feel about the changed present – and the changing future – without spiralling into despair?In the midst of a flood there’s not much time to think about the future. But when the water recedes, the reality of ...
06 Feb The news today of the death of 75,000 chickens at an egg farm in Waikato is yet another outrageous and avoidable tragedy. “The fact that so many hens died in this fire in the Waikato is a testament to the systemic neglect and disregard ...
Lawmakers are being urged to bridge the legal and scientific divide over braided rivers. David Williams reports What is a river? More particularly, what is a braided river? An expert group known as The Land The Law Forgot is urging politicians considering the Natural and Built Environment Bill – one ...
As Auckland copes with unprecedented flooding, Mairi Jay points to lessons from extreme weather events in British Columbia that could be vitally important for policy-makers and administrators here “Expect extreme weather events” the climate scientists tell us. But sometimes the extreme is beyond our imagining. On Thursday January 26, New Zealand’s Met Service predicted ...
UK and US deals for NZ novels Three of the best New Zealand novels of recent years are about to be published in the UK and the US. All three books – She's a Killer by Kirsten McDougall, Greta and Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly, and The New Animals ...
Confidence from US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell kept markets buoyant. But mortgage payments and job losses could dampen consumer spending in NZ ...
Someone left the Swift out in the rain - insurance agents are overloaded with calls about flood-damaged vehicles It’s been a big week for testing the submarining abilities of the family station wagon. Thousands of cars around the upper North Island have been written off following the devastating floods of ...
The first of the air force's new Poseidon aircraft has landed in New Zealand. But is this the sort of workhorse the military needs? Our old heroes of the Air Force, the P-3 Orions, have retired after 56 years of service - and the first of the flash new Poseidon ...
Chris Hipkins’ first overseas trip as Prime Minister comes on relatively friendly territory. But while there have been marked improvements in the trans-Tasman relationship since a change in Canberra, there is still plenty to discuss, as Sam Sachdeva writes In many ways, it is fitting Chris Hipkins should make Australia the ...
Fiordland National Park is the crowning jewel of our national parks and arguably our greatest tourist magnet. But conservationists warn that marine life has been put at risk because the park’s waters are unprotected. Heidi Bendikson’s investigation shows they are right. Tourists on the 'M.V Sinbad' clamber to the bow to ...
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RNZ News New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has described today’s Waitangi Day dawn service as moving and says he welcomes the shift away from a focus on politics. Hundreds of people gathered before dawn to commemorate 183 years since Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed. Hipkins said the national ...
By Hilaire Bule, RNZ Pacific Vanuatu correspondent in Port Vila Vanuatu’s prime minister has stressed any future employment within the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Secretariat must be from MSG member countries. Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau, who is also chair of the MSG Secretariat, made the statement following the recruitment of ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Yamin Kogoya On Friday 10 February 2023, it will be one month since the Papua Governor Lukas Enembe was “kidnapped” at a local restaurant during his lunch hour by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and security forces. The crisis began in September 2022, when Governor Enembe was ...
By Kālino Lātū, editor of Kaniva News Dr Sitiveni Halapua, former deputy leader of Tonga’s Democratic Movement, has died aged 74. Born on February 13, 1949, he was a respected academic, a pioneer of Tonga’s democratic reforms and pioneer of a conflict resolution system based on traditional practices. Halapua earned ...
COMMENTARY:By Richard Naidu in Suva Five weeks on from Christmas Eve, I think most of us are still a bit stunned at what has happened in Fiji. A new government came to power in dramatic circumstances. It took not one but two Sodelpa management board meetings to change it, ...
By Red Tsounga Another house done, and onto the next . . . Volunteers working in Mount Roskill community over the past few days helping those suffering from Auckland’s flash flood devastation have done us proud. Tremendous work by everybody. Here are some random photos of our volunteer teams on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Mick Tsikas/AAP Senator Lidia Thorpe announced on Monday that she would be leaving the Greens. Thorpe had split with the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dennis B. Desmond, Lecturer, Cyberintelligence and Cybercrime Investigations, University of the Sunshine Coast The news of a so-called “Chinese spy balloon” being shot down over the US has reignited interest in how nation-states spy on one another. It’s not confirmed that the ...
Today, at a Waitangi ki Waititi concert hosted by Te Whānau o Waipareira at Hoani Waititi Marae, West Auckland; Takutai Moana Natasha Kemp was officially announced as Te Pāti Māori Candidate for Tāmaki Makaurau for the 2023 Election. Hailing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Daniel Pockett/AAP Victorian Indigenous Senator Lidia Thorpe has defected from the Greens to sit on the crossbench, declaring she wants to fully represent the “Blak Sovereign Movement” in parliament. The announcement by ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Daniel Pockett/AAP Victorian Indigenous Senator Lidia Thorpe has defected from the Greens to sit on the crossbench, declaring she wants to fully represent the “Blak Sovereign Movement” in parliament. The announcement by ...
Sure, Scotty Morrison’s Māori At Work is a wonderful resource for Aotearoa’s collective te reo Māori journey. But is it judgemental enough for the modern office environment?First published September 12 2019 The growing strength of te reo is palpable across Aotearoa, with record numbers of people participating in Mahuru ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Mills, Professor and Dean La Trobe Rural Health School, La Trobe University Shutterstock It can be tough to access front-line health care outside the cities and suburbs. For the seven million Australians living in rural communities there are significant ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Donald Rothwell, Professor of International Law, Australian National University Chad Fish/AP Was the balloon that suddenly appeared over the US last week undertaking surveillance? Or was it engaging in research, as China has claimed? While the answers to these ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Walker-Munro, Senior Research Fellow, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The generative AI industry will be worth about A$22 trillion by 2030, according to the CSIRO. These systems – of which ChatGPT is currently the best known – can write ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Doug Drury, Professor/Head of Aviation, CQUniversity Australia Shutterstock When booking a flight, do you ever think about which seat will protect you the most in an emergency? Probably not. Most people book seats for comfort, such as leg room, ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has described this morning's Waitangi dawn service as moving and says he welcomes the shift away from a focus on politics. ...
Screenwriter Dana Leaming’s debut comedy series Not Even is out now on Prime and Neon. This is the out the gate story of how it got there.Kia ora, Hi, What up? Up to? U up? …I’m Dana. I wrote and co-directed (with Ainsley Gardiner) the TV show Not Even ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Mick Tsikas/AAP A federal Newspoll, conducted February 1-4 from a sample of 1,512, gave Labor a 55-45 lead, unchanged on ...
The Human Rights Commission, Te Kāhui Tika Tangata, last week released two reports on racism and the impact of colonialism in Aotearoa. Among their many insights was the necessity of a wider understanding of how racism manifests itself. I was honoured to accept an invitation by Te Kāhui Tika Tangata ...
Vincent O’Malley reviews a history of the battle of Gate Pā.First published February 5, 2019 Head up Cameron Road, one of Tauranga’s main arterial routes, a few kilometres out of the city centre and you drive over one of New Zealand’s most important historical sites. The road, named after ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Murray Goot, Emeritus Professor of Politics and International Relations, Macquarie University Support for embedding an Indigenous Voice to parliament in the Constitution has fallen. The polls provide good evidence once you work out how to find it. However, the voters who have ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Doug Drury, Professor/Head of Aviation, CQUniversity Australia Shutterstock When booking a flight, do you ever think about which seat will protect you the most in an emergency? Probably not. Most people book seats for comfort, such as leg room, or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Libby Rumpff, Senior Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne David Crosling/AAP The Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20 were cataclysmic: a landmark in Australia’s environmental history. They burnt more than 10 million hectares, mostly forests in southeast Australia. Many of our most ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christine Grové, Fulbright Scholar and Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Monash University Anete Lusina/Pexels School attendance levels in Australia are a massive issue according to Education Minister Jason Clare. As he told reporters last week, he hopes to talk to state colleagues ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marion Terrill, Transport and Cities Program Director, Grattan Institute Revising the generous fuel tax credits given to businesses should be a priority for the Albanese government, because keeping them would conflict with two other pressing priorities: reducing carbon emissions and repairing the ...
For nine years he steered the ship he built, but last week Duncan Greive announced his surprise resignation as CEO of The Spinoff. He joins guest host, Jane Yee, to discuss how doing things differently took The Spinoff from an irreverent TV blog to a respected online magazine, and why ...
Three decades ago one of the giants of New Zealand thinking and writing, Ranginui Walker, published Ka Whawhai Tonu Mātou, Struggle Without End. The book, originally released in 1990 and revised in 2004, is a history of Aotearoa from a Māori perspective. It had a profound influence and today remains ...
Unfortunately the great flood of January 27 was not a one-off but a precursor to more emergencies likely to strike the city because of environmental effects of climate change. While the Auckland floods are proving devastating, costly and far-reaching, they have also had the strange effect of revealing Tamaki Makaurau's original landscape. ...
Health inequities between Pākehā and Māori are often framed as complex and difficult to change. But making access to GPs and dentists free will not only save money for whānau using these services, it will also save money for the health system and ensure Māori rights to good governance and equity ...
One of New Zealand's most promising fast bowlers, Molly Penfold, was surprised to get the call-up for the T20 World Cup, but she has a great support team around her, Merryn Anderson reports. She's only played one T20 for the White Ferns, and she's yet to take a wicket, but Molly ...
Labour and National’s leaders came to Waitangi agreed on which areas need more investment in election year. But as political editor Jo Moir writes, the country is going to see a big debate on how Māori should benefit from it Prime Minister Chris Hipkins used his speech at Sunday’s pōwhiri ...
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It is hard to separate the politics from Waitangi, but the day party leaders were welcomed on to Te Whare Rūnanga was largely free of inflammatory rhetoric and political point scoring. ...
Rheive Grey pays tribute to one political party’s unapologetic commitment to markers of Māori identity, from hei tiki to waiata to tikitiki. I’m proud to be Māori. If you’re like me, it’s hard to read that sentence without singing it in your head. That’s either the power of good campaigning, ...
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By David Robie When Papuan journalist Victor Mambor visited New Zealand almost nine years ago, he impressed student journalists from the Pacific Media Centre and community activists with his refreshing candour and courage. As the founder of the Jubi news media group, he remained defiant that he would tell the ...
Be nice of people to win votes rather than do the usual and expect them to be delivered votes.
I think the labour party are little better than national, so there is no way in hell I'd vote for them.
Why is there a collection of people who think people should vote for them? And go on to try and shame anyone who dares question them?
Arrogance? Purity? Smug middle class condescension? Or did the Russians do it?
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
And yet you voted for national's support partner the maori party.
And I will again
lol
At least this time they've said they won't work with national, unlike the last time, when you voted to keep them in power.
Lets face facts shall we, labour voted with national more times than the Māori party. Labour stole more land from Māori than any time since the wars. Labour wimped out on closing the gaps because they have no spine. The Māori party got more major initiatives than the greens have been able to.
That said, at worst the Māori party held national in check. At best they stopped them from going full ideological wing nut.
But more importantly, the Māori party will be back in parliament this time round.
Genuine Q: which electorate(s) are they most likely to win?
Fair analysis (although I disagree on the comparison with the Greens).
I hope they do get back in this time. They've still got too much right wing positioning for me but I think NZ is still way better off with them in the political scene and Māori should have direct representation.
I would have thought this was the most left wing policy announced by any party so far
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2020/06/21/whanau-first-maori-party/
they have lots of good policy (always have done). I was more thinking of Tamihere being elected co-leader. I don't know if that's reflected in the rest of the party.
I would be careful confusing John's social conservatism with his understanding of economics. John gets the need to lift Māori out of the quagmire created for them by 180 odd years of liberalism.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/liberalism
"John gets the need to lift Māori out of the quagmire created for them by 180 odd years of liberalism"
are his approaches to that left or neoliberal? Kaupapa Māori?
Have you never got past his bombastic rhetorical style?
Have you missed what being happen at waipareira trust?
This might help
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2020/06/21/maori-party-announce-whanau-first-policy-on-covid-19-economic-recovery/
JT doesn’t unite, he polarises and divides, which is one reason why he is good as a shock jock. How’s that positive for Māori?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/413791/maori-doctor-accuses-john-tamihere-of-telling-staff-to-lie-for-covid-19-test
Good on him!
So his staff should have been safe and tested being in the front line.
They should have tested everyone who worked in the front line.
"How’s that positive for Māori?" Good question, I think he there to out the House Negroes which infest NZ politics. A major positive for Māori. He puts Māori front and centre – another positive. Māui, another positive.
On a personal level I like him, he always been nice to the wife and I – he treats disabled people like human beings. Which is more inclusive than many in the labour and NZ1st caucus, and pretty much the whole of the national caucus. Even a couple of ex-greens were a bit shit in that regard.
are you saying that if the Mp hadn't done a deal with National that Labour would have formed government?
No, the point is how someone claiming to be left wing, anti neo lib and equality for all, etc. voted for a national support party.
It's not my idea of being anti by voting pro.
Talk of being a handbrake on national is very much bollocks, when they had the votes of act and Dunne to fall back on, and the poverty stats and housing crisis after their nine years sort of say not really.
so when you said,
"At least this time they've said they won't work with national, unlike the last time, when you voted to keep them in power."
who is 'them', National or Mp?
Both. As all election results are unknown before the votes are cast and counted, but knowing a vote for the maori party, as it was their intention to carry on supporting national, was a vote to keep the status quo and national in power.
Sure it wouldn't have switched the result if they suddenly refused to work with the then government, but no one knew that on the Saturday of the vote.
With reference to the Natz more roads, saw this interesting video on twitter – not sure if I know how to transfer it over – but here goes:
https://twitter.com/urbanthoughts11/status/1191295205187686400
Should be compulsory viewing for all RW road lovers.
Edit – it works – isn’t technology wonderful!
Nice one Tony
Presumably National was planning on making the transport announcement sometime in the actual election campaign in the hope of winning a day of that campaign. The fact they’ve been compelled to do it now in order to try and stop the polling slide just shows what a disaster the last few weeks have been for them.
I get the feeling it is going to be forgotten pretty quickly.
So National plans a busway from Onehunga to the city centre. We all know what that will end up like, there’s one that Labour built on the North Shore. It’s basically a little motorway. So National needs to front up and say which parts of some of the loveliest old heritage suburbs across the isthmus will be wrecked to build their project?
A Bus Rapid Transit between Onehunga and the CBD is not in Greater Auckland's CFN2.
New Zealand, eh? Everyone rowing in different directions.
Rail (single track to Penrose) exists into the CBD. Go on MSM ask them which parts of Epsom they'll carve up…btw bus lanes exist last I looked when in akl.
The stupid is off and running akl has much bigger transport fish to fry.
Haven't had a close look at the Nats plan for the Airport but basically it's rail from Puhinui to airport then later light rail from airport to Onehunga.
You are correct that Onehunga to Penrose is single track so that will have to be two-tracked and a heap of level crossings removed if it is to take airport traffic to the CBD. There are no Remuera houses in the way though which is probably why they have proposed it.
Also can't see how they will get around twin changes, at the airport (rail to light rail) and Onehunga (light rail to rail)???
Wasn't the heavy rail option from Puhinui to Airport abandoned because it became too hard / expensive, which is how the light rail proposal came to be the preferred option?
At least with National supporting the Puhinui line Government can get into it straight away. Same with a lot of National's transport 'policy'
Not sure. There was a link put up yesterday to a 2018 GA article pulling apart the proposals for the Puhinui spur.
I got the impression they didn't really attack the idea itself, rather the details around the Wiri interchange, servicing and the expense of tunnelling under the airport itself. Both seem to be resolvable to me. For instance instead of tunnelling, have a raised railway instead.
"Wasn't the heavy rail option from Puhinui to Airport abandoned because it became too hard / expensive, which is how the light rail proposal came to be the preferred option?"
Christ! if that's the case it just shows the extent to which we've fallen.
But no surprises there really – we can't even restore a rail link to Gisborne, or do the obvious basics, the needs of which will become an inevitability in this future space going forward (such as rail to the Earports in places like Christ's Church, Dunny Din, Tear Ranga, The Tron). Even given things like the original MTL, the Managweka deviation, various power projex.
Christ! we can't even get a bloody Transmission Gully done without a load of ticket clippers, risk analysts, consultants and all their hanger's looking for their cut, and then screaming mummy when things start to show up a few people as being the bullshit artists they are.
By the way ( …. that's BTW these days), but does anyone know where the details of the Dominion Road light rail option are? I'd put money on their being incompatible with various future options – things like an inability to use existing infrastructure because of guage differences – that sort of shit.
There is an issue because they will be two separate systems but they can be connected to the same stations where you simply change trains. This is quite normal in cities with extensive PT coverage.
I believe that's why it's important to have linear solutions which minimise these transfers.
So let's take for instance a hypothetical light rail 'Central Line' running from the airport to Orewa through the CBD. Those carriages would not be able to travel on the CRL but they can run past the CRL stations and be connected to them.
A major flaw with Collins’ plan, if you can call it that, is rail from Wiri to airport, then light rail from airport to Onehunga, then rail again from Onehunga to the CBD. Madness.
Don't panic, anyone – in Northland we're still waiting for 9 of our 10 bridges!
You have to admit though, they did build one, the Taipa Bridge, oh, wait a minute, that was completed only 7 months ago.
Actually, according to Collins when making the announcement with the other caucus members standing behind her, she said "My plan" etc. Then at the end she addressed the media gathered in front of her with this bit of cringe "Are you stunned". OK I admit that I am biased, but that was a very lame performance and unconvincing.
A couple of clips I've seen if her ,shes looked daft . Trying hard to be something she isnt.
During that presentation yesterday Iwas intrigued at the clapping from people out of sight. Journalists don't usually clap. So was it all Tova O'Brian, or were there other supporters there?
The sound of one hand clapping.
Just saw a photo on Audrey's column and those in the audience seem to be media. Clapping from the media???
Maybe they were promised a nice cuppa with a biscuit afterwards 😉
A "cuppa and biscuit" puts me in mind of taxes and getting blood from stones…
“I know, but you can't always get 'em”
I watched the Q & A with media live. Collins left very early and journalists complained about that – live.
Then Bishop stepped in and took the questions, at greater length.
Again, the reporters did their job. They usually do, but they are not the editors and publishers.
There was a range of people there, mostly Nat MPs and candidates, but also Auckland business types.
And give the Tova-bashing a rest. It's tedious and wrong. She did her job this morning, getting Collins on the record, with a series of self-incriminating statements.
It's not her job to then wake up Labour's campaign team on a Saturday morning and make them use the material Tova's interview has provided. That's up to Collins' opponents.
Compare the stories on Newshub now with the rebuttals by Labour in the last 48 hours (good luck finding them, Grant did one, that's about it, who's the f***ing Transport Minister?), and then tell me who is doing their job better.
Whose job? Labour Ministers? Labour MPs? Labour Comms? Labour Campaign Team? Obviously, whoever it is, they’re missing in action, like a ‘homeless man’ living it up large in a managed hotel.
What are the jobs of the Fourth Estate and Press Gallery in NZ? Are they doing their job well?
Some are, some aren't. Generalising about "The Media" is stupid.
As for Labour, I expect them to grasp the fact that things have changed. This is not Muller, lost at sea. Collins will lie and lie, because that's what she does.
If lies are not rebutted, they win. Anyone who doesn't get that has not been paying attention to modern politics.
If lies are rebutted they win. Anyone who doesn't get that has not been paying attention to modern politics.
If that was true, Steven Joyce would now be Finance Minister.
The $11 billion hole was the Big Lie of the 2017 campaign. And you think Labour were wrong to rebut. OK …
When/where are these lies uttered? On Twitter or FB? In the Debating Chamber? When lies don’t get exposed immediately, they’ll get a life of their own very quickly, like a virus; they spread and infect others – some are super spreaders.
Lying is a deliberate strategy to control the narrative; rebut the lie and you buy into the narrative and down the rabbit hole. When you do this in public, people will see you go down that (rabbit) hole and thus the hole is real, not imaginary. Job done, mission accomplished.
Come on, there's an obvious difference between magnifying a lie in the way you describe, and responding to something which is already all over the news headlines. It's not about dead cats on the table or a political version of the Streisand effect. Brian Tamaki rants and lies? Sure, ignore, don't give him oxygen. Leader of the opposition launches flagship policy? Very different.
Today was a good example, Collins lied (if only by omission) in her infrastructure speech – they've done no costings for these tunnels through the mountains. Grant Robertson responded, and wins on the 6 pm news:
Was he right to hit back, or should he have said nothing? Watch and decide for yourselves.
observer I must admit that watching Tova conduct her interviews this morning she did her job pretty well.
Tova is pretty even handed, her bombastic trying to catch them out style she uses on Lab & Nat, I give her credit for that.
Good comments, Observer. And today we have this desperate nonsense https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/07/willie-jackson-goes-for-judith-collins-jugular-over-racially-divisive-remarks.html. Thigs have changed all right.
Quick scan on Twitter and the RWs are convinced Tova O'Brien is working for Labour, she really gets under people's skin.
old predictable Judith
Judith has been in Parliament 18 controversial years and achieved nothing.
Those that know of her have mostly hung up their caucus boots and departed. Because they do not want to play a useless, empty attack game.
The remarkably young, and world renowned Jacinda Ardern is the person Judith Collins has stupidly declared she intends to Crush.
Judith is not bright. Not at all. She is an old quirky aggressive. Cuddling up with a Tazzer Weapon.
Collins is like a retread tyre.
Chris Trotter (with rose stem between clenched teeth) passionately dances the foxtrot with a demure TRP to the music of MMP:
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2020/07/17/auckland-central-the-importance-of-acting-strategically/
As the bible says, there's a time for every purpose under heaven. The time for that strategic political action will be if the polls close sufficiently that Labour is risking a loss by not doing so. If! If Judith is a miracle worker… 😒
You are bringing almost poetic touches to the brouhaha swordfish. We can do with your style and novelty and if it can raise consciousness in the soporific in Nuzilland we will be doing a flamboyant flamenco.
Last para.
Not many on the left have done as much over that last decade to deep-six the left’s cause than Chris Trotter.
Even worse, he does it for the cash.
Collins on TV3 "Nation" gives many hostages to fortune. Everything from cost of her road plans (she admits she doesn't know) to her own polling and caucus leaking – even telling her own MPs to leave.
If only Labour had people writing this stuff down and telling the voters. That's not "attack politics", Jacinda. That's Labour's job. Don't let Collins get away with it.
For example: Simon Bridges said …
"I can't trust Winston Peters"
Judith Collins says … "I trust Winston Peters" (link up later).
National leader contradicts front bench spokesman and former leader live on television.
But nobody will notice, because the well-funded Labour comms team won't put it all over social media or put out press statements, because they're under orders to be nice. FFS.
And again: "I have not sacked Michael Woodhouse" (verbatim quote)
Headlines, 2 days ago: "Collins sacks Michael Woodhouse".
My meme about National has become, they are too unstable to govern now
See the Peter's interview on the Nation, Peter's is in the know about National disgruntled MPs.
I think more National MPs will resign and another cabinet reshuffle, the weekend will be good for reflection. I cannot see another leadership coup.
I think if any more National MPs resign that will be the final nail in the coffin for them
On Newshub Nation, I just saw this by-line:
She’s received a lot of positive (good) press in the last few days and now some less fawning pieces emerge. The pattern in MSM is so predictable.
edit
I was impressed by the strong masculine surety of Bishop discussing the plans for infrastructure spending in NZ which will be the (road) making of us.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/421465/national-s-31b-transport-plan-pricey-but-worth-it-bishop
And he is explaining to citizens again how government works. I am sure I remember Bill English telling us they have to balance their budgets just like householders do. Now Chris Bishop:
He said the programme of works would be paid for by making a significant change in the way the NZ Transport Agency paid for its projects. Currently it's pay as you go – the NZTA takes money in from fuel tax and road user charges and then pays it out for what it wants to build.
This was not the way most businesses and households operated, Bishop said.
National would encourage NZTA to borrow on its own balance sheet. It has an asset base of $26 billion a year in state highways and revenue of $4b a year in fuel tax. Under National's plan they would borrow and pay back the debt over 20 to 30 years, like a household taking out a mortgage.
"That provides quite a significant chunk for the programme we've announced today."
The land and roads that NZTA oversees creates an 'asset base' on which they can borrow. And if they don't pay back the debt then what will happen – will some overseas entity take ownership of our road surfaces? However there is actual money in fuel taxes, and if government told NZTA to charge road tolls that allow for untolled roads for the many poor people, that would mean that the roads could become user-pays and give a financial push towards using rail.
It sounds like that dumb accounting swindle the government have played on hospitals, making the boards pay a tax or something on the land (and buildings?) that we use for physical buildings to provide the health services from. This of course is to ensure efficiency!
Go home Treasury bods and financiers, back to Mont Pelerin or wherever the mythical temple of pure management economics is situated.
I can see the populist appeal but you don’t run the NZ economy like “most businesses and households” and Government borrowing is not “like a household taking out a mortgage”.
It shows a fundamental misunderstanding but it’s more likely deliberately misleading and spreading disinformation. Either way, it is gobsmacking.
Calling for business people who like to comment here to point out the many flaws (AKA BS) but I expect them to stay cowardly silent.
Observer, I really appreciate your comments. I do think that Labour have to be careful with their strategy. I suggest they get a psychologist (Nigel Latta??) on how to deal with a narcissist. Jacinda in depriving of Judith of attention to date, may be the way to go.
Narcissist hate not getting attention. She's out to provoke Ardern. Really important not to be provoked. I saw Parker on the Duncan Garner show with Bridges yesterday. Bridges all upbeat and chirpy. He even called Parker Davo (shades of David Brent). Parker said Davo, no that doesn't work.
Everything Bridges said he said, No that's not true. Simple. Not a lie or fake news….Parker kept smiling. Re Judith's nomination to the leadership he said, something like No that's not going to work.
Look I don't know what Labours strategy should be……….But I do remember the first budget and Bridges got up in parliament and ranted. At the end of it Ardern got up and said "well that was a lot of shouting"
I definitely do not want Ardern to get into a slanging match. She handled both Bridges and Muller well.
But I do want Labour (not Ardern) to point out simple facts.
Bridges says he did not vote for Collins as leader. Bridges says National can't trust Winston. But Collins says she can. Those are all statements on the record. We don't need leaks to find them.
Parker was brilliant, and Garner too, the Nats aren't used to being held to account for the things they say.
In the last 48 hours we have the usual culprits screeching "Russia hacking and stealing covid research, Russia hacking and stealing covid research" which is completely shot down by the reality of cooperation between many countries.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-cyber-russia-exclu-idUSKCN24I15L
Shooting your self in the foot, Nats & Act, economic disaster our children & grand children will be paying this off forever. Judith we are going to build 31b of new roads and 7b is coming out of the covid recovery fund the the prudent govt have not yet spent
Trudeau's pandemic leadership has bounced the Libs up to 40%: https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/elections/poll-tracker/canada/
Sad how 40% is enough for a comfortable majority in Canada. No wonder Trudeau walked back his promise of proportional representation
The Canadian electoral system has a significant element of PR within it. It is a million times better than the FPP system in the UK.
On the basis of the (supposedly terrible) election results in 2019 Corbyn would be PM as head of an SNP/LibDem/Green/Labour coalition if there was MMP in the UK
Care to share which elements of the Canadian electoral system are proportional? As far as I can tell it’s a straight up FPP Westminster system.
You are right Scott-I retract that. Canada has a crap FPP system. For some reason I was confusing Canada with the Spanish electoral system which does have a PR element, though not as pure as NZ or Germany.
But my comment re the UK system and Corbyn, above, remains valid.
A big debate going on here in Oz over suppression versus elimination. Most states and territories have in effect eliminated Covid-19 despite state and federal governments having a suppression strategy. The success in most parts of Oz is now threatened by the accelerating upsurge in Victoria whih has spilled over into NSW (which didn't have any border closures with Victoria until last week.) Victoria, NSW and ScoMo are all dithering over more severe restrictions as the numbers of infections and deaths are rising. The debate between eliminationists (pointing to Taiwan and NZ's success) and the suppressionists (claiming that elimination is impossible and economically damaging) is hotting up and the longer the debate goes on with no resolution it's only likely that more damage will be done.
Incidentally, it seems that Victoria's upsurge (over 400 new cases yesterday) was caused by lax quarantine facilities at one or two particular hotels and the use of poorly paid untrained security workers – unlike more rigorous quarantine measures used in other states. NZ has probably dodged a bullet and I'm sure the NZ government is keeping a very wary eye on theVictorian situation.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/the-fight-of-our-lives-doctors-call-for-virus-elimination-strategy-as-stage-four-restrictions-loom-20200717-p55d5g.html#comments
Nats to repeal the RMA.
Just think about that for a moment.
No plan to manage NZ's resources.
Just allow civil engineering contractors, foresters, and farmers to completely trash the environment in the pursuit of more profit. Believe me – I have worked in the industry alongside someone who worked in the civil engineering industry before the RMA, and some of the stories he has to tell of environmental recklessness carried out prior to the RMA are horrifying.
Indeed I see the effects of open slather on the environment by unthinking engineers, miners, foresters, and farmers every day from my lounge window at low tide. Prior to the 1890's the Firth of Thames was navigable up to the town and there were a number of Jetties and wharfs built out into the Firth from the town to receive freight and passengers off the numerous vessels that sailed to and from Auckland as that was the mode of transportation then. The discharge of silt from the mines, and from the land, as foresters and farmers cut down the hillside and riverside trees, has resulted in extensive mudflats that now prohibit navigation in all states of the tide, except high tide. This is but one example of thoughtless behaviour by industries whose only concern is the pursuit of profit.
The thinking by Collins and her cronies is muddled and fallacious. They simply perceive that the environment is a subset of the economy. Nothing could be more removed from the truth.
Anne Salmond calls it “a Roman circus”.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/anne-salmond-a-roman-circus
First job for any political party is to crush Covid-19 before it crushes you.
Collins wants to crush the government which has a differcult ongoing task to prevent the virus from returning into the community.
I want to hear how Collins would prevent and manage eliminating Covid-19 were it to transmit into the community.
Come 19 September who has better control and management policy over Covid-19 is the winner.
Treetop @ (13.1.1)
"I want to hear how Collins would prevent and manage eliminating Covid-19 were it to transmit into the community."
Same here, but so far no mention of any Covid19 policies or plans re community transmission from Collins, despite how highly contagious the disease is. I believe Amy Adams as former National shadow minister of the CovidV19 portfolio was in the process of putting together a Covid19 policy prior to the leadership change. However on becoming leader, Collins killed it off and as far as I know to date, no National MP has taken over Adams' portfolio. These points say Covid19 does not rate a priority for Collins or National! Not good at all.
Gerry B. is in charge of National’s charge on COVID-19 Border Response. Enough said.
Even if I had a cat I would not ask him to look after it in my absence.
I have just started reading the Roman themed novels of Lindsey Davis with a smart spy called Marcus Falco getting about like Superman, or Batman? The types of problems he deals with in the book I've read aren't too far away from our present selection. He gets to win obviously, as their have been a large number in the series. That winning, or surviving, makes for good light reading with a positive outcome, to combat the negatives so constant.
Collins is also thin on Covid-19 response money.
Survivors are winners. It is the what needs to happen to survive that is the issue for me.
And
To remember that better days are ahead and today I am surviving.
There are many ways of ‘dying’ and only one involves actual medical/biological death. In order to survive, everything is allowed, even self-defence. When people feel their livelihood is under threat, e.g. they might lose their job & status, their house & status, or their business & status, it feels to them as if they’re ‘dying’. They will act accordingly and in line with the threat(s). National is very good at tapping into this raw emotion that includes fear & anger and they don’t shy away from fuelling it.
I get it that a full life is so much better than just existing.
I will settle for surviving for the time being and have control over what I can control.
Anne Salmond is a credible voice from the real world.
Covid-19 needs to be taken seriously, otherwise it will be so serious for the country.
Brownlee was criticising Adern for her planning, the regional lockdowns, as scaremongering.
Does he say that too about earthquake drills and strengthening of buildings against earthquakes? Just asking, for a friend.
It's either here orr the Checkpoint later in the day, unless it was in the Bridges Garner thing. https://www.google.co.nz/amp/s/www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/07/duncan-garner-gerry-brownlee-butt-heads-over-national-s-policy-announcements.amp.html
Think of the economic growth when the next lot of leaky building need to be fixed. (Sarc)
I wasn't aware they'd finished repairing the last lot
The never ending story.
Below are the parts of the RMA that Collins hates because they give significant protection to natural resources, especially landscape values.
It would be a disaster if she were to be elected-all of these protections would be thrown on the scrap heap in order to help Collins' money hungry developer mates.
5 Purpose
(1) The purpose of this Act is to promote the sustainable management of natural
and physical resources.
(2) In this Act, sustainable management means managing the use, development,
and protection of natural and physical resources in a way, or at a rate, which
enables people and communities to provide for their social, economic, and cultural
well-being and for their health and safety while—
(a) sustaining the potential of natural and physical resources (excluding
minerals) to meet the reasonably foreseeable needs of future generations;
and
(b) safeguarding the life-supporting capacity of air, water, soil, and ecosystems;
and
(c) avoiding, remedying, or mitigating any adverse effects of activities on
the environment.
6 Matters of national importance
In achieving the purpose of this Act, all persons exercising functions and
powers under it, in relation to managing the use, development, and protection
of natural and physical resources, shall recognise and provide for the following
matters of national importance:
(a) the preservation of the natural character of the coastal environment (including
the coastal marine area), wetlands, and lakes and rivers and their
margins, and the protection of them from inappropriate subdivision, use,
and development:
(b) the protection of outstanding natural features and landscapes from inappropriate
subdivision, use, and development:
(c) the protection of areas of significant indigenous vegetation and significant
habitats of indigenous fauna:
(d) the maintenance and enhancement of public access to and along the
coastal marine area, lakes, and rivers:
(e) the relationship of Maori and their culture and traditions with their ancestral
lands, water, sites, waahi tapu, and other taonga:
(f) the protection of historic heritage from inappropriate subdivision, use,
and development:
(g) the protection of protected customary rights:
(h) the management of significant risks from natural hazards.
7 Other matters
In achieving the purpose of this Act, all persons exercising functions and
powers under it, in relation to managing the use, development, and protection
of natural and physical resources, shall have particular regard to—
(a) kaitiakitanga:
(aa) the ethic of stewardship:
(b) the efficient use and development of natural and physical resources:
(ba) the efficiency of the end use of energy:
(c) the maintenance and enhancement of amenity values:
(d) intrinsic values of ecosystems:
(e) [Repealed]
(f) maintenance and enhancement of the quality of the environment:
(g) any finite characteristics of natural and physical resources:
(h) the protection of the habitat of trout and salmon:
(i) the effects of climate change:
(j) the benefits to be derived from the use and development of renewable
energy.
Link: http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1991/0069/latest/DLM230265.html
There's nothing muddled or fallacious about her and her cronies' callous indifference.
Ms Collins said she had no idea environmentalists were concerned about digging up wetland areas.
While it is illegal to export raw native timber, 3 News understands Oravida is planning to set up a processing plant so it can send the Kauri offshore as a finished product.
Ms Collins said the concerns have nothing to do with her.
"Does that have anything to do with me? Am I the minister of wetlands? Go and find someone who actually cares about this, because I don't," she said.
"There's a large number of our birds that depend on wetlands for their survival," said Dr Smith.
"It's not my issue. I don't like wetlands – they're swamps," said Ms Collins.
This is all comes less than a month after the Victoria Forest Park controversy, when Energy Minister Simon Bridges signed off the biggest forest park in the country for oil exploration, despite never having heard of it.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/environmentsci/collins-wetlands-comments-outrage-environmentalists-2014050617
Collins is NZ's Ch
Trump.The Nats have been environmental vandals since Simon Upton left politics.
At least we know why she wants to ‘drain the swamp’.
Winston Peters has a good memory and hasn’t forgotten that that company that used to call itself Oravida Kauri Ltd dug up the fuel pipeline to Auckland Airport: https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/document/HansS_20190925_054675000/peters-winston
I don't know why, but one of many "c" words come to mind.
And was never held to account for that, despite the impact of rescheduling international flights for 3 days.
That was in 2014 Joe. Would be interesting for her to be asked now about her attitude.
The coverup has begun…
No testing = No covid, magic!!!
& Palantr got the contract!
To: Beared Git
Thank you for your Article.
Oravida ( old Mrs Collins says she knows nothing about it) is going to export miles of native timbers to China.
As well, Simon Bridges is going to dig up the largest Wet Lands in Aoteroa and sell the oil off for himself and his national idiots. the Wet Lands will disappear.
For such is the criminality of National Idiots.
I'm quite fond of Krugman, generally speaking. He's scientist enough to be swayed by evidence. I wonder if our Treasury can claim as much.
Krugman writes that he and other mainstream economists “missed a crucial part of the story” in failing to realize that globalization would lead to “hyperglobalization” and huge economic and social upheaval, particularly of the industrial middle class in America. And many of these working-class communities have been hit hard by Chinese competition, which economists made a “major mistake” in underestimating, Krugman says. It was quite a “whoops” moment, considering all the ruined American communities and displaced millions of workers we’ve seen in the interim.
Looks like 'Murica's dirty war has kicked off.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1284173475771412480.html
“A peaceful protester in Portland was shot in the head by one of Donald Trump’s secret police,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) wrote in a Thursday tweet that also called out acting DHS secretary Chad Wolf. “Now Trump and Chad Wolf are weaponizing the DHS as their own occupying army to provoke violence on the streets of my hometown because they think it plays well with right-wing media.”
Civil rights advocates suggested the Trump administration is testing the limits of its executive power.
“I think Portland is a test case,” Zakir Khan, a spokesman for the Oregon chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told The Post. “They want to see what they can get away with before launching into other parts of the country.”
Jann Carson, interim executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, called the recent arrests “flat-out unconstitutional” in a statement shared with The Post.
“Usually when we see people in unmarked cars forcibly grab someone off the street, we call it kidnapping,” Carson said. “Protesters in Portland have been shot in the head, swept away in unmarked cars, and repeatedly tear-gassed by uninvited and unwelcome federal agents. We won’t rest until they are gone.”
http://archive.vn/79fPg (wapo)
Going full Pinochet.
I have been worried about something like this happening for over a month now since the beginning of the protests in response to the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. That teams of Federal law enforcement, with the majority coming from the Bureau of Prisons Disturbance Response Units (they’re trained to go in one on top of each other into cells or areas of Federal prisons and use maximum force to achieve compliance) and C&BP’s equivalents of Rapid Response Units would be deployed to all the major urban areas, especially those with majority or plurality minority populations (African American, Latinx, or a combination of the two). Specifically, that they will be used in an increasingly visible manner over the next 100 days or so culminating in widespread visible use of them during early voting periods and on election day in or near voting precincts, as well as near mail in ballot drop boxes at municipal facilities. A program of voter suppression under color of law. While the mayors and governors of these states who are Democrats will push back, and the Democratic governors won’t allow their National Guard to be pulled into these operations, the states that have Republican governors aligned with the President like Florida, Georgia, Texas, Ohio, etc, even if the cities being targeted have Democratic leadership (Miami, Tampa, Orlando, Atlanta, Austin, Houston, Cincinnati, etc), will play ball with the President, the Attorney General, and the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security.
[…]
Now that the Republican National Committee is out from under the Federal court imposed requirement not to use paid election monitors, I have long predicted that they would hire off duty law enforcement to work as election monitors while in uniform. While this is what got them in trouble to begin with in the 1980s and resulted in the Federal court order that was finally lifted last year, the RNC knows it works and paired with an escalating use of Federal law enforcement within urban areas between now and the election in November would go along way to suppressing the vote under the color of law.
https://www.balloon-juice.com/2020/07/17/the-federal-police-operations-will-not-stay-in-portland/
Steve Braunias reviewed JC's autobiography: https://www.newsroom.co.nz/readingroom/judith-joylessly
Earlier Steve had this to say in respect of her literary style, following with a prescient comment on the timing of publication:
I found his review intriguing, inasmuch as he makes a strong analytic case for how the autobiography reveals her character. More one-dimensional than I expected…
Whilst pulicising her book "Pull No Punches" I heard Judith Collins say she was writing another book but needed a good punchy title. After the election maybe "On The Ropes Again" could be a goer ?
😊 Would imply acceptance of defeat though. She'd be more likely to frame it to herself as a temporary glitch. Surprising that she's writing another so soon eh? I suspect she will struggle to find motivation to finish it…
She crushes those commas!
I'm a bit puzzled by this. Canadian whose original intention was a 6 week stay here then moving on to London. Then applied for a work visa and wondering why a work visa hasn't been issued pronto but as far as I can see there are now flights available to both Canada and London so he can continue his journey. Also seems to want to undermine just about any working conditions available locally.
Why is there no push back in the story? He has choices other than a work visa.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/122149438/jobseeking-canadian-stranded-by-covid19-struggles-to-get-visa-clarity
Conflicting opinions confuse readers, fatal mistake if you want to win elections. Follow a consolidated message so close to an election. Standing 2 progressive candidates in Auckland Central is stupid. Split the vote and National win. Happened in 3 or four electorates in 2017. No wonder the left is viewed as incompetent, they can not even consolidate their election strategy. Sigh, you have a duty of care re Kiwi's, dont confuse. But then it is said "you cant fix stupid" how true. Seems progressives in NZ a bit slow to comprehend.
[Please pick one user name and stick to it – weka]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
mod note for you above.
"Conflicting opinions confuse readers"
You're new here, so I'll spell it out for you. The site exists to provide space for robust debate. Authors are free to write what they want (there is no editorial control), and frequently disagree with each other. The value in this is that ideas get hashed out and in a strong debate culture the stupid/unhelpful ones tend to torn apart. The useful/interesting ones also get pulled apart and made better. This is normal political process.
Please read the Policy and About so you understand the purpose of the site.
btw, I tend to take a dim view of people who comment in such a way that makes me think they didn't bother to read the post, especially people who then want to use my post to slag off a political party or the left.
Sure, voters like clarity and consistency, which doesn’t mean simple or easy; they’re clever enough and they don’t like being patronised.
So, “the left” is viewed as “incompetent”, presumably by ‘the right’? What do you consider “the left”? Should they talk & act with one voice and pretend they represent ‘the left voters’, whoever those are?
BTW, thanks for picking a different user name but I reckon this could tricky to get exactly right each time; one minor difference/typo will be picked up by the system and your comment will end up pending in Pre-Moderation until a Moderator releases it. Moderators don’t like extra work, least of all in Pre-Election time.
"Split the vote and National win. Happened in 3 or four electorates in 2017."
Sure. That's why National are in government now. They won some electorates.
Lol.
Username = "P.e..?.e….r the other one"
Complains 'the left' is confusing him.
Ok, champ.
Re P.e….?.e…r
"You have a duty of care re Kiwi's, don't confuse"…………………..how confusing do you think it has been for Kiwis to see the billboards "strong team" and then see three different leaders in less than three months, one who swanned in telling us he was going to be the next PM and now, it seems not…….Bennett, Adams and Kaye gone within weeks……………Shadow health minister criticising Labour for the privacy breaches, then whoops a daisy, turns out he knew that his own team had done the leaking all along……
Very confusing of Adams to say retiring for family reasons then shes back! Now she's gone!!!!!
You are new here. Feel free to stick around and note the calibre of the debate. So far your contribution falls well below the standard here. You will be shot down every time you contribute unless you lift your game……….but maybe you can't fix stupid
Commenters and readers here do understand that the latest face of the National Party is not one that will change anything at all with regards the future and direction Jacinda Ardern and her team have set for the country – don't you? The bellowing and posturing from the boiled-down National Party leadership will achieve … nothing at all.
I hope that's true 🙂 (I fear that JC will create some shit and make politics worse, but maybe that will just backlash against her, fingers crossed)
We humans are so easily spooked. If you feel that honesty, sincerity and kindness will prevail, the whipped-up "latest developments" will seem like a light rain on your umbrella.
Judith Collins, weka? Have you so little faith in Jacinda's abilities, her support and the circumstances we find ourselves in to fear the actions of a person like Judith Collins? I see a mangy old tomcat, hissing and spitting with people noticing the rank odour of an animal long past it's prime
A tomcat??
Sure – and a stinker to boot! Tufts of fur missing, mad eye, the whole package.
lol. I have been starting to roll my eyes a bit at all the lefties wanting to talk about National so much. I'm sure she will make good use of that.
Good point, which means that the Left wants to hear and talk about stories from the Left. Where is the overarching story for our future from the progressive Left? Till we have one, we will be tempted, forced almost, to look at S & M show put on for us by the Right. Not only are we a willing audience of (paying) spectators, there’s never a shortage, it seems, of willing volunteers to join in.
we appear to be too busy poking a stick at each other, or ostracising each other, to have a coherent and useful overarching story.
And yep about the audience. The posts about the reactionary stuff will garner more engagement, almost every time.
But that too is a self-defeating narrative and I tend to agree with Robert about confidence and how we choose to position ourselves. Will have to think about this.
" not one that will change anything at all with regards the future and direction Jacinda Ardern and her team have set for the country "
National/Collins certainly won't achieve anything for the country. The question is, can their scorched earth, destructive campaign succeed in its real goal: saving enough Nat MPs to force Ardern to cobble together a government she doesn't really want, instead of a clear win.
We can say "impossible", but then that would be ignoring the lessons of Trump, Brexit, ScoMo, etc.
They do this sh*t because it works.
It won't work here. We can only speculate from this point in time but buying into a nervous, insecure story is a personal choice. Nothing is set in stone, all predictions are ephemeral stories. We seem to enjoy insecurity, but my encouragement is to choose confidence and surety. Whipped-up froth can be blown away by the breath of a person secure in their deep belief; there will always be constant erosion from agencies that thrive on insecurity and you know who clasps those to their bosom.
I like confidence, a lot. But … experience too. For example –
Polls (so far) suggest that for the referendum on legalising cannabis, "No" is leading.
That's based on a fear campaign, not reason and evidence. So I don't think we're really that different from other democracies, unfortunately.
"No" might reflect the population's position and not surprisingly. It's a big stretch and people aren't inclined to go beyond their cultural boundaries. If you don't act with measured, considered confidence, you are agreeing to swirl and twirl with whatever currents are directed your way. What kind of player do you want to be – one at the beck and call of the "other side" or one that chooses a position, intelligently and clearly, then follows that line?
I agree. It's a time of great potential change and the stories we tell determine which way the change goes. Lots of opportunity here. Collins is going to troll the left with everything she's got, best the left find a better story than that reactionary one. What you call measured, considered confidence I might call grounding and knowing our own truth worth.
Agreed Observer
So since the storm in 2011 we had another once in 500 year event.
https://www.teaomaori.news/storm-floods-northland-over-250mm-rain-24-hrs?_ga=2.27954553.498985619.1595039930-1989521011.1595039930
The evening before Muller resigned as leader it crossed my mind that he could.
I am 50/50 about him resigning from the National Party next week. Were Muller to do so I think he would be a good fit for NZ First.
Why don't you just go fund the lincoln project then?
They'd happily take your money.
And past what, all having to be limited to arguing in the small small ideological world of liberalism. – Yeah I'd like to be past that too, but you and your ilk keep limiting the debate.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
[I have no patience for this shit. Don’t tell me what to do under my own post, and don’t make out I believe something I don’t. If you’re too stupid or caught up in your bah humbug that you can’t see I’m not supporting liberalism, then stay out of my posts.
You do that sly, manipulative, poking at people shit in a conversation with me one more time and I will ban you, no matter where on site it happens. I opened a door to a conversation with you and you just spit in my face. I’m done.
To make it *really* clear, this is entirely an issue of behaviour not politics. You are quite capable of making political arguments, so make them without flaming and then I will respect you again even if I disagree. – weka].
Well done for proving my point of limiting debate to what you decide what that is – a very small area of liberalism indeed.
Unless your chanting trump bad, trump bad. Your a arsehole and a trump supporter. Downright depressing stuff as it is so fucking juvenile.
No wonder the debate can’t move anywhere. You either have to shut up or nod like a right idiot.
mod note for you above. I suggest you read the Policy to refresh your memory on how to talk to authors.
It's not tiddlywinks.
that we can agree on.
I think Australia has had 16 deaths since they’d ‘eliminated’ and cases surged. Very sad, but a clear indicator you toy with this Coronavirus at your peril.
380 new cases today, 0ver 10500 cases altogether.
The US had 75000 new cases yesterday.
But as Trump says, "it's only cos we do more testing than any other country"
Solution, don't do any testing and the virus will disappear.
So 24 hours ago Judith Collins proposes a full-sized mnotorway from Whangarei to Tauranga, with tunnels and tolls.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2007/S00159/speech-delivering-infrastructure.htm
Today Labour responds with a minor upgrade of Auckland's northwestern motorway for buses, and a cycleway with little transport network use being built on a swamp that will be underwater in most spring tides – and next to impossible to build.
Labour are already very electorally weak on transport, so Collins knows to go for Twyford very hard.
Methinks Labour better have more fuel in the tank of their transport policy if they think they are going to outflank National on transport.
Even though you clearly don’t think much of it, you could at least have provided a link to the Government announcement by two Ministers of which only one is Labour: https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/auckland-transport-infrastructure-revealed
Yeah or you could just turn on the radio or TV news.
Seriously if it deserved a blog post it would have got one. They were all well established projects, just re-released since the Auckland Council cut them. Both Greens and Labour need a better plan this.
It is good form to include a link so that others can read it too and follow up if they wish. People forget here all the time and we remind them here all the time. Without exceptions 😉
That shared path along the Whau River looks amazing.
All projects do at dusk. It's an unlit pathway within 2 metres high mangroves barely above high tide. It's a sea level rise joke.
Ta
Ad doesn’t like it, apparently, but his dislike seems to be more for political than intrinsic reasons although only he could tell us
I thought the right wing were all about choice. It seems that doesn't apply to means of transport to and from work and play.
Thou shalt drive!
Are you referring to Collins and the Nat Party? They like toll roads a lot, apparently, because that gives people a choice. She said so yesterday: https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/07/national-s-transport-plan-road-tolls-proposed-congestion-charging-on-the-cards.html
Pretty much.
apparently he doesn't think cycling is transport.
he does have a point about sea level rise though.
A point you will get to see when someone releases his comments from the filter. Or he could just do what four moderators have asked and change his email address and then you would have seen his comments immediately.
Indeed, and they have just had to raise the NW motorway 5m for that reason. 2m of that was because the road had dropped either side of the Oakley Estuary Bridge.
The new bit on the city side of that bridge is already sinking but that is probably due to Steven Joyce cutting corners.
I imagine the Whau River path would be designed to an accepted profile of what is to come.
Maybe it's an easy fix too, unlike a motorway.
I released his two comments about 4 hours after they were submitted because I had been away and nobody else was around, it seems. Ad’s not stupid so I don’t know what his problem is.
On a different note:
https://tewhaupathway.org.nz/have-your-say/
Ad is correct, cycling is not a mode of transport unless you live in the Netherlands.
how do you figure that?
Oops, I forgot the /sarc
However, NZ doesn’t have cycling in its blood or genes like the Dutch, it is not part of the NZ culture and therefore not of the NZ infrastructure, sadly. Maybe with e-bikes and e-scooters it will change, slowly. In Amsterdam, you can easily beat a car or PT on a bicycle with no gears and leg-power only on a short-distance trip. When traffic is shite, the bicycle wins on medium-distance trips too. And it is free!
I think we are getting better but it seems a slog. We'll probably see a freeing up and things moving faster and easier if we get a L/G govt in Sept.
it is beautiful but the first thing I see is taking twice as long to get somewhere. Please tell me the curvy path is because of the landscape, access and engineering, not because someone wanted to make a curvy path?
Artist's impression, perhaps? Design-wise some departure from a straight line is more interesting and might in this case reflect the landscape.
It is an interesting form/function question.
form following function and other form? I don't know the area so don't have a grasp of why they would build it like that. A curve is more interesting, unless you are walking to work and it takes you 20 mins instead of 15. Some people won't mind, others will.
Probably following the tide line.
I don't see a division down the middle of it so that foot and wheeled traffic can keep out of each others way.
It will probably just be the painted line as is the case with other shared paths.
No dividing lines these days – like shared car/pedestrian spaces, the idea is that it makes faster-moving people pay more attention to slower ones.
I see AT is separating that traffic in higher use zones.
https://at.govt.nz/projects-roadworks/northwestern-path-upgrade/
That one is a commuting highway combined with schoolkids walking to school, so yes.
is that cycle way fenced in?
Is there a good reason there'd be a motorway with tunnels and tolls from Whangarei but not tolls at the Waterview tunnel and motorway?
No good policy reason at all.
@ Puckish Rogue,
If you want your commenting privilege back, you need to write a nice and compelling apology to Lprent. Let us know if you want/need the link to when/where things went pear-shaped.
You're advertising for trolls now?
How strange is that!!!
more like we're trolling the troll 😈
I doubt that PR will take up the invitation, I suspect his professed love for the Joker is feigned.
We offer good money to trolls to avoid TS turning into an echo chamber as the shareholders don’t like that 😉 Troll lives matter too
John Lewis has died.
John Lewis, US civil rights hero and Democratic congressman, dies at 80
Lewis helped Martin Luther King organise the March on Washington in 1963 and once suffered a broken skull at the hands of state troopers
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/18/john-lewis-us-civil-rights-hero-and-democratic-congressman-dies-at-80
NZSteel goes into 'strategic review' from its Australian owner.
https://businessdesk.co.nz/article/nz-steel-next-up-for-strategic-review-by-aussie-owner
The review will be released weeks from the election.
First Tiwai Point aluminium, then Marsden Point refinery, now NZSteel. Nearly 10,000 jobs.
This government appears to have no answers to the full decline of our remaining heavy industry, in the course of two months.
Three regions, thousands of well paid jobs. Come on government, do something.
Crikey. Times are tough in Australia. Back to where we were weeks ago.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/300060209/coronavirus-parliament-scrapped-australian-pm-scott-morrison-warned-of-significant-risk
What can be achieved for climate. NZ is a long way behind.
https://interestingengineering.com/south-korea-commits-61-billion-for-net-zero-society-by-2025
I'm liking all these Sooty Shearwaters lining up!
Well there are many here discussing JC. (Not the biblical fellow.)
I would like to discuss the difference between the two Leaders.
Jacinda Ardern has proven herself here and overseas as caring and informed, and is much admired.
JC was given a role that involved going overseas, and true to type she used that occasion to promote her husband's business and herself.
For that and other mis-steps she was demoted by John Key. WOW!!
She hopes we will forget that and trust her with our sick Kauri Covid and Recovery.
Sorry Judith, you just haven't got it, and Tova should have said "You are not a 10..
but you don't listen do you? !!’
Today I have a hoarding on our section for Labour Jacinda and Claire in Rotorua. The stop sign has been shifted or we would have had one for Tamati as well. Go Labour!! I am biased.. Go the Greens as well!!
On a lighter note, wonder if Labour have thought of changing their campaign slogan and billboards to
Strong team, stable leadership
tv add including the blue team jogging in teal, losing team members and pushing each other out of the way, cheating
UK and Aussie bookies have firmed up Ardern slightly since Collins took over…
Kia Ora
The Am Show.
Everyone should have opportunity's to own a whare.
That's correct the system has been screwed in favour of the people who have asset whena at the expense of the people who don't the renters next minute they tell you it's better to rent and quote the trickle down effects year right.
One point I would like to make is there should not be a dividing things like baby boomers millennials race we are all on motherearth together and need to make great choices for our future.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora
Newshub.
Wai Wai every were scientists predicted this but the deniers in the lead decided to ignore the advice.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora
Te Ao Maori Marama.
That's is cool teaching tamariki there local Maori history.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora
Newshub.
People working from home will be good for the environment.
I'm sure our government will come up with a fair system for our border quarantine system charging.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora
Newshub.
I think it's a good idea to restrict people going to beaches with indangered creatures.
Ka kite Ano.