The World Health Organisation is now warning of 'alarming' Covid transmission across Europe, Canada is losing control of the virus and the UK government's incompetency means they don't have an effective track and trace system.
Meanwhile, Dr John Campbell reports on a vaccine the Chinese have developed in conjunction with the UAE. Sounds highly encouraging..
"The UAE has approved the urgent use of China-developed COVID-19 vaccine after testing on 31,000 volunteers. Phase I and II results in June were successful. 100 percent of volunteers were generating antibodies after two doses in 28 days. Phase 3 started on 16th July. 100,000 injections have been given so far, with no adverse reactions, no infections."
Covid 19 is getting in the way of the proper destiny of western nations and Swiss gnomes et al which is to make money and pretend to be civilised, educated, intelligent and have highly developed intellects, being cultured and sophisticated. This was thought about Europe which brought forward the Enlightenment but then too recently, also the most awful and barbarous behaviour in its culling of human beings sent to slaughter in their millions.
We must not blindly follow other western nations wherever they may lead, and if any doubted that, the way they have handled the Covid-19 pandemic shows the thin cover of committed enlightened behaviour that decorates the surface of the real framework of their societies.
There is much that is good in the culture we adhere to, but thoughtful people need to be aware of the fragility of a good culture, and keep the memory to the fore, of the fictional hero of Ian McKellen's Gandalf saying "You shall not pass".
I refer to my 7 below with a bit from Chris Trotter. He is thinking about how many might want to close off, and how far they might go in trying to limit things agreed as unsatisfactory and other knotty matters.
And thinking about Europe and how concerned about humanity they are, putting Greece into austerity and hardship in the way they handled their financial crisis? Greece also has the cost of a refugee crisis, and has Europe helped them with this? It is ongoing, and particularly hard on the people of Lesbos Island. Recently the crowded refugee camp experienced a devastating fire. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/02/aid-workers-face-growing-hostility-lesbos-200214215806963.html
Germany is going to take 1500 of the refugees. “They will all leave,” the civil protection minister, Michalis Chrysochoidis, told the Guardian. “Of the roughly 12,000 refugees here currently, I foresee 6,000 being transferred to the mainland by Christmas and the rest by Easter. The people of this island have gone through a lot. They’ve been very patient.”... Chrysochoidis, who flew into Lesbos to help oversee relief efforts, welcomed reports that Germany was prepared to take in as many as 1,500 people from Moria.
These people haven't gone to Greece for a holiday but are fleeing terrible conditions in their home countries: https://helprefugees.org/volunteer-blog/moria-february-2020/ Most camp inhabitants have walked thousands of miles to stand at Turkey’s western shore, usually travelling under the cover of darkness in order to avoid detection. Smugglers then charge large sums to escort them across the Mitilini Strait to the northern beaches of Lesbos in various water crafts. Adverse seas and the fact that many of these boats are not fit for the crossing has resulted in countless lives lost in this corner of the Mediterranean.
Many have had several attempts, previously having been thwarted by border police or abandoning due to dangerous sea conditions. The position and state of the vessel will determine whether it is turned back towards Turkey or guided to Lesbos, establishing a sort of high stakes hide and seek. In extreme instances refugees have sabotaged themselves by puncturing and sinking their own boats in a desperate bid to be rescued and so complete this step of their journey. When the Lesbos shore is finally reached life jackets are discarded and lie piled on some of the islands’ northern beaches. Their vivid tones contrasting the native landscape as a silent narrative of this reality.
Together for Better days – an NGO bringing humanity and compassion into the delivery of humanitarian aid: https://www.betterdays.ngo/
Refugees 4 refugees – offers sustainable support, humanitarian assistance and emergency response to refugees arriving on the shores of the Greek islands – Lesbos and Samos: https://refugee4refugees.gr/
And a spinoff from Brexit. The French were I think talking about the UK paying 5 million pounds I think for their services in keeping migrants from leaving their shores for Brit. Presumably that was thumbs down and now they are clearing their shores of these pesky people. This from The Telegraph for those able to receive it.
The pandemic and Brexit have drawn much of the attention away from what would otherwise be a highly significant crisis – the crossing of the Channel by migrants in small boats. Our reporter spent the day at sea and became the first journalist to document what had long been suspected: that the French Navy is shepherding migrant boats into UK waters and abandoning them.
100,000 injections and no adverse reactions is a load of crap.
There is no way 100,000 people were perfectly healthy for however long they were followed-up after the injection. Even the safest vaccines have some side effects for some people – swollen arm at the injection site, mild fevers etc. Adverse events even happen under placebo treatment.
The Hologram/ R#$@%r Seymour's latest rant on how the govt is wasting 10 of billions of taxpayer dollars every year.Shot himself in the foot saying they will cut $750 million a year in spending less than Nationals $800 million cut in spending.
Dr Wesselbaum Otago University economist says in these times it's an all or nothing approach,on the fiscal side spend ,don't worry about a few % points keep the economy flowing don't cut its blood supply when the patient is hemoraging.
National and ACT's policies would damage our economy as happened in the early 1930's and 1990's when conservative govts fixation with balancing budgets and only letting the foot off 6 months out from an election then cutting the other 21/2 years ie Ruthenomics.
How do the people of the old Dunedin South Electorate feel with an Aucklander been gifted the nomination?
As an Aucklander i go down to Dunedin lots for work and they are salt of earth people down there but i would imagine this has gone down like a cup of cold sick?
Oh how I miss the 'good old days', when crime was low, our society was Christian based, morals were high, no pornography, the Police held in high regard and we directed our violence against those horrible commies in Vietnam.
Why DO the Police wait until all these sick pedos are in the Rest Home before they act? I worked for two years at the Diocese of **** as Financial Officer. Never met such bunch of bigoted, racist, nasty scum as I met there. And of course they were all respectable members of the community and staunch members of the church.
And some people complain of Destiny Church, yet I bet that for all their sins they have helped more people than the above Diocese ever did.
Straight out of the US republican play book. Temporary tax cuts for the lower end for a few months but permanent tax cuts for the favoured. No mention of what services will be cut to provide this. Or do they intend to blow the Cullen fund early? Or reduce the minimum wage because "hey these people are paying less tax".
But this gives Labour some wriggle room when they are back in. They can rejig the thresholds and introduce higher rate bands at the top to skew the distribution back. And they need to grow a spine. Tax cuts at the higher end have been getting enshrined. And our public spending on infrastructure is constantly being kicked down the road. They should promise to thump it up immediately so that we can maintain our public services by what has been cut in the national years.
Judthulhu sez nobody has ever taxed their way out of recession – but both Clinton and Obama raised the top marginal tax rates early in their presidencies as the US was coming out of recession, both leading to long sustained economic booms.
This is National being National. They're like a covers band that only knows three songs — roads, tax cuts, stick it to the gangs… and their encore is kicking beneficiaries. The only thing I find consistently surprising is that people keep voting for them. They're fucking hopeless.
I'd much rather stay on 30% and have it pumped into health and education than get an extra $45 a week.
To be honest I'd probably just waste it on takeaway food for two kids. That would be pointless considering it could go towards helping many instead of just two.
Very interesting Swordfish. This story about the constant work for the betterment of NZ society is heartening and amazing. I am aware that you get nothing if you do nothing and to see so much of what was achieved by this constant work and commitment to left causes, now left to roll over a cliff just breaks my heart. We must conserve what we have left that is good for the present times, and continue the work.
I am interested in the last para. I have Robin Hyde's books but have yet to really get into her life. So Sub-zero please write away and let us have more. She, Margaret Moth, Ettie Rout, Margaret Thorn are luminaries that have lodged in my mind. Don't know of Phyllis Symons; and 'tooting tradition'?
Two last items of interest … seeing I'm obviously intent on heading down this narcissistic road of forebear hero-worship … social historians & the Literati may be interested to know that my grandmother was a longtime friend of Poet/Novelist/Journalist Iris Wilkinson (aka Robin Hyde) & my Mother has one or two very early memories of Iris … my grandmother was also the cousin of Phyllis Symons, murdered in 1931, buried near Mt Victoria Tunnel & frequently discussed in the media over recent years in the context of the tooting tradition. Really interesting – and quite poignant – details & social history surrounding this story that are known only to the family … something I intend to write on in the near future.
Comes up in the media regularly in relation to the Mt Vic Road Tunnel's Tooting Tradition in Wellington. Phyllis's youngest sister only died quite recently & she had some really poignant family detail about the case & its rather awful fallout.
About 15 years ago, I also did some quite extensive research through contemporary newspaper stories on the trial (and was able to give previously unknown details to Phylis’s younger sister).
They were a very bright & attractive family … the press were clearly particularly taken with Phyllis’s oldest sister at the time … poor Phyllis was considered the somewhat slow & less pretty one.
Chris Trotter is doing some 'grinding' on our future political leanings and learnings. Here are two paras where he poses questions to dismiss if you don't want to be troubled and uncomfortable.
Increasingly, this will be the choice confronting those coming of age in the 2020s. Embrace Neoliberalism’s belief in racial and sexual equality; adopt its secular and scientific world view; and cultivate the technocratic, multicultural, global outlook required of those who keep the machinery of hyper-capitalism humming.
Or, throw your support behind the defenders of the national people’s community; agitate for an end to free-trade and globalisation; and use any means necessary (including violence) to uphold the social, sexual and racial hierarchies of your ancestors. That is to say – become a fascist.
Neither of these options has anything to offer the poor. Neither of them will restrain the rich. Neither will do anything like enough, or anything at all, to combat climate change. Neoliberalism believes itself to be rational. Fascism claims to reflect the natural order. But the followers of both ideologies remain content to be carried on the backs of human-beings whose rights and aspirations they do not consider worthy of serious regard. It was to these people that the socialists used to speak.
For one thing, the concept that neoliberalism means a belief in anything other than complete economic deregulation seems a bit of a stretch, let alone seeing Roger Douglas as a hero of gender and ethnic equality.
But does it show that neoliberalism as one side that will appear to encompass all including the woke? That seems to me that is the point of the overview.
Well, no, that paragraph clearly says "Neoliberalism’s belief in racial and sexual equality". Beliefs in equity/equality have as much to do with neoliberalism as the colour of your coat has to do with your height. He might as well say "tall people wear green coats" as "neoliberalism believes in equality".
Perhaps he should have said neoliberalism's use of racial and sexual equality beliefs as a rallying point for attention, and business creation and profit. For instance, business was able to make money out of the psychedelic movement, and loves anything new. The masses get excited, and business sells them Tshirts!
At the moment the BBC head is setting all sorts of new standards in line with current young adult obsessions. It is like the BBC is bowing to the wave of outrage that has arisen in the last few years.
To use an older terminology, it's possible to be economically neoliberal and socially conservative.
Nationalist and neoliberal don't go together happily, but the nats show that the two can work together for a time.
But nowhere in the two trotter paragraphs was workers' rights or socialism. Advocating for an economic underclass is more consistent with advocating for other social underclasses than social conservatism. Sure, cognitive dissonance about that is strong in some sectors (we're all equal comrades, but who always ends up making the tea afterthe meeting?), but advocating for other people becomes a habit.
His thesis does have merit. Use of the divide & rule strategy is trad, of course, so individualism producing the woke variant is handy for controllers.
Hyper-capitalism is now ready to embrace the “woke” – and heaven help any employee who declines to polish her corporate employer’s public image by challenging, even privately (via Facebook, Instagram or Twitter) the new orthodoxy.
From a Green perspective, the biodiversity principle and multiculturalism both support the trend. Common ground, then…
Don't read me as a defender of the faith, but there is an ideology within neoliberalism: market forces make the economy efficient. I think that was the rationale that captured the rogernomes.
So deregulation was merely a means to that ideological end. Bolger has learnt from application of the theory: doesn't deliver benefits promised. Roger is still staying mum. Will he come clean before he dies?
True. Yet most players in the political game are binary, so they will naturally line up as soldiers on either side of the culture war. Trotter doesn't write to catalyse solutions. To do so, he would have to give weight to a third alternative. It's the path to the future, always. Problem-solving is not in his nature. He's a commentator only.
Even if he just noted what he observed and wrote about it with some analysis and critique, he is doing something worthwhile. We often can't see what is on the end of our noses. A wart!
Trotter barely looks beyond the inside of his own eyelids these days.
I'm almost tempted to read the piece just to see if the rest of it is as tepid as the quoted paragraphs.
It does make one wonder what side he thinks his "Waitakere Man" is on, and whether Labour should be going for that particular voting segment. Seems more New Conservative territory lol
One thing – he introduces new ideas. To a lot of the comfortably off NZs I know it would be like revolutionary material, their idea of discussion doesn't go beyond the material and personal.
Not sure if this has been covered but the Elevator Pitch is interesting. Jacinda's was the most credible but I can't find it. Judith seems tired and without conviction.
Oh look, turns out that the epidemiologist who doesn't want us to eliminate covid has a competing interest: "providing paid advice to Auckland International Airport related to health risks associated with covid-19".
It's the same old solution. Just make sure people over 60-65 lock themselves down for the duration of the pandemic, that's the only sure fire way to achieve it.
PLEASE STOP BEING MEAN TO THE GREENS, AND LET'S GET RID OF MOTOR CARS AND TRUCKS FOR GOOD!
Power to the people (and the animals).
No more anything spent on Electric Vehicle research or manufacture which would identify with beautiful Aotearoa. Sure, I don't think that we do anyway, but let's be ambassadors to the globe and rally to put paid to all of the trouble motor vehicles have caused us, permanently.
The rest of the world would fall in into line because we are one of the most respected nations on the planet, and they will listen to us.
Only horse/cart, horse/buggy, bicycle and tricycle research, development and resourcing should be allowed in Aotearoa (AKA Godzone).
We need to go back about two to three hundred years when things were simple and where every inhabitant appeared charitable and community supportive with one another.
A time when they all knew who the chiefs were and what their own respective roles and positions were. That is, before technology and foreign ideas wrecked it for them all.
Noteworthy is that there are at least 9 million electric bicycles in the category of ride and charge that we know about around the Pacific region already. With just a little more CO2 emitted, we could increase this a hundred fold, so as to have clean and green bicycles that would last for decades. We could find ways to attach small carrier carts to the bicycles to cart items, inter suburb or intracity.
I know that some people in the Ruapehu district associated with the Seventh Day Adventists and the Hope Foundation have been working with a prototype of this for some months now.
Another has taken to getting as many demerit points as she can by collecting speeding tickets. Presumably she wants to have her drivers licence taken off her because she is so fed up with this modern day rat race reliance.
I feel that in relation to true socialism and reverting back to; "A La Naturale" transport and domestic methods, we're high on a wire with the world in our sight.
It just takes imagination and AOTEAROA WILL POWER!
It could be just like in the good old days. Adopt a "can do" approach and you can do almost anything K1W1.
There is a wealth of opportunity for peddle powered runabout and dinghy motors (as an addition to oars) for our foreshore, river way and lake transport needs.
You know; it is the major vested interests as well as both the intelligencia and the bourgeois from our own various bordered metropolis bourgs who have become comfortable with the convenience of modern day technologies, including transport infrastructure. And the are screwing it up for all of us.
Look at the Amish, they at least try to walk (or ride) the talk.
Come on K1W1, let's get our hands really dirty in the soil and get ourselves superbly fit by throwing away all of these 20th and 21st century luxuries.
Get governmental to seize all motor powered vehicles and convert them to emergency housing for the needy, wind powered coastal transport or prison accommodations for those who resist.
Get rid of petrol or electric lawn mowers as well.
Build more maternity hospitals and breed like there is no tomorrow so that we can produce fine farm specimens to work the fields and on the farms.
Man, the possibilities are limitless.
We could reserve about two thirds of arable land for grass and fodder to feed the horses, sheep and cattle with, and the remainder for growing kai (such as carrots and other veggies).
Broccoli also. No more eating of animals either!
Never again let any store assistant or green grocer tell us; "There is no f…… broccoli"
The other third of arable land for orchards, berry farms and vineyards so we can produce beautiful fruits for consumption, juices, potatoes, hemp, Mary J and copious quantities of precursor alcohol product for a wealth of alcoholic beverage so that most of us can be as happy as sand boys (and sand girls).
But it starts with US, and it starts NOW.
Air New Zealand has taken a noble first step by parking up some of it's fleet in the desert, mothball fashion. And now we need a good home run (economically, perhaps a 1929 scenario) so that they will have the impetus to follow through and park the entire fleet up.
This is surely the home grown K1W1 spirit, especially from what I've observed throughout rural NZ in small towns in and around the King Country, South Waikato and the Ruapehu District. They may talk grand tourist plans and modernization, but deep down inside they really do foster the simple life and the "back to basic" spirit. They really do not want too many outsiders or foreigners interfering with them and theirs doing things their way; the proper way.
Why can we not pick up our pitch forks, our shovels and our ploughshares behind the coulter?
We can then form a massive Campaign for Modern Technology Disablement and organize hikoi as well as home guard units to repel any sod who has any intention of coming to these shores to either introduce or support any of these Technologies of Mass Distraction and Destruction.
I'm about to stop posting because I have deliberated on collecting up all of my computer related material, my entertainment equipment, all of my household appliances including whiteware). I consider that I might only be keeping earthenware and greyware, and I may well gift the rest back to Mother Nature. Back to the good earth.
We must all strive to be good earth worms, my comrades.
Live humble, live simple and let hope, faith and charity be our guiding lights and our Matariki.
We could find ways to attach small carrier carts to the bicycles to cart items, inter suburb or intracity.
I know that some people in the Ruapehu district associated with the Seventh Day Adventists and the Hope Foundation have been working with a prototype of this for some months now.
The snaps shown in the twitter feed you provided are purrrfect examples of what can be achieved!
Innovation and willpower can put K1W1 on the right track to total self reliance, and exclusive of dependency on any other nation.
From statements I hear being bandied around in both political and corporate Aotearoa circles, we are almost there already, (total independence, that is).
I bet the rest of the world is jealous of our achievements and of our assets. Unblemished, unencumbered and pure to the max is what many would be uttering.
I thought I would let you know that yesterday I volunteered for the vaccine trials for Covid-19 held in the FarmAc store near us. The vaccine is one that was created in Russia. I received my first shot yesterday at 4:00 pm, and I wanted to let you know that it’s completely safe with иo side effects whatsoeveя, and that I feelshκι χoρoshό я чувствую себя немного странно и я думаю, что вытащил ослиные уши. Und wadka
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
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 Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 19 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has hosted members of the Green Party Caucus at Tuurangawaewae Marae in Ngaaruawahia. The audience follows the King’s Hui-aa-Motu on 20 January, where more than 10,000 people gathered to discuss national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Rachael Potter, Research Associate and Lecturer in Work and Organisational Psychology, University of South Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Pregnant women and workers with children are often unfairly treated by their bosses and colleagues, despite laws to protect against workplace discrimination ...
We don't know how lucky we are.
The World Health Organisation is now warning of 'alarming' Covid transmission across Europe, Canada is losing control of the virus and the UK government's incompetency means they don't have an effective track and trace system.
Meanwhile, Dr John Campbell reports on a vaccine the Chinese have developed in conjunction with the UAE. Sounds highly encouraging..
"The UAE has approved the urgent use of China-developed COVID-19 vaccine after testing on 31,000 volunteers. Phase I and II results in June were successful. 100 percent of volunteers were generating antibodies after two doses in 28 days. Phase 3 started on 16th July. 100,000 injections have been given so far, with no adverse reactions, no infections."
The part of the video is at 26:45
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqZLMoLvhgk
Covid 19 is getting in the way of the proper destiny of western nations and Swiss gnomes et al which is to make money and pretend to be civilised, educated, intelligent and have highly developed intellects, being cultured and sophisticated. This was thought about Europe which brought forward the Enlightenment but then too recently, also the most awful and barbarous behaviour in its culling of human beings sent to slaughter in their millions.
We must not blindly follow other western nations wherever they may lead, and if any doubted that, the way they have handled the Covid-19 pandemic shows the thin cover of committed enlightened behaviour that decorates the surface of the real framework of their societies.
There is much that is good in the culture we adhere to, but thoughtful people need to be aware of the fragility of a good culture, and keep the memory to the fore, of the fictional hero of Ian McKellen's Gandalf saying "You shall not pass".
Well put greywarshark.
There is more support around for ‘closing off the Mountain pass’ than pundits and business lobbyists might imagine, or enjoy contemplating.
I refer to my 7 below with a bit from Chris Trotter. He is thinking about how many might want to close off, and how far they might go in trying to limit things agreed as unsatisfactory and other knotty matters.
And thinking about Europe and how concerned about humanity they are, putting Greece into austerity and hardship in the way they handled their financial crisis? Greece also has the cost of a refugee crisis, and has Europe helped them with this? It is ongoing, and particularly hard on the people of Lesbos Island. Recently the crowded refugee camp experienced a devastating fire.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/02/aid-workers-face-growing-hostility-lesbos-200214215806963.html
Germany is going to take 1500 of the refugees.
“They will all leave,” the civil protection minister, Michalis Chrysochoidis, told the Guardian. “Of the roughly 12,000 refugees here currently, I foresee 6,000 being transferred to the mainland by Christmas and the rest by Easter. The people of this island have gone through a lot. They’ve been very patient.”...
Chrysochoidis, who flew into Lesbos to help oversee relief efforts, welcomed reports that Germany was prepared to take in as many as 1,500 people from Moria.
The German coalition government on Tuesday agreed to take in a total of 1,553 people from 408 families whose protected status has been confirmed by Greek authorities, Angela Merkel’s spokesperson said. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/15/after-fire-greece-vows-to-empty-lesbos-of-all-refugees-by-easter
These people haven't gone to Greece for a holiday but are fleeing terrible conditions in their home countries:
https://helprefugees.org/volunteer-blog/moria-february-2020/
Most camp inhabitants have walked thousands of miles to stand at Turkey’s western shore, usually travelling under the cover of darkness in order to avoid detection. Smugglers then charge large sums to escort them across the Mitilini Strait to the northern beaches of Lesbos in various water crafts. Adverse seas and the fact that many of these boats are not fit for the crossing has resulted in countless lives lost in this corner of the Mediterranean.
Many have had several attempts, previously having been thwarted by border police or abandoning due to dangerous sea conditions. The position and state of the vessel will determine whether it is turned back towards Turkey or guided to Lesbos, establishing a sort of high stakes hide and seek. In extreme instances refugees have sabotaged themselves by puncturing and sinking their own boats in a desperate bid to be rescued and so complete this step of their journey. When the Lesbos shore is finally reached life jackets are discarded and lie piled on some of the islands’ northern beaches. Their vivid tones contrasting the native landscape as a silent narrative of this reality.
Want to help:
Kitrinos healthcare – a British charity providing medical care:
https://www.kitrinoshealthcare.org/
Movement on the ground – responding to humanitarian crises worldwide:
https://movementontheground.com/
Together for Better days – an NGO bringing humanity and compassion into the delivery of humanitarian aid:
https://www.betterdays.ngo/
Refugees 4 refugees – offers sustainable support, humanitarian assistance and emergency response to refugees arriving on the shores of the Greek islands – Lesbos and Samos:
https://refugee4refugees.gr/
And a spinoff from Brexit. The French were I think talking about the UK paying 5 million pounds I think for their services in keeping migrants from leaving their shores for Brit. Presumably that was thumbs down and now they are clearing their shores of these pesky people. This from The Telegraph for those able to receive it.
The pandemic and Brexit have drawn much of the attention away from what would otherwise be a highly significant crisis – the crossing of the Channel by migrants in small boats. Our reporter spent the day at sea and became the first journalist to document what had long been suspected: that the French Navy is shepherding migrant boats into UK waters and abandoning them.
100,000 injections and no adverse reactions is a load of crap.
There is no way 100,000 people were perfectly healthy for however long they were followed-up after the injection. Even the safest vaccines have some side effects for some people – swollen arm at the injection site, mild fevers etc. Adverse events even happen under placebo treatment.
The Hologram/ R#$@%r Seymour's latest rant on how the govt is wasting 10 of billions of taxpayer dollars every year.Shot himself in the foot saying they will cut $750 million a year in spending less than Nationals $800 million cut in spending.
Dr Wesselbaum Otago University economist says in these times it's an all or nothing approach,on the fiscal side spend ,don't worry about a few % points keep the economy flowing don't cut its blood supply when the patient is hemoraging.
National and ACT's policies would damage our economy as happened in the early 1930's and 1990's when conservative govts fixation with balancing budgets and only letting the foot off 6 months out from an election then cutting the other 21/2 years ie Ruthenomics.
I note that ACT doesn't cut parliamentary salaries!!!
(Sorry abt the name!! Deleted)
Genuine Question.
How do the people of the old Dunedin South Electorate feel with an Aucklander been gifted the nomination?
As an Aucklander i go down to Dunedin lots for work and they are salt of earth people down there but i would imagine this has gone down like a cup of cold sick?
Oh how I miss the 'good old days', when crime was low, our society was Christian based, morals were high, no pornography, the Police held in high regard and we directed our violence against those horrible commies in Vietnam.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12365950
Why DO the Police wait until all these sick pedos are in the Rest Home before they act? I worked for two years at the Diocese of **** as Financial Officer. Never met such bunch of bigoted, racist, nasty scum as I met there. And of course they were all respectable members of the community and staunch members of the church.
And some people complain of Destiny Church, yet I bet that for all their sins they have helped more people than the above Diocese ever did.
There was pornography alright and one brave soul went public in condemning it.
https://teara.govt.nz/en/video/43915/patricia-bartlett-at-an-indecent-publications-tribunal-meeting
National's answer to everything… tax cuts. Who would have thought?
So far we had:
Really inspirational.
and not just tax cuts but tax cuts for those who need them least and little for those who need them most
https://www.interest.co.nz/news/107118/national-walks-away-debt-target-committing-income-tax-cuts-16-months-and-temporary-tax
Yes, of course. Only for the (mainly white, male, entitled) middle class people. They have to strengthen their essential voter base.
Straight out of the US republican play book. Temporary tax cuts for the lower end for a few months but permanent tax cuts for the favoured. No mention of what services will be cut to provide this. Or do they intend to blow the Cullen fund early? Or reduce the minimum wage because "hey these people are paying less tax".
But this gives Labour some wriggle room when they are back in. They can rejig the thresholds and introduce higher rate bands at the top to skew the distribution back. And they need to grow a spine. Tax cuts at the higher end have been getting enshrined. And our public spending on infrastructure is constantly being kicked down the road. They should promise to thump it up immediately so that we can maintain our public services by what has been cut in the national years.
https://www.twitter.com/ClintVSmith/status/1306738468035334145
So tax cuts for the wealthy then?
Those people won't need it for expenses so it won't get spent.
Another failed "Trickle Down" theory.
Tax cuts are always for the wealthy even if they're only on the lowest bracket.
Its not a Trickle Down theory at all, its Trickle Up, it works really well and National damn well know it.
They just dress it up as Trickle Down so that people will accept it.
Judthulhu sez nobody has ever taxed their way out of recession – but both Clinton and Obama raised the top marginal tax rates early in their presidencies as the US was coming out of recession, both leading to long sustained economic booms.
This is National being National. They're like a covers band that only knows three songs — roads, tax cuts, stick it to the gangs… and their encore is kicking beneficiaries. The only thing I find consistently surprising is that people keep voting for them. They're fucking hopeless.
Yup, and the ones who really need help miss out.
I'd much rather stay on 30% and have it pumped into health and education than get an extra $45 a week.
To be honest I'd probably just waste it on takeaway food for two kids. That would be pointless considering it could go towards helping many instead of just two.
Anniversary of the Savage Govt's First State House Opening … a personal memoir
https://sub-zero-politics.blogspot.com/2020/09/first-state-house-anniversary-personal.html
Very interesting Swordfish. This story about the constant work for the betterment of NZ society is heartening and amazing. I am aware that you get nothing if you do nothing and to see so much of what was achieved by this constant work and commitment to left causes, now left to roll over a cliff just breaks my heart. We must conserve what we have left that is good for the present times, and continue the work.
I am interested in the last para. I have Robin Hyde's books but have yet to really get into her life. So Sub-zero please write away and let us have more. She, Margaret Moth, Ettie Rout, Margaret Thorn are luminaries that have lodged in my mind. Don't know of Phyllis Symons; and 'tooting tradition'?
Two last items of interest … seeing I'm obviously intent on heading down this narcissistic road of forebear hero-worship … social historians & the Literati may be interested to know that my grandmother was a longtime friend of Poet/Novelist/Journalist Iris Wilkinson (aka Robin Hyde) & my Mother has one or two very early memories of Iris … my grandmother was also the cousin of Phyllis Symons, murdered in 1931, buried near Mt Victoria Tunnel & frequently discussed in the media over recent years in the context of the tooting tradition. Really interesting – and quite poignant – details & social history surrounding this story that are known only to the family … something I intend to write on in the near future.
Cheers, Grey.
This is a good summary for the uninitiated:
http://undergroundhistory.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-tragedy-of-phyllis-symons.html
Comes up in the media regularly in relation to the Mt Vic Road Tunnel's Tooting Tradition in Wellington. Phyllis's youngest sister only died quite recently & she had some really poignant family detail about the case & its rather awful fallout.
About 15 years ago, I also did some quite extensive research through contemporary newspaper stories on the trial (and was able to give previously unknown details to Phylis’s younger sister).
They were a very bright & attractive family … the press were clearly particularly taken with Phyllis’s oldest sister at the time … poor Phyllis was considered the somewhat slow & less pretty one.
Thanks Swordfish – interesting history for me to pursue.
Thanks Swordfish, a very interesting read.
Chris Trotter is doing some 'grinding' on our future political leanings and learnings. Here are two paras where he poses questions to dismiss if you don't want to be troubled and uncomfortable.
Increasingly, this will be the choice confronting those coming of age in the 2020s. Embrace Neoliberalism’s belief in racial and sexual equality; adopt its secular and scientific world view; and cultivate the technocratic, multicultural, global outlook required of those who keep the machinery of hyper-capitalism humming.
Or, throw your support behind the defenders of the national people’s community; agitate for an end to free-trade and globalisation; and use any means necessary (including violence) to uphold the social, sexual and racial hierarchies of your ancestors. That is to say – become a fascist.
Neither of these options has anything to offer the poor. Neither of them will restrain the rich. Neither will do anything like enough, or anything at all, to combat climate change. Neoliberalism believes itself to be rational. Fascism claims to reflect the natural order. But the followers of both ideologies remain content to be carried on the backs of human-beings whose rights and aspirations they do not consider worthy of serious regard. It was to these people that the socialists used to speak.
https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2020/09/uncomfortable-choices.html
Talk about a bullshit dichotomy.
For one thing, the concept that neoliberalism means a belief in anything other than complete economic deregulation seems a bit of a stretch, let alone seeing Roger Douglas as a hero of gender and ethnic equality.
But does it show that neoliberalism as one side that will appear to encompass all including the woke? That seems to me that is the point of the overview.
Well, no, that paragraph clearly says "Neoliberalism’s belief in racial and sexual equality". Beliefs in equity/equality have as much to do with neoliberalism as the colour of your coat has to do with your height. He might as well say "tall people wear green coats" as "neoliberalism believes in equality".
There are socialists who are awake, too.
Perhaps he should have said neoliberalism's use of racial and sexual equality beliefs as a rallying point for attention, and business creation and profit. For instance, business was able to make money out of the psychedelic movement, and loves anything new. The masses get excited, and business sells them Tshirts!
At the moment the BBC head is setting all sorts of new standards in line with current young adult obsessions. It is like the BBC is bowing to the wave of outrage that has arisen in the last few years.
But even that wouldn't have suited his dichotomy.
To use an older terminology, it's possible to be economically neoliberal and socially conservative.
Nationalist and neoliberal don't go together happily, but the nats show that the two can work together for a time.
But nowhere in the two trotter paragraphs was workers' rights or socialism. Advocating for an economic underclass is more consistent with advocating for other social underclasses than social conservatism. Sure, cognitive dissonance about that is strong in some sectors (we're all equal comrades, but who always ends up making the tea afterthe meeting?), but advocating for other people becomes a habit.
His thesis does have merit. Use of the divide & rule strategy is trad, of course, so individualism producing the woke variant is handy for controllers.
From a Green perspective, the biodiversity principle and multiculturalism both support the trend. Common ground, then…
Don't read me as a defender of the faith, but there is an ideology within neoliberalism: market forces make the economy efficient. I think that was the rationale that captured the rogernomes.
So deregulation was merely a means to that ideological end. Bolger has learnt from application of the theory: doesn't deliver benefits promised. Roger is still staying mum. Will he come clean before he dies?
a bullshit dichotomy
True. Yet most players in the political game are binary, so they will naturally line up as soldiers on either side of the culture war. Trotter doesn't write to catalyse solutions. To do so, he would have to give weight to a third alternative. It's the path to the future, always. Problem-solving is not in his nature. He's a commentator only.
Even if he just noted what he observed and wrote about it with some analysis and critique, he is doing something worthwhile. We often can't see what is on the end of our noses. A wart!
Trotter barely looks beyond the inside of his own eyelids these days.
I'm almost tempted to read the piece just to see if the rest of it is as tepid as the quoted paragraphs.
It does make one wonder what side he thinks his "Waitakere Man" is on, and whether Labour should be going for that particular voting segment. Seems more New Conservative territory lol
One thing – he introduces new ideas. To a lot of the comfortably off NZs I know it would be like revolutionary material, their idea of discussion doesn't go beyond the material and personal.
Not sure if this has been covered but the Elevator Pitch is interesting. Jacinda's was the most credible but I can't find it. Judith seems tired and without conviction.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/425790/the-elevator-pitch-can-a-politician-convince-you-to-vote-for-them-in-a-lift
Jacinda
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/426377/the-elevator-pitch-jacinda-ardern-reveals-who-she-d-poach-from-nz-first
Judith was lame – we love "the people"!!
Jacinda at least enjoyed the silliness of the situation; elevator-pitch is pretty daft!
Oh look, turns out that the epidemiologist who doesn't want us to eliminate covid has a competing interest: "providing paid advice to Auckland International Airport related to health risks associated with covid-19".
There are so many kind experts sharing their love around without prejudice, one must admire them for their service to humankind.
It's the same old solution. Just make sure people over 60-65 lock themselves down for the duration of the pandemic, that's the only sure fire way to achieve it.
Doesn't do anything for the people in their fifties and younger who have long term health problems because of it, or even been killed by it.
Remember this?
Yes, I do.
Probably the reason National calls it "Temporary Tax Cut".
and the nats have given themselves an out with the temporary tag.
lol oh dear
To be fair to Judith, that was in Alert Level 1 and ‘events’ have overtaken her thinking. In other words, the polls.
PLEASE STOP BEING MEAN TO THE GREENS, AND LET'S GET RID OF MOTOR CARS AND TRUCKS FOR GOOD!
Power to the people (and the animals).
No more anything spent on Electric Vehicle research or manufacture which would identify with beautiful Aotearoa. Sure, I don't think that we do anyway, but let's be ambassadors to the globe and rally to put paid to all of the trouble motor vehicles have caused us, permanently.
The rest of the world would fall in into line because we are one of the most respected nations on the planet, and they will listen to us.
Only horse/cart, horse/buggy, bicycle and tricycle research, development and resourcing should be allowed in Aotearoa (AKA Godzone).
We need to go back about two to three hundred years when things were simple and where every inhabitant appeared charitable and community supportive with one another.
A time when they all knew who the chiefs were and what their own respective roles and positions were. That is, before technology and foreign ideas wrecked it for them all.
Noteworthy is that there are at least 9 million electric bicycles in the category of ride and charge that we know about around the Pacific region already. With just a little more CO2 emitted, we could increase this a hundred fold, so as to have clean and green bicycles that would last for decades. We could find ways to attach small carrier carts to the bicycles to cart items, inter suburb or intracity.
I know that some people in the Ruapehu district associated with the Seventh Day Adventists and the Hope Foundation have been working with a prototype of this for some months now.
Another has taken to getting as many demerit points as she can by collecting speeding tickets. Presumably she wants to have her drivers licence taken off her because she is so fed up with this modern day rat race reliance.
I feel that in relation to true socialism and reverting back to; "A La Naturale" transport and domestic methods, we're high on a wire with the world in our sight.
It just takes imagination and AOTEAROA WILL POWER!
It could be just like in the good old days. Adopt a "can do" approach and you can do almost anything K1W1.
There is a wealth of opportunity for peddle powered runabout and dinghy motors (as an addition to oars) for our foreshore, river way and lake transport needs.
You know; it is the major vested interests as well as both the intelligencia and the bourgeois from our own various bordered metropolis bourgs who have become comfortable with the convenience of modern day technologies, including transport infrastructure. And the are screwing it up for all of us.
Look at the Amish, they at least try to walk (or ride) the talk.
Come on K1W1, let's get our hands really dirty in the soil and get ourselves superbly fit by throwing away all of these 20th and 21st century luxuries.
Get governmental to seize all motor powered vehicles and convert them to emergency housing for the needy, wind powered coastal transport or prison accommodations for those who resist.
Get rid of petrol or electric lawn mowers as well.
Build more maternity hospitals and breed like there is no tomorrow so that we can produce fine farm specimens to work the fields and on the farms.
Man, the possibilities are limitless.
We could reserve about two thirds of arable land for grass and fodder to feed the horses, sheep and cattle with, and the remainder for growing kai (such as carrots and other veggies).
Broccoli also. No more eating of animals either!
Never again let any store assistant or green grocer tell us; "There is no f…… broccoli"
The other third of arable land for orchards, berry farms and vineyards so we can produce beautiful fruits for consumption, juices, potatoes, hemp, Mary J and copious quantities of precursor alcohol product for a wealth of alcoholic beverage so that most of us can be as happy as sand boys (and sand girls).
But it starts with US, and it starts NOW.
Air New Zealand has taken a noble first step by parking up some of it's fleet in the desert, mothball fashion. And now we need a good home run (economically, perhaps a 1929 scenario) so that they will have the impetus to follow through and park the entire fleet up.
This is surely the home grown K1W1 spirit, especially from what I've observed throughout rural NZ in small towns in and around the King Country, South Waikato and the Ruapehu District. They may talk grand tourist plans and modernization, but deep down inside they really do foster the simple life and the "back to basic" spirit. They really do not want too many outsiders or foreigners interfering with them and theirs doing things their way; the proper way.
Why can we not pick up our pitch forks, our shovels and our ploughshares behind the coulter?
We can then form a massive Campaign for Modern Technology Disablement and organize hikoi as well as home guard units to repel any sod who has any intention of coming to these shores to either introduce or support any of these Technologies of Mass Distraction and Destruction.
I'm about to stop posting because I have deliberated on collecting up all of my computer related material, my entertainment equipment, all of my household appliances including whiteware). I consider that I might only be keeping earthenware and greyware, and I may well gift the rest back to Mother Nature. Back to the good earth.
We must all strive to be good earth worms, my comrades.
Live humble, live simple and let hope, faith and charity be our guiding lights and our Matariki.
Really? Here's a few ideas:
Yes, Draco T Bastard.
Thank you.
The snaps shown in the twitter feed you provided are purrrfect examples of what can be achieved!
Innovation and willpower can put K1W1 on the right track to total self reliance, and exclusive of dependency on any other nation.
From statements I hear being bandied around in both political and corporate Aotearoa circles, we are almost there already, (total independence, that is).
I bet the rest of the world is jealous of our achievements and of our assets. Unblemished, unencumbered and pure to the max is what many would be uttering.
I thought I would let you know that yesterday I volunteered for the vaccine trials for Covid-19 held in the FarmAc store near us. The vaccine is one that was created in Russia. I received my first shot yesterday at 4:00 pm, and I wanted to let you know that it’s completely safe with иo side effects whatsoeveя, and that I feelshκι χoρoshό я чувствую себя немного странно и я думаю, что вытащил ослиные уши. Und wadka
Aw shit, are you going to start getting on my case now like Adrian Thornton and francesca and Brigid and the mozzie?
You'll be fine – as long as you didn't have the tea and biscuit afterwards.
My partner says that isn't original :((
However it is bloody funny.
Ouch. How do you make it smaller? Bloody funny.
You did what with the donkey?
Hope you enjoy the ride!