Rather disappointing that despite their rhetoric (and so close on the heels of the Children’s Commissioner advocating the indexing of benefits to the average net wage to help address poverty) Labour have declined to increase benefit rates.
The MoU is in tatters.
Labour is being responsible.
Meteria and the Greens will be fuming.
The left is starting to look like a dogs breakfast.
The Greens have just been given a left hook by Labour and about time to.
Failing to help address poverty, thus save the country money and improve living standards, education and health outcomes, is far from being ‘responsible’.
“The Greens have just been given a left hook by Labour…”
I have to disagree … both parties have laid out policies that will improve the plight for the poorest. The Greens’s policy will provide more than Labour’s policy. There is a sweet spot between the two which both parties can agree on.
The trick is to get them both elected and not have to rely on NZFirst.
Mickeysavage,
The real trick is to get polling traction for Labour, won’t happen whilst the MoU is around its neck.
IMO Labour will only get upwards traction if they dump on the Greens and Winnies party.
Labour should and probably does know that but it seems head office timidity and adverse risk leadership is a problem.
Time will tell, but I expect the sideways attacking of Labour will continue by Winnie and the Greens.
Keep it up bearded git the RWs will I hope never get to throw acid at the left, but they do want to dowse the flame of goodness and vitality rising on the let.
Labour has finally worked out that a simple message plays well to the public, their “Ditch the Tax Cuts; Education, Health, Housing and No to Poverty instead” message is coming through well.
Robert Guyton,
I said a left hook and meant a left hook.
They need to throw a few more to knock some reality into the Green “10%’s we rule the world mentality”.
The Greens may be sincere and of course they may dream, but they will turn this election into a nightmare for Labour with their antics.
Time will tell.
Have you read Chris Trotter’s column yet, Bill?
I’d like to hear your views on it.
You really believe The Greens think they rule the world?
Playing the game with zest doesn’t translate to delusions of omnipotence, in my view. Your people need to pull something out of the hat, Bill, as mine are doing with consummate ease. In any case, any party’s performance can only be sheeted to itself; stop bagging the other players and start adding something to your team’s chances. They, btw, chose to have an MOU with The Greens as did The Greens with them. Do you have no faith at all in your party’s management? I’m backing mine; I reckon they’re smart. If you can’t back them in their shared decision, perhaps politics is not for you?
Robert Guyton,
yes I have read Chris Trotters article, a worthy piece of writing.
But I am afraid that is all.
Look at reality;
Winnies bottom lines, referendums on Maori and number of Parliamentry seats, which will have both Labour and the Greens turning somersaults, They are both keeping quiet about Winnies bottom lines, perhaps stunned into silence?.
Winnie will not announce until after the election who he will coalition with and it will probably take months. He could well go with National, only he and now likely Shane Jones knows.
Labour’s polling is pulled back by their Green party MoU, IMHO.
For the sake of our country’s stability and future Labour needs to be the biggest stakeholder. They have form.
Meteria’s ranting of largess is not going well with taxpaying working people in a 2017 year of elections. Which is by far the largest number of people in NZ. (source MSM and blogs). Labour have already distanced themselves from this economic sorcery. ( I will be surprised if the polls lift up much for the Greens and because Labour has only short bursts of energy they will probably go down against the Greens ).
They Greens are about 10%-12$ in polling they only rule themselves, that’s all.
But they and you do not seem to understand that fact
Bill, I reckon that the comment “the only flash of colour I’ve seen from any party in this grey, grey campaign has been from The Greens” (Metiria’s “confession”) is on the button, so far as I’m concerned. It’ll take some vivid splashes to change the grinding inevitability of a beige result, so I’m 100% with Metiria, The Greens and any others willing to spill primary colours across the muddy goop that’s being offered.
“Labour gave a stern no to increasing benefit rates, thus gave no indication of making concessions for the Greens proposal.”
No, they didn’t. Little just said it’s not their policy. Which makes sense when you think that they already had their policy about to launch when the Greens made their announcement on Sunday. It’s not like Labour could have rewritten their policy in 2 days.
There was nothing stern about it. That’s you and your incessant negativity about Labour. Not for the first time I’m wondering if you are a long play subtle anti-left troll. Always undermining, never offering anything constructive.
True, but the trolling is of the more subtle kind. As opposed to say Red who just runs round with their anti-left position tattooed on their forehead. TC will of course deny they are anti-left.
It was only the other day I suggested Labour should run with and build upon the Children’s Commissioner’s proposal of indexing benefits to the average net wage to help address poverty.
I’ve also touted for Goverment to fill private sector voids and help correct market shortfalls, putting forward a number of proposals. Thus, I’m far from right wing.
“No, they didn’t. Little just said it’s not their policy.”
He gave a stern no stating it’s not what they are promising or what they are planning, thus gave no indication of making concessions for the Greens proposal.
“Which makes sense when you think that they already had their policy about to launch when the Greens made their announcement on Sunday. It’s not like Labour could have rewritten their policy in 2 days.”
With the MOU in place one would expect the Greens would have given Labour notice (and no doubt the opportunity to join along) of their intention to announce one of the most significant changes to our welfare system in a generation.
“That’s you and your incessant negativity about Labour. Not for the first time I’m wondering if you are a long play subtle anti-left troll. Always undermining, never offering anything constructive.”
Because you’re the one who doesn’t understand that “working with others” involves “compromises” which involves “doing something less or more than was promised or planned prior to the event that the promises or plans were contingent upon”.
because I’m sick of your incessant negativity and undermining of the left.
“With the MOU in place one would expect the Greens would have given Labour notice (and no doubt the opportunity to join along) of their intention to announce one of the most significant changes to our welfare system in a generation.”
See you can’t even be honest. *you expect that, but as others have explained ad nauseam that’s not what the MoU was designed to do.
“Because I’m sick of your incessant negativity and undermining of the left”
That may be the way you see it, however I see it differently.
Let me explain why.
In this instance, I support the Greens proposal to increase benefits.
Therefore, I believe if we on the left fail to make Labour aware of our disappointment, the less encouraged Labour will be to concede in negotiations on this policy with the Greens.
Being silent doesn’t bring about change.
“See you can’t even be honest”
Me? Have you forgotten the No Surprises policy in the MOU?
Pretty sure that if Labour are reading this post today, they’re scrolling past this particular conversation.
“Being silent doesn’t bring about change.”
I’ve never said you should be silent. I’ve said I’m sick of your incessant negativity. There are plenty of ways to speak to Labour’s policies and positions without actively undermining the left.
“Me? Have you forgotten the No Surprises policy in the MOU?”
Unlike you, I read the MoU as a whole. It doesn’t say that L/G have to work on policy together. It doesn’t say that the Green have to give Labour enough headsup on major policy so that Labour have enough time to consider if they want to change theirs. ‘No surprises’ means that Labour get informed before the policy announcement so they’re not surprised by it.
So yes, you are dishonest. You want Labour and the Greens to have a different MoU than they have.
“There are plenty of ways to speak to Labour’s policies and positions without actively undermining the left”.
I try to avoid undermining the left but as Labour and the Greens sometimes undermine themselves, it’s hard to talk about things openly without somewhat undermining them.
“Unlike you, I read the MoU as a whole. It doesn’t say that L/G have to work on policy together.”
I didn’t say that. However, it gives them scope too. Thus, with such a major announcement, it would be surprising if Labour weren’t invited to join in.
Nevertheless, the No Surprises policy specifically states prior notice is required to be given.
“You want Labour and the Greens to have a different MoU than they have.”
Once again, punctilious correctness combined with saintly sanctimony. Chairman, you are known by your deeds, which Weka has described perfectly. You are a concern troll who fakes his sincerity with earnest endeavour. But you do not convince.
It wasn’t a direct quote. Nevertheless, Little did oppose the Green’s plan to increase benefits, stating Labour had a different approach. But it doesn’t involve increasing the rate benefits are paid.
Which makes them another Labour Party that won’t restore benefit rates.
TC and BillM getting in early for some trolling. The increasingly frantic response to the Greens policy from the right suggests they are getting worried.
“Andrew said that they had a different way of addressing poverty”
Yes, but it’s a real shame Labour didn’t opt to build upon the Children’s Commissioner’s recent proposal and work along with the Greens.
Cash transfers are one of the most efficient ways to help address poverty. And as the structure is already in place, it could virtually be done overnight. Instantly improving peoples living standards.
How long will Labour’s approach take?
It will be interesting to see what approach voters prefer.
“they had a different way of addressing poverty”.
I certainly hope so. The Green way, as expounded by their female co-leader simply seems to be steal whatever you want.
Are people really happy that, were Labour to lead a Government, they would happily include in Cabinet a self confessed and apparently unrepentant fraudster?
John Key took a principled approach in 2008, before that year’s election. He said he would not go into Government with Winston Peters because he did not think he could trust him. Winston may have changed but Key was right then.
Why does Little not show some courage and state that fraudsters will not be allowed into any Cabinet positions in a Government he might lead?
Can he really be so desperate that he doesn’t care who he lies down with?
Metiria Turei’s admission was poorly timed and will no doubt have ramifications for her and the Party going forward.
It will put a number of voters off her and the Party. On the other hand, she has mustered some support for being so open.
It will make Labour further question the public perception of them working with her.
But it’s unlikely Labour will get into Government without the Greens. Therefore, unless she stands down, Labour will have little choice but to work with her if they want to be in Government.
I wonder how many Maori people felt affinity with Metiria following her disclosure? I’m guessing many and I’m also guessing that they’ll be inclined to vote for her and her party as a result.
Edit: particularly in response to the breathless umbrage being taken by the privileged sector of the community, as displayed here.
“I wonder how many Maori people felt affinity with Metiria following her disclosure? I’m guessing many and I’m also guessing that they’ll be inclined to vote for her and her party as a result.”
Do you think this will be enough to take the Maori vote off Labour?
The Greens recently said they would be seeking the progressive vote, do you think this will help them secure it?
Surely this will eat into Labour’s support.
And with Peters opposing neo-liberalism, no doubt he’s also going to eat into Labour’s vote. Seems Labour may be in trouble, who will they turn to for support? Move more to the centre?
The Greens eating into Labour’s support is meh, it only makes a difference at the individual MP level.
Winston eating into Labour’s support, on the other hand, is a gift to National. Labour needs to start making clear that a vote for NZ First is a vote for keeping National in power, because it is. After the election, NZF will be on sale to the highest bidder, and National will be the highest bidder just like it was in 1996.
“The Greens eating into Labour’s support is meh, it only makes a difference at the individual MP level”
It will strengthen the Greens when it comes to party negotiations.
Moreover, with Labour polling so low, it will add to the possibility Labour’s vote will fall so low Little won’t get in.
“Winston eating into Labour’s support, on the other hand, is a gift to National. Labour needs to start making clear that a vote for NZ First is a vote for keeping National in power…”
The problem Labour will have with that strategy is the voters most concerned with Winston opting to go with National are most likely to also be the ones more likely to be enticed by Peters anti neo-liberal stance, thus disappointed with Labour’s Budget Responsibility Rules.
NZF have a number of left leaning policy, thus Labour have a good opportunity to offer them a better deal than National. However, Little publicly calling Winston a blowhard isn’t constructive. Nor was giving the Greens the nod to call him a racist.
NZF have a number of left leaning policy, thus Labour have a good opportunity to offer them a better deal than National.
If they were negotiating with New Zealand First, that might count for something. However, they’ll actually be negotiating with Winston Peters, a conservative authoritarian with little taste for left-leaning policies and a great interest in “baubles of office.” So their opportunities to offer a Winston-friendly deal will depend on how little integrity they have. National’s always going to win that game.
The problem Labour will have with that strategy is the voters most concerned with Winston opting to go with National are most likely to also be the ones more likely to be enticed by Peters anti neo-liberal stance, thus disappointed with Labour’s Budget Responsibility Rules.
If it came down to it, it would be better that these people decided not to vote than that they vote for National via a vote for NZF.
I suspect that a lot of people felt affinity with Metiria after her disclosure. A hell of a lot of people know just how bad it can get on welfare in this country.
I really hope you don’t mean this in the way it comes across.
Do you really think that Maori, in general, have an affinity with those who deliberately break the law and then boast about it afterward?
I suppose you also think that everyone with any Maori heritage is a member of a gang?
I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that this is just a careless wording problem.
Do you really think that Maori, in general, have an affinity with those who deliberately break the law and then boast about it afterward?
1. A large number will sympathise because they’ve spent time in the same position due to the rich fucking over society
2. Metiria wasn’t boasting – just stating facts.
I just wish he had said something like “a lot of beneficiaries” rather than “Maori”.
Using Maori tends to imply that ALL Maori feel that way.
Beneficiaries probably do feel that way if dealing with WINZ is anything like as bad as people say.
I had sympathy with Meteria when I first read this. Then I discovered that, although she has now got a very large income she has made no attempt to repay the money that she had defrauded.
There is an enormous difference between doing it when she couldn’t manage, or didn’t have the budgeting skills, to get by on what she had then and hanging on to it when you had become, by most peoples standards, very wealthy.
Using Maori tends to imply that ALL Maori feel that way.
Māori do over represent in the lower socio-economic sphere.
Beneficiaries probably do feel that way if dealing with WINZ is anything like as bad as people say.
It’s as bad as they say. The stress that comes from having to deal with them probably reduces peoples lives by years.
I had sympathy with Meteria when I first read this. Then I discovered that, although she has now got a very large income she has made no attempt to repay the money that she had defrauded.
I don’t see that it makes any difference as it was the policies of the government that put her into a position that she had to lie. If any one should be paying it it should be the National Party. They should also be paying out for all that stress that they’ve caused with their physiologically damaging policies.
National has systematically depressed us all with their sinking lid economy called Austerity a word they refuse to use but carry it out thinking we don’t know it.
That’s not fair. You have a sense of humour and are a gardener to boot. I shall be forced to be less judgemental than is my wont.
I now feel guilty for suggesting that you could be related to someone who appears to be anything but a good conservationist.
My impression is that your true guilt runs far deeper than that, Alwyn. Cleaving to the evil philosophy of capitalism and personal greed, with that hypocritical pretence of defending right against wrong whenever any new ideas question the system that favours the select (filthy) few…
Kind of you to say that, alwyn. I was quite appalled by the toothfish story, to be frank. The people of Nelson have not endeared themselves to me, one of their sons, by their behaviour at the fish shop.
It’s maybe preferable to a cabinet replete with smugglers, fraudsters, extortionists, blackmailers and thieves who never confess to anything no matter how blatant.
Are people really happy that, were Labour to lead a Government, they would happily include in Cabinet a self confessed and apparently unrepentant fraudster?
Well, you seem OK with having Bill English as Prime Minister, a position Turei may not even aspire to, so why would you think Labour voters would be different?
In any case, I prefer honesty. English hasn’t even confessed, just paid it back (some of it, at least) while pretending that what he did was within the rules. And Paula Bennett is being unusually careful in her choice of words to describe her own dealings with WINZ – give me people who’ll tell you the truth any day.
“give me people who’ll tell you the truth any day”.
Even if it takes 15 years to fess up?
I am inclined to accept the view that someone had leaked Turei’s history to Winston. She was simply trying the Donald Trump Jr approach of get it out yourself first. Didn’t really work for him. I don’t think it is going to work for Turei either.
I am personally of the view that 3 terms is enough for any Government. I happily voted for Helen Clark in 1999 and equally happily against her in 2008.
Unfortunately there is no alternative that exhibits any competence at all at the moment. To go with the shambles of a NZF/Labour and possibly Green coalition doesn’t really hold any appeal.
Labour should have stuck with Shearer. He displayed a bit of amateurishness but he had actually had experience of doing real work. The Labour leaders have got worse and worse since he was stabbed by Brutus Cunliffe and then an even less competent Little was imposed on the Caucus by the Union movement.
Perhaps after the election they will get Grant as leader. He does waffle a bit, and he is totally unsuitable as a Finance spokesman but he at least shows some signs of being a possible competent PM.
“I am inclined to accept the view that someone had leaked Turei’s history to Winston. ”
Then your inclinations are toward making tenuous links and accepting rumour without much application of thought, not especially sturdy blocks on which to build political opinion.
I think Maori will feel affinity with Metiria because she is Maori, exhibits a respect for Maoritanga and for the many Maori people who are poor and who feel they have been treated poorly by the Government.
At the very moment when climate change demands an unprecedented collective public response, neoliberal ideology stands in the way. Which is why, if we want to bring down emissions fast, we will need to overcome all of its free-market mantras: take railways and utilities and energy grids back into public control; regulate corporations to phase out fossil fuels; and raise taxes to pay for massive investment in climate-ready infrastructure and renewable energy — so that solar panels can go on everyone’s rooftop, not just on those who can afford it.
Neoliberalism has not merely ensured this agenda is politically unrealistic: it has also tried to make it culturally unthinkable. Its celebration of competitive self-interest and hyper-individualism, its stigmatization of compassion and solidarity, has frayed our collective bonds. It has spread, like an insidious anti-social toxin, what Margaret Thatcher preached: “there is no such thing as society.”
Marty Mars
thanks for that heads up – puts clear words to the confused mass of consciousness that circle round us like bacteria, infecting and alerting our immune systems to a Babylon of blandishment, bribes, ballyhoo and ultimately brutal effect.
Cheers marty,
I was involved in a ‘survival camp’s with some scouts on top of the tararua.
We were sorely tested, gale force wind driven rain, and the scouts in bivoaucs they had built.
At 3am we found ourselves, a mass choir of 14, singing bohemian rhapsody.
A highlight referred to by the youth years after the event.
It is revealing. The party sounds it’s full of disaffected Labour supporters keen to create a second Labour Party, but Winston Peters is classical National – a conservative authoritarian who favours government intervention in the economy for conservative authoritarian reasons (ie, he shares Muldoon’s view that the government can just order the economy to behave as the government would like).
The party members are deluding themselves. After the election, Winston will form a government with whichever party Winston wants to form a government with, and that party’s very unlikely to be a combination of the Labour and Green parties. All these remits the party have passed are irrelevant to that process.
The polling evidence (NZ Election Study … Colmar Brunton vote switching and so on) suggests former Labour supporters comprised the lion’s share of NZF’s 2011 & 2014 voter-base and that a majority of NZFers prefer a Labour-led Government.
Winnie’s already won over a segment of the more morally-conservative Left & might just continue making in-roads 2017
Just 100 companies responsible for 71% of global emissions, study says
A relatively small number of fossil fuel producers and their investors could hold the key to tackling climate change
Neoliberalism has conned us into fighting climate change as individuals
Stop obsessing with how personally green you live – and start collectively taking on corporate power
“METIRIA TUREI has rescued the 2017 General Election from the timidity and moral squalor into which it was fast descending. In a speech that brought tears to her listeners’ eyes and cheers to their throats, the Greens’ co-leader carried her party out of the shadows of moderation and into the bright sunlit uplands of radicalism that have always been its natural habitat. The Green Party’s AGM of 15-16 July 2017 will go down in history as the moment when it repudiated the “Insider’s” devilish bargains – and reclaimed its soul.”
Disagree all she has done is move the deck chairs amoung the left, and thrown more votes to peters, some here have a vain hope she has appealed to the missing million ie increasing the left pie As the last 9 years has shown this is very unlikely, labour need to grab national swing voters of which they are totally incapable of doing and are hamstrung in strategic no mans land appealing to no body but hard core loyalists
“Disagree” – really! That’s not like you, Red, you’re usually so accommodating of the views expressed here. You are also usually wrong, so I guess at least you are being consistent and you are quite wrong about this issue: I feel your thinking lacks flexibility, where Metiria’s represents the state. Loosen up a little, Red, un-clasp and relax your crabbed grip on your stale old ways. Plus, sweeten yourself up a drop before venturing out in public. You leave a sour taste.
Thanks for the feedback Robbo and greywhateva I am glad you are both taking notice and an avid consumer of my posts, if only a small bit sinks in my job is done
Game changer from Morgan and the Opportunities Party, free $200 a week for all 18 – 23 year olds. If I was in that age group I know who I would be voting for.
That goes alongside their other policy of $200 a week for families with a child under 3.
I get it that Morgan’s abrasive presentation and economic framing don’t appeal to many here. That’s fine I’m 100% supportive of them continuing to vote Lab/Grn as they wish. But at the moment it’s TOP that is making all the interesting and radical running.
I think its good policy and puts TOP in the box seat to capture the youth. $200 a week for kids leaving school, a lot of which aren’t that sure what they want to do career wise. Gives them 5 years of some security, explore what they want to do, relieves pressure off them at a critical stage. All round good for society.
And means testing elderly people as well as cutting parts of Super.
Is the youth UBI on top of welfare or instead of? Can’t see the detail on their website, and IME once you start scratching the surface of TOP policy, there are problems underneath.
elders – all those citizens over 65 years of age – $200 each per week. In addition elders who satisfy a means test will be able to top up to the current NZ Superannuation level by a further $7,500 pa. We will index the top-up to elders’ costs not to average incomes
In other words if Super is your only income at present, I read this as meaning you will continue to be ‘topped up’ to your current levels. No change, no-one worse off.
If you receive other income then this will likely abate your ‘top up’ down to the level of the UBI. Seems fair.
Note also the current policy also abates Super at a rate of 70% down to a minimum of about $100 pw. So on the face of it TOP’s policy is more generous.
The idea is to cut super from the richest who don’t need it, there has been no talk of cutting essential super.
I would also hope this initial UBI doesn’t replace the benefit, both are needed. But when Morgan was talking about a UBI across the board a couple of years ago the idea was to replace benefits with it.
If they’re so rich they don’t need it, they’d probably be paying it back on higher tax rates anyway (or have well-subsidised many others over their careers). They can always give it to charity if they feel guilty.
Automated tax returns are much simpler than signing up, declaring changed income, processing the changes, and auditing for discrepencies.
It’s a bit like in the early 2000’s when I was at a group meeting with the head of winz student services at the time – she outright said they had no idea whether universal student allowances would be cheaper to implement than the means-tested, application/updated circumstances regime we have.
It’s very attractive to say that things should be targeted, and that people who don’t need something shouldn’t automatically get it. But we should double-check to see if the nice idea is more trouble than it’s worth.
And that’s before we get into the “slippery-slope, who sets the abatement threshold” debate.
RL, I’m pretty sure that abatement provision is limited to the rare situation where a person eligible for Super has a partner that is not eligible, but the partner has other income (overseas pensions are usually cited as the likely source of this other income).
For instance, I have a brother who has a Swiss partner. They are contemplating retiring to NZ. He will be eligible for Super, but she will not until she clocks up another seven years of residence. But her Swiss pension payments will be high enough that the abatement provisions would apply to his Super payments.
If someone is eligible for Super and an overseas pension, the Super is reduced dollar for dollar by the overseas pension. So my folks’ Super is actually mostly paid by their Social Security payments from the US.
But most ordinary Kiwi recipients of Super, the Super is just the same as any other income and taxed at the same rate. No special high abatement rates.
“If you have a spouse or partner who doesn’t qualify for their own New Zealand Superannuation, you can choose to include them in your payments. If you do this, any other income either of you earn could affect how much you get.”
It isn’t all overseas pensions. It is only those that are provided by another Government.
The really silly part is that they make you apply for any overseas pension for which you “might” be eligible. This includes Australia if you ever worked there. You have to fill in about 46 pages of bumpf.
You then apply, get turned down because you fail the asset test limit and you simply continue here as if you had never worked there.
The really nasty part is that if you qualify for even the tiniest amount of Australian super you are required to tell them of any change in your circumstances. Say you inherit $1,000 from a great-uncle. You have to tell them so that they can reduce the amount they pay over to the New Zealand Government. Your shares rise by $200. Same thing.
If you think that dealing with WINZ is tough you have clearly never had anything to do with the Ozzie equivalent.
Never had to deal with the Aussie Government except as a tourist. I’d never want to go work there. It’s not bad as a place, but it’s full of Australians.
On the other hand, living in the US meant some truly awesome tax return paperwork. My worst was one year I had the federal returns including the forms for capital gains on selling a house and 2 lots of moving expenses, plus state returns for Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and California, plus another lot of paperwork to reconcile US stuff with Mexican stuff coz I was working in a factory in Mexico owned by a US company. It all added up to a stack thicker than the old-school Auckland phonebook.
In general the idea in the long run seems to be an Universal Income set at relatively low level that everyone accesses. Whether you are in work or not. Initially available to youth, families with children and the elderly. The goal in the long run is to make it genuinely Universal
For those not in work, or retired, the UBI would be ‘topped up’ to current levels. So in essence it would ‘replace’ the first $200 or so of a benefit, without eliminating them completely.
Seems a flexible and fair approach to me. And the unconditional security of the UBI is way more attractive than the current capricious and precarious benefit system.
“The idea is to cut super from the richest who don’t need it, there has been no talk of cutting essential super.”
There is a lot of space between richest and essential. I think you will find that like with other social welfare, means testing and abatement is problematic for many reasons. I don’t want elderly people subjected to that.
“I would also hope this initial UBI doesn’t replace the benefit, both are needed. But when Morgan was talking about a UBI across the board a couple of years ago the idea was to replace benefits with it.”
yes, that’s right. Morgan wants to scrap social welfare entirely and replace it with an low rate economic UBI and personal responsibility. He’s clueless about what welfare is and what role it plays in society and how his policies would make many vulnerable people worse off. He doesn’t like welfare and wants to get rid of it. Welfare is critical to society, a UBI can’t replace that. We need both.
Super ALREADY is abated from anyone with income over $5kpa at a rate of 70%. The idea that Super is currently not subject to ‘means testing’ or ‘abatement’ is just wrong.
And if you want to quibble the difference between ‘means testing’ and ‘abatement’ then be my guest.
Morgan wants to scrap social welfare entirely and replace it with an low rate economic UBI and personal responsibility
You were wrong about TOP policy making elderly people worse off, so now you shift the goal-posts.
Welfare is critical to society, a UBI can’t replace that.
Why not? In the short term it makes sense to have both; but in the long run if the UBI was proven successful it could easily replace targeted welfare.
TOP wants to tax the assets of elderly people. It wants them to hoop jump. It wants to reduce some of their income. I think there are better ways of managing all those things.
I’m not shifting the goal posts, mauī was talking about a UBI replacing benefits, I responded with the problems with that. I’ve always pointed to one of the major issues with Morgan’s UBI is that it fails to take into account that welfare is a crucial part of any caring society.
“Why not? In the short term it makes sense to have both; but in the long run if the UBI was proven successful it could easily replace targeted welfare.”
‘Targeted welfare’ isn’t the same as social welfare. Social welfare is the state’s fundamental position that people deserve to be looked after. Targeted welfare is the extreme bastardisation that comes about when neoliberals don’t have enough power to remove it completely.
As you well know, Morgan’s UBI fails to provide for the most vulnerable. He sets the UBI at a rate that’s not liveable, and he bases that on the idea that everyone can work. He seeks to remove income from people that can’t work. He’s reasonably honest about the removable of the safety net and that this needs to be replaced with personal responsibility. He has some vague ideas about how the non-working poor can manage and be supported but nothing that’s even close to credible policy. He also acknowledges that some people will do it tough. All of that is unacceptable and unnecessary. There are far better ways to design a UBI.
TOP wants to tax the assets of elderly people. It wants them to hoop jump. It wants to reduce some of their income.
Wrong. ALL assets would be taxed, not just the elderly. The only people who are significantly affected are ‘asset rich/cash poor’ who can postpone the liability and pay it from their estate. This really isn’t much different to an estate tax in some ways, and not too far removed from the same system which will recover rest home care costs.
Absolutely it does not reduce their income one cent. Wrong again.
Targeted welfare is the extreme bastardisation that comes about when neoliberals don’t have enough power to remove it completely.
Wrong again. ALL welfare that has some pre-requisite condition to qualify for it, like being unemployed or disabled is by definition ‘targeted’. And with that brings with it a host of toxic problems that you posted about just yesterday.
By contrast a UBI is ultimately intended to be unconditional. It has to be the ultimate, broadest expression of the idea that everyone deserves to be looked after.
Gareth Morgan and his paid for vanity party want to means test elderlies for super.
So your nana has a wee house, worth all about 35thousands on a plot of leased land, but hey she can sell the house and live of that before getting super. Cause she and the likes liker her will be the only ones suffering from the ‘its not fair i get super ‘ policies. Gareth Morgan, has enough houses and enough money to pay an accountant to make sure he will not have enough ‘income’ and receive super in full.
Super, like unemployment benefits and the dole are -prepaid- services. We are paying taxes to raise funds that can be distributed among those that have lost their jobs – unemployment, or that are too old for working – super annuition. These programs are not charity, they are not a hand out. Working people paid for these programs via their taxes. But then, Gareth does know nothing about paying taxes, Gareth knows about paying accountants to help him avoid taxes.
Nah you’ve lost me there. Right now the single most ‘bloated and ineffective managerial’ cockup in the country is WINZ. And Morgan proposes in the long run to close it down.
Nor can the idea of a UBI that has been around for at least 500 years, and is being explored in many countries, be scarcely described as a ‘vanity project’.
Do you think a UBI is just Gareth Morgan’s ‘vanity project’, ‘tax write off’; or does it have a respectable 500+ year history you just don’t want to know about?
Morgan is in zero position to make a UBI reality in NZ. That will be Labour and the Greens who both already want to do this. I will be working hard to make sure they use a model that is designed around wellbeing not economics. Easy with the Greens, more of a challenge with Labour.
There are other non-govt people working in UBI in NZ. You might want to ask yourself why Morgan is seen as the pioneer and they’re not.
A UBI is also fundamentally an economic tool. Designing one without reference to economics is like designing a sailboat without reference to the sea.
Of course Morgan doesn’t own the concept; but after decades of the idea being firmly stuck in obscurity, he’s given it the oxygen it desperately needed. At least in NZ.
Of course I’m happy to debate the merits of TOP policy detail; nothing is ever perfect on the first attempt … but misrepresenting it leads to ill-formed debate.
On the contrary I am listening very closely. You should know me better by now. 🙂
Consider this … you know I have never had a bad word for the Greens, that I have voted for them the past 4 elections at least and they carry a very fond spot in my heart.
My partner and I had the privilege of attending Rod Donald’s memorial service at Parliament and we both wept along with everyone else. It’s a vivid memory.
So when I say that I strongly identify with the spiritual and moral foundations of the Greens, with their community and people based vision … please I ask you to accept this at face value.
Now at the same time though I ask you to accept that I ALSO believe that we cannot minimise the economic dimension. That the gross inequality of wealth, the class warfare that grinds so many people into submission and despair, has it’s roots deeply embedded in bad economics. Now while Steve Keen is probably an economist closer to my tastes than Gareth Morgan, TOP is nonetheless presenting policy that goes a long way in a direction I like.
And emphatically there is no particular reason why these two visions should be mutually exclusive. While I fully accept the Greens and TOP frame their ideas and visions differently, I see far more potential common ground than conflict. I’d go one step further, the Greens may well have more underlying purpose and vision in common with TOP than they do with Labour.
Are you living under a rock? Seriously the whole managerial class in this country from the public sector to the private is a joke in this country. I’m guessing you don’t have to deal with many government departments or their managers. Nor have much experience with the private sector their Redlogix, please prove me wrong. I’m seeing you single out work and income (it ‘ant been winz since the disaster in beige with bangle earrings) shows a level of ignorance, or a desire to push a certain agenda.
systems that have been run down by neoliberalism and where too many managers no longer have the common sense to operate those systems in a socially competent way.
++++ !!!
The insane idea that somehow ‘managers’ didn’t need to actually know much about the core operations of the business they’re running will be the end of us. I’ve spent 40 years subverting the worst impacts of these desk-apes. Over it … totally.
Worked mostly in the private sector and some in the public over 40 years now. But my agenda around WINZ does indeed come from direct family experience …
But I do struggle to see how we can pin the blame for all this on Gareth Morgan.
I think you are making the common mistake of thinking that all economic activity is definition ‘capitalism’.
In any conceivable system I can think of money will remain a feature, and the using money to invest in future productivity will also remain an enduring feature. Thus all reasonable alternatives will have some aspect of capitalism.
Indeed you hit on an interesting metaphor; cancer is the normal and vital process of cell growth and replacement gone rogue. What you object to is not ‘capitalism’ per se, but the unregulated, out of control version of it we have come to know as ‘neo-liberalism’.
And I’d argue if you read TOP policy with an open mind you see Morgan harnessing normal economic mechanisms to regulate and moderate capitalism into a form that serves all people equitably, rather than the privileged few who’ve captured it for their own benefit.
In any conceivable system I can think of money will remain a feature, and the using money to invest in future productivity will also remain an enduring feature.
True.
Thus all reasonable alternatives will have some aspect of capitalism.
Not necessarily.
The defining part about capitalism is private ownership and that’s not needed to run a business. Make the business self-owned and run by the people who work there. Neither capitalism nor communism but still a market system.
And I’d argue if you read TOP policy with an open mind you see Morgan harnessing normal economic mechanisms to regulate and moderate capitalism into a form that serves all people equitably, rather than the privileged few who’ve captured it for their own benefit.
The problem with that idea is that it can’t actually work. We see, as per Piketty’s work, that ownership always results in a few people having control of the resources of a nation resulting in the inevitable collapse of that nation.
Capitalism doesn’t work and never has done. Time to try something new. Something that ensures that no one is in poverty, rewards people for their work and doesn’t reward people for owning stuff.
Not going to argue with you in principle … but hell it’s like herding cats to get people on board with a baby steps UBI much less the utter transformation you’re describing here.
Actually Redlogix I’m a Christian Anarchist who opposes capitalism in all it’s forms, and it’s why I used the words liberalism and capitalism. I’m no wet. And I think people who support capitalism in any form are the enemy.
So it’s not about an open mind. It’s about politics, or more specifically – political economy.
So capitalism is a cancer, which has held back humanity, and worse is actually making the biosphere we live in uninhabitable for future generations.
So yeah, nah. Like I said, top is another liberal party – shining a turd.
Oh good luck to you then. Which ‘Christian Anarchist’ party are you going to vote for again?
Because from where I’m sitting I really don’t see any party of significance who have a detailed policy position around dismantling the entire economic system and replacing it with something completely novel, untried and untested.
Because while I agree with you that unconstrained capitalism is a disaster; this does not automatically mean that any random alternative you can dream up will automatically turn out to be better.
So for you following the same thing that produces the same dire results, no matter how many angles people try, is perfectly logical?
Seriously how many times has capitalism got to be reformed until we try somthing new? Socialism works if it is not authoritarian, just the people with money use violence to make sure that it appears not to work. A good example is Venezuela, not the basket case the press would like you to believe. Rojava is doing well. So are some other socialist countries in South America.
As for the whole party thing, you might want to try some reading to help you with that fetish. You know, in the past the same fetish was what prince did you bend your head too, or support, if you were wealthy enough.
T Draco T B.
You say
“The defining part about capitalism is private ownership and that’s not needed to run a business. Make the business self-owned and run by the people who work there”.
What on earth do you mean by “self-owned”. The only possible interpretation is that it is owned by the people who work there. That is still private ownership.
The only alternative ownership is being owned by the state.
There is a legal fiction that a business is a person but it is still only a fiction. A business can’t go to jail. It can’t pay a fine. It can’t be punished. It can’t make decisions. Only the people who work there or the owners can do those things.
He’s clarified that a yearly property/estate tax would be paid at the end of someone’s life so elderly people aren’t having to re-mortgage homes and sell up when they are asset rich but cash poor.
He also says in his speeches he doesn’t want a cent of his and his wife’s $40,000+ a year in super because they don’t need it. That is slightly different to what you’re saying which is that he will screw the system to gain as much wealth out of it as possible.
The idea of an asset tax is an extremely important one to restore equity to our tax system. New Zealanders have for so long gotten away without much in the way of capital or estate taxes that we struggle to get our heads around this.
but there is not a word or thing or newspaper article or other that you could utter that would make this man palatable to me. I consider him the NZ answer to Trump.
Most elders that i know, are neither asset rich nor cash rich. They, own a property – some with small mortgages on them – and they manage on their super or still work at 70. the very small subset of filthy rich ‘elders’ would be voting for National.
But i agree with Gareth Morgan, he should not be receiving super, as he is not paying income taxes or any taxes as he so proudly keeps proclaiming. Or as he said to me, Wage slaves should be revolting.
i have followed him, had conversation with him on FB and i have come to the conclusion that he is a major fuckwit. An entitled, vain, prickish type of fuck wit.
and i have read his positions and i am old enough to know what happens to poor people when rich people come and say i have a solution that will make you money 🙂 Nothing will happen, cause Gareth Morgan can only be rich by screwing over people to give up their money, their assets and what ever else they have that might be worth a penny.
now, if he were to put his ‘untaxed’ income to where his fat mouth is, now we could be talking.
But he ain’t helping poor people, he ain’t providing shelter for homeless people, he ain’t writing cheques to have homes build, he is not supporting some trap/neuter groups that want to control the feral cats of NZ. Nah, he wants to means test you, so that he won’t be getting super . Chutzpah by any other word.
go vote for him. but me, i’ll vote for Labour/Greens. thanks.
And I was told The Standard had to clean up it’s act, cut out the abuse and personal attacks so that more women would feel comfortable commenting here.
Yes … a realistic appraisal is that TOP won’t get over 5%. But neither is it impossible.
I’m a dreamer, but one that realism has pounded more than a few dents into. But recent political events have proved the pundits don’t have a monopoly on foresight.
Well if you want some facts, Gareth Morgan’s wealth arose when TradeMe was sold to Fairfax. Feel free to explain how that was a ‘screwing over people to give up their money’.
Gareth Morgan and i we both speak as we think. I don’t like Gareth Morgan because he is an epic fuckwit, with no social conscience.
He wants to ride on our roads, but he does not want to pay to pave them. That is why i don’t like him ,and i have told him as such. Biker to biker you know. I consider Gareth Morgan and the likes like him parasites on society. They use up resources and they pay not for upkeep or maintenance and in order to extract another penny or two they would kill the host if need be.
Gareth and Jo have already visited Timor-Leste and have seen the difference community pre-schools are making. They were so impressed by what they saw, that they’ve pledged to match each donation to the project. By supporting this project, you’re helping to provide children in remote villages with learning supplies and a space to learn in. It means they don’t have to go to work from a young age, and that they’ve got a chance to start learning early. Long term, this education increases their chances of escaping poverty, early marriage, and child labour
gareth and sam have done an environmentally intrusive subdivision development at the mouth of rhe cardrona valley near wanaka….went to the high court to overturn an environment court decision in the process….he will never be getting my vote
Ms Addy said the proposal had the potential to cause adverse visual effects but, given the nature of the circumstances, including its consented baseline and the controls offered by the applicant, the adverse effects would be less than minor.
So ‘less than minor’ adverse visual effects trumps transforming the lives of children in Timor. And other projects I could link to going back at least 15 years.
I doesn’t really seem to be worthwhile to do such things in New Zealand.
Look at Mr Mark Dunajtschik. He is giving $50 million for a new Children’s Hospital.
About 90% of the comments on here were abusive to him.
As I recall it, most of the commenters were of the view that we shouldn’t be in a position of relying on the charity of the wealthy to fund children’s hospitals. It’s beyond me how anyone could argue against that view.
Apparently that’s being abusive to rich people /sarc
I also like that Alwyn brings up a guy about which most people know two things (he’s rich, and he did a really nice thing for kids) to compare with Morgan, who’s beliefs and attitudes are pretty prominent.
I dunno anything about Dunajtschik. Morgan strikes me as being a bit of a dick.
Last few years I’ve been working for a man who’s built a highly innovative and energetic company from almost nothing to over 160 employees with a global presence.
I’m certain you’d label him a ‘dickhead’ as well … but hell he got things done few other people did. I do get that this isn’t the only possible leadership model, but in my experience people who successfully turn big dreams into big results, have charged their way through endless naysayers and challenges to get there.
They really tend not to tolerate fools well. If you want to label this ‘dickhead’ then be my guest … but I’d call you out on a certain failure of imagination too.
And Psycho Mil – what’s the bet when the hospital is opened with the ribbon to be cut and all the MP’s in creation there it will be the PM (whoever he/she is) beaming and trying to hog the cudos trying to cut the ribbon. I am like you – ashamed that we have to rely on charity to build a kid’s hospital. People pay taxes so that great and good things for the greater good are created – but it seems that we are not doing the job and charity has to pick up the tab. Disgraceful.
I mean this in a kindly way, but there should be an extension to Godwin’s law. Instead of just automatically invalidating your argument by mentioning Hitler, it would be comparing any politician to Trump for no particular reason, other than the go to bad dude.
To his credit, Gareth Morgan has actual policies he appears to believe in and have thought about.
He has started some conversations around housing and education.
He also presents a good alternative for young smarty pants urban professionals who could so easily be pulled to the dark side of National.
Really, Gareth has far more in common with Hillary et al.
TOP is a vanity party, and NZ First is a vanity party. Trump was/is a vanity candidate. Neither of them will do good to anyone but them in the short and long term.
“as he is not paying income taxes or any taxes”.
He hasn’t said anything like that. The most he has claimed is that he pays a lower percentage of his income in taxes than people with much lower incomes.
If he spends anything at all in New Zealand he is certainly going to have to pay GST.
The New Zealand GST system is one of the best planned taxes there is. It is almost impossible to avoid without reducing your expenditure to nothing. It is a superbly designed, and very simple system.
he has screwed the system so far, up until now, and will in the future so as to extract as much wealth for him as possible. That is why he is currently not paying taxes, but you do. 🙂
“He’s clarified that a yearly property/estate tax would be paid at the end of someone’s life so elderly people aren’t having to re-mortgage homes and sell up when they are asset rich but cash poor.”
Or when they move into a smaller home, or a rest home? Sorry, but I think generic taxing of non-wealthy elderly in this way is unethical and problematic. Put a CGT on assets that aren’t the family home. Tax high income earners. Tax corporations. Put in a Financial Transaction Tax. Tax polluters. Lots of things that can be done without going first for poor people.
@ WEKA Put a CGT on assets that aren’t the family home. Tax high income earners. Tax corporations. Put in a Financial Transaction Tax. Tax polluters. Lots of things that can be done without going first for poor people.
thank you for stating it so much better then me.
he is not proposing a single tax on him. He is proposing to means tests us, so that he and his can’t get super. Let him and his wife have super, and tax the hilt out of them.
“he is not proposing a single tax on him. He is proposing to means tests us, so that he and his can’t get super. Let him and his wife have super, and tax the hilt out of them.”
This too.
The weird thing is, I learnt about taxing higher incomes earners in order to fund a UBI from Red Logix. But that’s not what Morgan is doing exactly. He has a philosophical/ideological approach around tax, and thus fails to design well for poor people. He can tack on all the addendums he likes, but it’s still blatantly obvious that while he has some good ideas his starting points are wrong. We shouldn’t have economists designing society.
Any scheme that applies a CGT but excludes the family home, and means tests the Super but excludes the family home will be like the system they have in Australia. It is a disaster.
Basically you are stupid to retire with assets, excluding the family home, that are more than $400,000 and less than about $1,500,000.
You will lose part of your Super on any amount greater than $400k and lose the lot if you have more than $800k. It will take you the $1.5m to get an income equal to what you would get with a complete Super payment and $400k savings.
If you reach 65 with, say, $800k the best thing is to spend the extra $400k on either getting a new house, expanding your existing house or going on a long, luxurious, world trip.
That is precisely what many Australians do. They are being completely rational to do so.
He is not proposing to means test the UBI. It will mean exactly what it says.
Gareth isn’t forced to collect Super. You have to apply for it and if you don’t apply you don’t get it.
Bob Jones doesn’t get it you know. He says he doesn’t need it and he never asked for it. Pity some of our richer ex-politicians like Jim Anderton never followed his example.
Put a CGT on the family home too. But include a rollover provision for the family home. A family home exemption gets really messy, I’ve seen that in the US.
What I mean by rollover is: say a family buys a home for $500k, then a few years later sells it for $1M to buy a new home for $1.3M. Without a rollover, they would be liable for CGT on the $1/2M capital gain. With a rollover, they pay no CGT now, but the cost basis of their new home is the $500k they paid for their old home plus the extra $300k for the upgrade, for a total of $800k. So if they had to immediately turn around and sell the new home for $1.25M (say coz they were transferred overseas), they would pay CGT on $450k capital gain ($1250K sales price less $800K cost basis). That explanation ignores the reasonable deductions that should be included in a CGT, like selling expenses, cost of capital improvements etc.
If an elder person has just sold their home for $300,000 or say $500,000 and they’ve been living rent free for a number years and earn over $300 a week in super I would count them as well off.
I can’t see why a good slice of estate tax can come off that sale. It seems quite similar to a capital gains tax in that sense.
It treats homes as investment assets, which underpins the whole housing crisis. Home simply shouldn’t be taxed that way. If someone is buying houses and selling them to make money, sure tax the sales. But taking a % of wealth off low income people is not a good way to approach social security.
We shouldn’t be going after the generic elderly and treating them as if they are like younger people. I hope I don’t have to explain the rationale behind that.
Homes shouldn’t be treated as financial instruments, right up until the moment they become purely a financial instrument. That moment happens at settlement of the sale.
The principle idea is to tax wealthy assets and redistribute that money into tax cuts for low income earners. Again it’s hard to see how Gareth does well out of that.
Exactly. weka is projecting a pretty weird idea of ‘poor’ here.
Keep in mind that many might be living in homes worth the thick end of $1m and may have a number of ways to turn some of that asset into cash during their lifetimes.
There are two kinds of equity you can think of; vertical equity which means treating small and large instances the same. In brief this is one of the simple outcomes of flat taxes and a UBI, the outcome is progressive but whether you are a paper boy earning your first dollar, or a CEO on millions … you are being treated exactly the same by the tax system. That’s one sense of fair.
Horizontal equity means that all income whether in cash or in kind regardless of source is treated the same. The huge issue for NZ is that we have been privileging housing and property over cash income for a very long time. This is why our economy is now so grossly distorted.
The best taxes are small, simple and universal. This means there is no incentive or opportunity to evade or work around misdirecting investment for tax reasons rather than productive ones.
While it’s reasonable to quibble the exact structure and details of TOP’s proposed Asset tax, the fundamental idea of it is sound.
On the contrary, it’s the fundamentals I have a problem with. They don’t get welfare or its value and hence they’ve designed policy around economics. That serves economies. I want the people to be served.
Yet the odd thing is that the most common objection I hear from people when I first mention UBI, is along the lines “It makes beneficiaries of everyone!” … as if that were a very bad thing.
Frankly I struggle to understand this big distinction is that you are making between say $200pw income from a welfare benefit and $200pw income from a UBI.
Except that the former is something you had to line up, fill out paperwork and grovel for … while the latter is by right and unconditional.
Of course in the short term introducing a UBI to fully replace Welfare isn’t reasonable. Never said it was and that is clearly not TOP policy. The initial proposal is to make it available to youth, families with young children and the elderly and combine it with existing Welfare.
In the longer term if the UBI was successful and demonstrated the positive outcomes I believe it could have, then an expanded UBI could become truly Universal for everyone. But even then I doubt it would ever fully replace targeted welfare.
Reshaping an economy so that it works to serve people in the way you have in mind, would be a gradual transition. It could take a generation or more. The idea of slam-bam shock policy died with Roger Douglas.
I’m supportive of a UBI if it’s designed around wellbeing. That’s not what Morgan is doing. He’s designing from an economic perspective and adding in the nice social bits as he goes. This is why The Big Kahuna fails to address the topup issue meaningfully and leaves it as a side bar to sort out later. That’s dangerous.
I don’t know anyone that can live on $200/wk. I’m sure there are some people, but they’re generally people that have other resources e.g. no rent.
You seem to think welfare is about a sum of money. It’s not, it’s about caring for people when they need it. Morgan is pretty clear he wants people to be personally responsible and for the state to radically lessen support. So bad luck if you can’t manage on what Morgan deems sufficient or in ways that Morgan deems as reasonable or normal.
Reshaping an economy so that it works to serve people in the way you have in mind, would be a gradual transition. It could take a generation or more.
Considering that there’s really only one way to do it it’d take five minutes.
1. Stop banks from creating money
2. Implement a UBI and government spending as the only way money enters the economy
Done. You really can’t do it any other way because all other ways require looking for ways to pay for the UBI which can’t be done. This way the UBI pays for the economy and we end up with an economy that’s stable and works for everyone.
If you have no other income and you qualify for welfare, TOP policy has clearly evolved to a position where your income would be the unconditional UBI plus a conditional top up welfare benefit to at least current levels.
The Big Kahuna was published some years ago now; the issue of ‘top ups’ has now been addressed in detail. How ‘dangerous’ was that?
You seem to think welfare is about a sum of money. It’s not, it’s about caring for people when they need it.
Yet whenever we’ve discussed this in the past this is EXACTLY what you brought it back to … how to bridge the gap between the UBI and current benefits. Now it’s clear the welfare top up mechanism would fill that gap just fine, you move the goal-posts again to demanding that state needs to be ‘caring’ as well.
If your idea of state ‘care’ is the status quo welfare system; well you have me stumped.
Morgan is pretty clear he wants people to be personally responsible and for the state to radically lessen support
IF at UBI with it’s myriad of benefits really did transform society in the way many people hope, and that people really did find it much easier to find ways to support themselves in ways that suited them and fulfilled their dreams in life … why would this be such a bad thing?
If a UBI really did eliminate the poverty trap, toxic dependency, reduce the number of people who needed support, what exactly are you objecting to here?
Why represent this as binary choice between ‘collective caring’ OR ‘personal responsibility’ … when surely a blend of the strengths of both might be an ideal worth thinking about?
You always make me feel so conservative. But on this I largely agree with you. Creating credit is a necessary economic function and using the UBI to generate a large fraction of it, instead of the allowing the banks to have a monopoly as they do now, is a very interesting idea.
But as always principle and pragmatism should never try to gatecrash the same party. Ends in tears.
If you have no other income and you qualify for welfare, TOP policy has clearly evolved to a position where your income would be the unconditional UBI plus a conditional top up welfare benefit to at least current levels.
The Big Kahuna was published some years ago now; the issue of ‘top ups’ has now been addressed in detail. How ‘dangerous’ was that?
Really? Because as far as I can tell the TOP ‘UBI’ currently is on top of existing benefits. Are you suggesting this is the plan for a full UBI eventually?
What’s the ‘conditional topup’?
I’ve not seen anything credible from TOP on supplementary benefits.
As for the rest of your comment, you appear to be arguing with me as if I’m against a UBI. I’ve said multiple times that I’m supportive of a UBI but that I think Morgan’s one is seriously lacking. When you start hearing what I am actually saying and engaging with that I’ll reciprocate.
actually people might be living in an asset worth of a million if they find a buyer who will give them a million dollar. Until then the house is only ever worth what someone pays for it, and that might be nought.
where i bought my house the average price for house without land is around 60.000$ The land then comes in at another 50.000 or so, so the average house / land here sells around 80 .000 – 120.000 . These people surely are rolling in cash. Lets means test them, lest they get to much right?
but I agree, Mr. Morgan should be paying taxes as he has several million dollar properties that – as per his own saying – he keeps empty and thus not profitable to ‘protect the carpet’ from the tenants. He should be paying a lot of taxes on his empty investment properties until it becomes so unprofitable for him to have these properties empty that he either sells them for someone to live in or rents them for someone to live in.
I side with Sabine. Morgan screwed the dirty system to the max when he was young and greedy, then, after making enough money, went into semi-retirement, travelled around a bit, and began to gain a glimmer of social understanding. Now he masquerades (even if he believes in his own myths) as a philanthropic worker for the social good. Like that American mogul Carnegie, he does good works that I think ring hollow.
I used to think that the ‘politics of envy’ was a right wing myth … but watching more than a few people here I’m beginning to think they may have been correct all along.
As you wish. But how old are you? I remember back in the 90s when Morgan was the clever smarty-pants expert being touted on TV as a great consultant on the value of the Dollar. He was part of the big neo-liberal mouthpiece. He needs to go a long way further to atone for all that, and he is nowhere near it so far. Maybe you are too young to understand this.
Almost old enough for Super thank you. You remember a different Morgan to me; I recall someone who was always an outsider, all too prone to speaking his mind to ever be part of the big club.
But the 90’s are quite a long time back now; and people do change. I know I have a lot, and I’d hazard a guess you have too.
Hell I once even voted ACT. Have I done enough to atone for it by now do you think?
lol – nobody can atone for that!
I am already on Super, but I guessed wrongly at you being young.
I remember people avidly following Roger Douglas with his flat tax ideas, thinking they were pushing left-wing policies having got rid of Muldoon. I sense a little of the same in Morgan, sad to say.
He became an outspoken outsider only after he had profited from the damaging policies he approved of, to my mind. But who knows? None of us is infallible. I have agreed with every post of yours I have seen up until now – and this is not a major thing.
Go for what we believe in, eh?
Labour’s been announcing portions of its (?$200mil I think?) regional development fund in each reagion little visits – Dunedin’s getting IT industry support, Gisborne will get a prefab housing factory (there’s the 100k homes methinks), dunno what else.
more cops and light rail for auckland, too. And working towards a living wage and better workplace rights, of course. 3 yrs free tertiary education.
I’m sure the Greens have some additional/even better policies, too. NZ1 will probably have some hefty regional development policies as well.
They’re neck and neck as they come round the course but I think The Chairman is pulling to the front and is the WINNER for the most concerned troll of the morning. Will he keep up this pace during the day and emerge a champion tonight?
What a commenter, day after day, he keeps up the pace. He will be a hard man to beat and will wear his blue jersey with pride for the timebeing , and may receive his cobalt shade one in the BIG prizegiving day in September. But there are good contenders, yes they are giving him hot competition, and if their jaws don’t drop off or fingers wear out to their wrists, they’ll be close behind.
But watch this wonderful little performer for good value entertainment.
But will his body be able to sustain that frenetic level of activity? One snapped tendon, or one blister in the wrong place, and his keyboarding rate could plunge, causing a dramatic loss to all those who enjoy wringing their hands as they mull over the complexities and intricacies of those weighty problems that constantly plague the parties of the Left, but never the Right.
One can only hope…
No mention of Johnny Key our humble home boy getting a top award from Oz for not causing their bedsheets to get rucked up by any thorny questions that meek little NZs want to raise. After all when all the big money is covered by Oz banks who would dare be tempted to annoy them.
Meanhile our brownies languish on islands that are not paradise (any whities there? If not sounds like discrimination to me.) Oz has long been the Dis-crimi-nation but I had hoped for better from NZ politicians. But hey, nice doggie John, give him a medal and a bone too, the best for you, an Honorary Companion in the Order of Australia. This is the highest Australian honour.
there is a sting in the tail here for the Nats ..while i always mistrusted the guy he did seem to have a way with some in the electorate…his resurrection with a medal so close to the election serves to show how crap English is
Moving on from illegal taping,
the $100k hush money,
confidentiality agreement,
bill english lying to the public,
barclay continuing to be paid,
staff resignations
and media avoidance…
an extremely important question to be addressed (vital to the whole puzzle) is…
Even Gunloving Rednecks in the US are starting to see through the lies of the neo-liberal establishment. I bet they will not get the lenient treatment handed out to Armed-Right-Wing groups who invade and occupy federal land etc.
Armed Left-Wing Group Wants To Stamp Out Fascism – The Young Turks – Published on Jul 17, 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYWujK8qEUI
But one can never be too careful because placards!.
What protesting on the border has come to. Texas Militia is "protecting" Greg Abbott campaign event in McAllen from peaceful protesters. pic.twitter.com/rfP4VzexqR— Dani Marrero Hi (@danimarr94) July 15, 2017
These guys are saying they are willing to defend the US Constitution. Not just the first amendment that is the only thing a lot of right-wingers care about, but these guys are trying to protect the down trodden against these that seek to do them harm.
What’s is it with green MPs and honesty, two gone in the last week in oz suddenly rembering they had dual citizenship, one in nz deciding to be honest after 20 or so tears of been dishonest
What a terrible typo.
” after 20 or so tears of been dishonest”.
I didn’t see any tears at all. She was chortling with laughter about how she had got away with ripping off the taxpayer.
One of our parties managed to put up a list candidate who wasn’t actually a citizen at all I think it was NZF but I wouldn’t put money on it. I may be unfairly maligning them.
Alwyn’s total misrepresentation of those alleged tears/chuckling represent merely his own wishful thinking. Quite a pattern emerging of that…
And will one of you sort out ‘been’ and ‘being’?
And write out 10 times, ‘That’s all you’ve got.’
‘That’s all you got’ means ‘That’s all you received’.
Don’t make yourself look sillier than you need to.
And the whole world does not hate a corrector – only those who need correction. Like you.
I shall take your word for it.
Your memory is clearly better than mine on the matter. I only remembered that it happened to some party at some election.
And, for any NZF supporter who may read this blog, I apologise for maligning you.
Tears of laughter after 20 years of taking the proverbial, oh I will pay it back if they can prove it beyond my carefully legally constructed confession for perceived political benefit
[RL: Two unsubstantiated smears. Lift your game. Last warning.]
Puller always looks like she just snagged the last cream bun. Crutcher always looks like someone goosed her. Bingles always looks like one of his kids shat in his brogues. Such is life.
Rowan Atkinson being a Conservative giving out his feelings about immigration in the UK. (Think this was during Thatcher years. It may be entirely different now.)
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaGdwfykYGY
Please note. This is political satire.
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, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
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 ...
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 ...
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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 ...
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 ...
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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. ...
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Labour opposed to the Green’s plan to increase benefits.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/335290/labour-threatens-punitive-tax-on-multinationals
Rather disappointing that despite their rhetoric (and so close on the heels of the Children’s Commissioner advocating the indexing of benefits to the average net wage to help address poverty) Labour have declined to increase benefit rates.
What happen to a fairer go for everybody?
Not much of a ‘fresh approach’ for beneficiaries.
The MoU is in tatters.
Labour is being responsible.
Meteria and the Greens will be fuming.
The left is starting to look like a dogs breakfast.
The Greens have just been given a left hook by Labour and about time to.
“Labour is being responsible.”
Failing to help address poverty, thus save the country money and improve living standards, education and health outcomes, is far from being ‘responsible’.
“The Greens have just been given a left hook by Labour…”
It was far from supportive, that’s for sure.
I have to disagree … both parties have laid out policies that will improve the plight for the poorest. The Greens’s policy will provide more than Labour’s policy. There is a sweet spot between the two which both parties can agree on.
The trick is to get them both elected and not have to rely on NZFirst.
And it’s not like Labour could rewrite their policy between Sunday and now.
But any chance to get the boot into Labour. Or the Greens. It’s like people don’t want the left to win if it means cooperating.
Mickeysavage,
The real trick is to get polling traction for Labour, won’t happen whilst the MoU is around its neck.
IMO Labour will only get upwards traction if they dump on the Greens and Winnies party.
Labour should and probably does know that but it seems head office timidity and adverse risk leadership is a problem.
Time will tell, but I expect the sideways attacking of Labour will continue by Winnie and the Greens.
“The Greens’s policy will provide more than Labour’s policy”
And now is the time to let Labour know we expect more if they want our vote.
And if Labour genuinely care about the plight of the poor, why not swiftly act by increasing benefits?
Yep Mickey,
They need all to pull together for the goal of expelling this corrupt administration from our shores forever the sellouts.
TOGETHER WE STAND; – DIVIDED WE FALL.
once and for all.. the MOU never meant labour and green policies would be the same. Do try and pay attention
“The MOU never meant labour and green policies would be the same”
The problem for them is the differences between them makes it difficult for voters to envision the two coherently working together.
Not really. If the goal is the same then agreement can be reached.
Sure. It’s just the differences take a number of voters back to that ad with them all in the rowing boat, rowing different ways trying to get there.
A very small number of NACT voters will go back to their comfy blanky.
Like the Maori Party, ACT, UF and National?
With the Nats having the far larger number, voters feel far more comfortable with such a coalition.
Only those voters who have difficulty understanding the concept of “working together” as opposed to “do what I say”.
Keep it up bearded git the RWs will I hope never get to throw acid at the left, but they do want to dowse the flame of goodness and vitality rising on the let.
thanks grey…..I’m very hopeful for 23rd Sept.
Labour has finally worked out that a simple message plays well to the public, their “Ditch the Tax Cuts; Education, Health, Housing and No to Poverty instead” message is coming through well.
You mean a right hook, billmurray. It seems there will be only misery for you this coming election.
Robert Guyton,
I said a left hook and meant a left hook.
They need to throw a few more to knock some reality into the Green “10%’s we rule the world mentality”.
The Greens may be sincere and of course they may dream, but they will turn this election into a nightmare for Labour with their antics.
Time will tell.
Have you read Chris Trotter’s column yet, Bill?
I’d like to hear your views on it.
You really believe The Greens think they rule the world?
Playing the game with zest doesn’t translate to delusions of omnipotence, in my view. Your people need to pull something out of the hat, Bill, as mine are doing with consummate ease. In any case, any party’s performance can only be sheeted to itself; stop bagging the other players and start adding something to your team’s chances. They, btw, chose to have an MOU with The Greens as did The Greens with them. Do you have no faith at all in your party’s management? I’m backing mine; I reckon they’re smart. If you can’t back them in their shared decision, perhaps politics is not for you?
Robert Guyton,
yes I have read Chris Trotters article, a worthy piece of writing.
But I am afraid that is all.
Look at reality;
Winnies bottom lines, referendums on Maori and number of Parliamentry seats, which will have both Labour and the Greens turning somersaults, They are both keeping quiet about Winnies bottom lines, perhaps stunned into silence?.
Winnie will not announce until after the election who he will coalition with and it will probably take months. He could well go with National, only he and now likely Shane Jones knows.
Labour’s polling is pulled back by their Green party MoU, IMHO.
For the sake of our country’s stability and future Labour needs to be the biggest stakeholder. They have form.
Meteria’s ranting of largess is not going well with taxpaying working people in a 2017 year of elections. Which is by far the largest number of people in NZ. (source MSM and blogs). Labour have already distanced themselves from this economic sorcery. ( I will be surprised if the polls lift up much for the Greens and because Labour has only short bursts of energy they will probably go down against the Greens ).
They Greens are about 10%-12$ in polling they only rule themselves, that’s all.
But they and you do not seem to understand that fact
Bill, I reckon that the comment “the only flash of colour I’ve seen from any party in this grey, grey campaign has been from The Greens” (Metiria’s “confession”) is on the button, so far as I’m concerned. It’ll take some vivid splashes to change the grinding inevitability of a beige result, so I’m 100% with Metiria, The Greens and any others willing to spill primary colours across the muddy goop that’s being offered.
What of the Green’s proposal now?
Labour gave a stern no to increasing benefit rates, thus gave no indication of making concessions for the Greens proposal.
Therefore, unless the Greens secure a good number of seats, their proposal to increase benefits by 20% seems to be a dead duck.
“Labour gave a stern no to increasing benefit rates, thus gave no indication of making concessions for the Greens proposal.”
No, they didn’t. Little just said it’s not their policy. Which makes sense when you think that they already had their policy about to launch when the Greens made their announcement on Sunday. It’s not like Labour could have rewritten their policy in 2 days.
There was nothing stern about it. That’s you and your incessant negativity about Labour. Not for the first time I’m wondering if you are a long play subtle anti-left troll. Always undermining, never offering anything constructive.
there is nothing subtle in the chairmans opinions
True, but the trolling is of the more subtle kind. As opposed to say Red who just runs round with their anti-left position tattooed on their forehead. TC will of course deny they are anti-left.
“TC will of course deny they are anti-left.”
Dead right.
It was only the other day I suggested Labour should run with and build upon the Children’s Commissioner’s proposal of indexing benefits to the average net wage to help address poverty.
I’ve also touted for Goverment to fill private sector voids and help correct market shortfalls, putting forward a number of proposals. Thus, I’m far from right wing.
I didn’t say you were right wing.
“No, they didn’t. Little just said it’s not their policy.”
He gave a stern no stating it’s not what they are promising or what they are planning, thus gave no indication of making concessions for the Greens proposal.
“Which makes sense when you think that they already had their policy about to launch when the Greens made their announcement on Sunday. It’s not like Labour could have rewritten their policy in 2 days.”
With the MOU in place one would expect the Greens would have given Labour notice (and no doubt the opportunity to join along) of their intention to announce one of the most significant changes to our welfare system in a generation.
“That’s you and your incessant negativity about Labour. Not for the first time I’m wondering if you are a long play subtle anti-left troll. Always undermining, never offering anything constructive.”
Why are you attempting to make me the topic?
Because you’re the one who doesn’t understand that “working with others” involves “compromises” which involves “doing something less or more than was promised or planned prior to the event that the promises or plans were contingent upon”.
“Why are you attempting to make me the topic?”
because I’m sick of your incessant negativity and undermining of the left.
“With the MOU in place one would expect the Greens would have given Labour notice (and no doubt the opportunity to join along) of their intention to announce one of the most significant changes to our welfare system in a generation.”
See you can’t even be honest. *you expect that, but as others have explained ad nauseam that’s not what the MoU was designed to do.
“Because I’m sick of your incessant negativity and undermining of the left”
That may be the way you see it, however I see it differently.
Let me explain why.
In this instance, I support the Greens proposal to increase benefits.
Therefore, I believe if we on the left fail to make Labour aware of our disappointment, the less encouraged Labour will be to concede in negotiations on this policy with the Greens.
Being silent doesn’t bring about change.
“See you can’t even be honest”
Me? Have you forgotten the No Surprises policy in the MOU?
Pretty sure that if Labour are reading this post today, they’re scrolling past this particular conversation.
“Being silent doesn’t bring about change.”
I’ve never said you should be silent. I’ve said I’m sick of your incessant negativity. There are plenty of ways to speak to Labour’s policies and positions without actively undermining the left.
“Me? Have you forgotten the No Surprises policy in the MOU?”
Unlike you, I read the MoU as a whole. It doesn’t say that L/G have to work on policy together. It doesn’t say that the Green have to give Labour enough headsup on major policy so that Labour have enough time to consider if they want to change theirs. ‘No surprises’ means that Labour get informed before the policy announcement so they’re not surprised by it.
So yes, you are dishonest. You want Labour and the Greens to have a different MoU than they have.
“There are plenty of ways to speak to Labour’s policies and positions without actively undermining the left”.
I try to avoid undermining the left but as Labour and the Greens sometimes undermine themselves, it’s hard to talk about things openly without somewhat undermining them.
“Unlike you, I read the MoU as a whole. It doesn’t say that L/G have to work on policy together.”
I didn’t say that. However, it gives them scope too. Thus, with such a major announcement, it would be surprising if Labour weren’t invited to join in.
Nevertheless, the No Surprises policy specifically states prior notice is required to be given.
“You want Labour and the Greens to have a different MoU than they have.”
I said and implied no such thing.
Once again, punctilious correctness combined with saintly sanctimony. Chairman, you are known by your deeds, which Weka has described perfectly. You are a concern troll who fakes his sincerity with earnest endeavour. But you do not convince.
Andrew said that they had a different way of addressing poverty. He didn’t say he “opposed” the Green’s approach.
It wasn’t a direct quote. Nevertheless, Little did oppose the Green’s plan to increase benefits, stating Labour had a different approach. But it doesn’t involve increasing the rate benefits are paid.
Which makes them another Labour Party that won’t restore benefit rates.
+1 Ian
TC and BillM getting in early for some trolling. The increasingly frantic response to the Greens policy from the right suggests they are getting worried.
Tell me Karen, do you agree with Bill (Labour is being responsible) or with me?
Don’t tell him, Karen! Let him stew in his own pompous pontifications.
“Let him stew in his own pompous pontifications.”
That has been my policy for some time now.
Lol. I think TC’s question is very telling. His agenda is to undermine the MoU and the potential coalition. Agree with him or bill, works either way.
“Andrew said that they had a different way of addressing poverty”
Yes, but it’s a real shame Labour didn’t opt to build upon the Children’s Commissioner’s recent proposal and work along with the Greens.
Cash transfers are one of the most efficient ways to help address poverty. And as the structure is already in place, it could virtually be done overnight. Instantly improving peoples living standards.
How long will Labour’s approach take?
It will be interesting to see what approach voters prefer.
“they had a different way of addressing poverty”.
I certainly hope so. The Green way, as expounded by their female co-leader simply seems to be steal whatever you want.
Are people really happy that, were Labour to lead a Government, they would happily include in Cabinet a self confessed and apparently unrepentant fraudster?
John Key took a principled approach in 2008, before that year’s election. He said he would not go into Government with Winston Peters because he did not think he could trust him. Winston may have changed but Key was right then.
Why does Little not show some courage and state that fraudsters will not be allowed into any Cabinet positions in a Government he might lead?
Can he really be so desperate that he doesn’t care who he lies down with?
Metiria Turei’s admission was poorly timed and will no doubt have ramifications for her and the Party going forward.
It will put a number of voters off her and the Party. On the other hand, she has mustered some support for being so open.
It will make Labour further question the public perception of them working with her.
But it’s unlikely Labour will get into Government without the Greens. Therefore, unless she stands down, Labour will have little choice but to work with her if they want to be in Government.
I wonder how many Maori people felt affinity with Metiria following her disclosure? I’m guessing many and I’m also guessing that they’ll be inclined to vote for her and her party as a result.
Edit: particularly in response to the breathless umbrage being taken by the privileged sector of the community, as displayed here.
“I wonder how many Maori people felt affinity with Metiria following her disclosure? I’m guessing many and I’m also guessing that they’ll be inclined to vote for her and her party as a result.”
Do you think this will be enough to take the Maori vote off Labour?
The Greens recently said they would be seeking the progressive vote, do you think this will help them secure it?
Surely this will eat into Labour’s support.
And with Peters opposing neo-liberalism, no doubt he’s also going to eat into Labour’s vote. Seems Labour may be in trouble, who will they turn to for support? Move more to the centre?
The Greens eating into Labour’s support is meh, it only makes a difference at the individual MP level.
Winston eating into Labour’s support, on the other hand, is a gift to National. Labour needs to start making clear that a vote for NZ First is a vote for keeping National in power, because it is. After the election, NZF will be on sale to the highest bidder, and National will be the highest bidder just like it was in 1996.
“The Greens eating into Labour’s support is meh, it only makes a difference at the individual MP level”
It will strengthen the Greens when it comes to party negotiations.
Moreover, with Labour polling so low, it will add to the possibility Labour’s vote will fall so low Little won’t get in.
“Winston eating into Labour’s support, on the other hand, is a gift to National. Labour needs to start making clear that a vote for NZ First is a vote for keeping National in power…”
The problem Labour will have with that strategy is the voters most concerned with Winston opting to go with National are most likely to also be the ones more likely to be enticed by Peters anti neo-liberal stance, thus disappointed with Labour’s Budget Responsibility Rules.
NZF have a number of left leaning policy, thus Labour have a good opportunity to offer them a better deal than National. However, Little publicly calling Winston a blowhard isn’t constructive. Nor was giving the Greens the nod to call him a racist.
NZF have a number of left leaning policy, thus Labour have a good opportunity to offer them a better deal than National.
If they were negotiating with New Zealand First, that might count for something. However, they’ll actually be negotiating with Winston Peters, a conservative authoritarian with little taste for left-leaning policies and a great interest in “baubles of office.” So their opportunities to offer a Winston-friendly deal will depend on how little integrity they have. National’s always going to win that game.
The problem Labour will have with that strategy is the voters most concerned with Winston opting to go with National are most likely to also be the ones more likely to be enticed by Peters anti neo-liberal stance, thus disappointed with Labour’s Budget Responsibility Rules.
If it came down to it, it would be better that these people decided not to vote than that they vote for National via a vote for NZF.
Those moved by Metiria’s disclosure might well be wouldn’t-vote-otherwisers, therefore, a gain to the left. That’s how I see it.
“Those moved by Metiria’s disclosure might well be wouldn’t-vote-otherwisers, therefore, a gain to the left.”
Good point.
+1
I suspect that a lot of people felt affinity with Metiria after her disclosure. A hell of a lot of people know just how bad it can get on welfare in this country.
I really hope you don’t mean this in the way it comes across.
Do you really think that Maori, in general, have an affinity with those who deliberately break the law and then boast about it afterward?
I suppose you also think that everyone with any Maori heritage is a member of a gang?
I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that this is just a careless wording problem.
1. A large number will sympathise because they’ve spent time in the same position due to the rich fucking over society
2. Metiria wasn’t boasting – just stating facts.
I just wish he had said something like “a lot of beneficiaries” rather than “Maori”.
Using Maori tends to imply that ALL Maori feel that way.
Beneficiaries probably do feel that way if dealing with WINZ is anything like as bad as people say.
I had sympathy with Meteria when I first read this. Then I discovered that, although she has now got a very large income she has made no attempt to repay the money that she had defrauded.
There is an enormous difference between doing it when she couldn’t manage, or didn’t have the budgeting skills, to get by on what she had then and hanging on to it when you had become, by most peoples standards, very wealthy.
Māori do over represent in the lower socio-economic sphere.
It’s as bad as they say. The stress that comes from having to deal with them probably reduces peoples lives by years.
I don’t see that it makes any difference as it was the policies of the government that put her into a position that she had to lie. If any one should be paying it it should be the National Party. They should also be paying out for all that stress that they’ve caused with their physiologically damaging policies.
Well said Alwyn.
National has systematically depressed us all with their sinking lid economy called Austerity a word they refuse to use but carry it out thinking we don’t know it.
“I had sympathy with Meteria when I first read this.”
Why was that, alwyn? What did you see in her story that made you feel sympathy?
Sending that poor British fellow to the Australian penal colony for stealing a loaf of bread; was that you or one of yours that did that, Alwyn?
I presume there is something rattling around in your head to cause you to come out with this non sequitur.
I can’t see the relevance of it myself.
Are you related to this Guyton perchance?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/69446950/Shoppers-have-no-qualms-buying-Antarctic-toothfish
Nope. But I am closely related to this Guyton.
http://i.stuff.co.nz/life-style/home-property/nz-gardener/72463136/Robert-Guyton-Why-you-should-go-organic-in-the-garden
That’s not fair. You have a sense of humour and are a gardener to boot. I shall be forced to be less judgemental than is my wont.
I now feel guilty for suggesting that you could be related to someone who appears to be anything but a good conservationist.
My impression is that your true guilt runs far deeper than that, Alwyn. Cleaving to the evil philosophy of capitalism and personal greed, with that hypocritical pretence of defending right against wrong whenever any new ideas question the system that favours the select (filthy) few…
Kind of you to say that, alwyn. I was quite appalled by the toothfish story, to be frank. The people of Nelson have not endeared themselves to me, one of their sons, by their behaviour at the fish shop.
And yet Key (who got rich with a long con using other people’s money) picked Bill DoubleDipton as his deputy?
It’s maybe preferable to a cabinet replete with smugglers, fraudsters, extortionists, blackmailers and thieves who never confess to anything no matter how blatant.
Are people really happy that, were Labour to lead a Government, they would happily include in Cabinet a self confessed and apparently unrepentant fraudster?
Well, you seem OK with having Bill English as Prime Minister, a position Turei may not even aspire to, so why would you think Labour voters would be different?
In any case, I prefer honesty. English hasn’t even confessed, just paid it back (some of it, at least) while pretending that what he did was within the rules. And Paula Bennett is being unusually careful in her choice of words to describe her own dealings with WINZ – give me people who’ll tell you the truth any day.
“give me people who’ll tell you the truth any day”.
Even if it takes 15 years to fess up?
I am inclined to accept the view that someone had leaked Turei’s history to Winston. She was simply trying the Donald Trump Jr approach of get it out yourself first. Didn’t really work for him. I don’t think it is going to work for Turei either.
I am personally of the view that 3 terms is enough for any Government. I happily voted for Helen Clark in 1999 and equally happily against her in 2008.
Unfortunately there is no alternative that exhibits any competence at all at the moment. To go with the shambles of a NZF/Labour and possibly Green coalition doesn’t really hold any appeal.
Labour should have stuck with Shearer. He displayed a bit of amateurishness but he had actually had experience of doing real work. The Labour leaders have got worse and worse since he was stabbed by Brutus Cunliffe and then an even less competent Little was imposed on the Caucus by the Union movement.
Perhaps after the election they will get Grant as leader. He does waffle a bit, and he is totally unsuitable as a Finance spokesman but he at least shows some signs of being a possible competent PM.
“I am inclined to accept the view that someone had leaked Turei’s history to Winston. ”
Then your inclinations are toward making tenuous links and accepting rumour without much application of thought, not especially sturdy blocks on which to build political opinion.
I think Maori will feel affinity with Metiria because she is Maori, exhibits a respect for Maoritanga and for the many Maori people who are poor and who feel they have been treated poorly by the Government.
“..imposed on Caucus by the Union movement.” Dream on…
Have you done an assessment yet? It might turn out to be ‘pretty legal’.
John key’s principles are about having power, status and control. that’s why he wouldn’t go with NZF in his first term.
Key may well try to stay within the law, but ethics are a foreign country to him.
Better than $25 some time never … like next April …. who did that?
Labour’s approach or the Green’s approach? Which do you prefer?
I love both!!
Good read and well worth thinking about
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/true-north/2017/jul/17/neoliberalism-has-conned-us-into-fighting-climate-change-as-individuals
Marty Mars
thanks for that heads up – puts clear words to the confused mass of consciousness that circle round us like bacteria, infecting and alerting our immune systems to a Babylon of blandishment, bribes, ballyhoo and ultimately brutal effect.
++ 1 from me too. Great read and consolidates the core ideas tightly.
Time to get
Real
https://video.scroll.in/843194/watch-a-crowd-of-65000-sings-bohemian-rhapsody-perfectly-while-waiting-for-a-green-day-concert
I’ve decided to party vote green – gonna be a green day after a bit of rhapsody first.
Cheers marty,
I was involved in a ‘survival camp’s with some scouts on top of the tararua.
We were sorely tested, gale force wind driven rain, and the scouts in bivoaucs they had built.
At 3am we found ourselves, a mass choir of 14, singing bohemian rhapsody.
A highlight referred to by the youth years after the event.
That was very cool thanks
A review of the New Zealand First conference from the weekend:
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/18-07-2017/what-really-makes-nz-first-tick-i-joined-the-party-and-headed-to-their-jamboree-to-find-out/
It is revealing. The party sounds it’s full of disaffected Labour supporters keen to create a second Labour Party, but Winston Peters is classical National – a conservative authoritarian who favours government intervention in the economy for conservative authoritarian reasons (ie, he shares Muldoon’s view that the government can just order the economy to behave as the government would like).
The party members are deluding themselves. After the election, Winston will form a government with whichever party Winston wants to form a government with, and that party’s very unlikely to be a combination of the Labour and Green parties. All these remits the party have passed are irrelevant to that process.
Yep. This bit,
Peters told the audience he wouldn’t let New Zealand be dictated by “foreign ideologies and foreign economics”.
Straight out the window if he goes with National.
The polling evidence (NZ Election Study … Colmar Brunton vote switching and so on) suggests former Labour supporters comprised the lion’s share of NZF’s 2011 & 2014 voter-base and that a majority of NZFers prefer a Labour-led Government.
Winnie’s already won over a segment of the more morally-conservative Left & might just continue making in-roads 2017
Just 100 companies responsible for 71% of global emissions, study says
A relatively small number of fossil fuel producers and their investors could hold the key to tackling climate change
https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jul/10/100-fossil-fuel-companies-investors-responsible-71-global-emissions-cdp-study-climate-change
100 companies responsible for 71% of the global emissions!!!!
why didn’t they put that over the corporate MSM?
Oh silly me they own the media too right?
Neoliberalism has conned us into fighting climate change as individuals
Stop obsessing with how personally green you live – and start collectively taking on corporate power
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/true-north/2017/jul/17/neoliberalism-has-conned-us-into-fighting-climate-change-as-individuals
MISTER Trotter!
“METIRIA TUREI has rescued the 2017 General Election from the timidity and moral squalor into which it was fast descending. In a speech that brought tears to her listeners’ eyes and cheers to their throats, the Greens’ co-leader carried her party out of the shadows of moderation and into the bright sunlit uplands of radicalism that have always been its natural habitat. The Green Party’s AGM of 15-16 July 2017 will go down in history as the moment when it repudiated the “Insider’s” devilish bargains – and reclaimed its soul.”
http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.co.nz/2017/07/the-bright-sunlit-uplands-of-radicalism.html
Disagree all she has done is move the deck chairs amoung the left, and thrown more votes to peters, some here have a vain hope she has appealed to the missing million ie increasing the left pie As the last 9 years has shown this is very unlikely, labour need to grab national swing voters of which they are totally incapable of doing and are hamstrung in strategic no mans land appealing to no body but hard core loyalists
“Disagree” – really! That’s not like you, Red, you’re usually so accommodating of the views expressed here. You are also usually wrong, so I guess at least you are being consistent and you are quite wrong about this issue: I feel your thinking lacks flexibility, where Metiria’s represents the state. Loosen up a little, Red, un-clasp and relax your crabbed grip on your stale old ways. Plus, sweeten yourself up a drop before venturing out in public. You leave a sour taste.
+1 very eloquent
Stale sweat with an acidic whiff- most unpleasant. Better wash your singlet, shirt, socks and especially your underpants Red.
Thanks for the feedback Robbo and greywhateva I am glad you are both taking notice and an avid consumer of my posts, if only a small bit sinks in my job is done
yours truly 😀
Game changer from Morgan and the Opportunities Party, free $200 a week for all 18 – 23 year olds. If I was in that age group I know who I would be voting for.
That goes alongside their other policy of $200 a week for families with a child under 3.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11892084
I get it that Morgan’s abrasive presentation and economic framing don’t appeal to many here. That’s fine I’m 100% supportive of them continuing to vote Lab/Grn as they wish. But at the moment it’s TOP that is making all the interesting and radical running.
I think its good policy and puts TOP in the box seat to capture the youth. $200 a week for kids leaving school, a lot of which aren’t that sure what they want to do career wise. Gives them 5 years of some security, explore what they want to do, relieves pressure off them at a critical stage. All round good for society.
And means testing elderly people as well as cutting parts of Super.
Is the youth UBI on top of welfare or instead of? Can’t see the detail on their website, and IME once you start scratching the surface of TOP policy, there are problems underneath.
From the TOP policy page:
http://www.top.org.nz/top7
In other words if Super is your only income at present, I read this as meaning you will continue to be ‘topped up’ to your current levels. No change, no-one worse off.
If you receive other income then this will likely abate your ‘top up’ down to the level of the UBI. Seems fair.
Note also the current policy also abates Super at a rate of 70% down to a minimum of about $100 pw. So on the face of it TOP’s policy is more generous.
Youth UBI details here:
http://www.top.org.nz/top11
The idea is to cut super from the richest who don’t need it, there has been no talk of cutting essential super.
I would also hope this initial UBI doesn’t replace the benefit, both are needed. But when Morgan was talking about a UBI across the board a couple of years ago the idea was to replace benefits with it.
If they’re so rich they don’t need it, they’d probably be paying it back on higher tax rates anyway (or have well-subsidised many others over their careers). They can always give it to charity if they feel guilty.
Automated tax returns are much simpler than signing up, declaring changed income, processing the changes, and auditing for discrepencies.
It’s a bit like in the early 2000’s when I was at a group meeting with the head of winz student services at the time – she outright said they had no idea whether universal student allowances would be cheaper to implement than the means-tested, application/updated circumstances regime we have.
It’s very attractive to say that things should be targeted, and that people who don’t need something shouldn’t automatically get it. But we should double-check to see if the nice idea is more trouble than it’s worth.
And that’s before we get into the “slippery-slope, who sets the abatement threshold” debate.
And if you have ‘other income’ above about $5000 pa then your current Super is rebated at 70% in the dollar anyway.
The horse on your ‘abatement rate setting’ has long bolted down a slippery slope.
has it? Bugger. That’s something to corral again…
RL, I’m pretty sure that abatement provision is limited to the rare situation where a person eligible for Super has a partner that is not eligible, but the partner has other income (overseas pensions are usually cited as the likely source of this other income).
For instance, I have a brother who has a Swiss partner. They are contemplating retiring to NZ. He will be eligible for Super, but she will not until she clocks up another seven years of residence. But her Swiss pension payments will be high enough that the abatement provisions would apply to his Super payments.
If someone is eligible for Super and an overseas pension, the Super is reduced dollar for dollar by the overseas pension. So my folks’ Super is actually mostly paid by their Social Security payments from the US.
But most ordinary Kiwi recipients of Super, the Super is just the same as any other income and taxed at the same rate. No special high abatement rates.
https://superlife.co.nz/understanding-nz-super
On the other hand this seems fairly clear cut:
https://www.workandincome.govt.nz/eligibility/seniors/superannuation/other-income.html
The key qualifier in that link is:
“If you have a spouse or partner who doesn’t qualify for their own New Zealand Superannuation, you can choose to include them in your payments. If you do this, any other income either of you earn could affect how much you get.”
Fuck I hate govt gobbledegook.
It isn’t all overseas pensions. It is only those that are provided by another Government.
The really silly part is that they make you apply for any overseas pension for which you “might” be eligible. This includes Australia if you ever worked there. You have to fill in about 46 pages of bumpf.
You then apply, get turned down because you fail the asset test limit and you simply continue here as if you had never worked there.
The really nasty part is that if you qualify for even the tiniest amount of Australian super you are required to tell them of any change in your circumstances. Say you inherit $1,000 from a great-uncle. You have to tell them so that they can reduce the amount they pay over to the New Zealand Government. Your shares rise by $200. Same thing.
If you think that dealing with WINZ is tough you have clearly never had anything to do with the Ozzie equivalent.
Never had to deal with the Aussie Government except as a tourist. I’d never want to go work there. It’s not bad as a place, but it’s full of Australians.
On the other hand, living in the US meant some truly awesome tax return paperwork. My worst was one year I had the federal returns including the forms for capital gains on selling a house and 2 lots of moving expenses, plus state returns for Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and California, plus another lot of paperwork to reconcile US stuff with Mexican stuff coz I was working in a factory in Mexico owned by a US company. It all added up to a stack thicker than the old-school Auckland phonebook.
In general the idea in the long run seems to be an Universal Income set at relatively low level that everyone accesses. Whether you are in work or not. Initially available to youth, families with children and the elderly. The goal in the long run is to make it genuinely Universal
For those not in work, or retired, the UBI would be ‘topped up’ to current levels. So in essence it would ‘replace’ the first $200 or so of a benefit, without eliminating them completely.
Seems a flexible and fair approach to me. And the unconditional security of the UBI is way more attractive than the current capricious and precarious benefit system.
“The idea is to cut super from the richest who don’t need it, there has been no talk of cutting essential super.”
There is a lot of space between richest and essential. I think you will find that like with other social welfare, means testing and abatement is problematic for many reasons. I don’t want elderly people subjected to that.
“I would also hope this initial UBI doesn’t replace the benefit, both are needed. But when Morgan was talking about a UBI across the board a couple of years ago the idea was to replace benefits with it.”
yes, that’s right. Morgan wants to scrap social welfare entirely and replace it with an low rate economic UBI and personal responsibility. He’s clueless about what welfare is and what role it plays in society and how his policies would make many vulnerable people worse off. He doesn’t like welfare and wants to get rid of it. Welfare is critical to society, a UBI can’t replace that. We need both.
Super ALREADY is abated from anyone with income over $5kpa at a rate of 70%. The idea that Super is currently not subject to ‘means testing’ or ‘abatement’ is just wrong.
And if you want to quibble the difference between ‘means testing’ and ‘abatement’ then be my guest.
Morgan wants to scrap social welfare entirely and replace it with an low rate economic UBI and personal responsibility
You were wrong about TOP policy making elderly people worse off, so now you shift the goal-posts.
Welfare is critical to society, a UBI can’t replace that.
Why not? In the short term it makes sense to have both; but in the long run if the UBI was proven successful it could easily replace targeted welfare.
TOP wants to tax the assets of elderly people. It wants them to hoop jump. It wants to reduce some of their income. I think there are better ways of managing all those things.
I’m not shifting the goal posts, mauī was talking about a UBI replacing benefits, I responded with the problems with that. I’ve always pointed to one of the major issues with Morgan’s UBI is that it fails to take into account that welfare is a crucial part of any caring society.
“Why not? In the short term it makes sense to have both; but in the long run if the UBI was proven successful it could easily replace targeted welfare.”
‘Targeted welfare’ isn’t the same as social welfare. Social welfare is the state’s fundamental position that people deserve to be looked after. Targeted welfare is the extreme bastardisation that comes about when neoliberals don’t have enough power to remove it completely.
As you well know, Morgan’s UBI fails to provide for the most vulnerable. He sets the UBI at a rate that’s not liveable, and he bases that on the idea that everyone can work. He seeks to remove income from people that can’t work. He’s reasonably honest about the removable of the safety net and that this needs to be replaced with personal responsibility. He has some vague ideas about how the non-working poor can manage and be supported but nothing that’s even close to credible policy. He also acknowledges that some people will do it tough. All of that is unacceptable and unnecessary. There are far better ways to design a UBI.
TOP wants to tax the assets of elderly people. It wants them to hoop jump. It wants to reduce some of their income.
Wrong. ALL assets would be taxed, not just the elderly. The only people who are significantly affected are ‘asset rich/cash poor’ who can postpone the liability and pay it from their estate. This really isn’t much different to an estate tax in some ways, and not too far removed from the same system which will recover rest home care costs.
Absolutely it does not reduce their income one cent. Wrong again.
Targeted welfare is the extreme bastardisation that comes about when neoliberals don’t have enough power to remove it completely.
Wrong again. ALL welfare that has some pre-requisite condition to qualify for it, like being unemployed or disabled is by definition ‘targeted’. And with that brings with it a host of toxic problems that you posted about just yesterday.
By contrast a UBI is ultimately intended to be unconditional. It has to be the ultimate, broadest expression of the idea that everyone deserves to be looked after.
yep,
that is what they don’t talk about.
Gareth Morgan and his paid for vanity party want to means test elderlies for super.
So your nana has a wee house, worth all about 35thousands on a plot of leased land, but hey she can sell the house and live of that before getting super. Cause she and the likes liker her will be the only ones suffering from the ‘its not fair i get super ‘ policies. Gareth Morgan, has enough houses and enough money to pay an accountant to make sure he will not have enough ‘income’ and receive super in full.
Super, like unemployment benefits and the dole are -prepaid- services. We are paying taxes to raise funds that can be distributed among those that have lost their jobs – unemployment, or that are too old for working – super annuition. These programs are not charity, they are not a hand out. Working people paid for these programs via their taxes. But then, Gareth does know nothing about paying taxes, Gareth knows about paying accountants to help him avoid taxes.
Suckers are born every day.
Care to back up any of this bullshit with references?
Funny how plans like Morgans just make for a more bloated and ineffective managerial class to manage these vanity projects.
Nah you’ve lost me there. Right now the single most ‘bloated and ineffective managerial’ cockup in the country is WINZ. And Morgan proposes in the long run to close it down.
Nor can the idea of a UBI that has been around for at least 500 years, and is being explored in many countries, be scarcely described as a ‘vanity project’.
http://basicincome.org/basic-income/history/
i call his party a Vanity Project, or maybe its just a tax write of?
Do you think a UBI is just Gareth Morgan’s ‘vanity project’, ‘tax write off’; or does it have a respectable 500+ year history you just don’t want to know about?
Morgan doesn’t own the UBI concept. People are objecting to Morgan’s ideas and TOP’s policies.
That’s OK … I just object to your ongoing misrepresentation of them.
Morgan possibly first to make UBI a reality in NZ. That’s a good thing, you could call him a pioneer.
Morgan is in zero position to make a UBI reality in NZ. That will be Labour and the Greens who both already want to do this. I will be working hard to make sure they use a model that is designed around wellbeing not economics. Easy with the Greens, more of a challenge with Labour.
There are other non-govt people working in UBI in NZ. You might want to ask yourself why Morgan is seen as the pioneer and they’re not.
A UBI is also fundamentally an economic tool. Designing one without reference to economics is like designing a sailboat without reference to the sea.
Of course Morgan doesn’t own the concept; but after decades of the idea being firmly stuck in obscurity, he’s given it the oxygen it desperately needed. At least in NZ.
Of course I’m happy to debate the merits of TOP policy detail; nothing is ever perfect on the first attempt … but misrepresenting it leads to ill-formed debate.
I haven’t said design it without reference to economics. You’re really not paying attention to what I am actually saying here Red.
@weka
On the contrary I am listening very closely. You should know me better by now. 🙂
Consider this … you know I have never had a bad word for the Greens, that I have voted for them the past 4 elections at least and they carry a very fond spot in my heart.
My partner and I had the privilege of attending Rod Donald’s memorial service at Parliament and we both wept along with everyone else. It’s a vivid memory.
So when I say that I strongly identify with the spiritual and moral foundations of the Greens, with their community and people based vision … please I ask you to accept this at face value.
Now at the same time though I ask you to accept that I ALSO believe that we cannot minimise the economic dimension. That the gross inequality of wealth, the class warfare that grinds so many people into submission and despair, has it’s roots deeply embedded in bad economics. Now while Steve Keen is probably an economist closer to my tastes than Gareth Morgan, TOP is nonetheless presenting policy that goes a long way in a direction I like.
And emphatically there is no particular reason why these two visions should be mutually exclusive. While I fully accept the Greens and TOP frame their ideas and visions differently, I see far more potential common ground than conflict. I’d go one step further, the Greens may well have more underlying purpose and vision in common with TOP than they do with Labour.
Are you living under a rock? Seriously the whole managerial class in this country from the public sector to the private is a joke in this country. I’m guessing you don’t have to deal with many government departments or their managers. Nor have much experience with the private sector their Redlogix, please prove me wrong. I’m seeing you single out work and income (it ‘ant been winz since the disaster in beige with bangle earrings) shows a level of ignorance, or a desire to push a certain agenda.
Ok so which rock was I under here?
https://thestandard.org.nz/thats-cold/#comment-1350691
Worked mostly in the private sector and some in the public over 40 years now. But my agenda around WINZ does indeed come from direct family experience …
But I do struggle to see how we can pin the blame for all this on Gareth Morgan.
No, but he is part of the problem.
Or it’s just another Muppet polishing the same turd.
Look we agree work and income sucks, the left hand does not know what the right is doing in that place.
My issue is that top is just more of the same liberalism crap. And yeah I don’t see the point discussing it. Capitalism is a cancer.
I think you are making the common mistake of thinking that all economic activity is definition ‘capitalism’.
In any conceivable system I can think of money will remain a feature, and the using money to invest in future productivity will also remain an enduring feature. Thus all reasonable alternatives will have some aspect of capitalism.
Indeed you hit on an interesting metaphor; cancer is the normal and vital process of cell growth and replacement gone rogue. What you object to is not ‘capitalism’ per se, but the unregulated, out of control version of it we have come to know as ‘neo-liberalism’.
And I’d argue if you read TOP policy with an open mind you see Morgan harnessing normal economic mechanisms to regulate and moderate capitalism into a form that serves all people equitably, rather than the privileged few who’ve captured it for their own benefit.
True.
Not necessarily.
The defining part about capitalism is private ownership and that’s not needed to run a business. Make the business self-owned and run by the people who work there. Neither capitalism nor communism but still a market system.
The problem with that idea is that it can’t actually work. We see, as per Piketty’s work, that ownership always results in a few people having control of the resources of a nation resulting in the inevitable collapse of that nation.
Capitalism doesn’t work and never has done. Time to try something new. Something that ensures that no one is in poverty, rewards people for their work and doesn’t reward people for owning stuff.
@DtB
Not going to argue with you in principle … but hell it’s like herding cats to get people on board with a baby steps UBI much less the utter transformation you’re describing here.
Actually Redlogix I’m a Christian Anarchist who opposes capitalism in all it’s forms, and it’s why I used the words liberalism and capitalism. I’m no wet. And I think people who support capitalism in any form are the enemy.
So it’s not about an open mind. It’s about politics, or more specifically – political economy.
So capitalism is a cancer, which has held back humanity, and worse is actually making the biosphere we live in uninhabitable for future generations.
So yeah, nah. Like I said, top is another liberal party – shining a turd.
@adam
Oh good luck to you then. Which ‘Christian Anarchist’ party are you going to vote for again?
Because from where I’m sitting I really don’t see any party of significance who have a detailed policy position around dismantling the entire economic system and replacing it with something completely novel, untried and untested.
Because while I agree with you that unconstrained capitalism is a disaster; this does not automatically mean that any random alternative you can dream up will automatically turn out to be better.
So for you following the same thing that produces the same dire results, no matter how many angles people try, is perfectly logical?
Seriously how many times has capitalism got to be reformed until we try somthing new? Socialism works if it is not authoritarian, just the people with money use violence to make sure that it appears not to work. A good example is Venezuela, not the basket case the press would like you to believe. Rojava is doing well. So are some other socialist countries in South America.
As for the whole party thing, you might want to try some reading to help you with that fetish. You know, in the past the same fetish was what prince did you bend your head too, or support, if you were wealthy enough.
@adam
So your argument is that Morgan is nowhere near radical enough, yet you cannot name anyone who might tick enough of your boxes to vote for.
Unless of course you get off your arse and start your own political party. But wait …damn.
I dunno maybe you should keep typing.
T Draco T B.
You say
“The defining part about capitalism is private ownership and that’s not needed to run a business. Make the business self-owned and run by the people who work there”.
What on earth do you mean by “self-owned”. The only possible interpretation is that it is owned by the people who work there. That is still private ownership.
The only alternative ownership is being owned by the state.
There is a legal fiction that a business is a person but it is still only a fiction. A business can’t go to jail. It can’t pay a fine. It can’t be punished. It can’t make decisions. Only the people who work there or the owners can do those things.
He’s clarified that a yearly property/estate tax would be paid at the end of someone’s life so elderly people aren’t having to re-mortgage homes and sell up when they are asset rich but cash poor.
He also says in his speeches he doesn’t want a cent of his and his wife’s $40,000+ a year in super because they don’t need it. That is slightly different to what you’re saying which is that he will screw the system to gain as much wealth out of it as possible.
The idea of an asset tax is an extremely important one to restore equity to our tax system. New Zealanders have for so long gotten away without much in the way of capital or estate taxes that we struggle to get our heads around this.
Maui, feel free to vote for him.
but there is not a word or thing or newspaper article or other that you could utter that would make this man palatable to me. I consider him the NZ answer to Trump.
Most elders that i know, are neither asset rich nor cash rich. They, own a property – some with small mortgages on them – and they manage on their super or still work at 70. the very small subset of filthy rich ‘elders’ would be voting for National.
But i agree with Gareth Morgan, he should not be receiving super, as he is not paying income taxes or any taxes as he so proudly keeps proclaiming. Or as he said to me, Wage slaves should be revolting.
TOP is Act in a different colour.
but there is not a word or thing or newspaper article or other that you could utter that would make this man palatable to me.
In other words facts are irrelevant to how you form an opinion. Good oh.
nope.
i have followed him, had conversation with him on FB and i have come to the conclusion that he is a major fuckwit. An entitled, vain, prickish type of fuck wit.
and i have read his positions and i am old enough to know what happens to poor people when rich people come and say i have a solution that will make you money 🙂 Nothing will happen, cause Gareth Morgan can only be rich by screwing over people to give up their money, their assets and what ever else they have that might be worth a penny.
now, if he were to put his ‘untaxed’ income to where his fat mouth is, now we could be talking.
But he ain’t helping poor people, he ain’t providing shelter for homeless people, he ain’t writing cheques to have homes build, he is not supporting some trap/neuter groups that want to control the feral cats of NZ. Nah, he wants to means test you, so that he won’t be getting super . Chutzpah by any other word.
go vote for him. but me, i’ll vote for Labour/Greens. thanks.
“An entitled, vain, prickish type of fuck wit”.
Couldn’t agree more with this description of Gareth Morgan.
And I was told The Standard had to clean up it’s act, cut out the abuse and personal attacks so that more women would feel comfortable commenting here.
Oh well.
I think we are extremely lucky to have Gareth Morgan in New Zealand.
Plenty on this site have talked about forming a new political party.
He has the courage to do it. He will fail this time, but that’s not the point.
The first point is he thinks. And writes policy.
The second point is he’s organized and funded. On his own terms. He’s a mensch.
The third point for me at least, is that he sounds like the Labour Party, if it only had a brain.
We need a lot more Gareth Morgans in this country. We would all be the better for it.
@ Ad
Yes … a realistic appraisal is that TOP won’t get over 5%. But neither is it impossible.
I’m a dreamer, but one that realism has pounded more than a few dents into. But recent political events have proved the pundits don’t have a monopoly on foresight.
Well if you want some facts, Gareth Morgan’s wealth arose when TradeMe was sold to Fairfax. Feel free to explain how that was a ‘screwing over people to give up their money’.
And also more facts:
https://www.unicef.org.nz/news/2016/october-2016/gareth-morgan-investing-in-timor-leste-pre-schools
And if you engaged Morgan on FB the way you do here, I’m not surprised he gave you the bums rush.
Don’t forget the reason he was able to pump a fair bit of dosh into TradeMe was Infometrics. Then there was Gareth Morgan Investments as well.
Gareth Morgan and i we both speak as we think. I don’t like Gareth Morgan because he is an epic fuckwit, with no social conscience.
He wants to ride on our roads, but he does not want to pay to pave them. That is why i don’t like him ,and i have told him as such. Biker to biker you know. I consider Gareth Morgan and the likes like him parasites on society. They use up resources and they pay not for upkeep or maintenance and in order to extract another penny or two they would kill the host if need be.
https://www.unicef.org.nz/timor-leste
So this is your idea of a man (and his partner) who has no social conscience?
gareth and sam have done an environmentally intrusive subdivision development at the mouth of rhe cardrona valley near wanaka….went to the high court to overturn an environment court decision in the process….he will never be getting my vote
Citation?
Do you mean this?
https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/queenstown-lakes/station-development-plans-back-hearing-table
So ‘less than minor’ adverse visual effects trumps transforming the lives of children in Timor. And other projects I could link to going back at least 15 years.
https://www.jasmine.org.nz/
Righto.
I doesn’t really seem to be worthwhile to do such things in New Zealand.
Look at Mr Mark Dunajtschik. He is giving $50 million for a new Children’s Hospital.
About 90% of the comments on here were abusive to him.
As I recall it, most of the commenters were of the view that we shouldn’t be in a position of relying on the charity of the wealthy to fund children’s hospitals. It’s beyond me how anyone could argue against that view.
And if you asked Mr Dunajtschik he’d likely tender much the same view himself.
Apparently that’s being abusive to rich people /sarc
I also like that Alwyn brings up a guy about which most people know two things (he’s rich, and he did a really nice thing for kids) to compare with Morgan, who’s beliefs and attitudes are pretty prominent.
I dunno anything about Dunajtschik. Morgan strikes me as being a bit of a dick.
@ McFlock
Yes he is an unreasonable man at times. But if you want things changing you know who to employ.
Oh and I’ve linked above to a UNICEF program the Morgan Foundation is supporting … that really does ‘nice things for kids’ in Timor.
But in most people’s eyes here that makes Gareth and Jo total arseholes apparently.
No, that doesn’t make them arseholes.
It makes them complicated.
Oh, and the idea that you need a dickhead to get stuff done is a failure of imagination.
“As I recall it, most of the commenters …….”
Oh sure. How about these ones as examples of my point
https://thestandard.org.nz/generous-donation-why-was-it-necessary-to-get-a-hospital-built/#comment-1350971
https://thestandard.org.nz/generous-donation-why-was-it-necessary-to-get-a-hospital-built/#comment-1350847
https://thestandard.org.nz/generous-donation-why-was-it-necessary-to-get-a-hospital-built/#comment-1350894
https://thestandard.org.nz/generous-donation-why-was-it-necessary-to-get-a-hospital-built/#comment-1351009
If that isn’t attacking him because he is wealthy, and generous, I don’t know what is.
@McFlock
Last few years I’ve been working for a man who’s built a highly innovative and energetic company from almost nothing to over 160 employees with a global presence.
I’m certain you’d label him a ‘dickhead’ as well … but hell he got things done few other people did. I do get that this isn’t the only possible leadership model, but in my experience people who successfully turn big dreams into big results, have charged their way through endless naysayers and challenges to get there.
They really tend not to tolerate fools well. If you want to label this ‘dickhead’ then be my guest … but I’d call you out on a certain failure of imagination too.
And Psycho Mil – what’s the bet when the hospital is opened with the ribbon to be cut and all the MP’s in creation there it will be the PM (whoever he/she is) beaming and trying to hog the cudos trying to cut the ribbon. I am like you – ashamed that we have to rely on charity to build a kid’s hospital. People pay taxes so that great and good things for the greater good are created – but it seems that we are not doing the job and charity has to pick up the tab. Disgraceful.
I mean this in a kindly way, but there should be an extension to Godwin’s law. Instead of just automatically invalidating your argument by mentioning Hitler, it would be comparing any politician to Trump for no particular reason, other than the go to bad dude.
To his credit, Gareth Morgan has actual policies he appears to believe in and have thought about.
He has started some conversations around housing and education.
He also presents a good alternative for young smarty pants urban professionals who could so easily be pulled to the dark side of National.
Really, Gareth has far more in common with Hillary et al.
TOP is a vanity party, and NZ First is a vanity party. Trump was/is a vanity candidate. Neither of them will do good to anyone but them in the short and long term.
see my post above
“as he is not paying income taxes or any taxes”.
He hasn’t said anything like that. The most he has claimed is that he pays a lower percentage of his income in taxes than people with much lower incomes.
If he spends anything at all in New Zealand he is certainly going to have to pay GST.
The New Zealand GST system is one of the best planned taxes there is. It is almost impossible to avoid without reducing your expenditure to nothing. It is a superbly designed, and very simple system.
he has screwed the system so far, up until now, and will in the future so as to extract as much wealth for him as possible. That is why he is currently not paying taxes, but you do. 🙂
“He’s clarified that a yearly property/estate tax would be paid at the end of someone’s life so elderly people aren’t having to re-mortgage homes and sell up when they are asset rich but cash poor.”
Or when they move into a smaller home, or a rest home? Sorry, but I think generic taxing of non-wealthy elderly in this way is unethical and problematic. Put a CGT on assets that aren’t the family home. Tax high income earners. Tax corporations. Put in a Financial Transaction Tax. Tax polluters. Lots of things that can be done without going first for poor people.
@ WEKA Put a CGT on assets that aren’t the family home. Tax high income earners. Tax corporations. Put in a Financial Transaction Tax. Tax polluters. Lots of things that can be done without going first for poor people.
thank you for stating it so much better then me.
he is not proposing a single tax on him. He is proposing to means tests us, so that he and his can’t get super. Let him and his wife have super, and tax the hilt out of them.
“he is not proposing a single tax on him. He is proposing to means tests us, so that he and his can’t get super. Let him and his wife have super, and tax the hilt out of them.”
This too.
The weird thing is, I learnt about taxing higher incomes earners in order to fund a UBI from Red Logix. But that’s not what Morgan is doing exactly. He has a philosophical/ideological approach around tax, and thus fails to design well for poor people. He can tack on all the addendums he likes, but it’s still blatantly obvious that while he has some good ideas his starting points are wrong. We shouldn’t have economists designing society.
Any scheme that applies a CGT but excludes the family home, and means tests the Super but excludes the family home will be like the system they have in Australia. It is a disaster.
Basically you are stupid to retire with assets, excluding the family home, that are more than $400,000 and less than about $1,500,000.
You will lose part of your Super on any amount greater than $400k and lose the lot if you have more than $800k. It will take you the $1.5m to get an income equal to what you would get with a complete Super payment and $400k savings.
If you reach 65 with, say, $800k the best thing is to spend the extra $400k on either getting a new house, expanding your existing house or going on a long, luxurious, world trip.
That is precisely what many Australians do. They are being completely rational to do so.
He is not proposing to means test the UBI. It will mean exactly what it says.
Gareth isn’t forced to collect Super. You have to apply for it and if you don’t apply you don’t get it.
Bob Jones doesn’t get it you know. He says he doesn’t need it and he never asked for it. Pity some of our richer ex-politicians like Jim Anderton never followed his example.
Put a CGT on the family home too. But include a rollover provision for the family home. A family home exemption gets really messy, I’ve seen that in the US.
What I mean by rollover is: say a family buys a home for $500k, then a few years later sells it for $1M to buy a new home for $1.3M. Without a rollover, they would be liable for CGT on the $1/2M capital gain. With a rollover, they pay no CGT now, but the cost basis of their new home is the $500k they paid for their old home plus the extra $300k for the upgrade, for a total of $800k. So if they had to immediately turn around and sell the new home for $1.25M (say coz they were transferred overseas), they would pay CGT on $450k capital gain ($1250K sales price less $800K cost basis). That explanation ignores the reasonable deductions that should be included in a CGT, like selling expenses, cost of capital improvements etc.
If an elder person has just sold their home for $300,000 or say $500,000 and they’ve been living rent free for a number years and earn over $300 a week in super I would count them as well off.
I can’t see why a good slice of estate tax can come off that sale. It seems quite similar to a capital gains tax in that sense.
It treats homes as investment assets, which underpins the whole housing crisis. Home simply shouldn’t be taxed that way. If someone is buying houses and selling them to make money, sure tax the sales. But taking a % of wealth off low income people is not a good way to approach social security.
We shouldn’t be going after the generic elderly and treating them as if they are like younger people. I hope I don’t have to explain the rationale behind that.
Homes shouldn’t be treated as financial instruments, right up until the moment they become purely a financial instrument. That moment happens at settlement of the sale.
Exactly … and if it’s estate sale, then I’m sure the erstwhile owner isn’t all that fussed anymore.
Of course their potential beneficiaries may well be, and I do get the sense this is the real issue here.
but how would rich people get richer.
surely not by taking money from rich people to give to the poor.
no its poor people paying taxes on their ‘assets’ so that people like Gareth Morgan don’t have too.
The principle idea is to tax wealthy assets and redistribute that money into tax cuts for low income earners. Again it’s hard to see how Gareth does well out of that.
that is not was Mr. Morgan is proposing innit?
Exactly. weka is projecting a pretty weird idea of ‘poor’ here.
Keep in mind that many might be living in homes worth the thick end of $1m and may have a number of ways to turn some of that asset into cash during their lifetimes.
So design a policy that is fair then. It’s not that hard.
Replace the loaded word ‘fair’ with ‘equitable’.
There are two kinds of equity you can think of; vertical equity which means treating small and large instances the same. In brief this is one of the simple outcomes of flat taxes and a UBI, the outcome is progressive but whether you are a paper boy earning your first dollar, or a CEO on millions … you are being treated exactly the same by the tax system. That’s one sense of fair.
Horizontal equity means that all income whether in cash or in kind regardless of source is treated the same. The huge issue for NZ is that we have been privileging housing and property over cash income for a very long time. This is why our economy is now so grossly distorted.
The best taxes are small, simple and universal. This means there is no incentive or opportunity to evade or work around misdirecting investment for tax reasons rather than productive ones.
While it’s reasonable to quibble the exact structure and details of TOP’s proposed Asset tax, the fundamental idea of it is sound.
On the contrary, it’s the fundamentals I have a problem with. They don’t get welfare or its value and hence they’ve designed policy around economics. That serves economies. I want the people to be served.
Yet the odd thing is that the most common objection I hear from people when I first mention UBI, is along the lines “It makes beneficiaries of everyone!” … as if that were a very bad thing.
Frankly I struggle to understand this big distinction is that you are making between say $200pw income from a welfare benefit and $200pw income from a UBI.
Except that the former is something you had to line up, fill out paperwork and grovel for … while the latter is by right and unconditional.
Of course in the short term introducing a UBI to fully replace Welfare isn’t reasonable. Never said it was and that is clearly not TOP policy. The initial proposal is to make it available to youth, families with young children and the elderly and combine it with existing Welfare.
In the longer term if the UBI was successful and demonstrated the positive outcomes I believe it could have, then an expanded UBI could become truly Universal for everyone. But even then I doubt it would ever fully replace targeted welfare.
Reshaping an economy so that it works to serve people in the way you have in mind, would be a gradual transition. It could take a generation or more. The idea of slam-bam shock policy died with Roger Douglas.
I’m supportive of a UBI if it’s designed around wellbeing. That’s not what Morgan is doing. He’s designing from an economic perspective and adding in the nice social bits as he goes. This is why The Big Kahuna fails to address the topup issue meaningfully and leaves it as a side bar to sort out later. That’s dangerous.
I don’t know anyone that can live on $200/wk. I’m sure there are some people, but they’re generally people that have other resources e.g. no rent.
You seem to think welfare is about a sum of money. It’s not, it’s about caring for people when they need it. Morgan is pretty clear he wants people to be personally responsible and for the state to radically lessen support. So bad luck if you can’t manage on what Morgan deems sufficient or in ways that Morgan deems as reasonable or normal.
Considering that there’s really only one way to do it it’d take five minutes.
1. Stop banks from creating money
2. Implement a UBI and government spending as the only way money enters the economy
Done. You really can’t do it any other way because all other ways require looking for ways to pay for the UBI which can’t be done. This way the UBI pays for the economy and we end up with an economy that’s stable and works for everyone.
Of course no-one is expected to live on $200pa.
If you have no other income and you qualify for welfare, TOP policy has clearly evolved to a position where your income would be the unconditional UBI plus a conditional top up welfare benefit to at least current levels.
The Big Kahuna was published some years ago now; the issue of ‘top ups’ has now been addressed in detail. How ‘dangerous’ was that?
You seem to think welfare is about a sum of money. It’s not, it’s about caring for people when they need it.
Yet whenever we’ve discussed this in the past this is EXACTLY what you brought it back to … how to bridge the gap between the UBI and current benefits. Now it’s clear the welfare top up mechanism would fill that gap just fine, you move the goal-posts again to demanding that state needs to be ‘caring’ as well.
If your idea of state ‘care’ is the status quo welfare system; well you have me stumped.
Morgan is pretty clear he wants people to be personally responsible and for the state to radically lessen support
IF at UBI with it’s myriad of benefits really did transform society in the way many people hope, and that people really did find it much easier to find ways to support themselves in ways that suited them and fulfilled their dreams in life … why would this be such a bad thing?
If a UBI really did eliminate the poverty trap, toxic dependency, reduce the number of people who needed support, what exactly are you objecting to here?
Why represent this as binary choice between ‘collective caring’ OR ‘personal responsibility’ … when surely a blend of the strengths of both might be an ideal worth thinking about?
@ DtB
Love ya mate 🙂
You always make me feel so conservative. But on this I largely agree with you. Creating credit is a necessary economic function and using the UBI to generate a large fraction of it, instead of the allowing the banks to have a monopoly as they do now, is a very interesting idea.
But as always principle and pragmatism should never try to gatecrash the same party. Ends in tears.
If you have no other income and you qualify for welfare, TOP policy has clearly evolved to a position where your income would be the unconditional UBI plus a conditional top up welfare benefit to at least current levels.
The Big Kahuna was published some years ago now; the issue of ‘top ups’ has now been addressed in detail. How ‘dangerous’ was that?
Really? Because as far as I can tell the TOP ‘UBI’ currently is on top of existing benefits. Are you suggesting this is the plan for a full UBI eventually?
What’s the ‘conditional topup’?
I’ve not seen anything credible from TOP on supplementary benefits.
As for the rest of your comment, you appear to be arguing with me as if I’m against a UBI. I’ve said multiple times that I’m supportive of a UBI but that I think Morgan’s one is seriously lacking. When you start hearing what I am actually saying and engaging with that I’ll reciprocate.
actually people might be living in an asset worth of a million if they find a buyer who will give them a million dollar. Until then the house is only ever worth what someone pays for it, and that might be nought.
where i bought my house the average price for house without land is around 60.000$ The land then comes in at another 50.000 or so, so the average house / land here sells around 80 .000 – 120.000 . These people surely are rolling in cash. Lets means test them, lest they get to much right?
but I agree, Mr. Morgan should be paying taxes as he has several million dollar properties that – as per his own saying – he keeps empty and thus not profitable to ‘protect the carpet’ from the tenants. He should be paying a lot of taxes on his empty investment properties until it becomes so unprofitable for him to have these properties empty that he either sells them for someone to live in or rents them for someone to live in.
I side with Sabine. Morgan screwed the dirty system to the max when he was young and greedy, then, after making enough money, went into semi-retirement, travelled around a bit, and began to gain a glimmer of social understanding. Now he masquerades (even if he believes in his own myths) as a philanthropic worker for the social good. Like that American mogul Carnegie, he does good works that I think ring hollow.
I used to think that the ‘politics of envy’ was a right wing myth … but watching more than a few people here I’m beginning to think they may have been correct all along.
I am NOT envious of Morgan, nor of his fortune. Please don’t make me use capitals again.
And that’s the usual response too.
As you wish. But how old are you? I remember back in the 90s when Morgan was the clever smarty-pants expert being touted on TV as a great consultant on the value of the Dollar. He was part of the big neo-liberal mouthpiece. He needs to go a long way further to atone for all that, and he is nowhere near it so far. Maybe you are too young to understand this.
@ In Vino
Almost old enough for Super thank you. You remember a different Morgan to me; I recall someone who was always an outsider, all too prone to speaking his mind to ever be part of the big club.
But the 90’s are quite a long time back now; and people do change. I know I have a lot, and I’d hazard a guess you have too.
Hell I once even voted ACT. Have I done enough to atone for it by now do you think?
@RedLogix
lol – nobody can atone for that!
I am already on Super, but I guessed wrongly at you being young.
I remember people avidly following Roger Douglas with his flat tax ideas, thinking they were pushing left-wing policies having got rid of Muldoon. I sense a little of the same in Morgan, sad to say.
He became an outspoken outsider only after he had profited from the damaging policies he approved of, to my mind. But who knows? None of us is infallible. I have agreed with every post of yours I have seen up until now – and this is not a major thing.
Go for what we believe in, eh?
Instead of welfare, student allowances and living costs component of student loans.
Winnie’s cunning strategy to become PM
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11891818
Little accuses Peters of leaking the internal UMR poll
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2017/07/andrew-little-accuses-winston-peters-of-leaking-poll-that-made-labour-look-bad.html
Do any parties have good policies on how it will make lots of New Zealanders have great careers and awesome salaries?
I see plenty of redistribution policies, but not a whole bunch on economic development.
Election campaign has only just started. You can see historical policy on parties’ websites.
well, 100k new homes must be good for somebody.
Labour’s been announcing portions of its (?$200mil I think?) regional development fund in each reagion little visits – Dunedin’s getting IT industry support, Gisborne will get a prefab housing factory (there’s the 100k homes methinks), dunno what else.
more cops and light rail for auckland, too. And working towards a living wage and better workplace rights, of course. 3 yrs free tertiary education.
I’m sure the Greens have some additional/even better policies, too. NZ1 will probably have some hefty regional development policies as well.
Yes labour will just legislate as such , easy
Any actual initiative on how to grow more high-paying jobs from any party would be great.
give labour 9 years in the beehive and they will FIFU
Hey beaded git,
The new government will need all of 9yrs to take out all the hidden hooks that national has left in the administration to trip the next lot up!!!
lol
They’re neck and neck as they come round the course but I think The Chairman is pulling to the front and is the WINNER for the most concerned troll of the morning. Will he keep up this pace during the day and emerge a champion tonight?
What a commenter, day after day, he keeps up the pace. He will be a hard man to beat and will wear his blue jersey with pride for the timebeing , and may receive his cobalt shade one in the BIG prizegiving day in September. But there are good contenders, yes they are giving him hot competition, and if their jaws don’t drop off or fingers wear out to their wrists, they’ll be close behind.
But watch this wonderful little performer for good value entertainment.
But will his body be able to sustain that frenetic level of activity? One snapped tendon, or one blister in the wrong place, and his keyboarding rate could plunge, causing a dramatic loss to all those who enjoy wringing their hands as they mull over the complexities and intricacies of those weighty problems that constantly plague the parties of the Left, but never the Right.
One can only hope…
lol
No mention of Johnny Key our humble home boy getting a top award from Oz for not causing their bedsheets to get rucked up by any thorny questions that meek little NZs want to raise. After all when all the big money is covered by Oz banks who would dare be tempted to annoy them.
Meanhile our brownies languish on islands that are not paradise (any whities there? If not sounds like discrimination to me.) Oz has long been the Dis-crimi-nation but I had hoped for better from NZ politicians. But hey, nice doggie John, give him a medal and a bone too, the best for you, an Honorary Companion in the Order of Australia. This is the highest Australian honour.
there is a sting in the tail here for the Nats ..while i always mistrusted the guy he did seem to have a way with some in the electorate…his resurrection with a medal so close to the election serves to show how crap English is
question please… i thought Todd Barclay was supposed to be back in parliament this week, or is it next week?
Also, interesting that Bill is taking a holiday down Dipton way, I wonder if he choose to go down south for damage control as well as a holiday.
Well in the meantime not even a possible slap on the wrist with a wet bus ticket for him.
Politics
11:04 am today
IPCA won’t pursue Barclay investigation complaint
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/335307/ipca-won-t-pursue-barclay-investigation-complaint
That was the complaint to the Police Complaints Authority NZJ.
The Police may yet come to some conclusion as it has reopened the case.
Be ironic if the Police also close the case as this would McLay quit for no offence.
Thanks for the link and update Jest.
So the police handled the investigation in the correct manner according to the police watch dog, but the investigation is still ongoing.
Least that’s the conclusion I reached after reading the article
That’s good could now go after the real crooks like MeTo
Ha ha RED the crooks don’t blog they are busy stealing as crooks do.
He’s still not fronting up to media
He did make an appearance on the Twitter…
Where’s Todd Barclay?
Moving on from illegal taping,
the $100k hush money,
confidentiality agreement,
bill english lying to the public,
barclay continuing to be paid,
staff resignations
and media avoidance…
an extremely important question to be addressed (vital to the whole puzzle) is…
“What was on the tapes?”
Even Gunloving Rednecks in the US are starting to see through the lies of the neo-liberal establishment. I bet they will not get the lenient treatment handed out to Armed-Right-Wing groups who invade and occupy federal land etc.
Armed Left-Wing Group Wants To Stamp Out Fascism – The Young Turks – Published on Jul 17, 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYWujK8qEUI
Weekend warriors who like to play dress up and get off on guns, pathetic
But one can never be too careful because placards!.
https://twitter.com/danimarr94/status/886288996866936832
sennammemment, stannagran, ridaberrams, bud.
These guys are saying they are willing to defend the US Constitution. Not just the first amendment that is the only thing a lot of right-wingers care about, but these guys are trying to protect the down trodden against these that seek to do them harm.
Capitalism is a cancer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG6UfOi06ys&ab_channel=DemocracyNow%21
What’s is it with green MPs and honesty, two gone in the last week in oz suddenly rembering they had dual citizenship, one in nz deciding to be honest after 20 or so tears of been dishonest
What a terrible typo.
” after 20 or so tears of been dishonest”.
I didn’t see any tears at all. She was chortling with laughter about how she had got away with ripping off the taxpayer.
One of our parties managed to put up a list candidate who wasn’t actually a citizen at all I think it was NZF but I wouldn’t put money on it. I may be unfairly maligning them.
You’re thinking of Kelly Chal who was United Future Dunne in 2002 (?) if I recall correctly
Alwyn’s total misrepresentation of those alleged tears/chuckling represent merely his own wishful thinking. Quite a pattern emerging of that…
And will one of you sort out ‘been’ and ‘being’?
That’s all you got Vino,, again say after me 10 times “the whole world hates a corrector, I must do better” 😀
And write out 10 times, ‘That’s all you’ve got.’
‘That’s all you got’ means ‘That’s all you received’.
Don’t make yourself look sillier than you need to.
And the whole world does not hate a corrector – only those who need correction. Like you.
You must have had it tough at school Vino 😀
I shall take your word for it.
Your memory is clearly better than mine on the matter. I only remembered that it happened to some party at some election.
And, for any NZF supporter who may read this blog, I apologise for maligning you.
Tears of laughter after 20 years of taking the proverbial, oh I will pay it back if they can prove it beyond my carefully legally constructed confession for perceived political benefit
[RL: Two unsubstantiated smears. Lift your game. Last warning.]
Puller always looks like she just snagged the last cream bun. Crutcher always looks like someone goosed her. Bingles always looks like one of his kids shat in his brogues. Such is life.
They eventually are? Is that it?
Reckon it’ll catch on with Pricksmith, Bingles, Crutcher, Jeery, Munter and the rest of the Pony Boys?
Rowan Atkinson being a Conservative giving out his feelings about immigration in the UK. (Think this was during Thatcher years. It may be entirely different now.)
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaGdwfykYGY
Please note. This is political satire.