Open Mike 18/09/2017

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 18th, 2017 - 150 comments
Categories: open mike - Tags:

Open mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Step up to the mike …

150 comments on “Open Mike 18/09/2017 ”

  1. Cinny 1

    It’s happening…. Nick Smith might just lose his seat…. this is an exciting poll result considering the large margin Nick has had over Nelson for so long.

    “A new poll is showing a tight race in Nelson – the seat National’s Nick Smith won by nearly 8000 votes at the least election.

    He’s held the seat comfortably since 1996, but new Greens polling suggests it’s nearly a three-way photo-finish with Labour candidate Rachel Boyack and Greens candidate Matt Lawrey a relatively close second and third.

    Smith held 29.3 per cent support; four points ahead of Boyack on 25 per cent, while Lawrey – a high-profile councillor in the region – was on 22.8 per cent.”

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/96928350/labour-and-greens-nelson-candidates-breathing-down-the-neck-of-nationals-nick-smith–poll

    • garibaldi 1.1

      If Labour wants to win the general election it should direct it’s Nelson supporters to vote Lowry to ensure the Greens an electoral seat in parliament. This would help boost the Green vote because those who fear they won’t get 5% can then confidently vote Green.
      What’s the bet that Labour are too arrogant to do this?

      • Psycho Milt 1.1.1

        Given that Labour denounced National for doing that in Ohariu, what’s your proposal for Labour to credibly explain now deciding to do the same thing?

        • garibaldi 1.1.1.1

          PM,National will do anything and everything to win ,so what alternative would you suggest? The way I see it we either face 3 more years or do what it takes to win now. This would include accommodations elsewhere eg give TTT to Hone.

          • McFlock 1.1.1.1.1

            So labgrn gain a maximum of 4.9% from Greens (if and only if greens poll <5%), and lose how much for being hypocrites?

            Nah. Leave the rotten boroughs to the nats.

        • popexplosion 1.1.1.2

          New leader. It was dumb to call legal tactics underhanded. It’s politics, people want capable politicians who can stick the dagger in. Ans finally, Labour lazily want the ability to return on the list so any split voting is to be frowned upon even if it givens local voters more representatives, aka Epson, Seymour, gold Smith, jenta?, Labour list guy. This is why you need to party vote Greens, kick Labour out of its stupor.

      • AsleepWhileWalking 1.1.2

        I would love to see that happen.

      • Cinny 1.1.3

        I’m so impressed with Rachels polling, I didn’t expect her to be polling higher than Matt. Have seen her speak a number of times, she’s outstanding and super motivated/enthusiastic.

        If I was in Nelson electorate I’d strategic vote

        Imagine if Nick came third, now that we be a great result for all. Nick is very proud, the news of this poll will be hurting. Nelson has had enough of Nick

      • Bearded Git 1.1.4

        I think the Greens will be safely over 5%….their campaign has been excellent over the last month and at least four of my friends are tactically voting Green.

        It really makes little difference whether the new government is Lab 43 Gre 5 or Lab 40 Gre 8.

        If I was a Labour voter in Nelson I would be giving Two Tactical Ticks (mmm maybe the Greens could use that as a slogan) to the Greens in this scenario-wouldn’t it be good to see the back of that consummate liar Mr. Nick “wadeable” Smith?

        • ScottGN 1.1.4.1

          Stephen Mills said this morning on Nine to Noon that UMR currently has the Greens safely over the threshold on 8%.

    • ScottGN 1.2

      This poll is front page on the Southland Times this morning Cinny.😀

    • James 1.3

      No it’s not happening.

      It was all a desperate bullshit attempt from the greens.
      http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/election/2017/09/patrick-gower-desperate-greens-drop-fake-news-poll-in-nelson.html

      • Cinny 1.3.1

        Cheers for the link James it’s Gowers OPINION as stated on the story. He’s a little headline spinner who enjoys the focus on him is Gower.

        The feeling from around nicks electorate reflects the numbers from the greens internal polling. Nelson is sick of Nick.

        However am following this with interest.

        • James 1.3.1.1

          He’s now updated that it was confirmed by the greens as being done by Robo callers.

          Push polling much. What a laugh.

          Greens bust be shit scared that they won’t make 5% to try and pull this off.

          • mpledger 1.3.1.1.1

            Robo callers aren’t necessarily push polls.

            It’s what information is conveyed by the interviewer that decides if it’s a push poll.

            So what was the script?

          • Cinny 1.3.1.1.2

            thanks for the update James, it’s still Gowers opinion… as still stated on the story.

            • james 1.3.1.1.2.1

              and its still bullshit to release it as a poll

              “Both polls were robo-polls that targeted voters across Nelson. Robo-polls or automated polls are self-selecting, which can be difficult to weight scientifically, but the September Greens’ poll produced a response rate of about 20 per cent. ”

              As I said – they are desperate.

              • Cinny

                on the upside, not long now until we find out if any of the polls were correct.

                Is election night a big thing for you James? We are heading down to one of the locals, they will have large screens set up upstairs to watch the networks broadcast results as they come in.

                • James

                  Depends if I’m in the country or not (this election I am). I normally host a party and watch it in the big screen in the man cave.

              • No, it’s you who are desperate.

                People who answer polling questions from people who call are also self-selecting.

                • James

                  Me desperate? Nah – I’m all good. Already said I would be (very) disappointed If labour and greens win – but happy to accept the result what ever way it goes.

                  I suggest should national win – you will whine like anything.

          • Draco T Bastard 1.3.1.1.3

            Man, you really are scared aren’t you?

            Automated calling is just as random as as a person going through a phone book and will get the same y/n response to answering.

      • SpaceMonkey 1.3.2

        “It’s a set of numbers Green volunteers have gathered, with no way of checking them and media should be ashamed of reporting them as a “poll”.”

        Hahahaha… bloody rich coming from Gower!

      • Bearded Git 1.3.3

        The poll must be credible when Gower reacts like that.

        The MSM’s attempt to push the Greens out of parliament and posit that Winston will have a shot at being PM is crashing and burning.

      • Muttonbird 1.3.4

        Gower is annoyed that anyone else would try to do a fake poll because that’s his territory.

        • Union city greens 1.3.4.1

          Gower is lying. He claims the greens say they are in front. The stuff story clearly states they say they are in third place.

          This fake news claim, after his made up RR poll, has seen his personal share of the preferred irony vote just go up to 104.7% lol

    • Sumsuch 1.4

      I was in the newsroom of the Nelson Mail –almost all females– in 2003 when Nick had one of his periodic breakdowns–was he deputy leader at the time? He is one of the elite who they who know him smile immediately at the mention of the name.

  2. Cinny 2

    Bill English doesn’t appear to be doing his Monday morning tv interviews, looks like Paula is being rolled out instead.

    Am wondering where is bill this morning and why he is not doing his regular monday morning interviews?

    She’s coming up on newshub, and then on tvnz at 7:10

    • Cinny 2.1

      Turns out bill is doing a streamed interview with hosking at 7am
      http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11922548

    • ScottGN 2.2

      No doubt they’re quite keen to avoid him getting asked how come the government failed to do anything to secure such a vital piece of infrastructure like the fuel pipeline, even after they were advised 5 years ago it was vulnerable to exactly the kind of event that happened last week.

      • Incognito 2.2.1

        No doubt National will try and spin it to suggest that a previous Labour government put that Kauri there [sarc]. However, it did leave somewhat of a real hole this time …

    • ScottGN 2.3

      Bennett is fronting Morning Report too now…

      • Ed 2.3.1

        English must be wishing he was on Morning Report.
        Bennett is really struggling.
        Completely unprepared for the interview.

        Espiner just said ‘National ran out of gas in the last week.’

        • alwyn 2.3.1.1

          There was an excellent interview with Collins on Morning Report though, a bit earlier than Bennetts.
          Suzie asked all the relevant questions and allowed Collins to answer them. It was actually very informative.
          Espiner, on the other hand simply talked straight over the top of Bennett as soon as she tried to respond to his questions. Would someone get him to listen to Suzy’s interview and learn how it should be done? We want to hear the answers Guyon, not simply you stopping the Minister from answering.

      • SpaceMonkey 2.3.2

        Her “golly, gee, gosh!” routine is tired and old. Once it was amusing – in the sense that someone with no vocabulary other than superlatives could get away with insulting the electorate like that – now it just hurts my head.

        And she hadn’t read the report… what a surprise! How many times can she get away with that? Paula… How about instead of talking with your colleague the evening before the interview, you read the report so you can talk sensibly for a change.

        And you should’ve had time to do both by the sounds of it. You’re not even campaigning… no one has seen you!!

    • mary_a 2.4

      Cinny (2) … NZH headlines has Blinglish doing an interview on the ZB Hosking breakfast show this morning. Yes, it’s headline news!

      Hence Bennett being rolled out on Morning Report. She’s not doing too well either.

      • Cinny 2.4.1

        By crikey Mary it’s going to be a huge week. paula kept reassuring herself that the nats still have the countrys support on both tv networks. She’s dreaming.

        Watched a bit of english, he was struggling, looking forward to catching up with all the interviews later.

      • tracey 2.4.2

        She has been invisible, for obvious reasons, but maybe questions began being asked about where the DPM has been?

    • eco Maori/kiwi 2.5

      Well Well

  3. mickysavage 3

    Air fuel … it should be a simple job to say that Oravida is not involved, presuming this is the case. Why no comment?

  4. Ed 4

    Unenrolled voters being turned away in Palmerston North.
    Sounds like Florida 2000.

  5. Janet 5

    The Herald’s article on the jet fuel shortage says that Mobie had a report on this in 2012, pointing out the risk of this happening. Did nothing.
    Key as Minister of Tourism (now on Air NZ Board) would have known about the risk. Might it not have been viewed as rather important infrastructure? Another complete fail for Joyce, Key and English. And is Oravida involved?

    • Rosemary McDonald 5.1

      “And is Oravida involved?”

      An opportunity for a keen journalist to do some real digging?

      There’s a stench swirling around this.

    • Rosemary McDonald 5.2

      Stop press!!!

      The Northern Advocate has this…http://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503450&objectid=11923372

      saying….”Meanwhile, Refining NZ chief executive Sjoerd Post this morning told Radio New Zealand reports that a digger striking a kauri log caused the pipeline bust was “fake news”.

      The spokesperson said there were currently 14 international or domestic flights cancelled.

      However, when put in context that an average of more than 460 flights went in and out of the airport daily, the impact hadn’t been too bad.

      “I think contextually wise, we have 465 flights that operate at the airport daily so if you look at it with that context there’s not a huge amount of flights that have been cancelled.”

      • tracey 5.2.1

        “Fake news”. As in – we got legal advice from MFAT to pay our Saudi businessman- fake or something else?

        • Rosemary McDonald 5.2.1.1

          There’s something really fishy about this.

          The environment around the kauri extraction and export industry is murkier than the swamps….

          It will be interesting to see how the various political parties handle this.

          Quite a number of prominent people are potentially compromised.

          And bugger…the worksite looks awfully close to one of my favourite freedom camping (in a CSC vehicle of course) spots. ;-( 🙁

    • Ma Rohemo 5.3

      The refinery said calculations showed pipe rupture to be “a one in one hundred or two hundred year event”
      They can accurately state that it is now a one in 31 year event.

  6. DoublePlusGood 6

    Hi everyone. It’s the last week of the campaign, I was bored last night, and I’ve seen some very odd mainstream media commentary on electorate seats.
    We’re also bound to get inane nonsense on the night itself.

    So, without further ado, here is an index of how far each seat has been to the left or right averaged over the last three elections, from the party vote. The method is left/opposition votes minus right/government votes for each election, averaged, which gives you the % lead.
    Left leaning is positive numbers, right leaning negative numbers, for obvious reasons.
    It’s a blunt measure because I am not a data statistician, but I think this is a hell of a lot more useful than the Herald’s ‘insights’.

    Māngere +54
    Ikaroa-Rāwhiti +51
    Hauraki-Waikato +47
    Manukau East +47
    Te Tai Tokerau +45
    Tāmaki-Makaurau +44
    Te Tai Hauāuru +38
    Te Tai Tonga +38
    Waiariki +35
    Manurewa +33

    The safest left seats are the 7 Māori seats and the 3 South Auckland seats. The Māori seats would be even further left, but they were much less left in 2008 as the Māori Party got a lot of votes that election. Same goes for Māngere and the Pacific Party. Interestingly, Waiariki is at +35 but still held by a government party in the electoral vote.

    Dunedin North +29
    Rongotai +29
    Kelston +26
    Mt Albert +17
    Wellington Central +17
    Dunedin South +16
    Mana +12
    Christchurch East +11
    New Lynn +10

    Among the rest of the left safe seats we have the first Christchurch seats. The Christchurch seats have changed greatly post the earthquake and the most recent redistribution, and their electoral results have bounced around a bit. Chch Central and Wigram are both more like +2, and Port Hills more like -2.

    Christchurch Central +7
    Wigram +7
    Hutt South +7
    Mount Roskill +6
    Te Atatū +6
    Auckland Central +6
    Port Hills +6
    Rimutaka +5
    Palmerston North +4
    Maungakiekie +3
    Nelson +1

    Hutt South post re-distribution is more like -2, and Nelson has been trending rightward, since it was -4 at the last election.
    Some weird predictions have been made with some of these seats. Hutt South is maybe able to be taken by National, but current polling should have Hutt South end up somewhere around +10 Left.
    Nelson being -4 last election is not a good sign, but if the election is won by the left, Nelson might go left too. A strong incumbent effect to beat there though.
    Christchurch Central should go back to Labour easily.
    In these electorates, it is a bit less certain if the Labour candidate wins as some electorate votes go to Green or NZ First candidates.

    West Coast-Tasman -3
    Ōtaki -4
    Whanganui -6
    NEW ZEALAND -6.6
    Hamilton West -7
    Invercargill -7
    Ōhariu -9

    These are the bellweather seats closest to New Zealand’s overall position the last three elections. Current polling has the current opposition parties at something like 54%, or +8.
    Invercargill, Ōhariu might be won by Labour, while Ōtaki, Whanganui and Hamilton West have strong incumbent effects to overcome.

    Napier -10
    East Coast -10
    Hamilton East -14
    Whangarei -14
    Rotorua -15
    Wairarapa -15
    Northcote -16
    Northland -16
    New Plymouth -16
    Rangitata -16
    Papakura -17
    Coromandel -17
    Tukituki -17
    Waimakariri -19

    Napier is a likely source of silly comments if Stuart Nash loses his seat, because Garth McVicar split the vote in 2011 and Stuart Nash was claimed as Left Wing Jesus for about a month. It’s maybe holdable, but a stretch.
    Whangarei seems too far to take off National, even if Shane Reti is totally useless.

    Waitaki -20
    Rangitikei -21
    Upper Harbour -22
    Kaikoura -22
    Tauranga -23
    Ilam -24
    Taupo -24
    Bay of Plenty -30
    Selwyn -31
    Waikato -34
    Botany -35
    North Shore -36
    Taranaki-King Country -36
    Clutha-Southland -37
    Pakuranga -38
    East Coast Bays -39
    Rodney -39
    Epsom -39
    Helensville -40
    Tamaki -40
    Hunua -40

    And these are all safe National seats, steadfastly committed to the destruction of all in sight. Hunua nudges out Tamaki and Helensville as the furthest right electorate, as it’s all land-bankers, lifestyle blocks, cows and Christian holiday camps out that way.

    • tracey 6.1

      Was hoping the exodus from the Eastern suburbs to Rolleston would dent Adams in Selwyn.

    • Bearded Git 6.2

      Wow….how long did that take? I just printed it.

      The interesting thing for me is that I think despite Labour winning electorate seats in Dunedin and Christchurch, Labour lost the party vote in both cities. This means that part of the party vote National got is soft and could easily move to Labour under Stardust.

      • DoublePlusGood 6.2.1

        It, uh, took a while!
        It’s the high green vote (especially in Dunedin North at 23%) that means National got a plurality in Dunedin. Labour should have the highest party vote in both this election.
        It’s the same kind of thing as Wellington Central where Labour were third in the party vote, but Wellington Central is still miles to the left.

        Labour hasn’t done that well in Christchurch, but I think not being first on the party vote in the left leaning electorates is due to strong NZ First and Green presence.

    • swordfish 6.3

      These are the bellweather seats closest to New Zealand’s overall position the last three elections.

      In terms of the Party-Vote – I’ve completed quite a bit of fine-grained Booth-by-Booth analysis over recent years

      It’s allowed me to identify various Bellwether neighbourhoods (esp in Welly & Auckland)

      Who knows – Intensive canvassing of these micro-areas (ie booth catchment areas) might just prove a little more cost-effective for Labour & Greens than Polling

      Cheap way to learn which way the wind’s blowing

      • DoublePlusGood 6.3.1

        I really enjoyed seeing how individual polling places differed last time.
        Also found out that I voted at the Greenest polling booth in the country.

        • swordfish 6.3.1.1

          Also found out that I voted at the Greenest polling booth in the country.

          Only if you live in Golden Bay

          Greenest polling booth in the country (Highest %)

          Booth Onekaka … Region Golden Bay … Seat West Coast-Tasman

          Green … Total … Green %
          76 …… … 139 … … … 54.7%

          .

          2nd Place

          Booth Aro Valley … Region Wellington City … Seat Wellington Central

          Green … Total … Green %
          538 … … 1186 … … 45.4%

  7. Glenn 7

    Ammunition…..but for whom?

    https://www.odt.co.nz/business/important-information-come-just-election

    “Politicians will get their final chance to look at economic indicators on Wednesday and Thursday before Saturday’s election.

    Early voting will have been going for 10 days before Statistics New Zealand’s balance of payment figures are released on Wednesday.

    On Thursday, New Zealand’s economic growth figures are released, along with the country’s increasingly controversial migration and international visitor numbers”.

    • Carolyn_nth 7.1

      Our election rules have not kept up with the shift to early voting. There should be no publication of polls once voting starts. And the rule of no politicking or reports on such on Saturday only, is now a nonsense.

    • tracey 7.2

      Wont government already know these?

  8. eco maori 8

    Can anyone see a world financial crisis well no so don’t fall for the neo liberals proper gander Implying that OUR property price mite crash all that is happen is people are buying more property’s in OUR smaller regions .
    In my view the real estate people and bankers all neo liberals are the cause of OUR
    over priced property’s .
    When i read that a house gets sold 3 * in 6 months and the real estate agent gets 4 %
    well in my view that has pushed that house up by 12% real estate agency should be only aloud a 1% commission on sales so this house would only go up 3% and this would still be $30.000 and not $120.000 in Auckland and tuff shit if they can’t make that work as they are pushing OUR property’s prices to high and unsustainable.
    Aviation fuel why not have one or two weeks storage at a strategic point.

    • SpaceMonkey 8.1

      “Aviation fuel why not have one or two weeks storage at a strategic point”

      You’d think that where you’ve got a single point of failure like that pipeline, this is the minimum contingency that would’ve been taken to mitigate the risk.

      The never ending quest for greater profitability dulls decision making and blunts risk management.

      • The never ending quest for greater profitability dulls decision making and blunts risk management.

        Which is exactly what happened with the Rena disaster. We simply didn’t have the necessary capabilities in place because it costs to have it in place.

        • s y d 8.1.1.1

          Rena and this oil pipeline and going back to Max Bradford, the 1998 electric cable debacle into AK City are examples of what happens when formerly publicly owned natural monopolies are handed to the private sector. The critical functions of ensuring that infrastructure is maintained and contingencies made for failure are offloaded onto local government functionaries who are not up to the task.
          Consequently we have Airport & Port & Oil & Electricity Companies with no responsibilities beyond maximising profit. The risk is handed off to local and eventually central government, who, when the inevitable happens, will cry 1 in 100 year event, hold an inquiry, decide to leave things as they are and leave the mess for the locals

    • In my view the real estate people and bankers all neo liberals are the cause of OUR over priced property’s .

      Correct:

      Many of us were told that house prices are so high because there are too many people and not enough houses. While this is true, house prices have also been pushed up by the hundreds of billions of pounds of new money that banks created in the years before the financial crisis.

      Yes, we use the same failed Ponzi Scheme for our banking.

    • james 8.3

      “a house gets sold 3 * in 6 months and the real estate agent gets 4 %
      well in my view that has pushed that house up by 12% real estate agency should be only aloud a 1% commission on sales so this house would only go up 3% ”

      Im sorry but your maths and logic are critically flawed.

  9. The Chairman 9

    Watching Jacinda on Q&A defending her housing policy (limiting offshore investors to new builds) it’s clear Labour should have gone with the tax option highlighted by Fran.

    It’s been shown to work overseas (Canada). And it is within the realm of our trade deals.

    Moreover, it could be hiked up so high it would put an end to offshore speculators.

    Why didn’t Labour go down this road? Anybody know?

    • tracey 9.1

      They wanted to. Remember their tax working group? Would have explored this and other things. But Joyce stirred up some lies and apparently it worked. They cannot change anything in Opposition. “Fran” has leverage on the Right, why didnt she write about this 8 years ago… or 1 year ago?

      • tc 9.1.1

        Because the MSM are full of nact shills like O’Shiilivan singing for their supper.

        A half decent MSM would’ve pointed out the obvious being a lack of CGT/speculators/foreign ownership and made nationals scare tactisc useless

      • The Chairman 9.1.2

        They don’t require a working group to draw up a tax policy. If they wanted to (as you asserted) then they could have done so.

        This has been known for sometime. Key even considered it, but didn’t think the level of offshore investment was that bad. Remember? He had a “gut instinct”.

        • tracey 9.1.2.1

          Bullshit. When they produce lots of policy like 2014 no one gives a shit. When they get independently costed spending they get pilloried. When they suggest a working group they get pilloried.

          Show me the other party’s detail tax policies. And show me National’s income/wages policy.

          • Muttonbird 9.1.2.1.1

            The Chairman doesn’t critique National. Only Labour. He must be really worried now because he’s recently started on the Greens.

            • tracey 9.1.2.1.1.1

              I have noticed it is a common theme, most worryingly amongst the media. Another day another untested spending promise by English

          • The Chairman 9.1.2.1.2

            Nothing in my reply to you was “bullshit”, Tracey. Therefore, what are you on about?

            “When they produce lots of policy like 2014 no one gives a shit.”

            No. It was more a case of voters not resonating with them. Hence, Little dropped a number of them. Speaking of which (policy not resonating) do Labour still have their radical Kiwisaver policy? You know, the one with the variable savings rate?

            “When they suggest a working group they get pilloried”

            For good reason, voters don’t like uncertainty. Jacinda probably could have gotten away with actually putting forward a policy. She has the ability to sell it if she tried.

            As for National’s policies, best you ask a right-winger. I’m not here to defend them.

            The Greens and NZ First policy can be found on their website.

      • james 9.1.3

        So they didnt have the courage to follow thru with the captians call and changed it all because of Joyce.

  10. Pat 10

    Heres your market at work..the same process and regulation (hah!) promoted and implemented by Bill and his mates……and we have yet to add the thousands of dodgy Christchurch repairs to this debacle, that has been playing out for decades.

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201858893/mother-faces-bankruptcy-after-leaky-home-bill

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201858894/tragic-leaky-building-cases-all-too-common-lawyer

    • tracey 10.1

      Grimshaw got rich on the leaky home gravy train and a whole new profession popped up, building experts. Those experts get about 50k to project manage a full reclad so why would they recommend repair? Councils recommend reclad over repair cos the decision making is driven by future liability not the current code.

      There are tens of thousands of people trapped in leaky homes. Cannot afford to fix and no one will buy. That is alot of homes out of circulation. People who might have sold and moved to regions to retire are stuck.

      • Pat 10.1.1

        Grimshaw may well have got rich on leaky home advocacy (he is after all a lawyer , who don’t get up to piss without billing someone for the act) however he is right about where the fault lies, unfortunately as will occur with ChCh this is simply another case of a system that provides for the private sector to profit and the costs to be socialised (and born by the unfortunate individuals due to inadequate compensation package)….and who changed the regulation and oversight to enable this?….I’ll give you one guess

  11. tc 11

    My better half voted and wasn’t asked for any ID !

    When I voted my drivers license proved I was who I said I was and I had to tell them the address then they gave me a voting paper.

    She gave her name, they read out her address and that was it, she was handed a voting slip without being asked for anything other than her name.

    Is this correct process ?

    • Carolyn_nth 11.1

      That does worry me. They seem to be stricter on election day voting than on ealry voting.

      I received my voting papers – easy vote card – at the weekend. Will probably use it to vote this week as I am working Saturday, and it takes about an hour to get back to my home area. So not a lot of time left for voting. Though, I do have the OK to leave early on Saturday to vote.

      When I voted in the UK, elections were on weekdays. polling booths opened a lot earlier so I voted on the way to work. I wonder why they don’t open til 9am in NZ, even though it’s a Saturday? I had to queue for quite a while to vote last election.

    • tracey 11.2

      I was asked for my DL.

    • Andre 11.3

      Seems to be correct process. I just handed over my easy vote card and didn’t show any id.

      It’s not a totally secret ballot since all the ballots are numbered and cross-referenced back to who it was issued to. So if it really came down to it, if there was a dispute about fraudulent voting the disputed ballots could get dug out of the stack. Wild-eyed conspiracy theories about how everyone voted is going into a secret database in 5….4….3…

  12. Ethica 12

    You don’t need any ID to vote. You just need to say your name and they should be able to find it in the roll. If not you can do a special vote on the spot – or even enrol and then vote.

    ID makes it easier for the poll clerk to see how your name is spelt – but it is not a legal requirement to have any ID

    • james 12.1

      Really – that seems nuts.

      That would make it very easy for people to vote under others names.

      • tc 12.1.1

        That’s my point, all you need is to have that bright orange logo mail with which had the ‘easy vote’ card inside.

        • james 12.1.1.1

          Actually – no you do not.

          My wife lost hers – we all just went to vote.

          I had my easy vote card. She did not. She was just asked for her name and address. Nothing else.

      • Yep. And yet people still seem to think that paper voting is secure.

        • Blackcap 12.1.2.1

          Exactly. My partner voted last week. She gave her name, address and nothing else. Did not have the voting card as it had not yet arrived. Could easily vote for a friend or acquaintance who I know is on the roll, and probably not going to vote. The system is very loose.

        • Sabine 12.1.2.2

          i don’t think its anymore secure then any other way of voting, but …. you have a paper record that can be counted and verified. that might be the ‘secure’ part of it, while electronic voting without a papertrail you really have nothing to verify how and if a vote was cast.

          i voted today, presented my easy voter card, asked the lady if she wanted to see id – no thanks she said, still she was a was a bit fumbly with the paperwork, then asked me to state my name and spell it.
          Next to me was a young Maori women who filled a provisional ballot as her name was not on the roll. She was not happy about that, but the Lady dealing with her was very competent at her job.

          i have no issue with presenting an ID, it is common in Germany. In saying that in Germany everyone also has to have an ID from the age of 16 (this is not a passport just a simply ID card) and one needs to carry this with them at all times.

          anyways, i voted, two ticks green, thanks god its over for me and i don’t have to pretend to be interested anymore in the mud slinging that is currently going on.
          Two symbolic ticks for Metiria Turei. Cause she literally is the only person voting for even tho my Green candidate here where i live now does not stand a chance getting anywhere but the same can be said about our Labour candidate.

        • McFlock 12.1.2.3

          It is.

          Try skewing an election of 2 million votes by hand.

          • Psycho Milt 12.1.2.3.1

            Another advantage of MMP: under FPP the election was sometimes decided by a few thousand votes spread across swing seats, but under MMP any voter fraud would have to be on a large enough scale to affect the party vote before it became worth doing anything about.

      • McFlock 12.1.3

        yeah, but there’s no point to voter fraud unless you do it on a large scale, and in that case you’re easily picked up.

        But the threat of voter fraud is a nice way to ensure that poor people without id are disenfranchised.

        Although sometimes I think the main reason tories are worried about voter fraud is because they’re worried that lefties might have figured out a corrupt dodge that tories have missed.

        • Carolyn_nth 12.1.3.1

          I’d still like to know my vote had integrity, otherwise, why vote?

          That’s kind of dismissing the value of individual votes to say fraud only matters on a large scale.

          Plus, my electorate vote in Epsom may come down to a few votes.

          • McFlock 12.1.3.1.1

            Like most security issues, it comes down to “security” vs “usability”.

            We have a pretty good system of catching double-voters (which would also expose people voting under other people’s names), and they also have methods of identify fraudulent enrollments (one aspect being number of electors at an address, which is what sprung the guy trying it on a few years back). I wouldn’t be surprised if they also had some cross-referencing methods similar to how the two Israeli spies were caught trying to get NZ passports.

            But requiring ID disenfranchises those people who want to vote, but can’t afford/forget their id on the day. It’s a big deal in the states and is primarily targetted at disenfranchising black people (i.e. democrats).

            So do you want your vote to count more than other peoples’? Make it harder for people to vote. Otherwise, the current system is a pretty good compromise.

  13. Cinny 13

    Listening to the wireless, Sanso is doing his show down the coast this morning at Bernie Monks pub. Massive hints that there is still more to be released re Pike and it will be big. They don’t want to have to go down that path but have been left with no alternative.

    • eco maori 13.1

      Yes they need to take the Bull by the horns to accomplish what they want and squeezes the truth out of national.

    • ianmac 13.2

      Stephen Mills just made a passing hint this morning suggesting there may be “something” damaging to National likely this week.
      Still wonder about Paula Bennett being absent for weeks. Never seen standing behind English for his contrived stand-ups.

  14. eco maori 14

    Some big wig was checking me out when I went to purchase groceries.
    What they failed to do was check out my other family line and see that there are 2 computer coders closely related to me.

    • greywarshark 14.1

      You sound important for some bigwig to keep an eye on you. You are just into lawn mowing aren’t you. Or other horti-norti-culture?

      • Barfly 14.1.1

        lol 🙂

      • eco Maori/kiwi 14.1.2

        NICE FISH they are still spinning out the bullshit.
        And why are they stopping me from taking them to court !!!!!!!!!!!!! They are still pissing in the wind

        • eco Maori/kiwi 14.1.2.1

          greywarshark tell your mates to arrested me and we will sort this out IN the COURT’s of New Zealand

          • McFlock 14.1.2.1.1

            dude, no-one else knows what the heck you’re talking about.

          • greywarshark 14.1.2.1.2

            I don’t understand who is ecoMaori and who is ecoMaori/kiwi. And I think that we need to get this sorted out. Is it two people or what?

            And I haven’t got mates who I would send to arrest anyone. You seem to be on the verge of paranoia. And unable to have a real discussion about things. I am not bothering to discuss anything more with you.

            Could a moderator or lprent please see if these two pseudonyms are really separate or is it someone having two bites of the cherry? Or is it some one trying to put on a Maori persona? I’m going by the name.

            • eco Maori/kiwi 14.1.2.1.2.1

              I read you on your last comments on one of my older post you are just trying to under mine me like any neo liberal would do why don’t you go play with your self and then lie that you don’t do that like national would.

      • eco Maori/kiwi 14.1.3

        Why is the Ministry of Primary Industry asking for a extension on the mandatory 20 days Privacy act to give me all the information they hold on me .
        And Why has the Ministry of Justice not complying with the Privacy act and giving me the run around do you think I would be doing dum shit when I no they are on my ass I have all the emails to back this up. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FOOL

        • eco Maori/kiwi 14.1.3.1

          O that’s right I’m just a dum MAORI with no rights.

        • james 14.1.3.2

          “Why is the Ministry of Primary Industry asking for a extension on the mandatory 20 days Privacy act to give me all the information they hold on me.”

          They have to give a reason why they are asking for the extension.

    • james 14.2

      What kind of big wig was checking you out when you were purchasing groceries?

  15. ScottGN 15

    Boy the National Party trolls are really working overtime on the Stuff comments pages today.

  16. Penny Bright 16


    National have NOT delivered on housing in Tamaki, Auckland!

    Under PM Bill English and Minister of Finance Steven Joyce, IMO – they’ve made the Auckland ‘housing crisis’ and homelessness WORSE!

    When is the effective mainstream media CENSORSHIP of the $1.6 billion Tamaki ‘Regeneration’ – GENTRIFICATION scam going to be lifted?

    The Tamaki ‘Transformation’ Project was supposed to be a ‘pilot’ project for urban redevelopment.

    What a JOKE!

    What a DISASTER!

    In five years since 2012 – the FACTS are that in Tamaki, more houses have been removed than new houses have been built.

    237 Tamaki State houses have gone.
    (Relocated or demolished).

    213 new houses built.

    92 ‘social’ houses.

    39 ‘affordable’ houses (new home
    buyers)

    82 (high end) private houses.

    (Information from an OIA reply from Tamaki Regeneration Ltd, 21 August 2017).

    ‪This Tamaki GENTRIFICATION SCAM was /is on Bill English, Steven Joyce & Nick Smith’s watch, as Crown Shareholding Ministers in Tamaki Regeneration Ltd, and Tamaki Redevelopment Company Ltd.

    Why won’t this 100% Crown-owned Tamaki Regeneration Ltd, reveal exactly how much private property developers have paid for each and every former Housing NZ property?

    How DODGY is THAT?

    Here are the FACTS!

    ‪https://www.facebook.com/penny.bright.104/posts/1796625243683493‬

    (5 mins)

    While mainstream media (to date) have effectively ignored / censored this HUGE election issue, this ‘Tamaki SCAM’ video has had 100,000 ‘views’ in 4 days….

    Penny Bright

    ‘Anti-privatisation / anti-corruption whistle-blower’.

    2017 Independent candidate for Tamaki.

    Exposing the $1.6 billion Tamaki ‘Regeneration’ – GENTRIFICATION SCAM.

  17. Tracey 17

    Hat tip to Sean Spicer. Taking the piss out of himself at the Emmys.

  18. tracey 18

    Hat Tip to Sean Spicer taking the puss out of himself and Trump at the Emmys

    • joe90 18.1

      Spicer wasn’t at the Emmys through the goodness of his heart, he was making a buck on the back of his despicable lying for tRump.

  19. popexplosion 19

    Water tax. ok. it’s a tax rated on how much water is used, those who use more pay more. Westcoasters none. Canterbury plains, lots. In Israel they use very very little, not out of business yet there. So we have this upper class of extremely stupid people who think urban and non-high users of water will vote for National to scare them into worry about non existent potential costs. Especially when there is a huge value to those that use less water to get a value advantage over said big users of water. please yes hire some actual people who know about business to comment for the right coz these moron are idiots.

    [TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]

    • lprent 19.1

      I live in an apartment block of 60 single bedroom apartments. Each apartment pays about $1200 per annum for water and water treatment. In other words about quarter of a hectare pays more than any realistic farm (ie not the crap propaganda from Federated Farmers) using irrigation. Those are somewaht larger and are making money of their ‘free’ resource and expecting us to pay for its cleanup.

      Idiots. But this is off topic.

  20. Ad 20

    They have finally made a film for James Baldwin’s draft of the assassinations of Medger Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King:

    https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/i_am_not_your_negro

    I remember seeing Merita Mita’s “Takaprawha Day 507Z” about the occupation, siege , and reposession of Bastion Point.

    But I would love to see a whole film-scale documentary like this about Maori in our current society.

  21. Union city greens 21

    Posted by mistake in yesterdays open mike. Doh!

    Loving the Ardern uproar farmers protest headline on the herald.
    Only better thing than seeing Winston booed, is the prospect of those backbone of the nation types having to get up at 5.30am to pollute the environment on Sunday morning, knowing they’re doing it for the next 6 years (at least) under a government that won’t back down under the money might they’ve been throwing around for a generation.

    Red sky at night, The people’s delight.
    Green/Red in morning, rich prick environmental disasters a mourning. Sky lol

  22. Muttonbird 22

    You can guarantee Farrar will be all over this like a bad rash. It’s right down his alley – gay people, free speech, National bashing, it’s all there.

    Expect a post on this at Kiwiblub in a few days when he’s caught up with the news.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/96907663/canterbury-uni-queer-society-president-forced-to-resign-after-coming-out-as-national-supporter

  23. millsy 23

    The farmers should be careful. Jacindas water tax will most probably be watered down if Labour wins, and will be used to help farmers clean their act up. National will probably introduce tradeable water rights and allow overseas corproations to buy up rights and sell them to farmers at a way higher price than Labour will ever charge.

  24. adam 24

    Well done the deaf community. They have sign language going out with the last leaders debate.

    This has been an active campaign since the announcement to the debates, and in the final one TVNZ will have an interpreter.

    https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/sign-language-version-final-leaders-debate-tvnz-confirmed

  25. eco Maori/kiwi 26

    graywarshark Lets just examine what your prime minster said on national TV on that subject you hinted at they are enforcing that Law at there discretion I.E They wont charge anyone whom is known to them or they no there family or no any associated to that person . So how many Maori are in the police force 10% so the vast majority of the police force are European descent well that fact alone paints the picture that the police don’t charge there M8.
    But they charge Maori as soon as look at them how do I no this because the Jails are full of Maori. O no that’s just a coincidence. YEA RIGHT. Everyone is putting the hype of our prison population on the corrections department don’t you think that is a hypocritical farce because they just house the prisoners It is the mighty power full and manipulative POLICE FORCE that is to blame . I will drag there asses over the Hot coals of the New Zealand Courts and prove to everyone they are the most Racially Discriminating Organization IN New Zealand.
    And this is one of the reasons that I am putting my posts up here is to fight for OUR Human rights. And that means kicking your prime minster out of OUR Beehive on to his ASS. Ka Pai

    • In Vino 26.1

      I am another who would like to make sense of what you write, but find it very difficult. Who is persecuting you for what?

    • eco Maori/kiwi 26.2

      Now Lett’s examine what the police can do with out a warrant because one has to prove that they are doing these thing’s in a court to get them to stop.
      Well have you seen a COP admit to anything YEA RIGHT thats the first thing that is drummed into them when they start at the academy is never admit to anything to preserve there IMAGE at all cost .
      So they will go tell your neighbours lies they will go to you bank to you doctor Winz Inland revenue any organization you use or work or any of your relations that have charges or up on charges they will pressure them into helping them with there GAME and flash that shiny badge that entices everyone like sheep to help them carry out there Intimidation game and everyone believes there bullshitting lies they can intercept all your coms and your close one coms they can do all this because john key an bill english change the laws for them. THERE YOU GO. Ka Pai.

  26. In Vino 27

    Maybe true – when I was young I would have said ‘No’. I now think that there are indeed some police as you describe. But unless they can be caught out over something specific, what are you advocating?

Recent Comments

Recent Posts

  • At a glance – Does CO2 always correlate with temperature?
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    2 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on Tuesday, March 19
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 hours ago
  • Relentlessly negative
    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 ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 hours ago
  • Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 hours ago
  • Promiscuous Empathy: Chris Trotter Replies To His Critics.
    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 ...
    6 hours ago
  • Don’t run your business like a criminal enterprise
    The Detail this morning highlights the police's asset forfeiture case against convicted business criminal Ron Salter, who stands to have his business confiscated for systemic violations of health and safety law. Business are crying foul - but not for the reason you'd think. Instead of opposing the post-conviction punishment and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 hours ago
  • Misremembering Justinian’s Taxes.
    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 ...
    6 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls
    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 ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    7 hours ago
  • Bishop scores headlines with crackdown on unwelcome tenants – but Peters scores, too, as tub-thump...
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    8 hours ago
  • Will it make the boat go faster?
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    11 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    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 Kotahi The fact that a ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    11 hours ago
  • Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    11 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    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 Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    11 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    13 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    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 ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    14 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    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 ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    16 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    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 ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    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. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    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 ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    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 ...
    2 days ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    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 ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    2 days ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    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; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    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 ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    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 ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    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 ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “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 ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    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, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    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, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    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, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$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 ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    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. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    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 ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    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 ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    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 ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    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 Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    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 ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    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 ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • 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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    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 ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    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 ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    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 ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    5 days ago
  • That Word.
    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 ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    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. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The 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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    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 ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    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 ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter 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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    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 ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    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 ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    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, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    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 ...
    6 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    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 ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    6 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    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 ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    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 ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    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, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 hours ago
  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    9 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    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.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    11 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    12 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    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, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    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. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    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, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • NZ, India chart path to enhanced relationship
    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, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bailout the last, say Ministers
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Fresh produce price drop welcome
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Statement to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68)
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government backs rural led catchment projects
    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,” ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber
    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. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Commission’s advice on ETS settings tabled
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government lowering building costs
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Trustee tax change welcomed
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister’s Ramadan message
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister appoints new NZTA Chair
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Speech to Life Sciences Summit
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Progress continues apace on water storage
    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. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government agrees to restore interest deductions
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister to attend World Anti-Doping Agency Symposium
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

Page generated in The Standard by Wordpress at 2024-03-19T08:39:05+00:00