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.”
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?
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.
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.
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
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?
“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. ”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 …
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.
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!!
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.
Ed
That is why it is a good idea to vote earlier than the last day of early voting. I note that Palmerston North has 6 advance voting places; so even if one of them is controlled by misinformed people, there are other options. Of course, they should also register a complaint, but that is not as immediately important as getting their vote completed.
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?
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
“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”.
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.
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.
“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.
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
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.
“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.
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?
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?
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”.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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…
I’m working as an issuing officer on election day and no, you don’t need ID. You do need (by law) to verbally state your name. Also all the rolls are scanned to rule out multiple voting by the same person.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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?
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….
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.]
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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?
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Musings continue apace about “the experienced businessman!” soon to be taking up a National Party MP position. Or to be more accurate, being parachuted into a seat to shut down their former MP Jamie-Lee Ross, who despite his own shortcomings shed at least some more light on the inner workings ...
The Ugandan government wants to murder gay people:Uganda has announced plans to impose the death penalty on homosexuals. The bill, colloquially known as “Kill the Gays” in Uganda, was nullified five years ago on a technicality, but the government said on Thursday it plans to resurrect it within weeks. The ...
Freedom Of Speech? The Säuberung (cleansing by fire) was the work of the German Student Union which, on 10 May 1933, under the watchful eye of the Nazi Reichminister for Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, consigned 25,000 books to the flames in a ritual exorcism of “un-German thought”. According to the logic of the ...
“There can be no such thing as kaupapa Māori political parties or politics in Aotearoa” (Willie Jackson, Labour Party (2017). Māori TV, General/List Election Special) I begin with that claim because at the time, I was confounded at first that it fell out of Willie Jackson’s mouth, and then ...
New Zealand’s media is doing its part in Japan, reassuring those in the path of the storm that they won’t miss any rugby while away from their flooded homes. New Zealand sports reporters stationed in Japan for the Rugby World Cup have had the rare and heartwarming opportunity to inform ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones is the only Cabinet member in favour of putting it all on green. As Finance Minister Grant Robertson finds himself with an enormous $7.5 billion surplus, the Government has begun intense, at times contentious conversations about whether to put the money on red or black at ...
by Susanne Kemp At the start of September close to 100,000 school teachers went on strike in Jordan. They demanded a 50% pay rise. A pay rise actually agreed to by the regime back in 2014. In early October, however, in the face of government repression and threats, the teachers’ ...
Back in 2011, journalist Nicky Hager published Other People's Wars, an expose on NZDF's activities over the previous decade of the "war on terror". NZDF didn't like this, and especially didn't like the fact that it was base don leaks from their own. So, they had the SIS investigate him ...
The Zero Carbon Bill is due back from select committee in two weeks, and will likely pass its final stages in November. So naturally, farmers are planning a hate-march against it. But they're not just demanding lower methane targets so they can keep on destroying the planet; they're also demanding ...
Last year, California burned. This year, to stop it happening again (or rather, to stop themselves from being found liable if it happens again), Pacific Gas and Electric is cutting power to half the state for a week:Schools are closed. Traffic lights down. Tunnels dark. Businesses unopened. Hospitals running on ...
The Best Way: Missing from the on-line voting debate is any reference to the voting system that produces turn-out figures ranging from 77 to 93 percent of registered voters. The voting system used to collect and count the votes cast in our parliamentary elections. The system that involves citizens making ...
Among the great new bunch of political friends we have been making recently is the excellent Australian-based Marxist gender-critical site, Freer Lives. So we asked the comrade who set up that blog to write something for Redline on the blog, himself, his analysis of the rise of gender politics and ...
by Don Franks The Auckland City Mission is struggling with a 40 percent increase in demand for food parcels this year. A total of 23,020 were needed by June. Last month Missioner Chris Farrelly told the Herald the “cupboards are bare” and without an emergency food drive, he can’t see ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women Massey Wellington Student Association had a sit-in today. Imagine a sit-in. On a campus. Against a women’s rights meeting. Did the ’60s really happen or did we fucking dream it? They gathered in the student square, an echo chamber. Sitting on soft pillows ...
For some reasons, my post about the mystery message from inside the Downing Street bunker seemed to catch people's attention. Quite a lot of hits from NZ (unsurprisingly) and the USA (a bit more puzzlingly, but hi there, USAians!!) and 76 views from the Ukraine.I've celebrated my Ukrainian readers in ...
First, almost a score of Labour MPs seem to have sent a letter to the EU basically begging them to accept a deal - any deal - just so Britain can get the Heck on with Brexiting instead of being trapped in limbo:
by Phil Duncan In 2016 the National-led government suspended the Parent Visa Category, through which migrants were able to bring their parents into New Zealand. Since then over 5,700 people have been in immigration limbo, stuck on the visa wait list. Labour is now bringing back the scheme. Well, sort ...
The following was released yesterday (Tues, October 8) by the women’s liberation organisation Speak Up for Women. On 23 September Speak Up For Women announced that we would be holding an event at the Massey University Theaterette in Wellington. The event is called Feminism 2020. The intention of the event ...
The government is currently consulting on plans to improve freshwater quality. So naturally, farmers oppose it:South Taranaki farmers are preparing to fight proposed national freshwater changes that some fear will bankrupt them. The Government's proposed National Environment Standard on Freshwater Management, released in September, rated the Waingongoro River as one ...
Yesterday was the last day for (reliably) posting your vote away in local body elections. Turnouts are mostly much lower than the equivalent time last year (Palmerston North is down 2.3%), and so naturally people are pushing their online-voting snake oil again. Because the online census worked so well, lets ...
This essay, on the political legacy of the eugenics movement, by Kenan Malik was originally published in the Observer on 6 October 2019, under the headline ‘The spirit of eugenics is still with us, as immigrants know to their cost’. Birth control. Intelligence tests. Town planning. Immigration controls. It’s striking how ...
Another year, and the government has announced another enormous government "surplus". And just like last year, its nothing of the sort. When we have people homeless and sick and hungry, when we have schools and hospitals still falling down, when we have underpaid public servants and infrastucture unmaintained or unbuilt, ...
James Forsyth at The Spectator (I know, I know) has tapped one of his contacts inside Number Ten for an insight into the Johnson administration's thinking and strategy.It is fascinating, unsettling and quite, quite mad. Some key points:Negotiations have stalled and the Johnson administration are keen to blame the EU: ...
Fatal Contact: With the arrival of captain James Cook in October 1769, the islands of what would become New Zealand ceased to be the preserve of Polynesian navigators and settlers and became a part of both the world’s map and the world’s history.THE MAORI NATIONALIST assault upon the historical meaning ...
Another round of tactical talks about forming a Government of National Unity have come to nothing with the Liberal Democrats still refusing countenance putting Jeremy Corbyn into Downing Street:Opposition talks on Monday made little headway over when to try and vote down Boris Johnson's government and who might succeed him as ...
by Nick Rogers The debate around the meaning of sex and gender made an appearance at this year’s British Labour Party conference in Brighton. Women’s Place UK – an organisation that questions the demand that biological males who self-identify as woman should have access to women’s spaces, to all-women shortlists, ...
Yesterday I went down to Wellington to participate in the Extinction Rebellion protest. Its part of the latest global wave of XR actions, with actions happening all over the world. Some of those protests are massively disruptive: in Canada, XR is blocking major bridges, stopping people from getting to work. ...
The Workshop is a charitable trust for public good. The Workshop undertake research to find ways of communicating that will build support for the solutions that work to solve complex social and environmental problems. See their Report on Talking about Poverty and Welfare Reform below. ...
Being and Being Bought (Spinifex Press, 2013) by Kajsa Ekis Ekman A synopsis and commentary of Chapters 1-2 by Daphna Whitmore Ekman, a Swedish journalist and critic, brings together a Marxist and feminist analysis of prostitution and surrogacy in this groundbreaking book She opens the discussion with a definition of ...
I make no claims to having much legal knowledge, so I defer to those trained in this area.I am very much enjoying this twitter stream from m'learned friend in Edinburgh, deciphering the legal arguments around the Scottish court challenge to Boris Johnson, based on the charmingly obscure principle of Nobile ...
Ivory Folly? The University of Auckland’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stuart McCutcheon, upheld the right of the radical nationalist group, Action Zealandia to exercise their freedom of speech – not matter how distasteful that speech might be. A wiser community of students and scholars would have nodded their agreement and moved on. ...
If you are not convinced terrorist Organisation ‘Extinction Rebellion’ is very, very dangerous – watch this video at one of their recent meetings. Not only is this obviously mentally ill Woman begging the other terrorists to promote killing and “eating” babies and children, if you watch carefully other members nod ...
The Ombudsman has been surveying people about their knowledge of the OIA and the right to information. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that widespread:The Chief Ombudsman says too many New Zealanders were in the dark over their right to access official information. Peter Boshier said an independent survey released yesterday on ...
In the wake of last Friday's climate strike, Peter McKenzie had an article in The Spinoff about protest strategies. The school strike movement is "polite" and cooperates with those in power because that's its kaupapa - its led by schoolkids who understandably don't want to risk arrest. But there's more ...
So, the latest ruminations on the gnews from Westminster (Again, sorry; I'll stop making that pun right now). This follows on from, and likely repeats bits of, my last post, on the suggestion that a Government of National Unity (GNU) should be set up and then oversee a referendum before ...
New Zealand likes to think of itself as not a racist country (despite being founded on the racist dispossession and subjugation of Maori). But for years, we've had a racist refugee policy, which basicly excludes refugees from Africa and the Middle East unless they already have relatives here. Now, the ...
Several people have asked me whether a particular repeat litigant could be declared a vexatious litigant, in light of their recent decision to appeal an adverse High Court ruling. My nascent tweet thread was getting ridiculously long, so it became this blog post instead.The short answer is: no. The particular ...
Appealing To The Past: Action Zealandia, like so many of the organisations springing up on the far-Right, across what they call the “Anglosphere”, is born out of the profound confusion over what a man is supposed to be in the twenty-first century and, more importantly, what he is supposed to do.THE STATUE OF ...
The attempts of anti-democratic transactivists to (often violently) disrupt women’s rights organising is largely ignored by those sections of the left most prone to misogyny and authoritarianism in New Zealand. In Britain, however, scores of trade union and left activists added their names to a letter in July, defending ...
The Justice Committee has reported back on the Criminal Cases Review Commission Bill. The Bill would establish an independent, quasi-judicial body to investigate and review potential miscarriages of justice, and refer them back to the Court of appeal if required. It would be a vital backstop to our judiciary, help ...
by The Spark On September 14, a total of 22 drones and cruise missiles struck two oil installations in Saudi Arabia, the Abqaiq processing facility and the Khurais oil field. Abqaiq is the largest oil production facility in the world. For a few days afterwards, Saudi Aramco, the Saudi national ...
How much will NeoLiberal irregulation of the building sector and subsequent leaky homes crisis cost us? $47 billion, according to a new book:The total cost to fix all of New Zealand's leaky homes would be $47 billion, probably. The estimate comes from a new book, Rottenomics written by journalist Peter ...
Below is the start of another excellent article on the Freer Lives blog. Click onto the link at the end of this extract to read the full article. The punch-a-terf, kill-a-terf message pervades social media, always righteously delivered, chin held high. By contrast, the dehumanised “terfs” themselves, that is gender-critical ...
The Reserve Bank is currently planning tighter banking regulation, requiring banks to hold enough local capital to survive a 1-in-200 year financial crisis in order to protect consumers. The big Aussies banks, those foreign leeches who suck $5 billion in profit out of our economy every year, don't like that, ...
Its the usual story: a police officer beats a handcuffed suspect so hard they break one of their own fingers. The IPCA investigates and concludes that the use of force was unlawful. And the police refuse to do anything about it:A man punched repeatedly in the face by a police ...
From time to time we add links to our blogroll. The latest blog we have added is Freer Lives. This is a Marxist gender-critical blog, based in Melbourne, Australia. On it you will find a bunch of excellent articles which use the tools of Marxist analysis to critique the rise ...
Last Friday say the largest protest in a generation, as 170,000 people joined the school strike and marched to demand real action on climate change. The demands of the school strike were simple and clear: declare a climate emergency, set a climate target of net-zero by 2040, impose a total ...
Labour is a rather middle of the road capitalist party and earlier this year we discussed how far from being ‘transformative’, Ardern’s government is. An article published this week in the Guardian, by Bryce Edwards (political scientist and commentator at Victoria University), looks at Ardern’s business as usual performance. Where ...
In the hours since my last interminable wittering about the possibility of a Government of National Unity (GNU) in Britain, there has been a slight maybe development:A Corbyn-led caretaker government could then sit for several months while it enacted and delivered a referendum with the support of smaller parties and ...
Jeremy Clarkson says much like Greta Thunberg, Anne Frank “didn’t like what was going on”, but “she didn’t have a tantrum about it.” Former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has offered praise to historical figure Anne Frank, comparing her favourably to 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg, who he attacked in ...
Press release by Speak Up For Women Lesbians from women’s rights group Speak Up For Women are furious at reports that Rainbow Tick are threatening Massey University with the removal of their ‘tick’ if they let the group’s event go ahead. The group has been under attack from trans ...
By Duncan Garner Before you jump down my throat, nobody cares about the environment more than me. I have a garden, and since my wife and I broke up, I’ve let it grow wildly out of control, so please don’t tell me I’m not doing enough for plants. They’re ten ...
Local government elections are upon us again. It is a fair bet that, when they are over, we will have all the usual complaints that, despite their undoubted importance, the turnout was depressingly low. So, why do local elections attract so little attention and involvement from the general public? I ...
Yesterday the High Court released its decision in Moncrief-Spittle v Regional Facilities Auckland Limited, on the (alleged) decision by the Auckland Council and Mayor Phil Goff to deny use of a public venue to a pair of visiting nazi grifters. Based on the information available back then, I said that ...
Image credit:45 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting a Blog I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. ...
So, more on the possibility of a Government of National Unity (GNU) in Britain.Two things, first. The numbers in parliament make things very difficult. And anyone who is saying X will happen or Y is impossible is spinning. We can not tell and will not know until votes are actually ...
The government is promising tough action against climate change via the Zero Carbon Bill and a strengthened ETS. Meanwhile, the Overseas investment Office is granting foreign coal companies permission to expand coal mining:Coal Action Network Aotearoa has slammed a decision by the Overseas Investment Office to allow Bathurst Coal to ...
Don't You Dare Let Them Down, Jacinda! Many New Zealanders, especially young New Zealanders, continue to believe that change – real change – is possible. Do we have criticisms about the way in which Jacinda’s government has gone about “transforming” New Zealand? Of course we do. But the very fact ...
. . With some historical and present context, it should become readily apparent to Pakeha that the occupation at Ihumātao is not a free-for-all conflict for any and everyone to become involved in. First, some important dates: . 1840 . The year in which the Treaty of Waitingi was signed. ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones is considering reining in on conversions of farmland to forestry, and also issued a warning to foreign-owned forestry companies that make up nearly 75 per cent of the industry. He said too many foreign companies had not provided enough access for domestic processors to get timber. ...
Speaking to Radio NZ, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the tightening of the parental category visa is a direct result of the Party’s coalition negotiations with the Labour Party. He said the new changes switch the financial onus from the parent moving to New Zealand to the child ...
The Coalition Government is set to cut red tape in the building and construction sector in an effort to allow more houses to be built, including prefabricated houses. The changes will enable the mass factory production of "high quality" buildings, slash the likely number of building inspections for factory produced ...
Since coming into Government, we’ve worked hard to tackle homelessness and make sure everyone has a warm, dry home. And today, on World Homeless Day, we want to report back and update you on our progress so far. ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has hit back at National Party leader Simon Bridges who criticized the Coalition Government’s approach to crime, and said that the latter isn't credible in his attack on the Government over gang recruitment. "We've got as massive drug problem in this country. It is ...
New Zealand Mānuka honey exporters have welcomed an initiative by the Coalition Government to help secure the term “mānuka honey” to be used exclusively by Kiwi exporters, ensuring that our multimillion-dollar industry is protected. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones had recently announced that a Provincial Growth Funding of $5.7 ...
Political commentator Mike Hosking has labelled New Zealand First leader Winston Peters as “the voice of reason in a government soft on drugs”, for the Party’s stance on drug testing at music festivals. “If common sense is worth a vote, Winston Peters is quids in,” Mr Hosking said. The Labour ...
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau has announced Provincial Growth Funding to ensure work opportunities in Turangi and Whanganui, through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi. A fund of $500,000 will go to Rafting NZ in Turangi for a 16-week river guide training course to train ...
Treasury has shown that the Coalition Government has a $7.5 billion surplus, which is $4 billion higher than what was expected in the 2019 Budget unveiled last May. It is also $2 billion higher than the actual surplus unveiled this time last year, and at a size that has not ...
Official Information Act figures released to NZME show there were 350 assaults on officers in the year to the end of June, 79 more than the year before. The increase in attacks have sparked calls for more legal protection for first responders to be enacted. The assaults included officers being ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
We're making progress on tackling the long-term challenges: from homelessness, to strengthening border security, to bringing banking back New Zealand's small towns. ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones has backed the ambitious plan to move Auckland’s port to Northport, at Whangarei harbour, which he says will be the “King Kong of infrastructure”. The plan is part of the recommendations of a six-person independent working group, which has recommended the Ports of Auckland be ...
A six-member independent working group selected the option of moving Auckland’s port to Northport, in Whangarei, ahead of other options. In what could be New Zealand’s most ambitious infrastructure project yet, a major expansion of the Marsden Point port could happen within 15 years. The project, officially called the “Upper ...
The final Electricity Price Review recommended prohibiting prompt payment discounts but allowing “reasonable” late fees. The findings of this review was welcomed by the Coalition Government, but they hope companies will follow through with its recommendations without regulations needed to be passed. Meridian Energy had already stopped prompt payment discounts, ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi,will invest nearly $600,000 to ensure work opportunities for locals in Turangia and Whanganui, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “I’m pleased to announce the PGF ...
An export-led economy is one of New Zealand First’s key principles, and our commitment to achieving this is shown by the continuing skyrocketing demand for our beef and sheep meat exports. Beef + Lamb New Zealand's New Season Outlook 2019-20 report forecasts beef, lamb and mutton prices to lift from ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today in Gisborne an investment of $17.27m into bringing “world-leading” food-growing technology and the creation of more than 100 new jobs in the East Coast city. The funding comes from the Provincial Growth Fund, and included a $15 million loan to LeaderBrand, a ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development More than 100 people in Tairāwhiti’s Tolaga Bay will benefit from two employment initiatives supported by the Provincial Growth Fund, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today. “Tolaga Bay is an incredibly tight-knit community, but one in ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is supporting Gisborne business Leaderbrand to produce salad vegetables year round and create more jobs in the Tairāwhiti region, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Our support for Leaderbrand will help them build large greenhouses ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has praised the promise by New Zealand’s biggest banks not to close any provincial branches while the Coalition Government trials regional banking hubs across the country. The Minister said the announce was the “first sign of hope for regional communities”, many of which have ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have delivered an upgrade of the SuperGold Card website and a new smartphone app, which will help unlock the full benefits of the SuperGold Card for 750,000 New Zealand seniors.Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters, ...
Delivering a key election campaign promise, New Zealand First is proud to have accomplished a long overdue upgrade of the SuperGold Card today. At an event in Auckland, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters joined Minister for Seniors Hon. Tracey Martin in unveiling the new website and smartphone app which ...
Another busy week, from speaking with world leaders on the world stage about climate change, to equipping our school leavers with everything they need to get ahead in life. ...
New Zealand First MP Shane Jones says Air New Zealand has "an obligation to look after Kiwis", and urged the national carrier not to hike up their prices after Jetstar airline announced their withdrawal from regional flights this week. The Provincial Champion also expressed his disappointment at Jetstar’s decision on ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) will help fund a new dredge for the Port of Greymouth to ensure the regional fishing fleet have a reliable and productive harbour, Parliamentary Undersecretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today “Last year the movements of ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones said he was "immensely disappointed" at the withdrawal of the Jetstar airline from regional routes. He has also warned national carrier Air New Zealand not to capitalise on the Australian budget airline’s decision by “gouging” regional air travellers. "Air New Zealand has historically challenged ...
International credit ratings agency Moody's gave a glowing assessment of New Zealand’s economy in its latest report, which ranks the country’s economic strength as "very high" while saying growth remains "robust". The report says it's expected New Zealand's economy will grow between 2.5 and 3 percent in the next few ...
The Coalition Government is allocating nearly $6 million to a campaign to stop Australian beekeepers marketing their products as "mānuka" honey. This move comes after Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones accused Australian honey producers of trying to steal what was indigenous to New Zealand. "The Aussies are trying to ...
The Provincial Growth Fund has provided $400,000 to Great South to help the agency drive Southland's regional economic development aspirations. The funding will allow Great South, which is Southland's economic development agency, to appoint a portfolio manager and a project support adviser, who will provide project management expertise and support ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister of Forestry The One Billion Trees Fund has just hit two significant milestones that will create more than 7,500 hectares of new forest cover, Forestry Minister Shane Jones says. Speaking at a celebratory dinner at Parliament to mark 100 years of the New Zealand Forestry Service, Minister ...
The Government is moving swiftly to change the law to improve the welfare and pastoral care of students living in university halls of residence and other tertiary hostels. Cabinet has agreed to several changes, including creating a new mandatory Code of Practice that sets out the duty of pastoral care ...
The Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage has launched a new comprehensive trapping guide for community trappers to help them protect our native birds, plants and other wildlife, at Zealandia in Wellington today. ‘A practical guide to trapping’, has been developed by the Department of Conservation (DOC), and was launched during ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter welcomes PHARMAC’s move to improve access to long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs). PHARMAC has today announced it will fund the full cost of Mirena and Jaydess for anyone seeking long term contraception, lifting previous restrictions on access to Mirena. “I welcome women having greater choices ...
The Government has approved the next stage of a major redevelopment of Taranaki Base Hospital, which will deliver new and improved facilities for patients. Health Minister Dr David Clark has announced details of a $300 million dollar project to build a new East Wing at the New Plymouth hospital. It ...
Extra funding will allow Rural Support Trusts to help farming families, says Minister for Rural Communities and Agriculture Damien O’Connor. “I know that rural families are worried about some of the challenges facing them, including the ongoing uncertainty created by the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak. “Those concerns sit alongside ongoing worries ...
Thank you for the opportunity to be here to present certificates to the 16 graduates who have completed a beekeeping course delivered by the Howard League. Let us start by acknowledging Auckland Prison’s Deputy Prison Director Tom Sherlock, and Acting Assistant Regional Commissioner of Corrections Northern Region Scott Walker - ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson leaves this weekend to attend the APEC Finance Ministers meeting in Santiago, Chile. Discussions between APEC Finance Ministers at the meeting will include the effects of the current global economic uncertainty, risks for APEC economies and sustainable development of the region. While at APEC Grant Robertson ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says for Pacific people, language can be a source of strength. It can help ground us and give us confidence. When we speak them, our languages provide us with an immediate and intimate access to our identity and our story - and ...
The Coalition Government has announced an action plan to improve the wellbeing of disabled New Zealanders by addressing inequalities in play, active recreation and sport. The initiative includes training to develop a workforce that understands the needs of children and young people with a range of impairments, advocacy for fit ...
The construction sector is being freed up to allow more homes to be built more quickly as the Government cuts through some of the red tape of the Building Act. “Every New Zealander deserves a warm, dry, safe home and old inefficiencies in the Building Act make building slow and ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed further details on the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall’s visit to New Zealand next month. Their Royal Highnesses will visit New Zealand from 17-23 November – their third joint visit to New Zealand and first in four years. They arrive in Auckland ...
Minister of State for Trade and Export Growth and Minister of Agriculture, Damien O’Connor, heads to Thailand today to attend the final Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Ministerial meeting, as negotiations enter their final stages. “The RCEP Agreement would anchor New Zealand in a regional agreement that covers 16 countries, ...
Pacific young people living in the Hawke’s Bay, Southland and Otago regions will have access to support services that have proved successful in helping young people find new earning and learning opportunities. “Tupu Aotearoa is about changing Pacific young peoples’ lives. Our young people are talented, they are smart, they ...
Introduction As the Minister for ACC I thank you all for the work that you do supporting New Zealanders in their literally most vulnerable moments. From those who hold people’s lives in their hands, to the people who research technique, technology and trends, your work is highly valued. A special ...
Notes prepared for speeches in Christchurch – Wednesday 9 October 2019 Today’s topic, “trends and opportunities for the New Zealand economy,” is certainly one getting a great deal of commentary at the moment. Looking across the media landscape lately you’ll notice we aren’t the only ones having this discussion. There ...
Minister of Health Dr David Clark and Associate Minister of Health Peeni Henare say this year’s World Mental Health Day theme is a reminder of why the Government’s work on mental health is so important. “This year the World Federation for Mental Health has made suicide prevention the main theme ...
Associate Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Carmel Sepuloni will represent the government at Australia’s Meeting of Cultural Ministers in Adelaide this week. “This year’s meeting is special because New Zealand is expected to become an International Member of the Meeting of Cultural Ministers at this Australian forum,” Carmel Sepuloni said. “The meeting is an opportunity to ...
The Greater Christchurch Claims Resolution Service has resolved 608 insurance and EQC claims in its first year in operation, Minister Megan Woods has announced. The government service, which celebrates its first birthday today, provides a one stop shop to help Cantabrians still battling to get their homes repaired or rebuilt ...
Today’s topic, “trends and opportunities for the New Zealand economy,” is certainly one getting a great deal of commentary at the moment. Looking across the media landscape lately you’ll notice we aren’t the only ones having this discussion. There has been an increasing amount of attention paid to the outlook ...
The Government is acting swiftly to strengthen NZTA’s regulatory role following a review into the Transport Agency, and Ministry of Transport’s performance as its monitor, Transport Minister Phil Twyford said today. An independent review by Martin Jenkins has found NZTA failed to properly regulate the transport sector under the previous ...
The Netherlands and New Zealand have a long-standing and close relationship based on many shared interests and values. We value the rule of law, our democracies, and multilateralism. And we value our environment – at home and globally. Right now there are major global challenges in all of these areas – ...
The Government is putting right a decade’s worth of underpayment to nurses, doctors and other health workers, says Health Minister Dr David Clark. Initial sampling of District Health Boards payroll records has found that around $550-$650 million is owed to DHB staff to comply with the Holidays Act. It’s expected ...
A strong surplus and low debt show the economy is performing well, and means the Government is in a good position to meet the challenges of global economic uncertainty. “The surplus and low levels of debt show the economy is in good shape. This allows the Government to spend more ...
New applications from mining company OceanaGold to purchase land in Waihi for new tailings ponds associated with its gold mines have been approved. Minister of Finance Grant Robertson and Associate Minister of Finance David Parker considered the applications under the Overseas Investment Act. Earlier this year, applications from OceanaGold to ...
New Zealanders in Tūranganui-a-Kiwa / Poverty Bay will witness Māori, Pākehā and Pacific voyaging traditions come together today as the Tuia 250 Voyage flotilla assembles for the first time, Māori Crown Relations: Te Arawhiti Minister Kelvin Davis says. “Tuia 250 is a national commemoration and an opportunity for honest conversations ...
Minister for Trade and Export Growth David Parker leaves tomorrow for Dubai, London and Berlin for a series of meetings to advance New Zealand’s trade interests. In Dubai he will visit New Zealand’s Pavilion at Expo 2020 where construction is underway. There he will meet Minister of State for International Cooperation, Her ...
Confirmation that PHARMAC will fund two new cancer drugs is further evidence of the good progress the Government is making to improve the treatment of New Zealand’s leading cause of death, Health Minister David Clark says. From 1 December PHARMAC will fund alectinib (Alecensa) for ALK positive advanced non-small cell ...
An additional $2.7 million has been announced for the Government Strategy for Women and Girls in Sport and Active Recreation on the first anniversary of the strategy’s launch. Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson gave the opening address to the first Sport NZ Women + Girls Summit in Wellington today, ...
As part of its work to ensure businesses can get the skilled workers they need, the Coalition Government is re-opening and re-setting the Parent Category visa programme, Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. The move will: support skilled migrants who help fill New Zealand’s skills gaps by providing a pathway for ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark has today announced Major General Evan Williams of the New Zealand Defence Force has been selected as the commander of a significant, longstanding peacekeeping mission in the Middle East. In December, Major General Williams takes over as Force Commander for the Multinational Force and Observers ...
A record number of nurses are now working to deliver health services to New Zealanders as the Government’s increased funding and new initiatives rebuild key workforces start to show results, Health Minister Dr David Clark says. • 1458 more DHB nurses since the Government took office • 106 more midwives ...
Farmer and former Nuffield scholar Mel Poulton has been appointed New Zealand’s Special Agricultural Trade Envoy, Minister for Trade and Export Growth, David Parker, and Minister of Agriculture, Damien O’Connor, announced today. The position supports key Government objectives, including raising the value of New Zealand agricultural goods and services. Mel is ...
New Zealand’s Pacific and Māori voyaging heritage is acknowledged and celebrated today as waka of the Tuia 250 voyage flotilla arrive in Tūranga / Gisborne. “Today we celebrate Tangata Whenua, the first people of Aotearoa, and the triumphs of the voyaging tradition that brought our ancestors here from Polynesia 1000 ...
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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
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?
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?
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.
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.
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.
I would love to see that happen.
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
Not just Nelson…
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?
Stephen Mills said this morning on Nine to Noon that UMR currently has the Greens safely over the threshold on 8%.
This poll is front page on the Southland Times this morning Cinny.😀
Awesome, that should always happen
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
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.
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.
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?
the first question was in the link above – but now gone since it has been updated.
thanks for the update James, it’s still Gowers opinion… as still stated on the story.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Bill and Steven have already started lying and whining
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.
Cos Nats and Act have never done push polling
Just shows how basic your thinking is when it comes to polling.
“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!
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.
Gower is annoyed that anyone else would try to do a fake poll because that’s his territory.
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
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.
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
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
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.
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 …
Bennett is fronting Morning Report too now…
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.’
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.
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!!
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.
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.
She has been invisible, for obvious reasons, but maybe questions began being asked about where the DPM has been?
Well Well
Air fuel … it should be a simple job to say that Oravida is not involved, presuming this is the case. Why no comment?
On Morning report just now Judith Collins claimed she didn’t know if swamp kauri was even involved in the accident!
no shit, wow! wow, geez, the lying from the nat’s is just out of this world.
Collins could claim that she doesn’t know about day to day pillaging operations.
Unenrolled voters being turned away in Palmerston North.
Sounds like Florida 2000.
Ed
That is why it is a good idea to vote earlier than the last day of early voting. I note that Palmerston North has 6 advance voting places; so even if one of them is controlled by misinformed people, there are other options. Of course, they should also register a complaint, but that is not as immediately important as getting their vote completed.
http://www.elections.org.nz/events/2017-general-election/electorate-info/information-voters-palmerston-north
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?
“And is Oravida involved?”
An opportunity for a keen journalist to do some real digging?
There’s a stench swirling around this.
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.”
“Fake news”. As in – we got legal advice from MFAT to pay our Saudi businessman- fake or something else?
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. ;-( 🙁
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.
Ummm, no, that’s not how probability works.
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.
Was hoping the exodus from the Eastern suburbs to Rolleston would dent Adams in Selwyn.
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.
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.
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
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.
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%
I’ll claim the one with the highest number of votes, rather than the majority!
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”.
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.
Wont government already know these?
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.
“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.
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.
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
Shhhhh everyone had forgotten Rena
Correct:
Yes, we use the same failed Ponzi Scheme for our banking.
“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.
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?
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?
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
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”.
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.
The Chairman doesn’t critique National. Only Labour. He must be really worried now because he’s recently started on the Greens.
I have noticed it is a common theme, most worryingly amongst the media. Another day another untested spending promise by English
part of national’s “all or nothing” gambit – govern alone or sit in the cross benches.
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.
So they didnt have the courage to follow thru with the captians call and changed it all because of Joyce.
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
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.
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
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 ?
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.
I was asked for my DL.
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…
No easy vote card was handed over, a name was given and nothing else.
Based on that I could vote for any bloke who’s easy vote paper I have. Seems loose as.
Yeah, pretty loose.
I’ve had a wee rummage through the various elections websites here and none of them say anything about presenting id to vote.
But on the other hand, id requirements are the main tool of Repugs trying to suppress voting in the US…
Then there’s this stuff article that explicitly says you don’t need id.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/96583147/how-to-vote-in-the-2017-nz-election-all-the-tips-and-tricks-you-need-to-be-wary-of
OK loose is acceptable then, thanks for clearing that up.
I’m working as an issuing officer on election day and no, you don’t need ID. You do need (by law) to verbally state your name. Also all the rolls are scanned to rule out multiple voting by the same person.
We won’t need any wild eyed conspiracy theories about secret databases and the govt tracking us until we get Draco’s online voting system 🙂
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
Really – that seems nuts.
That would make it very easy for people to vote under others names.
That’s my point, all you need is to have that bright orange logo mail with which had the ‘easy vote’ card inside.
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.
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.
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.
It is.
Try skewing an election of 2 million votes by hand.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Yes they need to take the Bull by the horns to accomplish what they want and squeezes the truth out of national.
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.
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.
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?
lol 🙂
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
greywarshark tell your mates to arrested me and we will sort this out IN the COURT’s of New Zealand
dude, no-one else knows what the heck you’re talking about.
Just say no… Or at least can I get a discount for bulk purchases.
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.
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.
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
O that’s right I’m just a dum MAORI with no rights.
“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.
What kind of big wig was checking you out when you were purchasing groceries?
Boy the National Party trolls are really working overtime on the Stuff comments pages today.
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.
Hat tip to Sean Spicer. Taking the piss out of himself at the Emmys.
Yep good stuff. And trump jeepers he seems completely gone burger – calling the nth Korean dude rocket man in a tweet ffs too much.
Hat Tip to Sean Spicer taking the puss out of himself and Trump at the Emmys
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.
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.]
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.
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.
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
That backfired a bit on Winston, didn’t it?
4% Winston
Won’t raise the age of super like national want to.
I expect a media furore in about never.
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
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.
+100
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
Modern policing.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2017/09/wellington-police-seek-owners-of-huge-cannabis-stash.html
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
I am another who would like to make sense of what you write, but find it very difficult. Who is persecuting you for what?
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.
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?
Ten reasons NOT to vote for the nasty NATZ.
http://werewolf.co.nz/2017/09/ten-reasons-for-not-voting-national/