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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Nik GreenMuch of the public debate about the response to the COVID-19 pandemic has focused on the extent to which government regulations have restricted personal and business activity.Oxford University Blavatnik School of Government Here in New Zealand, the question of when to change Alert Levels dominated the ...
Raising The Bar: Would that the Prime Minister and her colleagues would listen as intently to what the people – as opposed to the power elites – are saying as the Greens. Were they so disposed, the popular clamour for a transformational post-Covid reset would be loud in their ears. ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzDo you think the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown will slow or ...
A bit like a letter home. I have now been full-time at the University of Melbourne since 2019. Before that, I was 20 years at the University of Otago, Wellington. Indeed, I set up this very Public Health Expert Blog with Nick Wilson ten years ago. Now I am your ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections House Democrats have released a comprehensive report showing how – if they control the White House and both the Senate and the House of Representatives – they might move forward on climate change. Their “Climate Crisis Action Plan,” released June 30 by the ...
Not Ready: Todd Muller’s lack-lustre and self-contradictory performances offer conclusive proof that a political leader cannot be managed into competence. National’s new boss has Janet Wilson handling his media and Matthew Hooton writing his speeches. Both are highly professional political and public relations specialists, and Muller is lucky to have ...
Unfortunately, due to a medical emergency, I have landed in hospital so am not able to do a current update on the NZ blog statistics. Let’s hope I can get back to this in good time. ...
It started as a family story, about a step-father who went out one night to break into an embassy in Wadestown, Wellington. John Daniell wanted to understand what his family had been part of when his mother and then step-father work for New Zealand’s Security Intelligence. He wanted to know ...
The Greens have shaken up the election campaign with the announcement of their radical poverty and action plan to reform welfare provision and introduce a new wealth tax for millionaires. It’s a big-thinking, controversial policy and has generated a lot of disagreement over how radical it is, whether it could ...
My house is currently supplied electricity by Meridian. As soon as I can change I will because Meridian spilled water to hike electricity prices. They got consumers to spend an extra $80 million on power unnecessarily. Clever them. The Electricity Authority has called their behaviour an “undesirable trading situation”, or ...
When Jacinda Ardern unexpectedly became the Labour Party leader shortly before the 2017 general election, she promised to lead a government of transformation. After nearly three years occupying the Treasury benches, health professionals working in public hospitals have been keenly waiting for transformational progress, including in the capacity and quality ...
Last night, One News ran a follow-up story to its Colmar Brunton poll results on the cannabis referendum, headed here as Government accuses big American anti-cannabis group of interfering in NZ politics.In truth it wasn't just the government: Justice minister Andrew Little, National's Shane Reti and the Greens' Chloe Swarbrick ...
When the government refused to put cameras on fishing boats to ensure fishers obeyed the law, Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash claimed that coalition partner NZ First (which has received large donations from the fishing industry) was not responsible for the decision. He has repeated that claim repeatedly since then. But ...
Heroic Evasions: Labour needs to be unequivocal in its communications with the electorate. Either it has a plan to prevent their fellow New Zealanders from falling off the economic cliff, or it doesn’t. Either it has a fiscal policy equal to the task of funding that plan, or it hasn’t. ...
Prof John Potter*Elimination has been an effective strategy for New Zealand in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic virus (SARS-CoV-2). Most other countries have not pursued this goal and are ignoring the opportunity even now. SARS-CoV-2 is not manageable by the influenza playbook; its longer incubation period makes tracing ...
This is a re-post from Weather Underground by Bob HensonAbove: This rainbow appears unusually low in the sky because it has formed early in the afternoon, rather than toward sunset. For a rainbow to form, water droplets must be present in the air in front of an observer ...
On Monday, Todd Muller gave an important speech to the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, He spoke firmly about his belief in the need for foreign investment, for the public sector to partner with the private sector rather than boss it around and, crucially, demanded the government deliver a clear strategy ...
Todd Muller's first act on become party leader was to appoint an all-white front bench. This understandably raised eyebrows, so he is now apparently reconsidering caucus and list rankings. Which is obviously necessary, but there's still the underlying problem: National doesn't have a lot of Māori MP's. And the reason ...
Meridian energy has been caught manipulating the electricity market for fun and profit: Meridian Energy pushed up power prices by unnecessary spilling water from its south dams in December that could have been used for generation, the Electricity Authority has ruled in a preliminary decision. The authority said the ...
When the Christchurch murderer pleaded guilty to 51 counts of murder and a number of other violent assault charges a few months ago, he effectively closed the door on what the public will know about the lead up to and commission of the event. His plea means that no evidence ...
Daphna Whitmore The Philippines is enduring one of the longest lockdowns in the world. For President Duterte the lockdown provides an opportunity to garner more powers and to push through a brazen assault on human rights. A new law called the Anti-Terror Bill has been passed under urgency and it ...
Hearing the Prime Minister castigate the Warehouse for laying off 1,000 workers after receiving $52 million in wage subsidies reminds me of the fabled frog who agreed to carry a scorpion across a river. The scorpion stings the frog halfway across, dooming both to drown. The frog cries “Why on ...
Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Amanda Kvalsvig, Prof Michael BakerCompared with other OECD countries NZ is a stand-out success story by ending community transmission of COVID-19. While there have been some well-publicised recent deficiencies (eg, quarantine organisation), there has still been no evidence of community transmission for many weeks. Nevertheless, ...
It’s June 30th, marked as Asteroid Day by many people of an astronomical bent around the globe. On this date in 1908, early in the morning in a remote part of central Siberia, the sky fell in. Well, not literally. What happened is a substantially-sized lump of cosmic detritus ...
There really is not much about Paula Bennett concerning her career trajectory, the policies she promoted, and most importantly, the socio-economic effect this had upon New Zealand (and particularly the most vulnerable in this, our oft-cited “egalitarian” society of this country) that can be said now that hasn’t already been ...
Don Franks Poverty, inequality – really – aren’t politicians paid to sort that stuff ? Why can’t they just get it together and come up with something fair and sensible? A cold rainy 2020 morning, a headline showed promise. “Green Party’s $8b plan would guarantee an income of $325 a ...
A guest repost by Climate Science Legal Defense Fund (CSLDF) staff attorney Augusta Wilson. Fundraising is not the objective of this article but readers may wish to know that CSLDF is currently conducting a summer fundraiser to support defense of research scientists and research integrity from anti-science interference by politicians and industrial interests. The COVID-19 pandemic ...
Helloy… My name is Todd Muller and I am the leader of the National Party of New Zealand. Many people come up to me on the street and ask me who I am. I’m often walking through Tauranga, or in a mall in suburban Auckland, or maybe even a farmers’ ...
The US state of Mississippi has finally voted to remove the Confederate emblem from its state flag. Good. Its appalling that it was put there in the first place, but even more appalling that it took so long to remove it. Its basicly as if a German Länder still had ...
No one could have predicted when David Seymour’s End of Life Choice Bill was passed by Parliament last November that the referendum required to bring the legislation into force would be held against the backdrop of a deadly global pandemic. Since then, the mounting tally of casualties around the world ...
Paul GoldsmithYou can often tell just how effective a progressive policy proposal will be by how much the right wing criticise it. The more socially beneficial, the more vitriolic and unhinged they seem to become.That was the case when the Green Party announced their Poverty Action Plan yesterday. The response ...
Back at the beginning of April, when we had much else on our minds, I wrote this post urging some caution in interpreting the results of the latest Horizon poll, conducted in February, on voting intentions in this year's cannabis referendum, which was paid for by Helius Therapeutics.I wrote that ...
Over the weekend the Greens made their first election policy announcement, and promised transformational change: a more progressive tax system, with new rates applying to incomes of $100,000 and $150,000; a new wealth tax on net wealth over $1 million; and a guaranteed minimum income to eliminate poverty. Its bold, ...
Story of the Week... El Niño/La Niña Update... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Global Warming Is Melting Our Sense of Time Satellite image of smoke from active fires burning near the ...
. . Plague town? There are two things right now in Aotearoa New Zealand that are guaranteed to piss people off. Firstly, it’s National playing silly-bugger politics with the covid-19 pandemic. This cost Simon Bridges his job as National’s Leader. Lately, Michael Woodhouse has been playing fast and loose with ...
Tertiary fees in New Zealand versus Australia: Fees Are Important, but not as Important as Financing In Australia, the Education Minister Dan Tehan has proposed an overhaul of the existing higher education funding system to offer 39,000 additional study places by 2023 and 100,000 by 2030. The proposal has been ...
The latest opinion poll forecasts a landslide win by Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party, but when taken alongside other polling, it illustrates New Zealand politics remains volatile and the contest is still very open. According to the Colmar Brunton poll published by TVNZ last night, Labour would easily romp back ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, June 21 through Sat, June 27, 2020Editor's ChoiceFacebook creates fact-checking exemption for climate deniers Facebook is "aiding and abetting the spread of climate misinformation,” said Robert Brulle, an ...
The images and reports delivered to us by the world’s media leave us in no doubt that the rest of the world is still in the grip of a coronavirus pandemic that shows no signs of slackening, but is actually uncontrolled and picking up pace in many countries; and even ...
Minister of Health - David ClarkIf you follow politics at all in New Zealand, David Clark is likely a name you’re a bit familiar with. The current Minister of Health is perhaps the most disliked Member of Parliament at the moment, which amongst very stiff competition is really saying something. ...
SATURDAY JUNE 27Banksy and the Rise of Outlaw Art (Sky Arts, Sky 017, 8.00pm). There was graffiti before Banksy, but perhaps his pungent political messages hit home a bit harder. Anyways, a doco about his influence on street art featuring a bunch of cool people.SUNDAY JUNE 28Beat the Chasers (TVNZ 1, ...
SUNDAY JUNE 28Beat the Chasers (TVNZ 1, 8.30pm). Judging by the tweets, which is probably a bad idea, over lockdown, all of New Zealand found itself in front of The Chase every night at 5pm. It is a brilliant fomat: hardly anyone wins any money ...
We have been assailed by Fox News-style headlines, lurid stories of “a breach!”. An almost nuclear level disaster on the horizon scream, “Fiasco!” here, “Hero to Zero!” there… Oh quick, panic everyone!This has fueled an unbelievably stupid environment of panic among some, and spurred useless, counterproductive political ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters A massive dust storm formed over the Sahara Desert last week and invaded the Caribbean over the June 20-21 weekend, bringing dangerous levels of air pollution and low visibility to the islands. The dust is accompanied by a large amount ...
Will the Covid Crisis lead to a dramatic redirection for New Zealand and the World? A hinge in history occurs where the past and present are connected but they point in different directions. Big hinges are rare but crucial in the development of humankind. Not in Narrow Seas identifies six. ...
RNZ reports that Refining NZ is considering shutting down Marsden Point and effectively turning itself into a fuel distribution service. The problem they're immediately trying to address is that running a refinery is expensive, and it is cheaper just to import processed fuel. But there's a longer-term problem too: climate ...
We all know that the COVID-19 virus is a terrible infectious disease that has already caused untold misery and numerous deaths around the world. Nearly half a million people have already died, and those are just the cases we know about.But how bad could things actually get exactly?Today, the NZ ...
This essay by Alex Hochuli examines the global phenomena of BLM protests . He is a freelance writer and research consultant based in São Paulo, Brazil. He is the co-host of the global politics podcast, Aufhebunga Bunga, and co-author of the forthcoming Politics at the End of the End of History (Zero ...
Are You Still Here? Just like his colleague, Phil Twyford – of KiwiBuild fame – David Clark juts out his chin and shamelessly apportions blame to everybody but himself. Even worse, he has turned viciously on Ashley Bloomfield, the nearest approximation to a competent, decent, humble and accountable public servant ...
. . 20 June The bad news: Aotearoa New Zealand has two new cases of covid-19. The good news: the two cases were picked up at an Auckland quarantine facility. The terrifying news: had the story of the two women leaving quarantine without testing not broken four days ...
Willing Victims: What would all those Americans in MAGA hats be left with if they abandoned Trump? Just the sick feeling of having been cheated. Just the knowledge that the man in the White House is nothing more than a shape-shifting New York grifter; and that they have always been ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Like an earthquake rumbling down the San Andreas Fault, Jeff Gibbs’ and Michael Moore’s controversial film “Planet of the Humans” tore a rift through the environmental movement, a rift its leaders would not yearn for in an election year. After activists have spent ...
There have been a number of articles written about the voting in the final statges of the Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Bill, during which National MPs voted alongside the Green Party to force a change that would prevent the removal of sentenced prisoners from the Electoral Roll. You can ...
Last night should have been a cause for muted celebration in Parliament. The Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Bill’s final passage through the House partially erases a stain on New Zealand’s democratic system. It’s a drum I’ve been beatingfor thepast decade, but denying all sentenced prisoners the right to vote is a ...
Jordan WilliamsIt’s pretty obvious to all and sundry that the Taxpayers Union, run by Jordan Williams, isn’t really a union at all. Instead it’s a small lobby group for privileged white folk, namely the old fools behind the scenes of the corrupt and largely defunct Act Party.With an incorrectly attributed ...
Last year, I highlighted a secrecy problem with the government's Infrastructure Funding and Financing Bill. The Bill would establish a new class of public entity, "special purpose vehicles", to hide debt from local government balance sheets fund infrastructure such as roads and sewers in "high-growth" councils. The SPVs would collect ...
Both the leader of the opposition Todd Muller and University of Auckland Professor Des Gorman have gone on the record as saying they suspect Covid-19 is spreading in the community in New Zealand once again. Let me explain why I don’t agree with them. As best I can tell there ...
By Geoffrey Miller A former MP and Associate Minister of Defence says that New Zealand’s Covid-19 border and quarantine issues illustrate why a new dedicated national security agency is needed. Heather Roy, a former deputy leader of the Act Party who held the associate defence portfolio from 2008-10, told the ...
Annual fishing report It's been about a year since we swapped out the Research News deckhand. It seems longer— particularly the past 4 months— and not because of this particular work. Over the course of the year somewhere in the neighborhood of 17,500 articles have been caught in our net, ...
New Zealanders deserve healthy rivers and lakes that are safe to swim in - but they have been getting worse for decades. That's why, with our latest announcement, we're investing in projects that will help clean up our rivers and lakes and restore them to health, within a generation. ...
This week we moved into the second half of 2020 - and our Government delivered another week of big changes and major progress for New Zealanders. Read below for a wrap of the key things moments from the week - from extending paid parental leave, to making major investments in ...
The Green Party has opposed the COVID-19 Recovery Fast-track Consenting Bill which shortcuts normal consenting processes under the Resource Management Act (RMA), reduces public participation and narrows environmental considerations. ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister of Regional Economic Development A regional freight hub for the lower North Island will be built just northeast of Palmerston North, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The Government is investing $40 million through the Provincial Growth Fund to designate and buy land and design ...
Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson is calling for the introduction of a Guaranteed Minimum Income to lift hundreds of thousands of people out of poverty and prevent more families entering into further debt with the Ministry of Social Development. ...
There has been renewed focus on New Zealand First acting as a handbrake on the Government after our decision to not support Auckland light rail. We are a handbrake for bad ideas, that istrue, but our track record since 2017 has seen New Zealand First constructively also serve as an ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP New Zealand First’s Fair Residency for Superannuation Bill passed its First Reading in Parliament today. The Bill makes a significant change to NZ Super by raising the minimum residency requirement from 10 to 20 years, after age 20. “Currently, a migrant of ...
Darroch Ball MP, Spokesperson for Law and Order A New Zealand First member’s bill in the name of Darroch Ball introducing a six-month minimum prison sentence for assaults on first responders has passed its second reading in Parliament. The new offence of "injuring a first responder or corrections officer with ...
Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Deputy Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First welcomes the launch of the new Criminal Cases Review Commission, gifted with the name from Waikato-Tainui - Te Kāhui Tātari Ture, announced in Hamilton today by Justice Minister Andrew Little. “New Zealand First has long believed in and ...
The Green Party is celebrating over $800m in new funding for green projects, which will get people into jobs while solving New Zealand’s long-term challenges. ...
Mark Patterson MP, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First is appalled that Meridian seems to have been unnecessarily spilling water from its dams to drive up its profits."While New Zealanders have been coming together in some of our darkest hours, we don’t expect power gentailers to waste water and ...
We wrapped up the first half of 2020 with a busy month, taking additional steps to support New Zealanders as we continue with our economic recovery. We rolled out targeted packages to support key industries like tourism and construction, helped create jobs in the environmental and agriculture sectors, and set ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Infrastructure Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has welcomed the appointment of Maurice Davis and his deep infrastructure and construction experience to the board of the Infrastructure Commission. Mr Davis (Ngāti Maniapoto), is the seventh and final appointment to the board led by former Reserve Bank Governor ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand’s click bait journalism is taking a turn for the worse, with yet another example of sensationalist, wilful-misrepresentation of the facts. “New Zealand First has worked constructively with its Coalition partner on hundreds of pieces of legislation and policy, and ...
The Green Party is today unveiling its Poverty Action Plan, which includes a Guaranteed Minimum Income to ensure people have enough to live with dignity. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Rotorua Museum redevelopment and Whakarewarewa and Tokorangi Forest projects will be accelerated thanks to a $2.09 million Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) boost, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher ...
This week, we rolled out the next steps of our recovery plan, with new infrastructure investment, extra support for tourism operators, and a new programme to get Kiwis into agriculture careers. The global economic consequences of COVID-19 will continue to be a challenge, but we have a detailed plan to ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First welcomes the passage of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill through its final reading in Parliament today fulfilling a coalition agreement commitment. “This is an important step in saving the lives of New Zealanders and delivers a key coalition commitment ...
Whakatāne has been given a $2.5 million boost to speed up previously funded projects and create more than 450 jobs in the next decade. Of those, the equivalent of 160 full-time jobs could be delivered in the next six weeks. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters is in town to make ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $2.5 million to accelerate three infrastructure projects in Whakatāne, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “This package is about ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones is throwing his weight behind a bid by the Auckland Council to fast-track the more than doubling of the city's water allowance from the Waikato River. And he's coming out strongly against anyone who plans on getting in the way of this campaign. "It is my ...
The Green Party is thrilled to see changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that mean consents for large projects can be declined if they will have significant climate change implications that are inconsistent with the Zero Carbon Act and Aotearoa New Zealand’s Paris Agreement obligations. ...
Hon Ron Mark, Minister of Defence The Royal New Zealand Navy’s new ship, Aotearoa, set sail for New Zealand on 10 June from the Republic of Korea, and is due to arrive in Auckland tomorrow, announced Minister of Defence Ron Mark. “Aotearoa is the Royal New Zealand Navy’s new fleet ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Racing Racing Minister Winston Peters has today welcomed the Racing Industry Bill passing its third reading, creating the legislative framework for revitalising the racing industry while limiting the need for future government intervention. “For too long our domestic racing industry has ...
The Green Party has today put forward an amendment to the Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Bill to ensure all people in prisons can vote in general elections. ...
The Green Party welcomes the decision to not proceed with Public Public Investment (PPI) delivery of Auckland’s light rail project and to instead run the process through the public service. ...
Hon Ron Mark, New Zealand First List MP based in the Wairarapa New Zealand First List MP Hon Ron Mark welcomes the announcement of Provincial Growth Funding investment of $1.4 million to help secure the Wairarapa’s water supply. The funding boost will allow the Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC), and ...
New Zealand First list MP Mark Patterson has been selected to represent the party in the newly formed Taieri electorate at the upcoming election. Mr Patterson, his wife Jude and two daughters farm sheep and beef at Lawrence and Waitahuna. He previously stood in the Clutha-Southland electorate however boundary changes ...
Hon Shane Jones, Associate Minister for State Owned Enterprises A new ‘super depot’ to be built for NZ Post in Wellington will create around 350 jobs during construction, Associate Minister for State Owned Enterprises Shane Jones says. Shane Jones today attended a ground-breaking and blessing ceremony for the parcel-processing depot ...
Our strong economic management prior to COVID-19 - with surpluses, low debt and near-record-low unemployment - put us in a good position to weather the impact of the virus and start to rebuild our economy much earlier than many other countries.Now we're putting our plan to recover and rebuild ...
Darroch Ball MP, New Zealand First Spokesperson for Law and Order Recently released Police fleeing driver statistics have shown yet another increase in incidents with another record-high in the latest quarter. “This new quarterly record-high is the latest in a string of record-high numbers since 2014. The data shows incidents ...
New Zealand First MP Fletcher Tabuteau is pleased to be confirmed today as the party’s candidate for the Rotorua electorate. Speaking at the Rotorua AGM for New Zealand First, Mr Tabuteau said this is an election that is incredibly important for the people of Rotorua. “The founding principles of New ...
The Human Rights Commission’s PRISM report on the issues impacting people based on their sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) provides an excellent programme of work for future governments to follow, say the Greens. ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said the trans-Tasman bubble had not been jeopardised after aborder botch-upresulted in New Zealand having two active cases of COVID-19. On Friday, Mr Peters told RNZ's Morning Report he had heard from Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison that borders for trans-Tasman travel would open by ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters said today he was pleased the army was now running the quarantine and isolation process - up until now it has been the Ministry of Health. Peters told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking that the army knew how to introduce and follow protocols and instil discipline. ...
Hon Ron Mark, New Zealand First List MP based in the Wairarapa New Zealand First MP and Minister for Defence and Veteran’s Affairs Ron Mark has confirmed his bid for the Wairarapa seat.“The Coalition Government has done a lot of good work throughout the Wairarapa, but many constituents have told ...
New Zealand First is pleased to release the names of its next tranche of candidates for the 2020 election. We’re proud to announce these hardworking New Zealanders that have put their hand up to fight for a commonsense and resilient future.Jamie Arbuckle – Kaikoura Mark Arneil – Christchurch Central Jackie ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hon Ron Mark, Minister of Defence A massive joint effort between New Zealand Government agencies, employers, and the Vanuatu Government is underway to repatriate over 1000 Vanuatu nationals stranded in New Zealand, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Ron ...
Small businesses are getting greater certainty about access to finance with an extension to the interest-free cashflow loan scheme to the end of the year. The Small Business Cashflow Loan Scheme has already been extended once, to 24 July. Revenue and Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says it will be ...
A package of 23 projects across the country will clean up waterways and deliver over 2000 jobs Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Environment Minister David Parker announced today. The $162 million dollar package will see 22 water clean-up projects put forward by local councils receiving $62 million and the Kaipara ...
Tena koutou katoa Nga tangata whenua o tenei rohe o Pōneke, tena koutou Nau mai, haere mai ki te hui a tau mo te roopu reipa Ko tatou! Ko to tatou mana! Ko to tatou kaupapa kei te kokiri whakamua Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena tatou katoa Welcome. I ...
A new programme, which sets a firm course for the Building and Construction sector to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, has been announced by the Minister for Building and Construction Jenny Salesa. “A significant amount of New Zealand’s carbon emissions come from the building and construction sector. If we’re serious ...
The Provincial Growth Fund is investing more than $7.5 million in Northland ventures to combat the economic impact of the COVID-19 virus, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones have announced. The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) investment is going to the Northern Adventure Experience and ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Education Minister Chris Hipkins today announced significant funding for Auckland’s Northcote College as part of the first wave of a new nationwide school redevelopment programme to upgrade schools over the next 10 years. The $48.5 million project brings the total investment in Northcote College to ...
The Government has opened an urgent response fund to support schools and early learning services to get children and young people back on track after the Covid-19 lockdown. “While we are seeing improvements in attendance under Alert Level 1 Ministry of Education data shows that attendance rates in our schools ...
The law to boost the economic recovery from the impact of COVID-19 by speeding up resource consenting on selected projects has passed its second and third readings in the House today. “Accelerating nationwide projects and activities by government, iwi and the private sector will help deliver faster economic recovery and ...
Five port-related projects in Whanganui will receive a $26.75 million Provincial Growth Fund investment to support local economic recovery and create new opportunities for growth, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This is a significant investment that will support the redevelopment of the Whanganui Port, a project governed ...
Whanganui’s Sarjeant Gallery will receive an investment of up to $12 million administered by the Provincial Growth Fund to support its redevelopment, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. The project is included in a $3 billion infrastructure pipeline announced by Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Shane Jones yesterday. ...
The Provincial Growth Fund is investing nearly $2.5 million into three Te Ara Mahi programmes to support Manawatū-Whanganui jobseekers and employees to quickly train and upskill, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Up to 154 local people will be supported into employment within the first year by these ...
This morning I have formally tendered my resignation as Minister of Health, which was accepted by the Prime Minister. Serving as Minister of Health has been an absolute privilege – particularly through these extraordinary last few months. It’s no secret that Health is a challenging portfolio. I have given ...
Scholarships for 57 early-career agricultural emissions scientists from 20 developing countries is another example of New Zealand’s international leadership in primary sector sustainability, says Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. Mr O’Connor, announcing the scholarships today, says hundreds of applications were received for this fourth round of the CLIFF-GRADS programme (Climate, Food ...
A project to help rejuvenate the Horowhenua town of Foxton will receive a Provincial Growth Fund investment of $3.86 million, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This funding for the Foxton Regeneration project will be used to make the well-known holiday town even more attractive for visitors and ...
Moa bones and other sub-fossil remains of extinct species are set to have improved protection with proposals to prevent the trade in extinct species announced the Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage today. “We have lost too many of our native species, but these lost species, such as moa, remain an ...
The Government’s free and healthy school lunches programme moves south for the first time creating jobs for around 30 people in Otago and Southland. “Eighteen schools with 3000 students are joining the programme – 11 have already begun serving lunches, and seven are preparing to start during Term 3. This is ...
Thousands of Kiwi jobs and investment in New Zealand productions will be protected through a screen sector support package announced today by Associate Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Economic Development Phil Twyford and Minister for Broadcasting Kris Faafoi. The package also includes investment in broadcasting ...
The Government has established a new $10 million fund for the domestic events sector to help save jobs and protect incomes as it recovers from the impacts of COVID-19, Minister of Economic Development Phil Twyford announced today. This funding from Budget 2020 follows talks with the event sector designed to ...
The Government has taken another step in its commitment to making sure New Zealanders get a fairer deal at the petrol pump with the introduction of legislation to improve competition in the retail fuel market, says Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods. “The fuel market study that this Government ordered ...
New Zealand has joined a global initiative that aims to enable all countries to access a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters announced today. The COVAX Facility was recently launched by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The Alliance includes the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank ...
From today new legislation takes effect to both restore the right to legal representation at the start of a Care of Children (CoCA) dispute in the Family Court, and allow parties to those proceedings to access legal aid where eligible. During a visit to the Family Court in Auckland today, ...
Home-based early childhood education (ECE) subsidised by the government will transition to a fully qualified workforce by 2025 to ensure better and more consistent quality, Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. “Quality early learning helps provide children with a strong foundation for their future,” Chris Hipkins said. From 1 January ...
The new Criminal Cases Review Commission | Te Kāhui Tātari Ture (CCRC) has started work and can now independently investigate claimed miscarriages of justice. “Even though we have appeal rights and safeguards against unsafe convictions, from time to time our justice system does get things wrong. The design of the ...
E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā karangatanga maha, tēnā koutou Ki a koutou Te Āti Awa, Taranaki Whānui, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, ngā mana whenua o te rohe nei, tēnā koutou Ko Te Whare Wānanga o Aotearoa ki ngā take o te Ao (NZIIA), Ko te Rōpū Tohu Tono ...
The Government’s increase to paid parental leave kicks in today with another 4 weeks taking New Zealand up to a full 6 months (26 weeks, up from 22 weeks) leave for new parents, and the maximum weekly payment will increase by $20pw, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. ...
A new package of infrastructure investments will help kick-start the post-COVID rebuild by creating more than 20,000 jobs and unlocking more than $5 billion of projects up and down New Zealand. Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones today outlined how the $3 billion infrastructure fund in the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today expressed the New Zealand Government’s deep disappointment at the passage by China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee of a national security law for Hong Kong. “New Zealand has consistently emphasised its serious concern about the imposition of this legislation on Hong Kong without inclusive ...
More jobs and more family time with newborns are the centrepiece of a suite of Government initiatives coming into effect today. July 1 is a milestone day for the Government as a host of key policies take effect, demonstrating the critical areas where progress has been made. “The Coalition Government ...
Environment Minister David Parker has today “called in” Auckland’s application to the Waikato Regional Council to take an extra 200 million litres of water a day from the lower reaches of the Waikato River for Auckland drinking water and other municipal uses. The call-in means the application has been referred ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker announced today that New Zealand’s hosting of APEC in 2021 will go ahead using virtual digital platforms. Mr Peters said the global disruption caused by COVID-19, including resultant border restrictions, had been the major factor in the ...
The start of construction on a new link road between Matakana Road and State Highway 1 will create jobs and support the significant population growth expected in the Warkworth area, Transport Minister Phil Twyford and Mayor Phil Goff announced today. Transport Minister Phil Twyford said construction of the Matakana Link ...
The Government is prioritising its latest investment in PPE for frontline health workers, including staff at managed isolation and quarantine facilities, Health Minister David Clark says. “With no community transmission of COVID-19 our response now has a firm focus on keeping our border safe and secure. “We must ensure that ...
The Parihaka Papakāinga Trust in Taranaki will receive up to $14 million for a new visitor centre and other improvements at the historic settlement that will boost the local economy and provide much-needed jobs, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little have ...
Protections for workers who are employees of one employer but working under the direction of another business or organisation have come into force, closing a gap in legislation that made the personal grievance process inaccessible for some workers, says Workplace Relations Minister Iain Lees-Galloway. “This Government is working hard to ...
A range of improvements are already underway to address issues identified in the rapid review of the Managed Isolation and Quarantine system released today, Housing Minister Megan Woods said. The review was commissioned just over a week ago to identify and understand current and emerging risks to ensure the end-to-end ...
The important brown kiwi habitat around Whakatāne will receive added protection through an Iwi-led predator free project announced by Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage and Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau. “The Government is investing nearly $5 million into Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa’s environmental projects with $2.5 ...
An extra 4,000 tonnes of offcuts and scraps of untreated wood per year will soon be able to be recycled into useful products such as horticultural and garden mulch, playground safety surfacing and animal bedding as a result of a $660,000 investment from the Waste Minimisation Fund, Associate Environment Minister ...
The Governor-General has referred Scott Watson’s convictions for murder back to the Court of Appeal, Justice Minister Andrew Little announced today. Mr Watson was convicted in 1999 of the murders of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope. His appeal to the Court of Appeal in 2000 was unsuccessful, as was his ...
A new five-year funding agreement for the Reserve Bank will mean it can boost its work to protect New Zealanders’ finances, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. “New Zealand has a strong and stable financial system. Financial stability is an area that we are not prepared to cut corners for, particularly ...
A law change has been introduced to make it easier for forgotten funds in institutional accounts to be returned more easily to their rightful owners. Revenue Minister Stuart Nash has introduced an amendment to the Unclaimed Money Act 1971. It will update the rules controlling forgotten sums of money held ...
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk Days after President Rodrigo Duterte signed the Philippines Anti-Terrorism Law, Vice-President Leni Robredo has pushed for safeguards so that the controversial measure would not be abused, reports Rappler. In her weekly radio show with co-host Ely Saludar, Robredo noted that she does not oppose the law ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Developments in Melbourne on Saturday are more important, and certainly of more interest to the public, than what has happened in Eden-Monaro. Anthony Albanese is set to struggle over the line in the Labor seat, ...
The campaign to stop the Department of Conservation exterminating tahr in national parks is gathering increasing public support, with nearly 40,000 people signing the petition calling for a halt to DOC’s plans. The Change.org petition was started ...
DATE: Sunday, 5th July 2020 TIME: 15:00 LOCATION: Taylor Preston's, Centennial Highway, Wellington On Sunday, Wellington Animal Save will be bearing witness to animals on their way to slaughter, outside Taylor Preston's slaughterhouse. ...
Local Government’s Regional Sector are welcoming an announcement today of over $162 million in central government funding for 22 regional and unitary council Jobs for Nature projects, saying the strong support is an endorsement of the return on ...
Political editor Justin Giovannatti reports from Te Papa, where the prime minister today addressed Labour’s 2020 Congress.Jacinda Ardern looked to slap a Labour sticker on the team of five million with the launch today of the party’s Covid-19 recovery plan, at an event which serves as the unofficial kickoff to ...
Kelvin Davis stole the show at Labour’s 2019 conference with a hilarious speech about the formation of the coalition government. The party’s oft-underestimated deputy leader was again in the spotlight this year, but with a more solemn yet at times impassioned address outlining the country’s Covid-19 sacrifices. Here is the text: Anne Guenole. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philip Russo, Associate Professor, Director Cabrini Monash University Department of Nursing Research, Monash University The Victorian government’s decision to “close and contain” nine public housing towers in Flemington and North Melbourne represents a significant escalation in the fight against COVID-19. Under the ...
By Grace Auka-Salmang in Port Moresby Key findings from the 2016 to 2018 Papua New Guinea Demographic and Health Survey reveals that 56 percent of women aged 15 to 49 in PNG have experienced physical violence around the age of 15. And 28 percent have experienced sexual violence. Also 18 ...
The New Zealand Herald recently published a column which criticises its own record on race. Teuila Fuatai explains why she felt she had to call out the paper that commissioned her. In the column, freelance journalist Teuila Fuatai detailed her concerns about the Herald’s record on race and her efforts to ...
Dunedin writer Victor Billot farewells retiring National MP Paula Bennett.Working Class Hero I came up the hard way in Taupo, you see, surviving off Weetbix (just occasionally.) I waited tables then knocked off a degree, perhaps with the help of a state subsidy. Then a man with a ...
Three of the country's biggest seafood companies have broken ranks with the rest of the sector and declared their support for cameras on fishing boats. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Melbourne This article was updated July 5. With 77% of enrolled voters counted at Saturday’s Eden-Monaro byelection, Labor’s Kristy McBain currently leads the Liberals’ Fiona Kotvojs by a 50.8-49.2 projected ...
The family of pioneering New Zealand suffragist Kate Sheppard kept an important secret – one that possibly explains a lot about her life, her beliefs and her motivation.Kate Sheppard’s secret involved her father, Andrew Wilson Malcolm, and what happened to him after she was born. An extensive and painstaking quest ...
Covid-19 or not, renewable energy is the future. That’s why one grassroots business is taking a leap of faith and trusting that the current downturn will eventually yield to an ecotourism boom.To launch an ecotourism business in rural Otago right now, you’d need to be either a visionary or just ...
Sam Brooks reviews Auckland writer Lil O’Brien’s memoir Not That I’d Kiss A Girl, and finds it a valuable yet unclear story of the author’s struggle with her own acceptance.As queer people, we can be unnecessarily harsh on media that is about us, and by us. I think of the ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level one – read about what that means here. For official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is made possible thanks to donations from Spinoff Members. To support this ...
In the wake of lockdown, Volunteering New Zealand is calling on people to reshape the way they think about volunteering. To unite with whānau, friends and workmates to make a group commitment to a community or cause that matters to them. Covid-19 ...
Mahesh Bindra has been a loyal member of NZ First for almost 15 years. But as an Indian-New Zealander, what does he make of members of his party attacking his community? Multicultural Times editor Gaurav Sharma reports.Winston Peters, deputy prime minister and leader of New Zealand First, likes to say ...
As Auckland suffers its worst drought in 27 years, many of the city’s self-service car washes are doing a roaring trade. Michael Andrew finds out how these businesses are getting around the strict water restrictions.Car washing may seem like a wasteful luxury in the middle of a drought, but take ...
Call it last, call it the foundation: Georgie Dansey is 84th on the Labour Party list for the 2020 election. Here she explains how she got there.What does it take to come last on the Labour list? It’s a bit of a story, so if you’re feeling tl;dr then just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Melbourne At Saturday’s Eden-Monaro byelection, Labor’s Kristy McBain currently leads the Liberals’ Fiona Kotvojs by a 50.7-49.3 projected margin in The Poll Bludger’s Eden-Monaro election page. This page has all the ...
The controversial MP says his former party put a target on the minister’s back, but Melissa Lee insists there was no concerted campaign.The MP who exited the National Party in a tailspin attack on former leader Simon Bridges has publicly apologised to Clare Curran for his role in the treatment ...
By Jane Patterson, political editor of RNZ News The State Services Minister says the government will do everything it can to track down who is responsible for a massive privacy breach relating to New Zealand’s active covid cases, and is not ruling out pursuing criminal charges. An investigation has been ...
The National editorial Hundreds walked the Sir John Guise drive on Thursday calling for justice for the brutal death of 19-year-old mother-of-two – Jenelyn Kennedy last week. Jenelyn’s battered lifeless body was taken into the Port Moresby General Hospital last Tuesday by four men (one believed to be the father ...
*Watch the full video in the player below*In the first 48 hours of life, blood from newborn New Zealand babies is taken and tested. Most parents will never hear back. For others, it’s life-changing, and life-saving. Frank Film investigates. Performed 48 hours after birth, it’s a medical procedure ...
Latest from the Beehive Shane Jones, the Minister of Munificence, in a joint statement with fellow Northlander and Deputy PM Winston Peters, wrapped up a week of handout investment announcements with news of more millions for the people of his patch in the Far North. This time it was a ...
By Rebecca Kuku in Port Moresby A passionate plea by men, women and children has echoed around the Papua New Guinean capital of Port Moresby – that it is time to turn the corner on addressing gender-based violence in the country. Gatherings, a peaceful march and a vigil were staged ...
Former Race Relations Commissioner Gregory Fortuin has called out National MP Hamish Walker for his racist comments towards people of colour. This follows Walker's press release objecting to people from Pakistan, India and Korea potentially being quarantined ...
Khruangbin have established their live reputation with spacious instrumentals, but the band’s third album, Mordechai, features prominent vocals and disco-funk jams. Andrew Drever interviews the Texas-based trio upon its release.While the Covid-19 pandemic continues to rage in the US, the situation has actually been a blessing in disguise for Khruangbin ...
The State Services Minister says the government will do everything it can to track down who is responsible for a massive privacy breach relating to New Zealand's active Covid cases, and is not ruling out pursuing criminal charges. ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level one – read about what that means here. For official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is made possible thanks to donations from Spinoff Members. To support this ...
With the collapse of Bauer NZ resulting in Australian magazines flooding our shelves, Wendyl Nissen looks back at her battle to get homegrown content given the star billing it deserved.Thanks to some hard-fought battles 30 years ago, New Zealand women have been enjoying their own version of Woman’s Day and ...
Extending the franchise to prisoners is the latest in a series of contentious electoral reforms enacted by this government, but history suggests the ‘convention’ for consensual election reform is more imagined than real.The Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Act, passed last week and corrected this week, extends the franchise ...
Since publication of Newsroom’s extensive investigation into serious issues at Oranga Tamariki, our inbox has been flooded with stories from more current and former employees. In less than 48 hours after Newsroom’s in-depth inquiry into the children's ministry was published we received a high volume of correspondence from current and former ...
“She’d come into town on the bus. The photographer, so her mother had told her, was famous”: a short story by Wellington writer Elspeth Sandys. It was to be a present for her father who was dying. A photograph of her in her first ball gown. When she reached for ...
Those who can’t afford to travel will “attend” the terror sentencing via video link, the Immigration Minister says. David Williams reports The Immigration Minister is demanding officials give urgent help to overseas victims of the Christchurch terror attack and their families. Yesterday, High Court Justice Cameron Mander announced the terrorist, ...
Controversy over Wellington's Shelly Bay has ensnared iwi, the council and politicians for years. Investigative journalist Nicky Hager uses official documents to lay out the roles of money, power and wheels-within-wheels on this most contentious of developments. Any time I am asked whether we have corruption in New Zealand, I ...
Is the answer to saving New Zealand's professional sports teams creating super-franchises? The Extra Time podcast asks sports leaders. Professional sport is slowly emerging from the grip of the pandemic but its financial future is far from certain. Covid-19 highlighted a weakness in the structure of professional sport in New ...
Before Covid-19, it’d take a long flight and half a grand to see Hamilton in the flesh. Now, the biggest musical of the past two decades is available to watch on Disney+. Sam Brooks takes stock of this extraordinary move. Right now, Broadway is a sleeping dragon. New York theatres ...
Sacked cabinet minister Clare Curran speaks for the first time about the brutal end to her political career – and what she calls the toxicity and bullying that marked her years in parliament. By Donna Chisholm.Of all the humiliations – often self-inflicted – that Clare Curran endured during her 12-year ...
On 03 July Children’s Commissioner was given additional responsibility by the Minister of Justice which extended its role as the independent monitor of the conditions and treatment of children and young people in secure detention centres. The Children’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick, ARC Future Fellow, UNSW The term “heatwave” is no stranger to Australians. Defined as when conditions are excessively hot for at least three days in a row, these extreme temperature events have always punctuated our climate. With many of us ...
Pacific Media Watch A senior Indonesian government official and a New Zealand journalism professor have clashed over differing perspectives on access for journalists and media to the West Papua region. Speaking on a webinar organised by the Jubi newspaper in Jayapura, Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ director of the European affairs ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Barbara Mintzes, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sydney To beat the coronavirus pandemic, countries need to collaborate. We need the best possible science to develop vaccines and drugs, and to test, track and contain the virus. If we’ve learned anything ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Russell Dean Christopher Bicknell, Post-doctoral researcher in Palaeobiology , University of New England Let’s turn back the hands of time. Before extinction knocked dinosaurs off their pillar, before the “Great Dying” extinction wiped out 95% of all organisms – we had the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Williams, Researcher at the Centre for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine (VELiM), University of Sydney Last week, outgoing chief medical officer Brendan Murphy announced all returned travellers would be tested for COVID-19 before and after quarantine. Some were surprised ...
A new package to help foreign nationals stuck in New Zealand due to Covid-19 is inadequate and needs to be supplemented with the emergency benefit, say Community Law Centres O Aotearoa (CLCA) and the Human Rights Commission (HRC). The assistance ...
With Shortland Street’s 7,000th episode screening tonight, Tara Ward salutes the soap for keeping calm and carrying on through level three lockdown. It’s been one heck of a week on Shortland Street. Leanne lost her winning $8 million Lotto ticket, Louis slipped over in a pile of vomit, and Desi tried ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Clift, Teaching Fellow and PhD candidate, University of Melbourne In recent days, the prime ministers of the UK and Australia each declared they are working toward providing safe haven visas for Hong Kong residents. In the US, lawmakers passed a bill ...
How two multi-millionaires, two pandemic futurists, Air NZ’s former boss, a dairy executive on a break, a retired anaesthetist (and a few others) nearly saved NZ. ...
A commitment from Labour to protect productive farmland from blanket afforestation if re-elected is a step in the right direction, Federated Farmers Meat & Wool Chairperson William Beetham says. "We’re really pleased there is now ...
Tomorrow, 4 July, will see protests in at least nine centres around New Zealand against Israeli plans to steal more Palestinian land (Details are at the end of this media release) “Virtually the entire international community is standing together ...
Pacific Media Watch Australia’s ABC has revealed the Australian Federal Police (AFP) recommendation regarding the Afghan Files investigative journalism report is for the Commonwealth DPP to consider charging journalist Dan Oakes for his role in the leak. The revelation has prompted a renewed call by the Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom ...
While we’re growing in confidence that we are in the enviable position of basically eliminating Covid-19, our trading nation at the bottom of the world is also in the unenviable position of locking off our economy to the world. “No is not an answer ...
Netflix’s new adaptations of The Baby-Sitters Club makes long-time fan Tara Ward fall in love with the series all over again. When I was 12 years old, my class had to write a letter to a famous person. Some of my classmates wrote to an All Black, Tom Cruise or ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is questioning the scale and value of the Government’s $230m screen industry recovery package. Union spokesperson Jordan Williams says: “The official justification for this ‘recovery package’ is the impact of COVID-19 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Former Ambassador and Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland Chinese activity in Papua New Guinea was not the only factor behind Australia’s Pacific “Step-Up”. As a former high commissioner to PNG, I know it ...
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk A Papuan church leader and advocate for social justice has penned an open letter to the Indonesian government calling for justice and an end to racism to enable a genuine self-determination process for the Melanesian region. “The problem of Papua has become increasingly complex and severe ...
Latest from the Beehive – Nine press releases (when we checked this morning) had flowed from the Beehive since we last reported. Eight of them brayed about the money Ministers have been spending and (as they prefer to put it) investing. The sole exception came from Environment Minister David ...
CEAC pre-election review of National Party ‘climate change policy’, is lacking in substance without any clear policy, that will leave voters with no idea of what National Party plans for saving our climate, and glancing at their ‘Transport plans’, ...
Film crews can get exemptions to enter New Zealand, so why not the families and supporters of terror victims, David Williams asks. OPINION: If the public needs a sign last year’s terrorist attack has slipped off the Government’s radar, this is it. A sentencing date has been set for the ...
A new poem by Michaela Keeble.Only the ocean only the oceanturns me overlike this only the oceanturns meon like this only the oceangives warning: what will changeand when so it doesn’t comeacrosslike violence white capsdrift inon the rising tide i feel likeopening my legs i don’t wantto do anything elsetoday i don’t wantto goto work i want to lie downwith ...
As the Covid-19 pandemic rages round the world, New Zealanders are re-discovering food production is the fundamental engine of the economy. And farming is not a sunset industry. Instead of being rubbished by lobby groups for so-called “dirty dairying”, the country’s core export industry has the chance to transform itself ...
Open Mike 18/09/2017 
MONDAY JULY 6Washington (History, Sky 073, 7.30pm). The brilliant Doris Kearns Goodwin is the executive producer of this six-part series about America's first president. It combines interviews with live action and is narrated by Jeff Daniels. It's engaging, said Salon.TUESDAY JULY 7The ABC Murders (Prime, 8.30pm). Sarah Phelps has done incredible things with ...10 hours ago
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A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, June 28 through Sat, July 4, 2020 Editor's Choice '2040': A funny, entertaining, upbeat climate documentary A timely Australian documentary takes a 'solutions' approach, with the filmmaker inspired by visions of ...22 hours ago
Dave Heatley Zero community transmission. Just a handful of active cases, all in quarantine. New Zealand is in an attractive situation, at least compared to much of the world. The situation could be robust and enduring – or it might be fragile, just one border incursion away from a “second ...2 days ago
Is the consequence of the Simpson Report proposals for restructuring the health system poorer accountability to people? When in doubt, centralise‘ has been a persistent theme in New Zealand public policy throughout our history. The current government is no exception. Here are some examples. - The regional polytechs have been ...2 days ago
Three years ago the ABC used leaked information to expose war crimes by Australian troops in Afghanistan. Since then the chief of Australia's special forces has admitted that his troops committed war crimes. But guess who the Australian government is prosecuting? Police have referred allegations against an ABC journalist relating ...3 days ago
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Unfortunately, due to a medical emergency, I have landed in hospital so am not able to do a current update on the NZ blog statistics. Let’s hope I can get back to this in good time. ...4 days ago
The Greens have shaken up the election campaign with the announcement of their radical poverty and action plan to reform welfare provision and introduce a new wealth tax for millionaires. It’s a big-thinking, controversial policy and has generated a lot of disagreement over how radical it is, whether it could ...4 days ago
When the Christchurch murderer pleaded guilty to 51 counts of murder and a number of other violent assault charges a few months ago, he effectively closed the door on what the public will know about the lead up to and commission of the event. His plea means that no evidence ...6 days ago
Daphna Whitmore The Philippines is enduring one of the longest lockdowns in the world. For President Duterte the lockdown provides an opportunity to garner more powers and to push through a brazen assault on human rights. A new law called the Anti-Terror Bill has been passed under urgency and it ...6 days ago
There really is not much about Paula Bennett concerning her career trajectory, the policies she promoted, and most importantly, the socio-economic effect this had upon New Zealand (and particularly the most vulnerable in this, our oft-cited “egalitarian” society of this country) that can be said now that hasn’t already been ...6 days ago
Helloy… My name is Todd Muller and I am the leader of the National Party of New Zealand. Many people come up to me on the street and ask me who I am. I’m often walking through Tauranga, or in a mall in suburban Auckland, or maybe even a farmers’ ...6 days ago
. . Plague town? There are two things right now in Aotearoa New Zealand that are guaranteed to piss people off. Firstly, it’s National playing silly-bugger politics with the covid-19 pandemic. This cost Simon Bridges his job as National’s Leader. Lately, Michael Woodhouse has been playing fast and loose with ...7 days ago
Tertiary fees in New Zealand versus Australia: Fees Are Important, but not as Important as Financing In Australia, the Education Minister Dan Tehan has proposed an overhaul of the existing higher education funding system to offer 39,000 additional study places by 2023 and 100,000 by 2030. The proposal has been ...7 days ago
The images and reports delivered to us by the world’s media leave us in no doubt that the rest of the world is still in the grip of a coronavirus pandemic that shows no signs of slackening, but is actually uncontrolled and picking up pace in many countries; and even ...1 week ago
We have been assailed by Fox News-style headlines, lurid stories of “a breach!”. An almost nuclear level disaster on the horizon scream, “Fiasco!” here, “Hero to Zero!” there… Oh quick, panic everyone! This has fueled an unbelievably stupid environment of panic among some, and spurred useless, counterproductive political ...1 week ago
New Zealanders deserve healthy rivers and lakes that are safe to swim in - but they have been getting worse for decades. That's why, with our latest announcement, we're investing in projects that will help clean up our rivers and lakes and restore them to health, within a generation. ...12 hours ago
The Green Party has opposed the COVID-19 Recovery Fast-track Consenting Bill which shortcuts normal consenting processes under the Resource Management Act (RMA), reduces public participation and narrows environmental considerations. ...3 days ago
Hon Shane Jones, Minister of Regional Economic Development A regional freight hub for the lower North Island will be built just northeast of Palmerston North, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The Government is investing $40 million through the Provincial Growth Fund to designate and buy land and design ...4 days ago
Small businesses are getting greater certainty about access to finance with an extension to the interest-free cashflow loan scheme to the end of the year. The Small Business Cashflow Loan Scheme has already been extended once, to 24 July. Revenue and Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says it will be ...11 hours ago
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk Days after President Rodrigo Duterte signed the Philippines Anti-Terrorism Law, Vice-President Leni Robredo has pushed for safeguards so that the controversial measure would not be abused, reports Rappler. In her weekly radio show with co-host Ely Saludar, Robredo noted that she does not oppose the law ...2 hours ago
Justice Minister Andrew Little is committed to reviewing the legal aid threshold in the Family Court if re-elected. ...5 hours ago
The campaign to stop the Department of Conservation exterminating tahr in national parks is gathering increasing public support, with nearly 40,000 people signing the petition calling for a halt to DOC’s plans. The Change.org petition was started ...7 hours ago
Political editor Justin Giovannatti reports from Te Papa, where the prime minister today addressed Labour’s 2020 Congress.Jacinda Ardern looked to slap a Labour sticker on the team of five million with the launch today of the party’s Covid-19 recovery plan, at an event which serves as the unofficial kickoff to ...10 hours ago
Kelvin Davis stole the show at Labour’s 2019 conference with a hilarious speech about the formation of the coalition government. The party’s oft-underestimated deputy leader was again in the spotlight this year, but with a more solemn yet at times impassioned address outlining the country’s Covid-19 sacrifices. Here is the text: Anne Guenole. ...10 hours ago
Dunedin writer Victor Billot farewells retiring National MP Paula Bennett. Working Class Hero I came up the hard way in Taupo, you see, surviving off Weetbix (just occasionally.) I waited tables then knocked off a degree, perhaps with the help of a state subsidy. Then a man with a ...14 hours ago
*Watch the full video in the player below* In the first 48 hours of life, blood from newborn New Zealand babies is taken and tested. Most parents will never hear back. For others, it’s life-changing, and life-saving. Frank Film investigates. Performed 48 hours after birth, it’s a medical procedure ...2 days ago
Latest from the Beehive Shane Jones, the Minister of Munificence, in a joint statement with fellow Northlander and Deputy PM Winston Peters, wrapped up a week of handout investment announcements with news of more millions for the people of his patch in the Far North. This time it was a ...2 days ago
Since publication of Newsroom’s extensive investigation into serious issues at Oranga Tamariki, our inbox has been flooded with stories from more current and former employees. In less than 48 hours after Newsroom’s in-depth inquiry into the children's ministry was published we received a high volume of correspondence from current and former ...2 days ago
“She’d come into town on the bus. The photographer, so her mother had told her, was famous”: a short story by Wellington writer Elspeth Sandys. It was to be a present for her father who was dying. A photograph of her in her first ball gown. When she reached for ...2 days ago
Those who can’t afford to travel will “attend” the terror sentencing via video link, the Immigration Minister says. David Williams reports The Immigration Minister is demanding officials give urgent help to overseas victims of the Christchurch terror attack and their families. Yesterday, High Court Justice Cameron Mander announced the terrorist, ...2 days ago
Controversy over Wellington's Shelly Bay has ensnared iwi, the council and politicians for years. Investigative journalist Nicky Hager uses official documents to lay out the roles of money, power and wheels-within-wheels on this most contentious of developments. Any time I am asked whether we have corruption in New Zealand, I ...2 days ago
Is the answer to saving New Zealand's professional sports teams creating super-franchises? The Extra Time podcast asks sports leaders. Professional sport is slowly emerging from the grip of the pandemic but its financial future is far from certain. Covid-19 highlighted a weakness in the structure of professional sport in New ...2 days ago
How two multi-millionaires, two pandemic futurists, Air NZ’s former boss, a dairy executive on a break, a retired anaesthetist (and a few others) nearly saved NZ. ...2 days ago
Latest from the Beehive – Nine press releases (when we checked this morning) had flowed from the Beehive since we last reported. Eight of them brayed about the money Ministers have been spending and (as they prefer to put it) investing. The sole exception came from Environment Minister David ...3 days ago
Film crews can get exemptions to enter New Zealand, so why not the families and supporters of terror victims, David Williams asks. OPINION: If the public needs a sign last year’s terrorist attack has slipped off the Government’s radar, this is it. A sentencing date has been set for the ...3 days ago
As the Covid-19 pandemic rages round the world, New Zealanders are re-discovering food production is the fundamental engine of the economy. And farming is not a sunset industry. Instead of being rubbished by lobby groups for so-called “dirty dairying”, the country’s core export industry has the chance to transform itself ...3 days ago
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/