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?
This video produced in Seattle looks at the gender identity curriculum used in schools in the US. A thin veneer of pseudoscience is being used to indoctrinate children with an ideology based on scientific and medical inaccuracies. ...
For once, I have written my submission on a bill with enough time to spare to both enocurage any of you who wants to make a submission to do so as well, and to give you time to spot the typos in mine.Louisa Wall's Harmful Digital Communications (Unauthorised Posting of Intimate ...
Judith Collins’ National Party leadership is under more scrutiny, with increased talk in the media of her being replaced by brand new MP Christopher Luxon. For many commentators it’s just a question of “when” rather than “if” Collins is replaced. While others ponder whether Luxon really has what it takes ...
‘Tis the season for unearthing the rarest gems in Tolkien adaptation – which, considering that the fandom has been dominated by Peter Jackson for nigh on two decades, is a positively heart-warming development. It is why I have devoted so much blog space to the obscure and weirdly wonderful ...
Whatever the damage, especially to the British economy, Brexit has done us a service by illustrating the complexity of trade.Brexit is the only example we have of two closely integrated sophisticated economies severing trading ties. The European Union and Britain still do not have tariffs or import quotas between them ...
The Palmerston North City Council has voted for Māori wards: Palmerston North Māori will be guaranteed one or two seats on the city council from 2022, and this time, there is nothing opponents can do about it. The council decided by an 11-5 vote at its monthly meeting this ...
Kids are striking for the climate today, demanding a decent, liveable future. Meanwhile, the National Party, the reliable servant of the farm lobby and other polluting businesses, is calling for action to be delayed: National has written to Climate Change Minister James Shaw calling for him to extend the ...
Today tens of thousands of schoolkids have walked out of school to strike for a future free from climate change. And tens of thousands of older New Zealanders have joined them. Their demands are clear: eliminate fossil fuels, implement 100% renewable energy with a just transition, and support our Pacific ...
The Gods That Failed.We studied the dialecticRead the whole of ‘Capital’So we could follow youSo we could follow youHow we shoutedHow we scrawledPainted slogans on city wallsOn prison wallsProof we had followed youBut, we still didn’t find what we’re looking forAnd we still haven’t found what we’re looking forWhen they ...
Conventional Wisdom? The Republican Right is convinced that to “go woke” is to “go broke”. It simply does not believe sufficient Americans feel strongly enough about social justice to make any kind of boycott remotely effective. Clearly, the Boards of Directors of more and more American corporations disagree. RECENT MOVES by ...
On November 25, 2020 Skeptical Science Inc. became a registered nonprofit organization and on March 17, 2021 our application to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service for 501(c)(3) status was approved. In this blog post, we’ll explain why we went down this path and what will come next. Since its ...
Blowing Hot And Cold: Mike Hosking’s bosses should, perhaps, ask themselves what message Newstalk-ZB (and NZME) is sending to the people of New Zealand if Mike Hosking, their self-appointed “People’s Prosecutor”, is accorded bragging rights for “cancelling” the democratically-elected Prime Minister of New Zealand. Especially when said Prime Minister’s only ...
Ali Boyle, University of CambridgeIf you ask people to list the most intelligent animals, they’ll name a few usual suspects. Chimpanzees, dolphins and elephants are often mentioned, as are crows, dogs and occasionally pigs. Horses don’t usually get a look in. So it might come as a surprise that ...
Selwyn Manning and I dedicated this week’s video podcast to the potential emergence of rival blocs within the transitional process involved in the move from a unipolar to a multipolar international system currently underway. However one characterises the phenomenon–autocracies versus democracies, East versus West, colonial versus post-colonial–the global order is ...
With the rediscovery of the lost Soviet Lord of the Rings, the time has come for the important things in life. Specifically, compiling the Tom Bombadil scenes from the three known screen adaptations that feature him: This is a collection of scenes from:– Sagan om Ringen (1971: ...
Back in February the Climate Change Commission recommended a ban on new coal-fired boilers, and a phase out of existing ones by 2037. And today, the government has said they will implement that policy, and backed it up with funding to help transition some of our large pollution sources: ...
Back in 2014, the police raided and searched journalist Nicky Hager's home over his book Dirty Politics, seizing his journalistic work in an effort to identify his sources to please their political masters in the National party. The raid - and much of the police's related investigative work - was ...
By Professor Tony Blakely, Dr Tim Wilson, Luke Thorburn and Professor Nathan Grills, University of MelbourneA new web tool, COVID-19 Pandemic Trade-offs, allows people to weigh the costs and benefits of different policy responses as Australia rolls out vaccines and considers opening borders.See here for an associated explanatory ...
This evening I was engaging in polite conversation (well, I was polite, anyway) on an RNZ Facebook post about – you guessed it! – the covid19 vaccination program. One of those present offered up a link to a blog post by Joseph Mercola to support a claim he was making ...
by Jordan Levi (Contributed) I don’t remember when I first came across the concept of gender identity, but it was definitely before Caitlyn Jenner (formerly Bruce Jenner) came out as transgender because I’m sure that would’ve confused me way more if it was my first acquaintance with the phenomenon. The ...
The fact that the much vaunted “most advanced, richest Nation on the planet, ever”, that being America, ran into a brick wall in its responses to the problems across the world of late is because, at its heart, of the economic system that we’ve all been largely forced to ...
The EPA has commenced the 2021 “denewing” of new organisms. Their New Organisms team explain what this means, and ask you to put forward your proposals. The places we inhabit are shared with thousands of different kinds of organisms. They’re in the trees, flying in the sky, in our yoghurt, ...
As we roll out the COVID-19 vaccine across NZ there will inevitably be people who experience adverse events after getting their jab. Here are some super important things to keep in mind about adverse events following immunisation. Terminology – words matter Any event that is undesirable and follows administration of ...
Nature Climate Change celebrates 10 years of obfuscation The Nature Publishing Group is distinguished not only by what we're told (most of us must take somebody's word for it) are exceptionally high quality research publications but also by what some might term an outlier, extremist policy on locked-down content. In many ...
How can we stop the Ministry of Health censoring and sanitising vital mental health statistics to make themselves (and Ministers) look good? Legislate for annual reporting: Green Party mental health spokeswoman Chlöe Swarbrick says the Ministry of Health should be legally required to produce a wide range of mental ...
Here’s a few short interesting developments or discussions I’ve seen recently. Loosely bundled together in a theme of “values.” Irregular labour Is the private sector the best provider and facilitator of “gig work”? That’s challenged in a New Yorker profile of Wingham Rowan, an English social entrepreneur. For many years ...
In 1997 the Law Commission reviewed the OIA. In the process, they identified a problem: decisions to transfer a request could not be investigated by the Ombudsman under the Act. They also identified a workaround: transfer decisions by agencies subject to the Ombudsmen Act could be investigated under that Act, ...
The area of mental health has been a key strength for Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Government over the last few years. They campaigned strongly in 2017 on fixing up the dysfunctional system, and initially they made some vital strides forward in reforming the sector. An in-depth inquiry was instigated ...
By Jamie Stewart, Federated Mountain ClubsFederated Mountain Clubs (FMC), founded in 1931, represents 96 clubs, 22,000 members and 300,000 people that regularly recreate in the New Zealand backcountry. This article first appeared in the June 2020 issue of Backcountry magazine and is reproduced with permission. (Read the original article). ...
Stuff had an appalling story on Sunday about the Ministry of Health's attempts to hide unflattering mental health statistics and sanitise a regular report. The report came out last week, and showed a massive increase in the use of "seclusion", a practice which has been condemned by the UN Committee ...
Another unpleasant surprise at Tiwai Point: in addition to the declared stockpiles of toxic waste, they may have tens of thousands of tons secretly buried in the early 1990's to avoid the RMA: Investigators are looking into claims highly toxic waste has been buried in unmapped sites at Tiwai ...
This morning the government is deciding on the start-date for a trans-Tasman travel bubble. Note the way that that's phrased: the existence of such a bubble is taken as a given, and the only question is how to implement it. Obviously, we're going to have to re-open the borders eventually, ...
Qualified To Give - And Take - Advice: Most Labour MPs are self-conscious members of the meritocracy, meaning they have succeeded where the vast majority of their fellow citizens have failed. The primary political obligation, understood by all members of the First Labour Government, was to listen to the people. ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters, PhD A critical global shipping node – Egypt’s Suez Canal – was reopened on Monday, March 29, six days after being shut down when the 400-meter-long container ship Ever Given became lodged in the canal. A statement by the Suez ...
Red, red whines.That’s all you’ll hear.Not like those glory daysWhen we would cheer. Red, red whines.If it were up to us,We'd make a proper jobOf transforming the world. We would beMore than kind.Offer so much more than spin.Makes us sadWhen we findThere’s so much you won’t begin. Red, red whines.Now ...
Worlds Apart: According to the report of the British Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities: “family structure and social class had a bigger impact than race on how people’s lives turned out”. These are not the sort of findings that New Zealand fighters against "White Supremacy" and "Colonisation" are eager ...
Caitlin Clark, Colorado State UniversityWhether baked as chips into a cookie, melted into a sweet warm drink or molded into the shape of a smiling bunny, chocolate is one of the world’s most universally consumed foods. Even the biggest chocolate lovers, though, might not recognize what this ancient food ...
Since December 2020, I have been working my way through Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s corpus of Sherlock Holmes stories, in order of publication. As of today I have managed to finish this adventure ...
Listing of articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Mar 28, 2021 through Sat, Apr 3, 2021 The three apparently most popular posts on our Facebook page this week were John Cook's 23 Ways to Mislead (and how to spot them), Stanton Glantz' blog post ...
The Inward Journey: Indeed, this would appear to constitute the essence of the Gospel of Mary. That the teachings of the Christ are not to be read as a promise of victory over Death; but as an invitation to explore ever more fearlessly the manifold mysteries of Life.THE EASTER STORY is ...
It has never ceased to surprise me that those who profit at the expense of others are so unaware of the harm suffered by those they exploit, and are so convinced that they have a right to do the exploiting and that their profit is a proper and justifiable reward ...
The government’s recent housing package may work; will it do enough?Trick Question: Does New Zealand have a capital gains tax on housing? If you ask the Prime Minister she will say not. It is true that her government is increasing the scope of the ‘bright-line test’ on non-family homes to ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Kristen Pope Trees and other plants have been critical in helping to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. But newly published scientific findings suggest the clock may be running on vegetation’s forever continuing at the same carbon sink efficiency rate currently ...
Today is the goodest of Fridays. What better way to celebrate a day off work when everything is closed to honour one of the greatest minds ever to nestle his parliamentary buttocks one of those gigantic green seats in the debating chamber. Ladies and gentlement I give you… Mr David ...
Below, for those interested, I copy my submission on the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification (Urgent Interim Classification of Publications and Prevention of Online Harm) Amendment Bill.This is the government bill aiming to create a mandatory Internet filter. The bill is largely unnecessary, but in parts not as bad as people ...
Matt Parker, University of PortsmouthYou’ve probably heard that fish have a three-second memory, or that they’re incapable of feeling pain. Neither of these statements is true, but it’s telling that these misconceptions don’t crop up for other vertebrates. Perhaps it’s because fish appear so different from us. They don’t ...
So, corporate pillager Ron Brierley has plead guilty to possession of child pornography, and there are obvious calls for him to be stripped of his feudal honour (awarded in the 80's for services to his own banak balance). When faced with such calls in the past, the government has hidden ...
Rage, Rage, And The Crying Of The Right: Retributive populism is founded on the principle that the past was better than the present: and that unless there is a strong and unapologetic reassertion of the values and policies that dignified the past, then the nation’s steady decline will persist into ...
Jacinda Ardern can essentially say “kia kaha” as much as she wants to those at the bottom of the housing market, but it won’t help their plight. Eventually her government is going to have to take state housing seriously as a tool for helping solve the housing crisis – especially ...
Completed reads for March: The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Sir Arthur Conan DoyleThe Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan DoyleThe Valley of Fear, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Another quiet month ...
It might just be me, but there are few things more exciting than the rediscovery of art previously thought lost. Even if it isn’t particularly great art, there is still the thrill of notching up a victory for human knowledge against the inevitable sands of time. There is a ...
Autotomy. There’s a word you don’t see every day – but those familiar with lizards may well have seen the result. For autotomy is the scientific name for what I suppose we could also call “self-amputation”: the process whereby an animal deliberately sheds a part of its body (a tail, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby, Ben Santer, and Richard Richels Governing from the White House by executive actions – whether by executive orders or variations thereon – has its pluses and minuses. Executive orders, for instance, can help get past rigid partisan opposition and ...
Massey's Cossacks: New Zealand's employer class didn't need the services of a Pinkerton Detective Agency – strike-breakers par excellence in the service of US industrial titans like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. Not when the strapping sons of Waikato and Wairarapa cockies could be quietly trained and organised by ...
Gregory Moore, The University of MelbourneIt’s official: Australians endured the coldest, wettest summer in at least five years thanks to La Niña, a climate phenomenon over the Pacific Ocean. Before we knew it, autumn rolled in bringing more rain. Tragically, it led to widespread flooding across New South Wales, ...
by Orla Ní Chomhraí In 1946 George Orwell wrote: “Fifteen years ago, when one defended the freedom of the intellect, one had to defend it against Conservatives, against Catholics, and to some extent — for they were not of great importance in England — against Fascists. Today one has to ...
SATIRE by Remy Beethey/them, demigender, queer, white priv. In a stunning and brave turn the Court Theatre in Christchurch has decided to completely change how it casts plays. The awakening came when Christchurch’s Court Theatre got called out by queer activist, agender Rosemary Mitford-Taylor after casting a cis actor to play ...
The government shifts blame for its own failings onto landlords South Auckland councillor Efeso Collins remarked early this month that Jacinda Ardern had abandoned the collegiality of “the team of five million” and entered her “post-kindness phase” after she blamed South Aucklanders for sparking an unpopular week-long lockdown. Casting ...
Dr Leah Grout, Dr Jennifer Summers, Dr Amanda Kvalsvig, Prof Michael Baker, Prof Nick WilsonWhile succeeding very well with its elimination strategy, NZ still does not have optimal border control. We find since July 2020 there have been 13 identified border failures and at least 6 internal MIQ facility ...
By Monica Vallender, Master’s student with AgResearch Invermay and the University of Otago. A few months ago, while home for the Christmas break, my mother – out of the blue – turned to me and asked, “what made you actually decide you wanted to go to university and study science?” ...
One of the innovations of the Zero Carbon Act was a clause specifically allowing public bodies (or bodies performing public functions) to consider climate change targets and reduction plans in their decision-making. It was phrased as a "permissive consideration": they didn't have to. But as we've seen from the Thames-Coromandel ...
Jim Mann, University of OtagoType 2 diabetes has reached epidemic proportions in New Zealand and will get much worse unless action is taken now, according to a new report on the economic and social cost of the disease. Already 228,000 New Zealanders (4.7% of the population) have type 2 ...
Small businesses are not only the heart of our economy – they’re also the heart of our communities. They provide important goods and services, as well as great employment opportunities. They know and love their locals. And after a tough year, they need our support! ...
Green Party spokesperson for Pacific Peoples Teanau Tuiono MP, supports the demand from Pasifika communities fighting for climate action as their homelands are more at risk in the Pacific region. ...
The Green Party supports the six demands for climate action put forward by School Strike for Climate NZ, who are striking across the country today. ...
The Ministry of Justice Māori victimisation report, released today, reinforces what we already know about the impact of systemic racism in Aotearoa and that urgent action is needed. ...
Ricardo Menéndez March’s Members Bill to ensure that disabled New Zealanders do not face discrimination for having a disability assist dog was today pulled from the biscuit tin to be debated in Parliament. ...
More than one million people will be better off from today, thanks to our Government’s changes to the minimum wage, main benefits and superannuation. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to do more for New Zealanders who continue to miss out, as main benefits are set to rise by less than $8 a week tomorrow, Thursday 1 April (at the start of the financial year). ...
Sunday 28th March 70 Rongomaiwahine descendants welcomed members of the Green Party’s Māori Caucus, Te Mātāwaka, Dr Elizabeth Kerekere and Teanau Tuiono, to discuss concerns about RocketLab’s operations on the Mahia Peninsula. ...
The new homes enabled through additional borrowing capacity for Kāinga Ora announced by Government today must have a Te Tiriti o Waitangi lens, having Māori take the lead in developing homes ...
We’ve announced the next steps in our plan to tackle New Zealand’s housing crisis, as we take urgent action to help more Kiwis into homes. Here, we answer your questions about our plan to improve housing in New Zealand. ...
We believe everyone deserves a warm, dry place to call home, which is why we’ve announced the next steps in our plan to tackle the housing crisis. The new policies we’ve announced build on the work we’ve already done to improve housing in New Zealand. Here’s a look at everything ...
The Green Party is calling for active transport access across the Auckland Harbour Bridge to be a priority as the future of the SkyPath remains uncertain. ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today expressed New Zealand’s sorrow at the death of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. “Our thoughts are with Her Majesty The Queen at this profoundly sad time. On behalf of the New Zealand people and the Government, I would like to express ...
We, the Home Affairs, Interior, Security and Immigration Ministers of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States of America (the ‘Five Countries’) met via video conference on 7/8 April 2021, just over a year after the outbreak of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Guided by our shared ...
Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Carmel Sepuloni has today announced the opening of the first round of Ngā Puninga Toi ā-Ahurea me ngā Kaupapa Cultural Installations and Events. “Creating jobs and helping the arts sector rebuild and recover continues to be a key part of the Government’s COVID-19 response,” Carmel ...
Interim legislation that is already proving to keep people safer from drugs will be made permanent, Health Minister Andrew Little says. Research by Victoria University, on behalf of the Ministry of Health, shows that the Government’s decision in December to make it legal for drug-checking services to operate at festivals ...
Public consultation launched on ways to improve behaviour and reduce damage Tighter rules proposed for either camping vehicles or camping locations Increased penalties proposed, such as $1,000 fines or vehicle confiscation Rental companies may be required to collect fines from campers who hire vehicles Public feedback is sought on proposals ...
The Government is continuing to support Air New Zealand while aviation markets stabilise and the world moves towards more normal border operations. The Crown loan facility made available to Air New Zealand in March 2020 has been extended to a debt facility of up to $1.5 billion (an additional $600 ...
Christchurch’s Richmond suburb will soon have a new community hub, following the gifting of a red-zoned property by Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) to the Richmond Community Gardens Trust. The Minister for Land Information, Damien O’Connor said that LINZ, on behalf of the Crown, will gift a Vogel Street house ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the reopening of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples’ (MPP) Languages Funding in 2021 will make sure there is a future for Pacific languages. “Language is the key to the wellbeing for Pacific people. It affirms our identity as Pasifika and ...
It is a pleasure to be here tonight. Thank you Cameron for the introduction and thank you for ERANZ for also hosting this event. Last week in fact, we had one of the largest gatherings in our sector, Downstream 2021. I have heard from my officials that the discussion on ...
Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods has today announced the 16 projects that will together get $3.9 million through the 2021 round of Te Pūnaha Hihiko: Vision Mātauranga Capability Fund, further strengthening the Government’s commitment to Māori knowledge in science and innovation. “We received 78 proposals - the highest ...
The Government is delivering on a key election commitment to tackle climate change, by banning new low and medium temperature coal-fired boilers and partnering with the private sector to help it transition away from fossil fuels. This is the first major announcement to follow the release of the Climate Commission’s ...
Six projects, collectively valued at over $70 million are delivering new schools, classrooms and refurbished buildings across Central Otago and are helping to ease the pressure of growing rolls in the area, says Education Minister Chris Hipkins. The National Education Growth Plan is making sure that sufficient capacity in the ...
Two more schools are now complete as part of the Christchurch Schools Rebuild Programme, with work about to get under way on another, says Education Minister Chris Hipkins. Te Ara Koropiko – West Spreydon School will welcome students to their new buildings for the start of Term 2. The newly ...
The Government is acting to ensure decisions on responding to the next phase of the COVID-19 pandemic are informed by the best available scientific evidence and strategic public health advice. “New Zealand has worked towards an elimination strategy which has been successful in keeping our people safe and our economy ...
Six Māori scholars have been awarded Ngārimu VC and the 28th (Māori) Battalion Memorial scholarships for 2021, Associate Education Minister and Ngārimu Board Chair, Kelvin Davis announced today. The prestigious Manakura Award was also presented for the first time since 2018. “These awards are a tribute to the heroes of the 28th ...
New Zealand’s aerospace industry is getting a boost through the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), to grow the capability of the sector and potentially lead to joint space missions, Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods has announced. 12 New Zealand organisations have been chosen to work with world-leading experts at ...
The Government is backing more initiatives to boost New Zealand’s food and fibre sector workforce, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor announced today. “The Government and the food and fibres sector have been working hard to fill critical workforce needs. We've committed to getting 10,000 more Kiwis into the sector over the ...
Minister for Social Development and Employment Carmel Sepuloni has welcomed the first reading of the Social Security (Subsequent Child Policy Removal) Amendment Bill in the House this evening. “Tonight’s first reading is another step on the way to removing excessive sanctions and obligations for people receiving a Main Benefit,” says ...
The Government has taken a significant step towards delivering on its commitment to improve the legislation around mental health as recommended by He Ara Oranga – the report of the Government Inquiry into Mental Health and Addiction, Health Minister Andrew Little says. The Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Amendment ...
Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta has welcomed the Local Government (Rating of Whenua Māori) Amendment Bill passing its third reading today. “After nearly 100 years of a system that was not fit for Māori and did not reflect the partnership we have come to expect between Māori and the Crown, ...
New Zealand’s successful management of COVID means quarantine-free travel between New Zealand and Australia will start on Monday 19 April, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed the conditions for starting to open up quarantine free travel with Australia have ...
Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little welcomed ngā uri o Ngāti Hinerangi to Parliament today to witness the third reading of their Treaty settlement legislation, the Ngāti Hinerangi Claims Settlement Bill. “I want to acknowledge ngā uri o Ngāti Hinerangi and the Crown negotiations teams for working tirelessly ...
Minister of Police Poto Williams has announced the members of the Ministers Arms Advisory Group, established to ensure balanced advice to Government on firearms that is independent of Police. “The Ministers Arms Advisory Group is an important part of delivering on the Government’s commitment to ensure we maintain the balance ...
Kiri Allan, Minister of Conservation and Emergency Management will undertake a leave of absence while she undergoes medical treatment for cervical cancer, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “I consider Kiri not just a colleague, but a friend. This news has been devastating. But I also know that Kiri is ...
Excellent progress has been made at the new prison development at Waikeria, which will boost mental health services and improve rehabilitation opportunities for people in prison, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. Kelvin Davis was onsite at the new build to meet with staff and see the construction first-hand, following a ...
To reduce the trauma of road crashes caused by drug impaired drivers, an Independent Expert Panel on Drug Driving has proposed criminal limits and blood infringement thresholds for 25 impairing drugs, Minister of Police Poto Williams and Transport Minister Michael Wood announced today. The Land Transport (Drug Driving) Amendment Bill ...
Temporary COVID-19 immigration powers will be extended to May 2023, providing continued flexibility to support migrants, manage the border, and help industries facing labour shortages, Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi announced today. “Over the past year, we have had to make rapid decisions to vary visa conditions, extend expiry dates, and ...
Temporary COVID-19 immigration powers will be extended to May 2023, providing continued flexibility to support migrants, manage the border, and help industries facing labour shortages, Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi announced today. “Over the past year, we have had to make rapid decisions to vary visa conditions, extend expiry dates, and ...
The Government is expanding its Pregnancy and Parenting Programme so more women and whānau can access specialist support to minimise harm from alcohol and other drugs, Health Minister Andrew Little says. “We know these supports help improve wellbeing and have helped to reduce addiction, reduced risk for children, and helped ...
*** Please check against delivery *** It’s an honour to be here in Rūātoki today, a rohe with such a proud and dynamic history of resilience, excellence and mana. Tūhoe moumou kai, moumou taonga, moumou tangata ki te pō. The Ahuwhenua Trophy competition is the legacy of a seed planted ...
The economic recovery from COVID-19 continues to be reflected in the Government’s books, which are again better than expected. The Crown accounts for the eight months to the end of February 2021 showed both OBEGAL and the operating balance remain better than forecast in the Half Year Economic and Fiscal ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson and Economic Development Minister Stuart Nash have welcomed confirmation New Zealand will host the opening ceremony and match, and one of the semi-finals, of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023. Grant Robertson says matches will be held in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Dunedin, ...
Changes to the minimum wage, main benefit levels and superannuation rates that come into force today will raise the incomes for around 1.4 million New Zealanders. “This Government is committed to raising the incomes for all New Zealanders as part of laying the foundations for a better future,” Minister for ...
The New Dunedin Hospital – Whakatuputupu has been approved for consideration under the fast track consenting legislation. The decision by Environment Minister David Parker signifies the importance of the project to the health of the people of Otago-Southland and to the economy of the region. “This project ticks all the ...
Transport Minister Michael Wood is getting Auckland light rail back on track with the announcement of an establishment unit to progress this important city-shaping project and engage with Aucklanders. Michael Wood said the previous process didn’t involve Aucklanders enough. ...
The Minister of Tourism is to re-open a government fund that supports councils to build infrastructure for visitors, with a specific focus on regions hardest hit by the loss of overseas tourists. “Round Five of the Tourism Infrastructure Fund will open for applications next month,” said Stuart Nash. It ...
A Governance Group of eight experts has been appointed to lead the next phase of work on a potential new public media entity, Minister for Broadcasting and Media Kris Faafoi announced today. “The Governance Group will oversee the development of a business case to consider the viability of a new ...
Minister for Māori Development Willie Jackson today helped launch a new fund to provide direct financial support for tamariki and rangatahi Māori throughout the South Island who is experiencing financial hardship and missing out on physical activity opportunities. “Through Te Kīwai Fund, we can offer more opportunities for Māori to ...
Six whānau in Pāpāmoa receive the keys to their brand-new rental homes today, in stage four of a papakāinga project providing safe and affordable housing in the regions. Minister for Māori Development, Willie Jackson congratulates Mangatawa Pāpāmoa Blocks Incorporated on the opening of three affordable rentals and three social housing ...
Kia ora tatou. It’s great to be here today and to get a conversation going on the disarmament issues of greatest interest to you, and to the Government. I’m thrilled to be standing here as a dedicated Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control, which I hope reinforces for you all ...
Dunedin writer Victor resumes his Sunday odes to public figures. Today: Mike HoskingThe Hosky and Cindy Show I want you on my show. And then I do not. I’ve fired you again. You’ve had your shot. You cancelled yourself. You’re on the shelf. But now ...
Sex is life in acclaimed Waikato writer Tracey Slaughter’s latest short story collection. Of course it’s there in Slaughter’s stories about affairs. In those pieces sex thumps and pants and dominates, it goes so hard it knocks grit off the ceiling and onto the bed, it sets fire to a marriage, ...
Bathroom, kitchen, sitting room, bookshelves, friends, memories – Linda Burgess ponders the decluttering of life. Made possible thanks to the support of Creative New ZealandOriginal illustrations by Gary Venn Go to the second drawer down in your bathroom. Open it. In it are countless small bottles of shampoo and skin cream ...
Analysis by Bryce Edwards. Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Judith Collins’ National Party leadership is under more scrutiny, with increased talk in the media of her being replaced by brand new MP Christopher Luxon. For many commentators it’s just a question of “when” rather than “if” Collins is replaced. While ...
Kiwi Seafarers continue to feel shortchanged by the New Zealand Government. On the 1st of December 2020 the UN general Assembly called for all Seafarers to be designated as Key Workers . International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretary-General Kitack ...
Revelations that foreign affairs officials have approved the sale of military equipment to a host of human-rights-abusing countries, including Israel, is an outrage. In recent years foreign affairs has been dominated by trade priorities with concerns ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Quilty, Senior Staff Specialist, Alice Springs Hospital. Honorary, Australian National University A sizeable chunk of Northern Territory’s doctors are thinking about leaving the territory because of climate change, our new research shows. Our study, just published in The Lancet Planetary Health, ...
With the trans-Tasman bubble on the way, Auckland Airport has undertaken the unique challenge of splitting one airport into two. Matthew Scott went along to see what the parallel worlds look like. Birdsong is piped into an empty hallway. A message to nobody plays on the intercom. Luxury stores ...
The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners is today marking the death of their patron, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Prince Phillip had been patron of the College for 47 years, since he formally handed over ...
"People are walking up the hill, as we walk down, with their hands on their hips, their faces red, or looking directly at the path, not game enough to look up to see how far they’ve got to go": a portrait of a relationship set in a Dunedin landmark, by ...
It was with great sadness that I received notification from Buckingham Palace that His Royal Highness Prince Philip has died at Windsor Castle. The death of His Royal Highness is a great loss to Her Majesty the Queen, the members of the Royal Family ...
The Royal Commonwealth Society expresses its deepest condolences on the passing of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The Royal Commonwealth Society expresses its deepest sympathy and condolences to our Patron, Her Majesty ...
9 April 2021 Monarchy New Zealand today expresses its sadness at the passing of Queen of New Zealand’s consort, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip Prince Philip died aged 99. Prince Philip is the longest-serving consort in New Zealand’s history. ...
"On behalf of ACT, I would like to express sincere condolences to Her Majesty the Queen and the Royal Family. "Prince Philip will be remembered for his long dedication to public service. He has selflessly contributed to a long period of stability ...
Critic's Chair: Guy Somerset salutes Losing Alice, a compelling eight-part psychological thriller showing on Apple TV+ Who doesn’t like a compliment, a bit of flattery? But, unless you happen to be Donald J Trump, when the flattery spills over into sycophancy you tend to get suspicious. Alice Ginor (Ayelet Zurer) ...
WATCH: Silver Ferns shooter Monica Falkner talks about the pain of losing her dad, then fighting back from injury in part three of Pure As. Monica Falkner knows her dad, David, would have shed tears watching her finally play for the Silver Ferns against England last year - after five harrowing ...
Rampant house prices mean saving money for a deposit on a home is becoming increasingly fruitless. But just how long does it take in today’s market compared to a few years ago?Of all the essential and obscure pecuniary concepts that we learn throughout life, saving is one of those things ...
From the trauma of loss, Jean Sergent built a stage production that offers an invitation to others to embrace the radical possibility that things can get better.I’ve always been interested in death and dying – not the mechanics of it, but the social conditions. How death is prepared for, announced, ...
For almost three years, Onzo’s black and yellow fleet littered New Zealand’s streets with an accessible and affordable two-wheel option. Then it vanished, leaving behind a trail of angry and perplexed customers. Auckland’s first dockless bike-share scheme has disappeared in much the same way it first arrived – quietly, mysteriously and ...
Ardent disciple of mountain, valley, river and sky, Brian Turner is one of New Zealand’s most celebrated poets. Michelle Langstone travelled to his central Otago home to meet and hear the man who commands the language of the landscape.The landscape starts speaking to you from the turnoff on to the ...
George Driver heads to the end of the Earth to spend his birthday alone in New Zealand’s forgotten city.“Don’t go to Invercargill.”I’d spent most of my life a couple of hours’ drive from Invercargill. But every time I considered going I was confronted with this advice: “Don’t go, it’s not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Jeffrey, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Southern Cross University Trees are the Earth’s lungs – it’s well understood they drawdown and lock up vast amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But emerging research is showing trees can also emit methane, and it’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Last week, people were falling over themselves to get vaccination appointments and had to be told, by their doctors and their government, to be patient. Patience is still needed — indeed, more than ever — ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A week ago, people were falling over themselves to get vaccination appointments and had to be told, by their doctors and their government, to be patient. Patience is still needed — indeed, more than ever ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hassan Vally, Associate Professor, La Trobe University Last night, the federal government announced substantially revised plans for the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in Australia. Due to concerns about the vaccine’s possible links to a rare blood-clotting disorder, and following advice from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katherine Aigner, PhD candidate Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy, Australian National University On Saturday at the Adelaide Festival there will a public showing of Australian Atomic Confessions, a documentary I co-directed about the tragic and long-lasting effects of the atomic weapons testing ...
The Human Rights Commission is calling for more information on the justification behind the temporary suspension of travel from India. “Temporarily banning New Zealanders from returning home from India is a significant limitation on their freedom ...
The Chinese developers who caused an environmental disaster on an idyllic Fijian island have been found guilty on two counts of undertaking unauthorised developments in relation to a planned 370-bure resort and casino. The Suva Magistrates Court delivered its verdict against Freesoul Real Estate today, after the ruling date was pushed out twice with no ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Esterman, Professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of South Australia Australia’s vaccine rollout is in chaos. The news last night the AstraZeneca vaccine, the only one Australia has guaranteed supply of, would not be recommended for people under 50 due to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jan Golembiewski, Researcher, University of Technology Sydney The Royal Commission into Aged Care left organisations that provide housing for aged care wondering how they will put its recommendations into effect. Most of these recommendations relate to the models of care and levels ...
Our Beehive bulletin The Government’s ban on new low and medium temperature coal-fired boilers and partnering with the private sector to help it transition away from fossil fuels perhaps ranked as the most important Beehive announcement yesterday. It was the first major announcement to follow the release of the Climate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nikki Turner, Professor, University of Auckland From next week, unvaccinated staff working at managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) facilities will be moved to low-risk jobs, following a case of a worker who missed vaccination appointments and then tested positive for COVID-19. The ...
The proposed Regulatory Standards Bill has been welcomed by Energy Resources Aotearoa as a useful tool in developing better public policy. The Bill was drawn from the members ballot at Parliament on Thursday. "This should help deliver better policy ...
Division and social discord has undermined Covid-19 responses in other western nations. We must do everything we can to prevent that taking seed here, writes Green Party MP Golriz Ghahraman. The Ministry of Health has done a stellar job in keeping us all safe. I have no doubt that the latest ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 The Mirror Book by Charlotte Grimshaw (Vintage, $38)Excerpt from Emma Espiner’s fantastic Spinoff review of this fantastic ...
Eight Wellington City Councillors – given the critical constitutional choice of Treaty partnership or democracy – yesterday voted in favour of further undermining the council’s democratic election and decision-making structures by granting voting rights to the representatives appointed by Maori tribes to sit on council committees. Only six councillors voted ...
Mike Hosking did, didn’t, does, doesn’t, will and won’t want to have the PM on his radio show, while simultaneously accusing the New Zealand media of being asleep at the wheel, writes James Elliott It was reported in the news this week that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere ...
Green Party MP Ricardo Menendez March’s labelling of police dogs as being “attack dogs” is as out of touch as it is insulting to our entire police force, says Darroch Ball co-leader of Sensible Sentencing Trust. “A bill seeking to increase the maximum ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Benjamin Reilly, Professor, University of Western Australia Could a change be afoot in the way Australians vote in federal elections? The Coalition government may be eyeing a shift to optional preferential voting — as used in New South Wales — which allows ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is urging action in the case against New Zealand-born Paul Mora, who allegedly fraudulently claimed €113 million in German tax credits. Paul Mora is wanted by Interpol in relation to the Cum-Ex tax affair after failing ...
An almost forgotten moment in our history, brought into the spotlight by a gutsy new theatre show, reveals uncomfortable truths about the history of race relations in Aotearoa.In a country that has until very recently avoided teaching its own history in schools, it’s perhaps unsurprising that a confrontation between university ...
A new poem from Ōtautahi-based poet Claudia Jardine.Ode to Mons Pubisfatty tissue, edifice of overturesjoints, ligaments, bones, cartilagedark turns to stars when I think aboutthe buttress of pubic symphysisyes! paths of faery lights, yes! brambly wadsyes! tracks of calligraphic gastropodsyes! tender grasses, yes! boxed bedsclippings from a crooner’s greenhousetopiary of ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is speaking to media a day after announcing a suspension of travel from India because of high numbers of Covid-19 cases. ...
The country's largest education union, NZEI Te Riu Roa, is backing the school students striking for climate action across the country today. NZEI Te Riu Roa President Liam Rutherford says the organisation "fully supports tamariki and educators who ...
At its core, Aotearoa New Zealand’s housing crisis is not about houses, but about the way we think about wealth, community, ourselves and our neighbours, the economy, education system, and much more. The only solutions to this problem involve everyone. ...
One year ago today managed isolation became mandatory for travellers arriving into New Zealand. The joint heads of Managed Isolation and Quarantine, Megan Main and Brigadier Jim Bliss, have paid tribute to the efforts of those who’ve contributed ...
Public feedback is now invited to improve freedom camping in New Zealand. To support the public consultation, the first of a series of public meetings throughout Aotearoa is being held at the Ellen Melville Centre in central Auckland from 2pm – 4pm on ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage. Click here to subscribe to Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup and New Zealand Politics Daily. Today’s contentCovid: India travel ban Luke Malpass (Stuff): Is the the ‘temporary’ India travel ban proportional ...
Hospitals should be a place of welcome and healing. But for gender-diverse people and their families, going to the hospital can feel like walking into a linguistic minefield. While a child was being treated at a New Zealand hospital last month, a health professional kept using the wrong gender pronouns ...
Local Government New Zealand welcomes the long overdue review of self-contained freedom camping rules announced by Tourism Minister Stuart Nash today. “Many councils across the country welcome the contribution freedom campers make to local economies,” ...
A new just transition plan released today by Climate Justice Taranaki calls for a major shift towards a domestic economy and away from exports and imports in a phase out of fossil fuels by 2030. The document focuses on Aotearoa’s three main greenhouse ...
Today Renters United launches their campaign for #RentControlsNow. This comes just weeks after the Government announced it’s housing package, a package that Renters United said “fell short of delivering any change to over one third of New Zealanders ...
Three… two… one… blast-off! They’re an incredible sight, but what’s the impact of rocket launches on the environment? Mirjam Guesgen investigates.Commercial space flights, moon colonies and missions to Mars are all exciting prospects. Some of them are even being helped along by New Zealand companies. Rocket launches are loud, ground-shaking, smoggy ...
A government committed to fairness and responsible law-making should not allow two bills recently drawn from the Member’s Ballot to sink without debate, Federated Farmers says. "At the very least the Regulatory Standards Bill and the Income ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ritesh Chugh, Senior Lecturer – Information Systems and Analysis, CQUniversity Australia If you’ve ever gotten your phone wet in the rain, dropped it in water or spilt liquid over it, you’re not alone. One study suggests 25% of smartphone users have damaged ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Macaulay, Professor of Public Administration, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Following a number of high-profile inquiries into workplace misconduct — including within parliament, the police and fire service — it became clear people who report such behaviour in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Holly Seale, Associate professor, UNSW This year is shaping up as the year of the COVID-19 vaccination photo, with the pandemic providing seemingly endless photo opportunities. We’ve seen stock photos of people getting vaccinated in news reports, images of the prime minister ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lucinda McKnight, Senior Lecturer in Pedagogy and Curriculum, Deakin University Robots are writing more of what we read on the internet. And artificial intelligence (AI) writing tools are becoming freely available for anyone, including students, to use. In a period of rapid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW House prices are back in the news, and out of control. In the past three months the median house price in Sydney has risen by more than A$100,000 to A$1.12 million. Sydney’s median residential property price ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for April 9, bringing you the latest news throughout the day. For one day only, Stewart is off, so to get in touch email Bulletin editor Alex Braae at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz.The Spinoff can’t exist without our members. If you want to help us stay ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Four key questions for the climate strikers, unvaccinated border worker tests positive, and big implications of ban on arrivals from India.We’re going to start today’s Bulletin with something different – a short interview. Because today teenagers across the country will once ...
The climate strikes are finally back! It’s been a turbulent year-and-a-half since our last strike, with two cancellations due to COVID-19, but finally we’re back with our fourth Intergenerational Strike 4 Climate. Christina Sieberhagen, 15, is ...
Staff from the animal rights organisation SAFE are going on strike today and will be marching with School Strike 4 Climate NZ in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. SAFE CEO Debra Ashton said the strike is especially important to SAFE because farming ...
From: Auckland Feminist Action and Migrant Zine Collective Feminist coalitions across Tāmaki Makaurau are calling on elected leaders to put an end to sexual violence in Aotearoa. The coalitions on Saturday, April 10 at 2pm, will march down Queen Street ...
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/