Our leader has enjoyed another day at Big Gay Out, once again chaperoned by his minders Willis and Bishop.
After this morning’s State of the Nation speech, Luxon had defended the coalition Government’s planned changes to sexuality and relationship education guidelines, RNZ reports.
New Zealand First – one of the three coalition parties – had campaigned on removing “gender ideology” from the curriculum. The guidelines were first introduced in 2020 by then-NZ First MP and associate Education Minister Tracey Martin.
“We will always have sex education in New Zealand schools. It’s so critical, so important,” Luxon said.
The curriculum should be age-appropriate and parents needed to be consulted, Luxon said.
Schools had been interpreting the guidelines differently and there needed to be consistency in delivering the curriculum across the country.
An expert panel would be working on the changes to the guidelines, he said.
School consultation with parents is one reason for different approaches, thus lack of nationwide consistency (parents have been able to opt out their children).
Gender ideology (where it was once homosexuality) and age for sex education are the major contentions.
"Gender Ideology" is the antithesis of homosexuality. It denies even the existence of same sex attraction. Children should be educated on the basis of the fact that in humans (as with all mammals) sex is bi-modal and immutable.
SPC “Gender ideology (where it was once homosexuality) and age for sex education are the major contentions.”
Indeed, and sex education should be age appropriate. I hope most people will agree with that.
And it should be based on facts rather than fantasy (the stork and babies) or an ideology (‘some parents make a mistake when they ‘assign’ your sex at birth).
Both seem to be denying there is an issue to be discussed.
UN Convention on the rights of the child
Article 28/3. States Parties shall promote and encourage international cooperation in matters relating to education, in particular with a view to contributing to the elimination of IGNORANCE and illiteracy throughout the world and facilitating access to scientific and technical knowledge and modern teaching methods.
While National is working on how to get away with something
allowing foreigners to buy up high country land, waterway land, coastal farmland, beach front land, fisheries and any urban land for new builds – a future where half of us pay rent to foreigners for a home – an end to the idea that a nation state has any sovereignty not up for sale.
they are also resorting to questioning other old shibboleths "a government has a workforce of its own" and "paying people welfare" to distract us.
The Big Tobacco and Big Oil fan boys are nothing if not predictable.
On welfare there is a bit of confusion.
Pre election he mentioned a focus on those under 25, contracting out oversight of that group.
In the state of the nation, he noted the increase on Job Seeker Benefit since 2017 (presumably he knows this is a function of the unemployment rate and also of the health of the aging workforce, as it includes those once on the sickness benefit – worldwide lockdowns and long covid have had an impact).
Luxon's government would be targeting those who had been on welfare for many years, he said.
"I won't apologise for making tough choices to support young people off welfare and into work, because 24 years languishing on welfare means no hope. It means no opportunity. It means no dignity from work."
Presumably he is cognisant that National were in government for 9 of the last 24 years (2008-2017).
"And if you don't – make no mistake – there will be consequences. Our government will support you – but there will be sanctions if you don't take that support seriously.
If that had worked 2008-2017 …and Labour did have a form of it 1999-2008 and National in the 1990's.
"Now that won't be popular with everyone – but we will do it, because I am not prepared to write off a whole generation of young Kiwis."
He should note that the policy did not stop young people becoming long term unemployed in the past.
Maybe he should consult John Carter about employment programmes and internships (to reduce the need to import migrant workers).
Conveniently being overlooked/wilfully ignored in the discussion is how our economic system relies on a minimum amount of unemployment in order to keep inflation down. Of course, the government knows this, but it's SO much easier to blame and punish the plebs, rather than say it out loud and spoil the illusion.
That speech to me had undertones of facism (yes I am going there). Pick an enemy and blame them for your country's woes. In this case, too many bludging beneficiaries slowing down productivity. They must be punished for their crimes, ie having the audacity to exist. Force them all into work and our country will be great again (and you people who don't need it will get your tax cuts.)
"Victims of social prejudice far from confined to inter-war Germany were readily to hand: prostitutes, homosexuals, Gypsies, habitual criminals and others seen as sullying the image of the new society by begging, refusing to work, or any sort of 'antisocial behaviour."
"Pick an enemy and blame them for your country's woes."
Right on target Kay.
I was one of many thousands thrown on the scrap heap in the 1990s. It happened to coincide with my mother's deteriorating health so I went on the DPB which was – courtesy of Ruth Richardson – an absurd pittance. They were very tough years with a mortgage to service, and made ten times worse by the treatment meted out to me under the stewardship of Christine Rankin's version of WINZ. When I discovered they had me under surveillance for suspected fraudulent behaviour it nearly finished me off.
I think NZ is in for a repeat of the 1990s and it doesn't just apply to beneficiaries but also to Maori. We have already seen how they are using Maori as a scapegoat for the country's woes including woes we know don't even exist – at least to the extent they are trying to make out.
And the detail, Stuff missed reporting the bit explaining where he got his 24 years "data" from
Nowhere
"MSD has told us that for the 2000 young people receiving a youth payment or young parent payment, they are now expected to spend an average of 24 years of their working life on a benefit – 24 years. Up almost 50 percent in just three years," Luxon said in his speech.
So it is a change in MSD forecast for a particularly vulnerable group – youth payment and young parent benefit. A 2020 forecast compared to a 2023 forecast.
And from that he said
"I won't apologise for making tough choices to support young people off welfare and into work, because 24 years languishing on welfare means no hope. It means no opportunity. It means no dignity from work."
He'll save them from that like he has already saved us from $200B of unfunded transport projects (such as a 2 three land road tunnels and a rail tunnel under Auckland Harbour).
The constant targeting (even during the last 2 years or so) of people who have either serious ongoing mental health issues, are caregivers of elderly and/or disabled family members (for a pittance – saving the state many thousands) and anyone else now lumped into the crucible of "the jobseeker benefit" is now turning to outright harassment even under the "liberal Labour Party". These are folk who are clearly unable to work, yet are dragged back in and out of WINZ repeatedly to prove some kind of point. Its time we saw government tackling the tax dodgers and white collar criminals sucking society dry.
But those tax dodgers and white collar criminals vote (predominantly RW) and we can't go upsetting the base and the donors. There's quite possibly some politicians who wouldn't be too keen on an IRD audit either.
Being able to convince all beneficiaries/low income people to vote would significantly change the makeup of parliament, and really is our only hope. But that's the aim of the exercise- beat people down so much that they give up on the voting process, making it easier for RW governments to succeed.
Conditions were "rough" due to the "economic mess" left behind by the Labour government, and New Zealanders were "voting with their feet", with a record net 44,500 New Zealanders leaving the country last year, he said.
In a number of areas (with emerging world shortages) there is a category of workers who get paid much more in Oz than here (and better work conditions) medical staff and teachers. Military and police can do the same (otherwise the pandemic delayed move to well-paid mining jobs).
National is not planning any change – so it is mere politicking.
First Bakhmut in May 2023 and now of Avdiivka in February 2024, one wonders what the Russian target for 2025 is – maybe too easy to guess – Ukraine's surrender under a Trump presidency (this is the NATO supported nation that Trump wanted beaten by Russia to teach them all a lesson about fear and obedience – GOP first, NATO second).
For now Russia will probably attack Zaporizhzhia to draw limited Ukrainian forces south and to secure the entire Donbass.
The politics
The White House said the withdrawal had been forced upon Ukraine "by dwindling supplies as a result of congressional inaction," that had forced Ukrainian soldiers to ration ammunition and resulted in "Russia’s first notable gains in months".
Meanwhile Zelenskiy complained about
an "artificial" shortage of weapons and said stalled U.S. aid was imperative. He praised his troops for "exhausting" Russian forces in Avdiivka, and suggested the withdrawal was partly caused by a lack of weapons.
"Now, (the military) will replenish, they will wait for the relevant weapons, of which there simply weren't enough, simply aren't enough," he said. "Russia has long-range weapons, while we simply don't have enough."
The war
Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said Avdiivka showed the need for modern air defence systems to counter guided bombs and long-range weapons to destroy enemy formations. He said artillery shells were also needed.
In the field ammo, artillery shells, at scale air defence and the strike capacity to take out any Russian military capability within Ukraine.
The Russians will not take the American resolve seriously until they increase production at the atacms plant from 500 a year (double shift or offshore plant – South Korea/Japan).
A revolting spectacle, Dave & Brooke poncing it up in Ponsonby at Rainbow Parade. Is Act so keen on gays that are working class, on or wanting Jobseeker Allowance, disabled, need housing?
Baldrick Luxury Luxon’s appearance at the Pt Chevalier “Big Gay Out” had to be the most inappropriate appearance there by a senior politician since Banksie’s. He had just given a Bennie Bash speech straight out of the 90s and seemingly expected to be welcomed…
One he does not want there to ever be a Palestinian state. And at the moment he is content because a majority of both Israelis (prefer status quo) and Palestinians (want a peace process to result in a unitary state) also oppose a two state outcome.
Two, he says this, with the face that has told many lies (most to fellow politicians in Israel)
"Israel under my leadership will continue to strongly oppose the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state," he said. "An arrangement can be reached only through direct negotiations between the sides, without preconditions."
A man totally opposed to the existence of a Palestinian state would, if required to, engage in such direct negotiations – because he knows his own conditions would prevent any agreement.
A new roadmap is required – Likud and Palestinians who want a unitary state have together managed to destroy the Oslo Accord process.
1.UNRWA replaced – all Palestinian refugees given a UN Palestinian passport, a cash payment per person and one per family that lost property in 1948. And a call for every UN nation to allow them work residence (and apply quotas). Those choosing Gaza or West Bank having homes built there.
2.The borders of the Palestinian state as per 1967.
3.After it is established, all 1948 refugees able to live and work in Israel on their Palestinian passport (sans security exceptions). And all Jewish settlers able to remain in the WB (sans security exceptions) on their Israeli passports – with a Jewish WB settlement area police force operating within the Palestinian state police force.
4.Compensation to Palestine from Israel for Jewish settlement of land in the WB.
5.Combined Israeli-Palestinian-UN security control of the borders of Palestine with Jordan and Egypt and Gaza with the Mediterranean.
6.Either both, or neither, have their capital in Jerusalem. And a combined Jerusalem administrative body including outside observers (Jordan and …. ).
7.Joint administrative bodies – for the Jordan River management, economic policy co-operation, energy and water, Jewish settlements.
Your proposed road map falls over at step one. Proposing to scrap UNRWA ticks one of the boxes that Netanyahu is so desperate to accomplish. In the immediate short term it shows a complete lack of any compassion to Palestinians. This is absolutely the only organisation with any reach in Gaza that may concievably be able to deliver aid if it ever arrives.
Also, to scrap UNRWA is much like Seymours attempt to disenfrancise Māori by fiddling with the treaty document. UNRWA by virtue of its unique definition of a Palestinian refugee holds all decendents of the 1948 Nakba that lost the means of livlihood together with the right of return. Israel is already illegally selling rights to off shore gas fields that are rightfully Palestinian. Abolishing the right of return through the abolition of UNRWA is just the second prong of Netanyahu's scatter the Palestinians then settle the Gaza strip. It was Netanyahu that falsely set up the UNRWA sting. It is not in Palestinian interests to jump onto anything that this madman is driving.
Support for the Palestinians on the current course would just mean more of the same for a few more decades.
Replacement of UNRWA is not abandonment of them as refugees who need aid for a while yet.
A right of return claim is not dependent on UNRWA existing.
I mentioned an alternative, that enables more than being dependent on remaining in a refugee camp for yet more decades, often without right of access to local employment.
Does not require the wrecking of UNRWA and putting your number one step as implementing the thing that Netanyahu so desperately desires. It shows your always close to the surface lack of concern for Palestinians and your default of siding with Israel. You do understand that starvation and disease are occuring right now? That IDF snipers target whole familes of Palestinians, including the children. And your solution is to disband UNRWA because it is the sole organisation that is still able to witness this ongoing tradgedy and provide some modicum of relief??
Your framing of it that way just shows how committed to a side and continuance of the conflict that people can get trapped into.
Agreement to it would immediately end the Gaza presence of the IDF, enable the release of hostages (and political prisoners), facilitate the coming of aid and allow refugees to decide if they want to stay or use a UN passport to get work residence elsewhere (as other refugees are allowed to do) and then exercise right of return later.
"Agreement" is the tricky thing. "Agreement" to a cease fire would end it too. Problem is that the current leadership of Israel will not "agree" to anything that does not extinguish the already fragile rights of Palestinians. They would jump at the chance to extinguish UNRWA and use any kind of delay for the rest. You appear to be against Luxon's policies in NZ. I'm reasonably sure that you would be able to see through attempts to portray social institutions as corrupt in order to disband them. The consequences of the disbanding of UNRWA don't bear thinking about. And yet you seem to be eager to fall into an age old right wing trap and discount the massive work that the agency does to provde a net of some kind in dire situations.
Perhaps it is rather you that wishes to continue the pain and suffering?
Except now you do. As a first step towards what? And item three reads like a cotinuation of the current apartheid set up. We already have a PA security responsibility subservient to the IDF and unable to protect Palestinians from settler violence. Yours is just more of the same. A PA suservient to a "Jewish West Bank security police force". Your language is also that of apartheid. You equate Jewish and Israeli and give Jewish Israelis rights that non Jews can't obtain. All this is the current situation not something new except that you wish to take even the UNRWA from Palestinians. Why? Because they have the authority to observe and document and their documents have legal standing at the ICJ?
Not under current circumstances. Not paying attention?
as a first step towards what?
It is as part of an agreement setting up a Palestinian state. Surely that was obvious – the thing is those involved have nowhere to live. The ability to go where there were houses and jobs and retain the right to return is better than any other option – you prefer stay in a tent, receive aid, avoid disease and wait for a rebuild?
3.Actually says that Jewish settlers cannot have their own guns, they have a Jewish police force accountable to the PA police force, as in a branch of it.
You are not worth my time. Bye. All you do is lie.
Curious that this government took the specific step of unwinding the Auckland-Northland water entity, when in the same week Minister Brown was encouraging regions to join together to form water entities.
A SI drought would first impact hydro and energy. It would show the wisdom of the Onslow dam.
Contingency, or reserve surplus capability for water supply, is similar to energy. We are expected to conserve/lower demand in drought years.
The government could help by reducing demand for migrant labour/population increase to generate growth.
The drought impact on farming is why Luxon wants more dams for that reason. Fast tracking consent to build them (reducing water flows till they are filled).
It’s no surprise National looks inward and backwards. Once again, the party squandered its time in opposition on torrid internal politics and cynical attempts to win back voters. It learnt nothing about how the world’s changing or what new and effective policies we need to keep up with it.
Shock as warming accelerates, 1.5°C is breached faster than forecast
[14 Feb 2024]
That acceleration moves forward the timeline for reaching 2°C of warming, for the manifestation of more severe impacts, and for systemic tipping points. Hansen warns that warming will accelerate to 1.7°C by 2030.
…
“I [Australian Greens Senator Larissa Waters] don’t understand why you are doing a risk assessment based on a scenario that’s so below what’s actually going to happen. That doesn’t give you an adequate picture of risk. Isn’t the whole point of doing this risk analysis to understand what the risks are?”
The phrase 'palliative care' springs to mind – go well spaceship Earth.
Mother Earth …… Palliative Care [19 June 2023]
A comment made by a nurse in the human chain around the NAB Sydney HQ hit like a depth charge.
Her placard showed Mother Earth with a thermometer in her mouth. I said "She looks like she's in intensive care".
Luxon doesn't have anything good to say in his State of The Nation. Everything is falling apart, there's a giant fiscal hole, and it's all Labour's fault. So, he has to punish the least well off with Austerity.
A disgraceful speech with no confidence in the future of Aotearoa. He is gonna crater the economy with Trussonomics.
Particularly repugnant was first the strategy of throwing around a large fictitious number, $200B, followed by the Farraresque method of breaking the large fictitious number into smaller 'per person, per hour' numbers:
“They were $200 billion short. If you saved $20,000 every hour, day and night, seven days a week, it would take you over 1,000 years to save that $200 billion,” Luxon said in his speech.
1000 years, wow, but not a hint of economic or accounting rigour applied. Just the one person saving all that, remember. This serves to authenticate the fictitious number by personalising it to you. A kind of political money laundering.
Second, and the worst part, is the inference that 5000 or so troubled, marginalised, poorly equipped people are required to be kicked off jobseeker in order to pay for this appalling accounting deficit.
That's 5000 bottom feeders bashed to save $75M out of a Social Welfare expenditure of about $40B. That's 0.02% savings, or $0.0017 per person per hour if you like the that sort of thing…worth it?
Labour had a few proposals that had not yet seen real costings or feasibility studies – funding was yet to be worked out. So it's misleading to claim that they were unfunded or a 'fiscal hole'.
And it's disgusting to talk about benefit sanctions and austerity while giving landlords massive handouts and tax cuts to your rich mates.
Sorry never very clear when rushing a rant at lunchtime.
Willis was going to use her tax cut for videos and Ben and jerries icecream , , it was when she uttered those words that it dawned on me we have a problem Houston.
It's difficult to figure out that on the one hand Luxon is telling beneficiaries to "get a job, or else" and on the other hand his government is gleefully wanting to get rid of thousands of public servants. Will these thousands of workers tossed aside find it easy to get another equivalent job, pay a mortgage or rent, petrol, children's needs, rates, insurance? Luxon and Willis will sleep easily and not give a hoot about the people laid off.
Many will head overseas. I have a young relative who is doing just that next month as her job is very likely to be disestablished. So off she goes. Not much to stay in NZ for.
The other name for people who deliberately inflict harm on others and sleep well at night is "sociopath", and RW governments seem to be disproportionately infected with them.
I've been scratching my head over that one too. Might have been Sue Bradford that pointed out the other day on RNZ (afternoons) that it's not like public servants can up sticks and go pick fruit.
It's some kind of cognitive dissonance going on. Or, they simply don't give a shit.
Does anyone else get tired of how PR people use the word "welcome" in their media releases?
It is usually applied by politicians when an official report is released which reflects badly on a government department. The officials involved always "welcome" the report and promise to do better next time.
A similar reaction appears in today's ODT. There was a fatal car crash when roadside trees obscured a stop sign and a young driver went through an intersection. According to media reports, the coroner ruled that the company contracting to the local council for road signs was at fault for failing to identify the hazard (as was the council).
The company said it welcomed the coroner's recommendations for improvements.
I wonder what will happen when some judge orders a fine of say… $20 million dollars against some council for failing to do something and causing a serious event to occur. Will they welcome the judge's ruling with open arms?
Since the arrival of risk assessed insurance premiums some have faced steep increases.
But for others it has gone on and on, huge premium increases year after year after year and others are not able to be insured at all.
The time when landlords sell some stock to go mortgage free and end insurance may have come (it is required for those with a mortgage). The other option is to form property owner insurance associations – possibly with the help of government.
Maybe cover the rebuild cost in return for freehold land to government leasehold (future rent to government).
Nope, nothing to see here, folks. Just the Speaker of the US House of Representatives', the bloke with no bank accounts, links to Russian allies of Putin with lots of money.
/
In 2018, a group of Russians were able to donate to Johnson’s bid for the Louisiana seat he eventually won as the money was funneled through the Texas-based American Ethane company.
While American Ethane was co-founded by American John Houghtaling, at the time it was 88 percent owned by three Russian nationals—Konstantin Nikolaev, Mikhail Yuriev, and Andrey Kunatbaev. Nikolaev is known to be a top ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A spokesperson for Johnson previously assured in 2018 that the campaign returned the money that was given to them by American Ethane once it was “made aware of the situation.” There was no indication that Johnson’s campaign team willfully broke federal law, which makes it illegal for a campaign to knowingly accept donations from a foreign-owned corporation, a foreign national, or any company owned or controlled by foreign nationals.
[…]
Nikolaev is also known for being a financial backer of Maria Butina, a Russian citizen who was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2019 after admitting to acting as an unregistered foreign agent to infiltrate conservative political groups and influence foreign policy to Russia’s benefit before and after the 2016 election.
People who thought 3 Waters was great, can you please explain how it would have prevented the contamination of the Havelock North water supply in 2016 (had it been in place then)? Specifics and examples please, with reference to the government inquiry report,
2. Several water treatment projects undertaken around the Hastings District since 2016 would have been funded by a 3W entity (not councils trying to save $$$$)
3. Local 3W administration would have been more focused and competent in delivering safe drinking water, than existing local bodies
Not a difficult exercise because the reality was, the local councils did a poor job, and under your hypothetical world, almost anything would have been better than poisoning thousands of residents.
re-water treatment a HN, why are they having to chlorinate aquifer water? My understanding is that the problem was with the various authorities not protecting the bores.
3. Local 3W administration would have been more focused and competent in delivering safe drinking water, than existing local bodies
How do we know this is true? I agree that many things would have been better than what happened at HN, but mostly the councils needed to do their job. What's the evidence that central authorities will do a better job? I'm not inherently agin centralising generally, but there are plenty of examples of central government doing stupid or incompetent stuff. As opposed to regulating so that the councils have to do their job.
Correction, TA regulates and sets standards; Suppliers maintain quality and report on compliance.
Chlorination is a precaution to kill any germs (Campylobacter, E. Coli,…) that could be acquired along the many miles of pipes.
I don't know if (3) is true but (according to your DIA link) poor management is another significant factor in NZ needing water reform. I took your hypothetical to mean "if 3W was fully implemented successfully"
Correction, TA regulates and sets standards; Suppliers maintain quality and report on compliance.
Suppliers being the councils? In the HN case, that would be the suppliers that already had legislation requiring them to meet standards, which they failed to do. How does 3 Waters solve that?
Chlorination is a precaution to kill any germs (Campylobacter, E. Coli,…) that could be acquired along the many miles of pipes.
Did HN have problems with bacterial contamination of its reticulation pipes before the issue with the bores being flooded? Or is this broadstrokes, MoH-driven, reductionist thinking about water in NZ (all water should be chlorinated)?
I don't know if (3) is true but (according to your DIA link) poor management is another significant factor in NZ needing water reform. I took your hypothetical to mean "if 3W was fully implemented successfully"
Well no, I mean implemented in the real world. Which I think is a big part of the whole point. The surface level theory of 3 Waters make sense (better water, more affordable, better control to prevent problems). I'm not sure if that is true and HN seems a good example to work with.
I remain unconvinced that a nationally led body that uses large regional bodies will in reality be as great as people make out. I've said before I can't see how office bods in Chch can know what should be happening in Gore or Lumsden or Beaumont. This perception might be because I don't understand 3 Waters well enough, hence the questions and HN context.
OK. Perhaps there is no convincing proof that a modern water infrastructure and compliance regime would have prevented the unfortunate Havelock North incident.
But we can see how the Three Waters model actually works in practice because it was based on the successful example of Scottish Water. (it even has an instagram!)
Labour's Auckland transport plans – the big spend – part of the $200B saved by National.
2 three lane road tunnels and a separate rail tunnel and more
“Much of the land is already owned by the Crown. Securing remaining land is important for all future options. The draft Government Policy Statement of Transport to be released in the coming weeks will prioritise and fund this.
“Waka Kotahi will also report back to Cabinet next year with a detailed plan for how the elements of the cross harbour plans can be phased and funded.
“With a project of this scale we will need to keep an open mind to funding options. We are seeking advice from Waka Kotahi on this,” David Parker said.
National will build roads and have a harbour bridge for road traffic.
It will seek PPP road build partners, allow big trucks on them and so the taxpayer will be paying off the build for decades, as well as on-going maintenance.
In reality if you read the actual judgement by the Court of Appeal, it is a direction to the NZ defence forces (not the government) saying "please reconsider your mandates" not "mandates bad, Jacinda is a criminal" as implied by ZB.
Four defence personnel took on their employers over this issue, and won. Congrats to them, they will get some compensation. The Court has nothing to say about the government policy of the time.
From the decision:
[176] The CDF is directed to reconsider the TDFO in light of this judgment.
[177] The Court makes an interim order under s 15 of the Judicial Review Procedure Act prohibiting the CDF from taking any further action pursuant to the TDFO and related instruments until such time as the reconsideration of the TDFO is complete.
This bullshit headline is red meat to the nutjob element and ZB is playing its part in feeding radicalisation and hate. Just 3 hours after the headline was published, the mob is repeating their delusional rubbish on X
1 Newshub post, there is already "Nuremberg", "Lock her up", "jail time" WEF?WHO, Klaus, "throw her to the lions" "treason charges" , "cindy" , disgusting memes targeting Ardern, "dictators", image indicating execution, 'nazis , and its only been 3 hours.
— @CTPuzzlePieces
National adding to bureaucracy at Work and Income. Requiring people to re-apply every 6 months.
Given it is obvious they will not have enough staff, not in the office nor their phone system. This is clearly make work for those who lose their high paying public service jobs and get re-directed to be work colleagues by their case manager.
Good luck to those who now have to 6 monthly re-application for the dole. Don't be surprised if a few staff mutter, “you should have voted”.
Not sure if this the right place to ask but how many years has Chris Hipkins lived in NZ in total and how many years has our new saviour luxon lived in NZ in total?( Please insert years. Thank you……… ) Luxon bleats on like he has never lived out of Aotearoa. He is the sacrificial lamb sent in by Key and cronies to finish off what Key couldn’t achieve. We will never be Americas plaything. Ever! ….This country is not for turning……Paraphrase….. Right from the beginning you could see Keys hand up the jumper. He’s still got the same sad little unevolving cretins running the narrative in the hope it will stick. Looking at you Mike Hoskins…. Oh ,there you are! Couldn’t see you. Were you standing or sitting?
Hipkins is done. Recently married and good luck to him but the polls and therefore the media has moved on. No immediate panic but Labour needs to turn the page eventually.
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…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
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Our leader has enjoyed another day at Big Gay Out, once again chaperoned by his minders Willis and Bishop.
School consultation with parents is one reason for different approaches, thus lack of nationwide consistency (parents have been able to opt out their children).
Gender ideology (where it was once homosexuality) and age for sex education are the major contentions.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/pro-palestine-protest-luxon-confronted-at-big-gay-out/MRJQAOL4IZFV3JIYFL2F2RRJFU/
"Gender Ideology" is the antithesis of homosexuality. It denies even the existence of same sex attraction. Children should be educated on the basis of the fact that in humans (as with all mammals) sex is bi-modal and immutable.
SPC “Gender ideology (where it was once homosexuality) and age for sex education are the major contentions.”
Indeed, and sex education should be age appropriate. I hope most people will agree with that.
And it should be based on facts rather than fantasy (the stork and babies) or an ideology (‘some parents make a mistake when they ‘assign’ your sex at birth).
Resist Gender Education- 7/2/24- wrote An open letter to the NZEI and PPTA :
Kia ora Mark Potter and Chris Abercrombie,
Both seem to be denying there is an issue to be discussed.
UN Convention on the rights of the child
Article 28/3. States Parties shall promote and encourage international cooperation in matters relating to education, in particular with a view to contributing to the elimination of IGNORANCE and illiteracy throughout the world and facilitating access to scientific and technical knowledge and modern teaching methods.
While National is working on how to get away with something
allowing foreigners to buy up high country land, waterway land, coastal farmland, beach front land, fisheries and any urban land for new builds – a future where half of us pay rent to foreigners for a home – an end to the idea that a nation state has any sovereignty not up for sale.
they are also resorting to questioning other old shibboleths "a government has a workforce of its own" and "paying people welfare" to distract us.
The Big Tobacco and Big Oil fan boys are nothing if not predictable.
On welfare there is a bit of confusion.
Pre election he mentioned a focus on those under 25, contracting out oversight of that group.
In the state of the nation, he noted the increase on Job Seeker Benefit since 2017 (presumably he knows this is a function of the unemployment rate and also of the health of the aging workforce, as it includes those once on the sickness benefit – worldwide lockdowns and long covid have had an impact).
Presumably he is cognisant that National were in government for 9 of the last 24 years (2008-2017).
If that had worked 2008-2017 …and Labour did have a form of it 1999-2008 and National in the 1990's.
He should note that the policy did not stop young people becoming long term unemployed in the past.
Maybe he should consult John Carter about employment programmes and internships (to reduce the need to import migrant workers).
https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350183890/watch-state-nation-fragile-christopher-luxon-says
Conveniently being overlooked/wilfully ignored in the discussion is how our economic system relies on a minimum amount of unemployment in order to keep inflation down. Of course, the government knows this, but it's SO much easier to blame and punish the plebs, rather than say it out loud and spoil the illusion.
That speech to me had undertones of facism (yes I am going there). Pick an enemy and blame them for your country's woes. In this case, too many bludging beneficiaries slowing down productivity. They must be punished for their crimes, ie having the audacity to exist. Force them all into work and our country will be great again (and you people who don't need it will get your tax cuts.)
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/509415/why-should-poorest-lose-jobs-to-get-inflation-down
"Victims of social prejudice far from confined to inter-war Germany were readily to hand: prostitutes, homosexuals, Gypsies, habitual criminals and others seen as sullying the image of the new society by begging, refusing to work, or any sort of 'antisocial behaviour."
Hitler: Nemesis – Ian Kershaw.
The CoC is not there yet, but give them time!
"Pick an enemy and blame them for your country's woes."
Right on target Kay.
I was one of many thousands thrown on the scrap heap in the 1990s. It happened to coincide with my mother's deteriorating health so I went on the DPB which was – courtesy of Ruth Richardson – an absurd pittance. They were very tough years with a mortgage to service, and made ten times worse by the treatment meted out to me under the stewardship of Christine Rankin's version of WINZ. When I discovered they had me under surveillance for suspected fraudulent behaviour it nearly finished me off.
I think NZ is in for a repeat of the 1990s and it doesn't just apply to beneficiaries but also to Maori. We have already seen how they are using Maori as a scapegoat for the country's woes including woes we know don't even exist – at least to the extent they are trying to make out.
And the detail, Stuff missed reporting the bit explaining where he got his 24 years "data" from
Nowhere
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2024/02/campaigner-slams-prime-minister-christopher-luxon-s-comments-about-welfare-system.html
So it is a change in MSD forecast for a particularly vulnerable group – youth payment and young parent benefit. A 2020 forecast compared to a 2023 forecast.
And from that he said
He'll save them from that like he has already saved us from $200B of unfunded transport projects (such as a 2 three land road tunnels and a rail tunnel under Auckland Harbour).
would love to see the reference for that 24 years bit.
As quoted in the thread starter.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350183890/watch-state-nation-fragile-christopher-luxon-says
I meant a reference from Luxon's speech writer.
There was a story about MSD advice in the Herald a week ago.
https://archive.li/FzgKT
thanks!
The constant targeting (even during the last 2 years or so) of people who have either serious ongoing mental health issues, are caregivers of elderly and/or disabled family members (for a pittance – saving the state many thousands) and anyone else now lumped into the crucible of "the jobseeker benefit" is now turning to outright harassment even under the "liberal Labour Party". These are folk who are clearly unable to work, yet are dragged back in and out of WINZ repeatedly to prove some kind of point. Its time we saw government tackling the tax dodgers and white collar criminals sucking society dry.
But those tax dodgers and white collar criminals vote (predominantly RW) and we can't go upsetting the base and the donors. There's quite possibly some politicians who wouldn't be too keen on an IRD audit either.
Being able to convince all beneficiaries/low income people to vote would significantly change the makeup of parliament, and really is our only hope. But that's the aim of the exercise- beat people down so much that they give up on the voting process, making it easier for RW governments to succeed.
Wonder when the groundswell muppets will be out protesting national?
In a number of areas (with emerging world shortages) there is a category of workers who get paid much more in Oz than here (and better work conditions) medical staff and teachers. Military and police can do the same (otherwise the pandemic delayed move to well-paid mining jobs).
National is not planning any change – so it is mere politicking.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350183890/watch-state-nation-fragile-christopher-luxon-says
First Bakhmut in May 2023 and now of Avdiivka in February 2024, one wonders what the Russian target for 2025 is – maybe too easy to guess – Ukraine's surrender under a Trump presidency (this is the NATO supported nation that Trump wanted beaten by Russia to teach them all a lesson about fear and obedience – GOP first, NATO second).
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2024/02/ukraine-invasion-russia-makes-biggest-gain-in-9-months-after-taking-avdiivka-from-ukraine.html
For now Russia will probably attack Zaporizhzhia to draw limited Ukrainian forces south and to secure the entire Donbass.
The politics
Meanwhile Zelenskiy complained about
The war
In the field ammo, artillery shells, at scale air defence and the strike capacity to take out any Russian military capability within Ukraine.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/17/politics/us-weapons-factories-ukraine-ammunition/index.html
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/ukraine-needs-urgent-air-defense-aid-as-putin-launches-bombing-campaign/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/09/22/atacms-ukraine-cluster-munitions/
The Russians will not take the American resolve seriously until they increase production at the atacms plant from 500 a year (double shift or offshore plant – South Korea/Japan).
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2024/02/ukraine-invasion-russia-makes-biggest-gain-in-9-months-after-taking-avdiivka-from-ukraine.html
"You're not welcome!"
"Boo!"
Big Gay Out for Luxon.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350184047/praise-and-protest-big-day-contrasts-chris-luxon
A revolting spectacle, Dave & Brooke poncing it up in Ponsonby at Rainbow Parade. Is Act so keen on gays that are working class, on or wanting Jobseeker Allowance, disabled, need housing?
Baldrick Luxury Luxon’s appearance at the Pt Chevalier “Big Gay Out” had to be the most inappropriate appearance there by a senior politician since Banksie’s. He had just given a Bennie Bash speech straight out of the 90s and seemingly expected to be welcomed…
Benjamin Netanyahu … where does one start?
One he does not want there to ever be a Palestinian state. And at the moment he is content because a majority of both Israelis (prefer status quo) and Palestinians (want a peace process to result in a unitary state) also oppose a two state outcome.
Two, he says this, with the face that has told many lies (most to fellow politicians in Israel)
A man totally opposed to the existence of a Palestinian state would, if required to, engage in such direct negotiations – because he knows his own conditions would prevent any agreement.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2024/02/israel-s-benjamin-netanyahu-stops-gaza-ceasefire-talks-over-delusional-hamas-demands.html
A new roadmap is required – Likud and Palestinians who want a unitary state have together managed to destroy the Oslo Accord process.
1.UNRWA replaced – all Palestinian refugees given a UN Palestinian passport, a cash payment per person and one per family that lost property in 1948. And a call for every UN nation to allow them work residence (and apply quotas). Those choosing Gaza or West Bank having homes built there.
2.The borders of the Palestinian state as per 1967.
3.After it is established, all 1948 refugees able to live and work in Israel on their Palestinian passport (sans security exceptions). And all Jewish settlers able to remain in the WB (sans security exceptions) on their Israeli passports – with a Jewish WB settlement area police force operating within the Palestinian state police force.
4.Compensation to Palestine from Israel for Jewish settlement of land in the WB.
5.Combined Israeli-Palestinian-UN security control of the borders of Palestine with Jordan and Egypt and Gaza with the Mediterranean.
6.Either both, or neither, have their capital in Jerusalem. And a combined Jerusalem administrative body including outside observers (Jordan and …. ).
7.Joint administrative bodies – for the Jordan River management, economic policy co-operation, energy and water, Jewish settlements.
Your proposed road map falls over at step one. Proposing to scrap UNRWA ticks one of the boxes that Netanyahu is so desperate to accomplish. In the immediate short term it shows a complete lack of any compassion to Palestinians. This is absolutely the only organisation with any reach in Gaza that may concievably be able to deliver aid if it ever arrives.
Also, to scrap UNRWA is much like Seymours attempt to disenfrancise Māori by fiddling with the treaty document. UNRWA by virtue of its unique definition of a Palestinian refugee holds all decendents of the 1948 Nakba that lost the means of livlihood together with the right of return. Israel is already illegally selling rights to off shore gas fields that are rightfully Palestinian. Abolishing the right of return through the abolition of UNRWA is just the second prong of Netanyahu's scatter the Palestinians then settle the Gaza strip. It was Netanyahu that falsely set up the UNRWA sting. It is not in Palestinian interests to jump onto anything that this madman is driving.
Support for the Palestinians on the current course would just mean more of the same for a few more decades.
Replacement of UNRWA is not abandonment of them as refugees who need aid for a while yet.
A right of return claim is not dependent on UNRWA existing.
I mentioned an alternative, that enables more than being dependent on remaining in a refugee camp for yet more decades, often without right of access to local employment.
PS Israel does not want the GS, it wants the WB.
Does not require the wrecking of UNRWA and putting your number one step as implementing the thing that Netanyahu so desperately desires. It shows your always close to the surface lack of concern for Palestinians and your default of siding with Israel. You do understand that starvation and disease are occuring right now? That IDF snipers target whole familes of Palestinians, including the children. And your solution is to disband UNRWA because it is the sole organisation that is still able to witness this ongoing tradgedy and provide some modicum of relief??
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-02-16/rafah-gaza-hospitals-surgery-israel-bombing-ground-offensive-children
Your framing of it that way just shows how committed to a side and continuance of the conflict that people can get trapped into.
Agreement to it would immediately end the Gaza presence of the IDF, enable the release of hostages (and political prisoners), facilitate the coming of aid and allow refugees to decide if they want to stay or use a UN passport to get work residence elsewhere (as other refugees are allowed to do) and then exercise right of return later.
Whatever.
"Agreement" is the tricky thing. "Agreement" to a cease fire would end it too. Problem is that the current leadership of Israel will not "agree" to anything that does not extinguish the already fragile rights of Palestinians. They would jump at the chance to extinguish UNRWA and use any kind of delay for the rest. You appear to be against Luxon's policies in NZ. I'm reasonably sure that you would be able to see through attempts to portray social institutions as corrupt in order to disband them. The consequences of the disbanding of UNRWA don't bear thinking about. And yet you seem to be eager to fall into an age old right wing trap and discount the massive work that the agency does to provde a net of some kind in dire situations.
Perhaps it is rather you that wishes to continue the pain and suffering?
We've been involved in discussions on UNRWA and I've not once supported end of funding under current circumstances.
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-31-01-2024/#comment-1987470
This thread.
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-30-01-2024/#comment-1987315
And on this one.
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-29-01-2024/#comment-1987181
Except now you do. As a first step towards what? And item three reads like a cotinuation of the current apartheid set up. We already have a PA security responsibility subservient to the IDF and unable to protect Palestinians from settler violence. Yours is just more of the same. A PA suservient to a "Jewish West Bank security police force". Your language is also that of apartheid. You equate Jewish and Israeli and give Jewish Israelis rights that non Jews can't obtain. All this is the current situation not something new except that you wish to take even the UNRWA from Palestinians. Why? Because they have the authority to observe and document and their documents have legal standing at the ICJ?
Not under current circumstances. Not paying attention?
It is as part of an agreement setting up a Palestinian state. Surely that was obvious – the thing is those involved have nowhere to live. The ability to go where there were houses and jobs and retain the right to return is better than any other option – you prefer stay in a tent, receive aid, avoid disease and wait for a rebuild?
3.Actually says that Jewish settlers cannot have their own guns, they have a Jewish police force accountable to the PA police force, as in a branch of it.
You are not worth my time. Bye. All you do is lie.
Curious that this government took the specific step of unwinding the Auckland-Northland water entity, when in the same week Minister Brown was encouraging regions to join together to form water entities.
https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/02/15/northern-exposure-as-councils-left-high-and-dry/
We are one good drought away from seeing the logic of Labor's 10 regional water entities.
A SI drought would first impact hydro and energy. It would show the wisdom of the Onslow dam.
Contingency, or reserve surplus capability for water supply, is similar to energy. We are expected to conserve/lower demand in drought years.
The government could help by reducing demand for migrant labour/population increase to generate growth.
The drought impact on farming is why Luxon wants more dams for that reason. Fast tracking consent to build them (reducing water flows till they are filled).
Rod Oram describes the New Zealand economy under National far better than I could. Loved this column:
https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/02/16/welcome-to-rip-shit-and-bust-economic-development/
It all looks rather fragile
So bloody bloody true!
And, from a perceptive comment at the end of Oram's "rip, sh*t and bust" opinion:
Acceleration's the name of the game – "volume, value & velocity" – it's a game changer!
The phrase 'palliative care' springs to mind – go well spaceship Earth.
"The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting."
Milan Kundera
National/Act/NZ1st politicians should be changed as regular as nappies…..for the same reason.
I said that
Kat Ha! If only.
Luxon promises ‘tough love’ in bleak State of the Nation speech | The Spinoff
Luxon doesn't have anything good to say in his State of The Nation. Everything is falling apart, there's a giant fiscal hole, and it's all Labour's fault. So, he has to punish the least well off with Austerity.
A disgraceful speech with no confidence in the future of Aotearoa. He is gonna crater the economy with Trussonomics.
I have no confidence in the leadership of Fuxon
Particularly repugnant was first the strategy of throwing around a large fictitious number, $200B, followed by the Farraresque method of breaking the large fictitious number into smaller 'per person, per hour' numbers:
1000 years, wow, but not a hint of economic or accounting rigour applied. Just the one person saving all that, remember. This serves to authenticate the fictitious number by personalising it to you. A kind of political money laundering.
Second, and the worst part, is the inference that 5000 or so troubled, marginalised, poorly equipped people are required to be kicked off jobseeker in order to pay for this appalling accounting deficit.
That's 5000 bottom feeders bashed to save $75M out of a Social Welfare expenditure of about $40B. That's 0.02% savings, or $0.0017 per person per hour if you like the that sort of thing…worth it?
Labour had a few proposals that had not yet seen real costings or feasibility studies – funding was yet to be worked out. So it's misleading to claim that they were unfunded or a 'fiscal hole'.
And it's disgusting to talk about benefit sanctions and austerity while giving landlords massive handouts and tax cuts to your rich mates.
Surly hell start by canceling tax cuts to land lords and willis Ben and Jerry's ones to come.
I am not opposed to tax cuts for ice-cream 😛
Not sure that I understand the second half of your sentence correctly.
Sorry never very clear when rushing a rant at lunchtime.
Willis was going to use her tax cut for videos and Ben and jerries icecream , , it was when she uttered those words that it dawned on me we have a problem Houston.
It's difficult to figure out that on the one hand Luxon is telling beneficiaries to "get a job, or else" and on the other hand his government is gleefully wanting to get rid of thousands of public servants. Will these thousands of workers tossed aside find it easy to get another equivalent job, pay a mortgage or rent, petrol, children's needs, rates, insurance? Luxon and Willis will sleep easily and not give a hoot about the people laid off.
Many will head overseas. I have a young relative who is doing just that next month as her job is very likely to be disestablished. So off she goes. Not much to stay in NZ for.
The other name for people who deliberately inflict harm on others and sleep well at night is "sociopath", and RW governments seem to be disproportionately infected with them.
I've been scratching my head over that one too. Might have been Sue Bradford that pointed out the other day on RNZ (afternoons) that it's not like public servants can up sticks and go pick fruit.
It's some kind of cognitive dissonance going on. Or, they simply don't give a shit.
They have to be permanent residents in Oz to work in public service jobs there.
I was talking about the first paragraph and NACTF's policy positions of get a job and we will take away some jobs.
Does anyone else get tired of how PR people use the word "welcome" in their media releases?
It is usually applied by politicians when an official report is released which reflects badly on a government department. The officials involved always "welcome" the report and promise to do better next time.
A similar reaction appears in today's ODT. There was a fatal car crash when roadside trees obscured a stop sign and a young driver went through an intersection. According to media reports, the coroner ruled that the company contracting to the local council for road signs was at fault for failing to identify the hazard (as was the council).
The company said it welcomed the coroner's recommendations for improvements.
I wonder what will happen when some judge orders a fine of say… $20 million dollars against some council for failing to do something and causing a serious event to occur. Will they welcome the judge's ruling with open arms?
It will be all down to Luxon's fragility bs and all Labours fault…….
I am trying to imagine if Muldoon would be impressed or shocked with this current coalition of bs……..
Without a (visible) stop sign, or traffic lights, a bit more caution is needed at intersections.
Since the arrival of risk assessed insurance premiums some have faced steep increases.
But for others it has gone on and on, huge premium increases year after year after year and others are not able to be insured at all.
The time when landlords sell some stock to go mortgage free and end insurance may have come (it is required for those with a mortgage). The other option is to form property owner insurance associations – possibly with the help of government.
Maybe cover the rebuild cost in return for freehold land to government leasehold (future rent to government).
https://www.stuff.co.nz/money/350182687/property-investors-say-insurance-driving-rent-increases
Nope, nothing to see here, folks. Just the Speaker of the US House of Representatives', the bloke with no bank accounts, links to Russian allies of Putin with lots of money.
/
In 2018, a group of Russians were able to donate to Johnson’s bid for the Louisiana seat he eventually won as the money was funneled through the Texas-based American Ethane company.
While American Ethane was co-founded by American John Houghtaling, at the time it was 88 percent owned by three Russian nationals—Konstantin Nikolaev, Mikhail Yuriev, and Andrey Kunatbaev. Nikolaev is known to be a top ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A spokesperson for Johnson previously assured in 2018 that the campaign returned the money that was given to them by American Ethane once it was “made aware of the situation.” There was no indication that Johnson’s campaign team willfully broke federal law, which makes it illegal for a campaign to knowingly accept donations from a foreign-owned corporation, a foreign national, or any company owned or controlled by foreign nationals.
[…]
Nikolaev is also known for being a financial backer of Maria Butina, a Russian citizen who was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2019 after admitting to acting as an unregistered foreign agent to infiltrate conservative political groups and influence foreign policy to Russia’s benefit before and after the 2016 election.
https://www.newsweek.com/who-konstantin-nikolaev-money-mike-johnson-1870600 ( https://archive.li/Gl1ht )
He has a bank account, just one of those not accruing interest – so it does not have to be reported.
He probably transfers the growing balance to a family trust (property/stocks etc) and or PAC.
The Russians probably do that sort of thing a lot to compromise and blackmail.
People who thought 3 Waters was great, can you please explain how it would have prevented the contamination of the Havelock North water supply in 2016 (had it been in place then)? Specifics and examples please, with reference to the government inquiry report,
https://www.dia.govt.nz/Government-Inquiry-into-Havelock-North-Drinking-Water-Report—Part-1—Overview
2. Several water treatment projects undertaken around the Hastings District since 2016 would have been funded by a 3W entity (not councils trying to save $$$$)
3. Local 3W administration would have been more focused and competent in delivering safe drinking water, than existing local bodies
Not a difficult exercise because the reality was, the local councils did a poor job, and under your hypothetical world, almost anything would have been better than poisoning thousands of residents.
thanks rob.
Where's the bit on TA measuring water quality?
re-water treatment a HN, why are they having to chlorinate aquifer water? My understanding is that the problem was with the various authorities not protecting the bores.
How do we know this is true? I agree that many things would have been better than what happened at HN, but mostly the councils needed to do their job. What's the evidence that central authorities will do a better job? I'm not inherently agin centralising generally, but there are plenty of examples of central government doing stupid or incompetent stuff. As opposed to regulating so that the councils have to do their job.
Correction, TA regulates and sets standards; Suppliers maintain quality and report on compliance.
Chlorination is a precaution to kill any germs (Campylobacter, E. Coli,…) that could be acquired along the many miles of pipes.
I don't know if (3) is true but (according to your DIA link) poor management is another significant factor in NZ needing water reform. I took your hypothetical to mean "if 3W was fully implemented successfully"
Suppliers being the councils? In the HN case, that would be the suppliers that already had legislation requiring them to meet standards, which they failed to do. How does 3 Waters solve that?
Did HN have problems with bacterial contamination of its reticulation pipes before the issue with the bores being flooded? Or is this broadstrokes, MoH-driven, reductionist thinking about water in NZ (all water should be chlorinated)?
Well no, I mean implemented in the real world. Which I think is a big part of the whole point. The surface level theory of 3 Waters make sense (better water, more affordable, better control to prevent problems). I'm not sure if that is true and HN seems a good example to work with.
I remain unconvinced that a nationally led body that uses large regional bodies will in reality be as great as people make out. I've said before I can't see how office bods in Chch can know what should be happening in Gore or Lumsden or Beaumont. This perception might be because I don't understand 3 Waters well enough, hence the questions and HN context.
OK. Perhaps there is no convincing proof that a modern water infrastructure and compliance regime would have prevented the unfortunate Havelock North incident.
But we can see how the Three Waters model actually works in practice because it was based on the successful example of Scottish Water. (it even has an instagram!)
But National seems to be taking us down the other path
Labour's Auckland transport plans – the big spend – part of the $200B saved by National.
2 three lane road tunnels and a separate rail tunnel and more
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/phased-tunnels-second-harbour-crossing
National will build roads and have a harbour bridge for road traffic.
It will seek PPP road build partners, allow big trucks on them and so the taxpayer will be paying off the build for decades, as well as on-going maintenance.
NewsTalkZB spreading wild exaggerations as usual
NZDF Covid mandate ruled unlawful by Court of Appeal (newstalkzb.co.nz)
In reality if you read the actual judgement by the Court of Appeal, it is a direction to the NZ defence forces (not the government) saying "please reconsider your mandates" not "mandates bad, Jacinda is a criminal" as implied by ZB.
Four defence personnel took on their employers over this issue, and won. Congrats to them, they will get some compensation. The Court has nothing to say about the government policy of the time.
From the decision:
Hat-tip to @CTPuzzlePieces
This bullshit headline is red meat to the nutjob element and ZB is playing its part in feeding radicalisation and hate. Just 3 hours after the headline was published, the mob is repeating their delusional rubbish on X
National adding to bureaucracy at Work and Income. Requiring people to re-apply every 6 months.
Given it is obvious they will not have enough staff, not in the office nor their phone system. This is clearly make work for those who lose their high paying public service jobs and get re-directed to be work colleagues by their case manager.
Good luck to those who now have to 6 monthly re-application for the dole. Don't be surprised if a few staff mutter, “you should have voted”.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/02/19/benefit-changes-govt-announces-new-work-check-ins/
Not sure if this the right place to ask but how many years has Chris Hipkins lived in NZ in total and how many years has our new saviour luxon lived in NZ in total?( Please insert years. Thank you……… ) Luxon bleats on like he has never lived out of Aotearoa. He is the sacrificial lamb sent in by Key and cronies to finish off what Key couldn’t achieve. We will never be Americas plaything. Ever! ….This country is not for turning……Paraphrase….. Right from the beginning you could see Keys hand up the jumper. He’s still got the same sad little unevolving cretins running the narrative in the hope it will stick. Looking at you Mike Hoskins…. Oh ,there you are! Couldn’t see you. Were you standing or sitting?
Hipkins is done. Recently married and good luck to him but the polls and therefore the media has moved on. No immediate panic but Labour needs to turn the page eventually.