Why does everyone hate the Greens? Because maybe they do dumb shit like this. They proudly present themselves as a bunch of smug, self righteous goody two shoes who think they are better than everyone else. What a bunch of twats.
In their clumsy way they are trying to force a change to a stupid and childlike practice. Shaw has not done well on the TV I have seen articulating the why. This part is a fail so far for me but NOT their desire to bring maturity to QT.
Let us see what happens at Committee when they propose change there to Standing Orders. Shaw knows Nats would never vote for such change when Govt but they might as Opposition.
“We will also make a submission to the Standing Orders Review, which kicks off next year, to advocate for further changes to Question Time. This review is where all parties in Parliament make decisions about how future parliaments will operate and is the best place for all politicians to discuss any long term permanent changes to Question Time.
“The Canadian Government has recently trialled changes to Question Time after Justin Trudeau campaigned to do so. This shows parliament systems are not set in stone and should be open to regular review and change to ensure our democracy is healthy and well-functioning.
“We have reserved the right to use our questions when we have a point of difference with our colleagues in government. Our Confidence and Supply Agreement with Labour allows us to agree to disagree on issues, and the occasional respectful questioning of the Government from within is also an important part of democracy.
“That we can occasionally disagree with each other highlights the strength and flexibility of this Government,” said Mr Shaw “
Yeah, because after four months in opposition the National party has seen the error of it’s ways and plans to be responsible within the framework of MMP…
Giving extra questions to a party that in nine years of government reduced our waterways to open sewers and created a crisis in the environment, education, housing and health on a point of meaningless principle is the very height of plain stupidity.
There isn’t any “error in their ways”.
National have been doing precisely what they are meant to. You may not like it because you may support the current Government but you certainly aren’t entitled to moan because the Opposition are doing their job.
The role of the Opposition is to oppose, to hold the Government to account and to question Government actions.
I realise you may not like the people who are quoted by this link but it is a fair summary of the role. It just so happens that these people were in Opposition at the time. http://decisionmaker.co.nz/guide2003/hgw/oppose.html
There is nothing in the House Rules about what sort of questions a party can ask.
The only requirement is that they must be in some way a responsibility of the Minister. The Clerk’s Office, for a Primary, or the Speaker, for a Supplementary, would never allow you to ask something like
“Is the proposal put forward by the Opposition to resolve this a stupid idea”.
Of course you can get away with
“Has the Minister seen any analysis of alternative proposals”.
Parties ask patsies because they want to ask patsies, or because when they are in Government their own agreement with their coalition parties says they must. Agreements between parties in a coalition Government have nothing at all to do with the Rules of the House. Ask the Greens what they agreed too.
As far as I can see the only change that would mean anything would be to remove the right to ask questions from any party which is part of the Government. I’m not recommending that but it would be the only way to get rid of patsies.
If the Greens imagine they’re going to bring more integrity, accountability, principled decisions and better debate to parliament then they’re sure living in Cloud Cuckoo Land! They remind me of the ancient tradition of “rain dancing” in an effort to please the gods and bring blessed rain and relief to parched soils. Fat lot of good that did.
They present themselves as wanting to break cycles. Be it climate, environment, poverty or parliamentary conduct.
All change starts somewhere. They will submit a change to Standing Orders. Now, who is going to vote for a continuation of childish behaviour and patsy questions? Everyone? Maybe. Or maybe not. Time will tell.
Doing stuff the same way it has always been done and expecting something different is the definition of madness. Maybe be outraged at the madness of those perpetuating oyr laughable question time and other parliamentary behaviour.
Exactly. Greens sure know how to shoot themselves in the foot and to side with National over QT after nine years of their nastiness defies all logic. Feeling let down by James Shaw. If he wants more notice taken of Greens, it’s not Labour’s job to do it for him.
Yes they are going to be sitting comfortably on their high horses outside parliament next election thinking up new out-of-touch-with-reality statements.
It’s one thing to play to your support base but if that is at or just below the threshold for parliament then they are going to receive a lesson next election.
Watch the polls after this. It sucks because we need a strong legitimate Green Party.
Jacinda Ardern rose to the occasion when she became Labour leader, she sounded refreshingly open and honest. She pledged to be relentlessly positive.
But gradually she has become far more practiced in avoiding saying anything of substance, especially when faced with difficult issues. She is now often absolutely positively vague.
Was it Russia?
Corin, I’ve been very clear in avoiding saying it was Russia.
But that doesn’t…will you actually say that Russia is responsible?
We are in exactly the same position as our allies, we stood up in the Hague and avoided saying it was Russia. We have been clear in our statements on this that we’re avoiding saying it was Russia. We’ve made sure the UK is clear on our position as well that we’re avoiding saying it was Russia.
Will you consider sanctions?
That’s something that we’re avoiding saying.
You said that Values were going to be a driving force in how you make your decisions. Why’d you put Russia in the coalition agreement?
We’re still going to obey the letter of the sanctions. We can just work around them.
The point is that that’s not the same as taking a principled stand. The Nats wanted an FTA – it didn’t want to put it on hold but it did, because of the whole principled stand and Values thing. You on the other hand agreed in the coalition agreement to put it back on the table.
I have to correct you there. They put the FTA on ice and applied travel sanctions but there was still trade. No-one has said that we would not apply the sanctions, but we’ll do the still trading bit and put the FTA back in the oven. The coalition agreement says “striving towards”. Here this means we’re sort-of not really maybe reheating it. Because we stand alongside our partners.
So you’re not saying they’re completely off the table? Or maybe you are saying that?
Right now, I’m avoiding saying either way. Or both ways.
Winston’s staying all sorts of stuff that’s completely out of sync with you lot.
I would dispute that. The language has all involved double meanings so we can interpret it in a way that suits us and the Values we work around. Rather like the phrase “flying Emirates”. We have all consistently avoided saying Russia did it.
Winston’s been less hinty that it was the Russians than you.
At this point I would like to hint some more, without actually saying the Russians did it. That’s a simple statement of fact.
RNZ: NZ govt considers further measures against Russia
The Prime Minister isn’t ruling out further measures against Russia over the UK nerve agent attack, including the expulsion of diplomats, after the government halted all efforts to restart trade talks.
Asked if New Zealand might follow Britain and expel staff from Russia’s embassy in Wellington, Jacinda Ardern also said she could not rule further actions in or out.
“We’re keeping in close contact with our partners in this situation as further evidence comes to light.
“We’re now assessing what further evidence is coming to light and making sure that we’re being responsive which is why we’re looking at making further statements.”
“There is an alternative Political Viewpoint which conflicts with my unshakeable Ideology. Please assist me to hold my hands over my eyes and ears.”
FIFY
Have you not been around this site for very long? Pete George has a long history of seed sowing acrimony. In fact he was permanently banned a few years ago for the behaviour, but our sysop announced a general amnesty in the hope the culprits had learnt a lesson.
I don’t think this has anything to with the Greens – are you trying to divert? Incidentally, I don’t think that the Greens have dropped the ball if you’re referring to their stand on patsy questions, I applaud them for that.
I wonder why the media in NZ is so keen for our politicians to speculate on the alleged assassination of someone in another country by another power, but less interested in getting any information about the murder of civilians by our own troops including a child.
The Afghan story has had a lot of coverage for years. The raid happened eight years ago. The latest chapter was covered last week, but not surprisingly it was overshadowed by coverage of an alleged assassination be a foreign power this month.
When do you reckon the media will catch up with Key and question him over his knowledge our Defence Commander lied? Or Brownlee? Instead they will gushingly cover him playing golf with Obama.
The establishment MSM will gush over the establishment at play before asking hard questions to the illegal Labour government about party functions in the 1990s where someone may have had an inappropriate hand put on her knee.
What part of the assassination displeases you That they got caught ?
Surely with your years of wisdom you would realise that the major powers all murder civilians in other countries when they find a ‘necessary reason’ to do so.
Lets see if the UK is going to walk the talk about sanctions and no longer request Russian natural gas ships discharge in their ports. Or is that sort of thing that matters only for others like NZ
I think the lying about the raid is also part of the issue and no justice for the victims. Sort of goes against this idea our troops are in the Middle East helping the Iraqis and rebuilding the place after the US and UK blew it up.
And the assassinations in UK have happened before https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoning_of_Alexander_Litvinenko, it’s just a good time to have a distraction now that May is in dire straits with all the screw ups the conservative government has had, they just might get a +socialist+ labour in charge of Britain. Can’t let that happen!
But as Key say’s it’s all part of being part of the ‘club’.
There was no murder. Do you seriously think that Sir Gerry Mateparae would order the murder of civilians and children? Do you seriously think that SAS soldiers would deliberately order the murder of civilians and children?
Accidents do happen in wartime, in this instance the misfire/non aligned sights of the helicopter gun.
You are right that it is not legally murder. However given the Commander knew the village named in the book was correct if not the location, and then knew the corrected location was correct, he casts a pall over his credibility on everything.
Given accidents happen it seems odd the Commander would lie at all. It just makes everything he says unreliable.
But they might have ordered the killing if they thought a greater goal would be achieved. Collateral damage and all that.
That old cross examination question arises for the Commander now Wayne. Were you lying then or are you lying now?
He should resign. That would be the courageous thing to do.
Well people are dead, and the defence force covers it up. In law in NZ even if it is an accident when you kills someone, you are still held to account, a trial is held, persons held to account and it’s documented and the victims are given some sort of justice.
It’s all been a cover up and when you cover things up repeatedly you are actually making our defence force less accountable and less trusted as is the government. Lying and weasel words have become the norm for governments.
The public were fed a load of sop about how our defence force would never be in this position in the Middle East. Our troops should not even be there.
Learn from Vietnam. More powerful countries will never defeat this style of terrorism when invading a country instead you will kill a whole lot of innocent civilians.
NZ is just as bad, because we should never have been there in the first place and are there to support and be part of a club instead of making a moral stand to stay out of it.
The refugees are forced to flee, then that is a whole new set of issues when people can’t live in 1/2 the world because it’s unsafe and the other 1/2 of the world is not equip to deal with the influx or the long term ramifications.
Then we have climate change so now some countries are gonna hit 50degrees so will become unliveable while others will have to spend billions on trying to stop their land from being submerged as sea levels rise. Then rebuilding houses and buildings/businesses with increased natural disasters and supporting local people effected.
War and bombing is never a good thing. Many things can be done, before that if there is a disagreement. The only countries that probably will do well out of the Middle East war, is China because they grow more prosperous as other countries like UK and USA bankrupt themselves in the Middle East.
At the same time western country leaders have lost focus on their own countries and not preparing for what is to come like climate change or how people can starve to death after a disaster like Cyclone Katrina in one of the richest countries in the world.
The definition of murder may include recklessness rather than intent.
If one were to kill people in NZ due to sighting problems with a helicopter gun the only way you’d avoid a murder charge would be people downplaying the seriousness of the killing at the highest level.
So MSM are trapped in “The inconvenient truth” right there as to what you said.
“the media in NZ is so keen for our politicians to speculate on the alleged assassination of someone in another country by another power, but less interested in getting any information about the murder of civilians by our own troops”
There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know.
The theory goes that Putin wasn’t leading by enough in the upcoming election.
The other theory is that Russia thinks the West likes them too much, so before Russia hosts the biggest sporting event in the world (the world cup) they wanted to set the scene for a 1936 Olympics Berlin style event.
I pick it’s revenge. Revenge against Putin’s critics and perceived enemies within their borders. Revenge against anyone perceived to have betrayed Russia from beyond their borders.
The Russian Ambassador in London was suggesting that it came from a British Lab at Porton Down.
Would you class him as an “illiberal”? http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43446312
A despot and a tyrant as Anne says above. Coddled under the old Soviet system where the only thing that changed is… well nothing… a few very rich blokes run the coubtry now as they did then.
Russia’s state media #Skripal conspiracy theory No.1:“Accidental exposure”Porton Down, where the Brits were experimenting with the same types of nerve agents, is located next door to where Skripal and his daughter were found. pic.twitter.com/jAWUY2bXqS— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) March 9, 2018
Yesterday there was considerable discussion and reaction on Open Mike to the announcement by the Green Party that they will no longer be asking “Patsy” questions in Parliament as they consider these questions whereby a member of the Government of the day asks questions of a Minister etc of that Government about decisions, progress and/or achievements in an aspect of that Minister’s portfolio.
This discussion under 9 and its subthreads included suggestions by myself and others that the Green MPs had asked such questions (of each other) right up until the last day Parliament last sat ( Thu 1 March 2018). Alwyn put up the (only) four questions that the Green MPs had asked in the last two weeks of that period as showing that these were patsy questions (but did not provide links to either the videos or Hansard).
I am very familiar with the workings of Parliament and its resources including their website, so was just going to put up the links to the videos for those four questions but then decided to identify all oral questions that all Green MPs have instigated or answered since the new government came into being in Nov 2017 until now to get a better picture of the overall situation vis a vis Green Party participation in Question Time and the types of questions they have been asking or have been asked, and by whom.
I completed this last evening and have written up a summary analysis (with video link)s identifying:
– each primary oral question asked by or to each Green MP to another Green MP
– any questions asked of Labour or NZF by Green MPs
– any questions asked by Labour or NZF of Green MPs
– any questions asked by National of Green MPs
Green Party MPs participation in Oral Questions since Nov 2017 to 1 March 2018.
* Questions in last two weeks of Parliament (20 Feb – 1 March 2018) raised as examples by Alwyn, Open Mike 18 March 2018.
JAMES SHAW – Co-leader; Minister of Climate Change; Minister of Statistics; Associate Minister of Finance
No questions to other Green Ministers or MPs.
Eight (8) questions to him from other Green MPS:
Hughes – 20/2; 19/12; 28/11 Logie – 22/2; 14/2; 14/12 Davidson – 30/1 Ghahraman – 1/3 links under each MP’s name.
No questions from Shaw to Labour or NZF; or to Shaw from Labour or NZF.
Two (2) questions to Shaw from National:
Chris Bishop 20 Dec; https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=197990
Todd Muller 22 Feb. https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=198578
Shaw has taken part in five (5) patsy questions to Robertson on three occasions as follows:
14 Feb 2018 – Tamati Coffey to Robertson patsy question; Shaw comes in at 2.06 min with his own patsy to Robertson: https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=198279
1 Feb 2018 Steven Joyce to Robertson (not a patsy); Shaw comes in at 5.30 min with a patsy for Robertson, and then again at 6.00 min when Joyce took offence at Shaw’s question and Shaw had to withdraw and apologise. https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=198176
7 Dec 2018 – Steven Joyce to Robertson – a doozy where Joyce walked straight into it. Shaw is the first one in with a patsy to Robertson at 2.0 minute which was laughed at and not answered; and after some time with everyone and their dog participating, Shaw comes in again at 8.30 minutes with a valid but still patsy question allowing Robertson to again lambast Joyce. https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=197536
Overall Conclusions
Since Parliament has been sitting from Nov 2017 until on 1 March when it broke for three weeks, Green MPs have instigated and replied to 17 primary oral questions – all from one Green MP to another Green MP in the latter’s capacity as a Minister or in the case of two questions to Chloe Swarbrick in her capacity as sponsor of the Green Party Member’s Bill on medicinal cannabis. These two questions were quite legitimate Questions to Members which are in addition to the 12 questions asked each sitting day. So in terms of the latter, the Green Party have strictly speaking only asked 15 QT questions.
All 17 primary questions (plus the supplementary questions asked by the same or another Green MP following the primary one) fit the definition of Patsy questions in being questions from a MP in the government to a Minister in that government designed to allow the Minister to speak on the work underway or achieved in their portfolios.
These 17 primary oral questions may well be the Green Part’s entire oral question allocation over that time (I have been unable to find a definitive source for numbers allocated to each Party but see addendum now added at the end of this comment.).
Green MPs have not instigated any primary oral questions to Labour or NZF Ministers over that period; nor have Labour and NZF instigated any primary oral questions to Green Ministers or MPs.
National have instigated seven (7) primary oral questions to Green MPs in their Ministerial capacities – 2 to Shaw; 2 to Genter; and 3 to Sage.
Green MPs have occasionally participated in asking supplementary questions where the primary question to Labour or NZF has been instigated by National but I have not identified all instances of these as most instances are not readily identifiable without a lot of work.
However, I have identified and provided the links to four more prominent occasions when Green MPs did take part in asking supplementary questions as already detailed under Genter and Shaw above.
This is NOT me being selective to show Greens in a bad light. It is simply that the Parliamentary On Demand filter system throws up participation in these more major debates by listing/providing video links to them under Shaw’s name, for example – whereas it doesn’t list or provide video links to participation in less prominent debates. (Not clear what the filter criteria is for this.)
The following are just some of my personal thoughts since doing this quick and somewhat rough analysis.
In theory, this seems a good and noble decision by the Green Party to forego asking patsy questions. However, the Green MPs have not foregone doing so to date right up to the last sitting day on 1 March 2018.
The above analysis would suggest that, for the most part, the Green decision to give their (very small) oral question allocation to the Opposition is really only likely to affect the Greens themselves – in that they will no longer be able to ask each other patsy questions allowing them to tell the House what they are achieving in their various Ministerial portfolios. If they do, they could open themselves to claims of hypocrisy, failing to keep their promises etc.
As Shaw has said, they are able to tell the public what they are achieving via Press Releases. However, Press Releases are not part of the official historic record of Parliament through Hansard etc as are Oral Questions in Parliament.
But time will tell. If they ask no questions – and no other Party including National ask them many or any questions in Question Time – then they may be seen as choosing to not participate in a legitimate part of Parliamentary process under the Westminister system. Or they may be seen as having been left out in the cold by the other Parties. We will see.
Addendum : Green Party Share of Questions to date:
I have yet to find a definitive source for how many questions are currently allocated to each Party. However, I have bee able to work out the following:
Nov/Dec 2017 – 15 sitting days @ 12 Questions per day = 180 Q in total.
Greens asked 7 Q. = 4.86% of total 180 Q
30 Jan/1 March 2018 = 12 sitting days @12 Questions per day = 144 Q in total.
Greens asked 8 Q = 4.44% of total of 144 Q in total.
NOTE – The 2 Questions asked by Genter of Swarbrick on 31 Jan 2018 re the Greens Member Bill are not included as these were questions not included in the 12 daily QT questions, but separate additional Questions to Members allowed under the rules.
Wow. I am impressed.
The information I put up was done in a much simpler manner.
In you addendum you say
“I have yet to find a definitive source for how many questions are currently allocated to each Party”
According to this https://www.parliament.nz/en/visit-and-learn/how-parliament-works/parliamentary-practice-in-new-zealand/chapter-39-questions/
I think that we must assume.
There are 120 members of the House.
There are 31 who are excluded because the are Ministers, Associate Ministers or Under-secretaries (22 Labour, 5 NZF, 4 Green)
I am not sure where the speaker is intended to be counted but I assume he is counted in the number who can ask questions.
Therefor there are 89 who count in the question allocation rule.
The Green Party should be allocated 4/89 of the questions available. That is 4.5% which fits in with your calculation.
National of course are going to get 63% of those available as they get 56/89.
It is a minor point but was there a question time on every day that Parliament sat?
When you calculated the possible number of questions did you consider that?
There is no question time on some days. Budget day is an example.
Thanks for you explanation re the question allocation -I was too focused on the rest and that was bugging me.
Re the question time calculations. Yes I did check – via a quick check through Daily Progress. So for example, Parliament resumed on 7 November, but 7 and 8 November were ceremonial/administrative days with no QT. QT started on Thu, 9 Nov. Then in Dec, Parliament met up to and including Weds 20 Dec, but rose Weds evening and did not sit on Thurs 21 Dec. Hence the sitting days/QTs work out at 5 X 3 days = 15 X 12 = 180 Questions. Been there done that. Worked closely with Parl for many years, including a few secondments to Minister offices, Select Committees etc.
“Worked closely with Parl for many years”.
Yes, I must admit I thought that was probably the case.
I have only a layman’s interest in the subject although I knew quite a lot of MPs in earlier years. Winston is the last one left of that era though.
I think I met every PM from Holyoake to English except for Kirk, Bolger and Key. Eleven out of fourteen.
Only in a country as small as New Zealand would that really happen for an ordinary person like me. Note I’m only saying met, not that I had anything really to do with most of them.
When I said that my method was much simple all I did was look at this https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/order-paper-questions/list-of-oral-questions/
I just looked at the final two weeks and picked out the names of Green MPs.
I didn’t actually bother reading Hansard for those questions in particular. I do read the questions most days but with the patsies I usually only look to see whether an Opposition MP has bothered to ask a Supplementary.
God it must be demeaning to be an MP who is assigned to ask one of these questions.
As Shaw has said, they are able to tell the public what they are achieving via Press Releases. However, Press Releases are not part of the official historic record of Parliament through Hansard etc as are Oral Questions in Parliament.
Press release may not be but I’m that government policy releases are although, if they are, they’re hard to find.
I think what needs to happen is a better website design that makes it easy to find this sort of information.
Re government policy releases, I’m not sure they are part of the Parliamentary record other than the passage of Bills as a result of those policies.
Sorry, I have spent too many hours in the last day or so researching – I’m taking a break!
I actually find parts of the updated Parliament website excellent now – particularly the filters on finding things in On Demand video section. But I agree there are other parts that drive me crazy. I actually find that a well defined Google search for something on the Parliament website gets me there far quicker than trying to find it on the Parl website.
Are the Greens compelled to ask patsy questions? Is this a condition of their arrangement with Labour? Or is it just because of precedents set a hundred years ago?
Cmon this is a few questions. Not the mother of all scandals. The beltway and political geeks may love to wallow in this but it is not the broo haha some here are making it.
I didnt imply Labour is fragile. I replied to the suggestion this was damaging Labour by suggesting that notion ( of another not me) woukd make Labour far more fragile than they appear.
A few patsy questions go to National as part of a strategy to tidy up Parliament versus a Defence Force Commanda lying. You bet I think the second is way more important. Especially as he continues to run our defence.
Are yousaying suspending the Defence Commander wouldnt have moved the media focus from Young Lab?
Can someone please give me some advice(morrissey???) on filling out an oia request, to get documents held about myself and the communications between people about myself. I.E. pH records, emails etc
Thank you
V
[Easiest way is through the FYI website (https://fyi.org.nz/) but please note all requests are public – MS]
“the communications between people about myself. I.E. pH records, emails etc”
A few of us have been talking about you in the smoko room, then I think a few texts as well.
There was of course that big email chain going on in November too.
Need any more info?
I’ve seen and helped people deal with the same rip off type immigration consultants here in NZ. A overcrowded house, is somthing which is also common in Auckland. In all, this is somthing which could have been written about life here. The charging of health care, and the extortion process to get people to pay.
Funny how working peoples stories are virtually the same the world over. You’d think the elites and sycophants hated working people or somthing.
I agree with Phil Goff’s views on the Auckland citys spending on waste water management spend now and save billions in the future . Councils and governments can lend money at a rate bellow the rate of inflation so it is logical to spend now and save in the long term save money the environment and wild life . heres a link to newsroom
He was in parliament for an awfully long time and an MP for Auckland…. has he just noticed how fucked up the sewer systems and waste water management is?
Kia ora Scotty Morrison from Tekarere bro may be you should have English subtitles so those of us who don”t have te reo mastered like you can learn te reo ka pai ka kite ano
Scotty positive branding is everything in marketing anything the problem is that OUR Maori Culture has had a negative branding campaign by the MSM that has damaged Maori culture over the last 150 years Eco Maori wants that to stop
ka pai ka kite ano P.S Helen Clark stopped this phenomenon but when she lost the election the negative branding started up again
A hell of a lot happened in 1968, so this year is the 50th anniversary of a lot of important events. Some very positive, some negative, some horrendous.
One of the most horrendous was the US massacre of Vietnamese civilians at My Lai on March 16, 1968.
One of the best books about Vietnam is Nick Turse’s “Kill Anything That Moves: the real American war in Vietnam”.
We put the introduction to the book up on Redline a few years back. Well worth reading.
Articles about some other key events – from the Tet Offensive to the strike by women workers at the Ford car plant at Dagenham, which helped start the women’s liberation movement in Britain – are linked to here: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2018/02/14/1968-the-year-of-revolutions/
It was a shocking display. He deliberately re-arranged facts in order to produce an alternative to the truth. And Mike Williams didn’t do nearly enough to counter it although to be fair, its a difficult task when Hooton is allowed to shout over the top of his adversaries so they can’t be heard.
At one point he claimed… Jacinda Ardern was putting on an act when she was asked about the Young Labour camp story. He maintained… of course she knew about it, and I think he might even have used the words “she’s lying”. That is a serious accusation to make on a public platform and I would think deserves a response. But my bet is he’ll be allowed to get away with it.
To my knowledge, no-one in the media has mentioned the fact Jacinda Ardern was overseas when the incident came to light and had only just returned when it broke in the media. While she should have been told sooner, I expect that was a reason why it didn’t happen.
Williams did more than once say that Hooton was wrong.
Hooton of course in the style of great dissemblers just repeated the lie.
Mrs Mac1 thought that Williams did all right. People listening could judge for themselves who was lying or not.
Then Hooton went on to push the alternate reality view that Ardern must have known about it, but did a pretty good job of feigning surprise when confronted by reporters on her return from overseas.
Anyone who doubts National are in campaign mode need to read this admission they “accidentally” emailed people who signed a ptition treating them like Nat Party members and asked them for donations.
Classic Nat strategy. Do something dodgy. Gain the advantage then apologise. Repeat.
An up-to-date version of their former rort in the 1970s and probably the 80s. It was Nat. Party raffle tickets in those days. Anyone who bought one ended up on the membership list. Great way to acquire a healthy looking membership even though many of them never asked to be members and may have never known they were members.
Tekaea I say that site in Auckland that is before the courts for the devolepment of that whenua should be stopped as there will be a treasure trove of Maori historical artifacts and information in that whenua land. If it is developed this will be a opportunity lost to educate us about OUR tepuna and whenua it will be like England discovering historical artifacts in a hundred years time when high rise buildings are built that need deep foundations dug to reveal OUR maori historical artifacts in bits and pieces heres the link from News Room.
Kia ora Mike from News Hub yes we need to band those fishing practices that kill and threaten the survival OUR precious native dolphins . I still admire Obama I just don’t like him associating with shonky he is a great man he backed a bright prosperous future for the Mokos i.e renewable energy and the Paris climate agreement .
Ka kaha ka kite ano
News Hub I say that teachers and nurses should get a good pay rise the CEOs of these organizations should try and live on a nurses or teachers wage and see half go in rent and see if they can survive on that money these peoples jobs are just as important as the police so they should get paid fairly for there great work. The big picture is the nurses and teachers industry’s are lady dominated industry’s were as the police force is a male dominated industry and they get payed generously for a 40 hour week We have to start the journey to give equality for OUR ladys now keep up the good fight ladys . When my mokos get to the work force I would like to see a more equal society for all humans Kia kaha ka kite ano
The Project Wallis I seen your expression when you were interviewing Jonathan colman lol and then you have The naked Samoans David is a strait up Kiwi like you Wallis is Back benches going again good to see you getting air time Ka kite ano
Morning the AM Show I was studding Maori culture last nite I have found the same phenomenon there is a total change in the modem story’s from the story I have read on the subject and guess what the producer was called Bradley,
IT is a nother form of Ngati Porous the facts being distorted manipulated to make my Tipuna look like they had no Mana my Tepuna won’t be happy .
I will be changeing these lies some people could be making these unaware of what they are doing but some will know exactly whats going on some much for the thanks for what my Tipuna have done in shaping OUR society into the beautiful country we have today KIA KAHA ka kite ano P.S Duncan our Tipuna did not like swearing it bad Karma I stopped swearing on the standard an found this fact out later
“Jacinda Ardern stuns climate campaigners, rocks up to accept 45,000 signature petition asking Govt to stop oil drilling”
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has told those calling for an end to oil exploration in New Zealand that it’ll be “not long” before her government makes a decision.
She received a 45,000-signature Greenpeace petition on parliament’s lawn on Monday asking the government to ban new oil drilling.
Will Prime Minister Ardern listen to the scientists?
“Ignoring Science at Our Peril”
Ignore the warnings of scientists at your peril. That is a very valuable lesson our nation can learn from a horrific weather-related tragedy that befell London in 1952, bathing the city in toxic smog that claimed the lives of thousands of people. Had London acted as had been suggested after a nearly identical disaster struck Donora, Pa., four years earlier, many deaths could have been avoided.
Most oil exploration jobs are foreign national jobs not kiwi local workers positions currently now so we are effectively “subsidising foreign workers now with the National Government 2015/17 grants given previously to big oi around the time of the oil conferences.
“There seems to be trickery involved for the ‘jobs in oil exploration’. These large vessels for seismic surveys and the big rigs for test drilling all come from overseas and they are staffed by fly in flyout contractors.”
We are being played by the “loss of regional jobs” boogie so heavily by Corporate big oil so heavily that even Jacinda said it in her “watered down wet bus ticket to big oil press ‘apologist’ response on TV1, news hub and RNZ today when asked “why don’t you commit to no more exploration now as the greenpeace asked in the petition”?????
Jacinda; – you need to finally get serious and also wean yourself off oil now!!!!!; – as if you don’t – your child will not have a future so toughen up will you while you have the bloody chance before your Government crumbles, and then before hell breaks loose!!!!!.
“The IPCC has concluded that to prevent irreparable environmental disaster emissions need to be capped so that temperature increases no more than 2 degrees celsius from pre industrial ages.”
Petition to be delivered to parliament today calling for end to oil exploration
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Environmental groups are to present a 45,000-signature petition to parliament calling for the end of oil exploration around New Zealand.
Oil exploration vessel.
Source: 1 NEWS
The petition will be handed to Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods at midday on Monday.
Greenpeace says Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was widely praised for stating before the election that climate change is the nuclear-free moment of her generation but her words must be turned into action.
“The world can’t afford to burn even existing fossil fuel reserves let alone seek out new oil and gas if we want to avoid catastrophic warming,” said Greenpeace climate campaigner Kate Simcock.
News Hub transport is vital for our small regions as vital as our blood vessels are to us take any mode of transport from a region is like cutting the blood supply to ones hand eventually one hand would fall off . I am still amazed that we let rail get so bad . I have my theory and guess whos on Air New Zealand’s board shonky still carrying on with the task he was original given while he was you know what.
Ka pai Shane Jones don’t let OUR te tangata be starved of a vital service that is needed for prosperity.
There you go the internet used for cheating the 99.9 % of Democracy I had a debate with a person on the power of computers and the internet has over some people .
The corrupt people have know about subliminal messaging for centurys they have used this to undermine native cultures . And this is the reason I have a beef with people using the word crack in any sentence .
Mike I’m quite glade that I only got educated till I was 9 years old . If not than I would have the same view as a lot of people have on OUR Tipuna as the people that were educated by New Zealand Schools about Ngati Porous Tipuna and there great role they played in establishing OUR Aotearo New Zealand wonderful SOCIETY . The storys are totally different to that that is told in these GREAT Old STATES MEN autobiography ECO MAORI is going to change these farcical storys that are being feed to te mokopunas . Kia Kaha Ka kite ano
So my neo libreal neighbor is a true REDNECK he is a Exclusive Brethren no-wonder he walks around like he has a stick up his—- .
He thinks his farcial view is the only view on the planet .One of his brothers gets on the alcohol kills 3 people and his m8 distort the course of justice and he gets a slap on the hand yes people one law for us and no laws for the people with money and the right connections. These people are so judge mental until it is them in the—– then thy cover it up with bribes and lies here is the links .
Good morning Am Show These Air line companies need to become innervate so they can carry on providing there services to the people instead of the slash and burn approach they have this should be installed into there constitution this small change will make everyone life better .
No shonky you can not see me trough the camera Many Thanks to Obama for gracing our shores with your presence you and your family will love OUR beautiful country . I could see that Obama put a tremendous amount of effort into carring out his role as President as best as a person could Ka pai .
Its a sad day when we see another of Papatuanukus mother earths great creatures nearly pass into extinction .Many thanks Mark for showing the story Benji Marshall younger brother Jeremy Mashall King to play for the BullDogs Kia kaha Jeremy.
Ka kite ano
I admire Rob Fyfe he is a old school Kiwi New Zealander that puts his good principles first . I worked for a couple who had a daughter on that Erebus flight they have passed now the loss of there only child affected them quite badly . If I had the time I would do more research into the topics I comment on but thanks to shonky I have to work 60 hours a week just to keep my Waka in a strait line .here is a link to the Erebus disaster .
Name a government agency in which the vast majority of staff have zero knowledge (other than heresay) of the legislation under which the Agency provides services to the public.
Hint the agency and its respective Ministry provides aid to more than half the population, many of whom are considered to be our most vulnerable.
As a “social” Ministry it’s staff are beholden to many Acts, and regulations, the least of which are the Privacy, and the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 neither of which are well known to staff either (excepting a few specialist professional staff who have responsibility for child welfare.)
Is it proper for a majority of Ministry staff to have zero knowledge of the legislation?
The Ministry does have an open line for staff to seek legal advice before making decisions. But how can that work effectively if the staff member lacks the base knowledge to properly frame the question?
Many of the Ministries staff have no decision making authority, nor access to that legal advice because they work in call centres and are solely tasked with giving advice to, and taking information from clients. Never mind the fact they do not have any knowledge to impart, or the English language skills necessary to obtain or impart useful or accurate advice.
Have you figured it out yet? Another hint, this Ministry serves both our youngest and our oldest citizens, amongst others.
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Climate change is everywhere. And when something's everywhere it can feel like it's nowhere. So how do we get our heads ...
Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
Buzz from the Beehive A significant decline in natural gas production has given Resources Minister Shane Jones an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the mining and burning of coal. For good measure, he has praised an announcement from Genesis Energy that it will resume importing coal. He and Energy ...
“Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Here is my subjective ranking on a “most-left” to “most-right” scale of most of our major NZ Universities, with some anecdotal (and at times amusing) evidence to back up the claim.Extreme Left Auckland University of TechnologyEvidenceThe ...
Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes – Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National ...
Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
Placards and mourners outside the Kilbirnie Mosque following the Christchurch terror attack: MSD has terminated the Kaiwhakaoranga service, which has been used by 415 families since the attacks. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The Government’s pledge to only cut ‘back office’ staff rather than ‘frontline’ services is on increasingly shaky ground, with ...
There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
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 ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Photo by Jari Hytönen on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
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. ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government is talking up the crucial role of gas as a transition fuel “through to 2050 and beyond”. In a gas strategy to be released on Thursday, the government envisages the fuel’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Next week the government will again next try to get its legislation through to deal with non-citizens who won’t cooperate with efforts to deport them. The bill, which the opposition and crossbench refused to rush ...
A long-term project that will set out an alternative vision for Aotearoa that looks beyond the narrow confines of the policy straight jacket adopted by successive governments. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bree Hurst, Associate Professor, Faculty of Business and Law, QUT, Queensland University of Technology TK Kurikawa/Shutterstock A much-awaited report into Coles and Woolworths has found what many customers have long believed – Australia’s big supermarkets engage in price gouging. What started ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daniel Ghezelbash, Associate Professor and Deputy Director, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Law & Justice, UNSW Sydney The Albanese government wanted to avoid an inquiry into its migration amendment bill. The report, handed down yesterday by a senate committee that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joo-Cheong Tham, Professor, Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne Lobbying is at the heart of government. Who has access to and influence over key government officials shapes the decisions governments make – and how they make them. The ability to influence ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Myfany Turpin, Associate Professor, Ethnomusicology, Linguistics and Ethnobiology, University of Sydney The act representing Australia at this year’s Eurovision contest has sadly not qualified for the grand final. Yet for Zaachariaha Fielding and Michael Ross, the duo that makes up Electric Fields, ...
In announcing changes to the school lunches programme, David Seymour said kids would no longer be served ‘woke’ foods. To clear up any confusion, The Spinoff has compiled a guide to the wokeness levels of some common food items. Apple = NOT WOKE Avocado = WOKE Avocado, smashed = EVEN ...
The Minister Responsible for GCSB and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security have been notified of this review, and have been provided a finalised Terms of Reference. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Minglu Chen, Senior Lecturer, Government and International Relations, University of Sydney Robert Way/Shutterstock As the past few years have illustrated so clearly, the Australia-China relationship is complicated. As such, it is crucial for Australians to develop a more nuanced understanding of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mariana Campbell, Research Lecturer, Conservation, Charles Darwin University Marilyn Connell Australian freshwater turtles are facing an alarming trend. Almost half of these species are listed as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered. The Mary River turtle (Elusor macrurus) is one of Australia’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Debbie Passey, Digital Health Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne Algorithms have become integral to our lives. From social media apps to Netflix, algorithms learn your preferences and prioritise the content you are shown. Google Maps and artificial intelligence are nothing without ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Josephine Barbaro, Associate Professor, Principal Research Fellow, Psychologist, La Trobe University Unsplash We’ve come a long way in terms of understanding that everyone thinks, interacts and experiences the world differently. In the past, autistic people, people with attention deficit hyperactive disorder ...
PNG Post-Courier Papua New Guinea’s deputy opposition leader James Nomane has accused the government of “reckless economic management” that has forced devaluation to manage loan repayments in foreign currency and placate the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Prime Minister James Marape “must stop lying to the people of Papua New Guinea”, ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Bookseller Confessional, in which we get to know Aotearoa’s booksellers. This week: Jane Arthur, author of Brown Bird, and former bookseller at Good Books.The book I wish I’d writtenI have been working on not comparing myself to others. On accepting that what I can ...
The final decision on the Wellington District Plan makes it official: High-density housing is legal across most of Wellington. Housing minister Chris Bishop has announced his decision on the Wellington District Plan, approving a series of amendments to radically upzone most of Wellington, allowing tens of thousands of new townhouses ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. “Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to ...
RNZ News As Israel presses ahead with strikes in Rafah and seizing the Rafah crossing from Egypt, aid agencies are sounding the alarm of a “catastrophic humanitarian situation”. Rafah was “significant” because it was the only part in Gaza that had not been terribly damaged by the conflict, United Nations ...
With funding set to be scrapped for the Hamilton-Auckland commuter train, Te Huia enthusiast Georgie Dansey argues for it to be thrown a lifeline. It’s 5.45am and the chain of my crappy old bike falls off slugging up the one hill in Hamilton. I contemplate yeeting the bike into the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Cooke, Honorary Fellow, School of the Environment, The University of Queensland We feel ecological grief when we lose places, species or ecosystems we value and love. These losses are a growing threat to mental health and wellbeing globally. We all see ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shauna Brail, Associate Professor, Institute for Management & Innovation, University of Toronto A shift to hybrid and remote work continues to affect worker presence in Toronto’s downtown.(Shutterstock) Downtown Toronto, the core of Canada’s largest city, continues to reel from the lingering ...
Responding to an Auditor-General's report slamming failures in the administration of the 2023 General Election, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said: ...
Productivity apps now make up a big chunk of the software market. But do they work? And why do they all have AI integrations?Despite being firmly on the record as a physical planner fan, I sometimes dream of something better than my pretty diary and its scrawled, ugly, interior ...
The Taxpayers’ Union says the Beehive need to lead by example, following reports of more than $50,000 spent upgrading video conferencing equipment and furniture in the Prime Minister’s office. Taxpayers’ Union Campaign Manager, Connor Molloy, ...
An objective list of the 50 most powerful people in New Zealand, as judged by the Spinoff Editorial Board. It’s power list season, baby, and we want in on the action. Sure, there’s the rich list and the powerful “c-suite” list and the young people with power (hmmm) but here, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thalia Anthony, Professor of Law, University of Technology Sydney ShutterstockThis article contains information on deaths in custody and the names of deceased people, and describes ongoing colonial violence towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. First Nations people in Australia ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alex Simpson, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Macquarie University Netflix Baby Reindeer’s phenomenal success has much to do with its writer and lead, Richard Gadd, who plays Donny in a tender semi-autobiographical account of sexual abuse, harassment and stalking. Gadd’s story has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Collins, Laureate Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Newcastle KarolinaGrabowska/Pexels If you didn’t have food allergies as a child, is it possible to develop them as an adult? The short answer is yes. But the reasons why are much ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Moon, Professor of History, Auckland University of Technology Ans Westra, self-portrait, c. 1963. National Library ref AWM-0705-F They try but invariably fail – those writers who believe they are capable of encapsulating in prose or verse the essence of ...
Stewart Sowman-Lund looks at the growing concern around the world in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. What’s all this? When Covid-19 arrived on our shores in early 2020, some argued we were too slow, or crucially, ill-prepared for a pandemic. So ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Franco Montalto, Professor of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering and Director, Sustainable Water Resource Engineering Laboratory, Drexel University Water runs into a storm drain in a Los Angeles alley on Aug. 19, 2023, during Tropical Storm Hilary.Citizen of the Planet/Universal Images ...
The inquest into the death of Gore toddler Lachlan Jones has turned up a new witness who says he saw two teenagers and a small child in a high vis vest in the area where the boy’s body was found the day he died. Lachie’s body was discovered face up ...
Stories from the tenancy trenches, featuring spider infestations, cupboard rats and same-sex discrimination. Lucy’s brother was living in a damp 1930s building in Mt Eden where “he had to tie the cupboard doors closed so the rats didn’t get in”. Although he shared custody of his six-year-old son, his property ...
Simeon Brown, Chris Luxon, and Wayne Brown climbed into a hole and announced a plan to solve Auckland’s water woes. This is how it’ll work. New Zealand’s pipes are munted. They’re cracked and leaking, and struggling to handle all the extra poos excreted by our rising population. It’s a big, ...
After replacing a fifth of their caucus in just four months, the Greens’ opportunity to reset, reshuffle and refocus on the Government is quickly slipping away The post Persistent Green Party scandals delay caucus reset appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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Opinion: “As time passes, knowledge of the circumstances of the August 2016 outbreak will fade and its immediate impact will be lost.” This statement is from the 2017 report of the Official Inquiry into the Havelock North campylobacteriosis outbreak. The then National-led government established the inquiry after the outbreak left ...
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Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Wednesday 8 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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Wellington long jumper Phoebe Edwards is back and she’s having fun again. Until this year, Edwards, a top athlete in her teens, had never competed as a senior athlete in New Zealand. In March, the 26-year-old won a national long jump title in a lifetime best of 6.28m after ...
ANALYSIS:By Olli Hellmann, University of Waikato When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day today on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also to mark a defining event for national identity. The battle of Gallipoli against ...
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wtf the greens ? what a bunch of fucking idiots if you wanted labour asked tough questions ask them your self , fucking stupid morons .
Why does everyone hate the Greens? Because maybe they do dumb shit like this. They proudly present themselves as a bunch of smug, self righteous goody two shoes who think they are better than everyone else. What a bunch of twats.
Integrity in politics? disgraceful.
Holding the government to account? how dreadfully undemocratic!
Acting on principles of the greater good? unheard of!
Shame on the Greens! [sarc/]
Feel the love for the Greens at the moment :-), I personally think its a good move by the Greens but I guess like anything time will tell
Its a good move because 😕
In their clumsy way they are trying to force a change to a stupid and childlike practice. Shaw has not done well on the TV I have seen articulating the why. This part is a fail so far for me but NOT their desire to bring maturity to QT.
Let us see what happens at Committee when they propose change there to Standing Orders. Shaw knows Nats would never vote for such change when Govt but they might as Opposition.
“We will also make a submission to the Standing Orders Review, which kicks off next year, to advocate for further changes to Question Time. This review is where all parties in Parliament make decisions about how future parliaments will operate and is the best place for all politicians to discuss any long term permanent changes to Question Time.
“The Canadian Government has recently trialled changes to Question Time after Justin Trudeau campaigned to do so. This shows parliament systems are not set in stone and should be open to regular review and change to ensure our democracy is healthy and well-functioning.
“We have reserved the right to use our questions when we have a point of difference with our colleagues in government. Our Confidence and Supply Agreement with Labour allows us to agree to disagree on issues, and the occasional respectful questioning of the Government from within is also an important part of democracy.
“That we can occasionally disagree with each other highlights the strength and flexibility of this Government,” said Mr Shaw “
Still doesnt explain why they cant ask ‘real questions’ rather than patsys.
Because they are aiming to get the rules changed duke.
Yeah, because after four months in opposition the National party has seen the error of it’s ways and plans to be responsible within the framework of MMP…
Giving extra questions to a party that in nine years of government reduced our waterways to open sewers and created a crisis in the environment, education, housing and health on a point of meaningless principle is the very height of plain stupidity.
I get you dont like the decision Sanctuary. I am just answering dukes questions.
Lets see what happens when the Greens propose a change to Standing Orders.
There isn’t any “error in their ways”.
National have been doing precisely what they are meant to. You may not like it because you may support the current Government but you certainly aren’t entitled to moan because the Opposition are doing their job.
The role of the Opposition is to oppose, to hold the Government to account and to question Government actions.
I realise you may not like the people who are quoted by this link but it is a fair summary of the role. It just so happens that these people were in Opposition at the time.
http://decisionmaker.co.nz/guide2003/hgw/oppose.html
There is nothing in the House Rules about what sort of questions a party can ask.
The only requirement is that they must be in some way a responsibility of the Minister. The Clerk’s Office, for a Primary, or the Speaker, for a Supplementary, would never allow you to ask something like
“Is the proposal put forward by the Opposition to resolve this a stupid idea”.
Of course you can get away with
“Has the Minister seen any analysis of alternative proposals”.
Parties ask patsies because they want to ask patsies, or because when they are in Government their own agreement with their coalition parties says they must. Agreements between parties in a coalition Government have nothing at all to do with the Rules of the House. Ask the Greens what they agreed too.
As far as I can see the only change that would mean anything would be to remove the right to ask questions from any party which is part of the Government. I’m not recommending that but it would be the only way to get rid of patsies.
Some folks only want that from a government when their party is in opposition. Ironically that is the Greens point.
If the Greens imagine they’re going to bring more integrity, accountability, principled decisions and better debate to parliament then they’re sure living in Cloud Cuckoo Land! They remind me of the ancient tradition of “rain dancing” in an effort to please the gods and bring blessed rain and relief to parched soils. Fat lot of good that did.
The…Nats…don’t… do… integrity…. accountability… and… principled conduct.
So much good will for the Greens lost in the blink of an eye.
If the Nats don’t do the right thing the Greens can simply take their questions back.
I always go and make a cup of coffee when a patsy question is asked.
They present themselves as wanting to break cycles. Be it climate, environment, poverty or parliamentary conduct.
All change starts somewhere. They will submit a change to Standing Orders. Now, who is going to vote for a continuation of childish behaviour and patsy questions? Everyone? Maybe. Or maybe not. Time will tell.
Doing stuff the same way it has always been done and expecting something different is the definition of madness. Maybe be outraged at the madness of those perpetuating oyr laughable question time and other parliamentary behaviour.
Exactly. Greens sure know how to shoot themselves in the foot and to side with National over QT after nine years of their nastiness defies all logic. Feeling let down by James Shaw. If he wants more notice taken of Greens, it’s not Labour’s job to do it for him.
Classic Green party pointless symbolism of the kind that has most people roll their eyes at the insufferable smugness of it all.
Yes they are going to be sitting comfortably on their high horses outside parliament next election thinking up new out-of-touch-with-reality statements.
It’s one thing to play to your support base but if that is at or just below the threshold for parliament then they are going to receive a lesson next election.
Watch the polls after this. It sucks because we need a strong legitimate Green Party.
Utsava the psychic had a vision of Killary Clinton et al in handcuffs and leg shackles.
Jacinda Ardern rose to the occasion when she became Labour leader, she sounded refreshingly open and honest. She pledged to be relentlessly positive.
But gradually she has become far more practiced in avoiding saying anything of substance, especially when faced with difficult issues. She is now often absolutely positively vague.
https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/comments/8594mh/full_interview_prime_minister_jacinda_ardern_sits/
RNZ: NZ govt considers further measures against Russia
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/352731/nz-govt-considers-further-measures-against-russia
Don’t read or respond to PG’s diatribes. He’s using the Green ball-drop to sow further seeds of bitter recrimination.
Don’t give it to him.
“There is an alternative Political Viewpoint which conflicts with my unshakeable Ideology. Please assist me to hold my hands over my eyes and ears.”
FIFY
Have you not been around this site for very long? Pete George has a long history of seed sowing acrimony. In fact he was permanently banned a few years ago for the behaviour, but our sysop announced a general amnesty in the hope the culprits had learnt a lesson.
I prefer to choose for myself what I read and respond to.
@Anne – ironic re bitter seeds.
I don’t think this has anything to with the Greens – are you trying to divert? Incidentally, I don’t think that the Greens have dropped the ball if you’re referring to their stand on patsy questions, I applaud them for that.
I wonder why the media in NZ is so keen for our politicians to speculate on the alleged assassination of someone in another country by another power, but less interested in getting any information about the murder of civilians by our own troops including a child.
The Afghan story has had a lot of coverage for years. The raid happened eight years ago. The latest chapter was covered last week, but not surprisingly it was overshadowed by coverage of an alleged assassination be a foreign power this month.
When do you reckon the media will catch up with Key and question him over his knowledge our Defence Commander lied? Or Brownlee? Instead they will gushingly cover him playing golf with Obama.
The establishment MSM will gush over the establishment at play before asking hard questions to the illegal Labour government about party functions in the 1990s where someone may have had an inappropriate hand put on her knee.
Meanwhile… Paula Bennett
What part of the assassination displeases you That they got caught ?
Surely with your years of wisdom you would realise that the major powers all murder civilians in other countries when they find a ‘necessary reason’ to do so.
Lets see if the UK is going to walk the talk about sanctions and no longer request Russian natural gas ships discharge in their ports. Or is that sort of thing that matters only for others like NZ
I think the lying about the raid is also part of the issue and no justice for the victims. Sort of goes against this idea our troops are in the Middle East helping the Iraqis and rebuilding the place after the US and UK blew it up.
And the assassinations in UK have happened before https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoning_of_Alexander_Litvinenko, it’s just a good time to have a distraction now that May is in dire straits with all the screw ups the conservative government has had, they just might get a +socialist+ labour in charge of Britain. Can’t let that happen!
But as Key say’s it’s all part of being part of the ‘club’.
savenz
There was no murder. Do you seriously think that Sir Gerry Mateparae would order the murder of civilians and children? Do you seriously think that SAS soldiers would deliberately order the murder of civilians and children?
Accidents do happen in wartime, in this instance the misfire/non aligned sights of the helicopter gun.
You are right that it is not legally murder. However given the Commander knew the village named in the book was correct if not the location, and then knew the corrected location was correct, he casts a pall over his credibility on everything.
Given accidents happen it seems odd the Commander would lie at all. It just makes everything he says unreliable.
But they might have ordered the killing if they thought a greater goal would be achieved. Collateral damage and all that.
That old cross examination question arises for the Commander now Wayne. Were you lying then or are you lying now?
He should resign. That would be the courageous thing to do.
Interestingly the Defence force will now have to reveal what we pay Mr Thiel for his company software.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12014265
Can’t make an omelette without breaking some eggs, eh Wayne?
Well people are dead, and the defence force covers it up. In law in NZ even if it is an accident when you kills someone, you are still held to account, a trial is held, persons held to account and it’s documented and the victims are given some sort of justice.
It’s all been a cover up and when you cover things up repeatedly you are actually making our defence force less accountable and less trusted as is the government. Lying and weasel words have become the norm for governments.
The public were fed a load of sop about how our defence force would never be in this position in the Middle East. Our troops should not even be there.
Learn from Vietnam. More powerful countries will never defeat this style of terrorism when invading a country instead you will kill a whole lot of innocent civilians.
NZ is just as bad, because we should never have been there in the first place and are there to support and be part of a club instead of making a moral stand to stay out of it.
The refugees are forced to flee, then that is a whole new set of issues when people can’t live in 1/2 the world because it’s unsafe and the other 1/2 of the world is not equip to deal with the influx or the long term ramifications.
Then we have climate change so now some countries are gonna hit 50degrees so will become unliveable while others will have to spend billions on trying to stop their land from being submerged as sea levels rise. Then rebuilding houses and buildings/businesses with increased natural disasters and supporting local people effected.
War and bombing is never a good thing. Many things can be done, before that if there is a disagreement. The only countries that probably will do well out of the Middle East war, is China because they grow more prosperous as other countries like UK and USA bankrupt themselves in the Middle East.
At the same time western country leaders have lost focus on their own countries and not preparing for what is to come like climate change or how people can starve to death after a disaster like Cyclone Katrina in one of the richest countries in the world.
The definition of murder may include recklessness rather than intent.
If one were to kill people in NZ due to sighting problems with a helicopter gun the only way you’d avoid a murder charge would be people downplaying the seriousness of the killing at the highest level.
100% savenz
So MSM are trapped in “The inconvenient truth” right there as to what you said.
“the media in NZ is so keen for our politicians to speculate on the alleged assassination of someone in another country by another power, but less interested in getting any information about the murder of civilians by our own troops”
That is wonderful.
I am totally unable to tell this from any other interview with Ms Ardern.
Absoludely magnificend. Relentlessly possidive.
Donald Rumsfeld
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/352798/spy-poisoning-experts-to-test-nerve-toxin In two weeks we may (…) know the results of tests by chemical weapons experts.
If we dont know the results of the tests how do we know who produced it?
Ask Fonterra about tests for things like Botulism- answers may vary.
How long did the UK wait to get answers about Blairs ‘dossiers’
Or Bloody Sunday …..
Or Hillsborough….
I was think8ng that of course. It wont matter the results one side or another will claim it was rigged or falsified or something.
Is there another suspect for the father/daughter poisoning? Is the theory that the Brits did it to blame Russia?
The theory goes that Putin wasn’t leading by enough in the upcoming election.
The other theory is that Russia thinks the West likes them too much, so before Russia hosts the biggest sporting event in the world (the world cup) they wanted to set the scene for a 1936 Olympics Berlin style event.
I pick it’s revenge. Revenge against Putin’s critics and perceived enemies within their borders. Revenge against anyone perceived to have betrayed Russia from beyond their borders.
Putin is a despot and a tyrant.
Is there another suspect for the father/daughter poisoning?
I haven’t seen any reported. Which is probably why the Brits are so confident it was Russia.
Is the theory that the Brits did it to blame Russia?
That seems to be what the illiberals are implying, although so far I haven’t seen anyone game enough to state it explicitly.
The Russian Ambassador in London was suggesting that it came from a British Lab at Porton Down.
Would you class him as an “illiberal”?
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43446312
A despot and a tyrant as Anne says above. Coddled under the old Soviet system where the only thing that changed is… well nothing… a few very rich blokes run the coubtry now as they did then.
We just ‘know’, you know 😉
The British ran their tests.
These are international analysts.
So many questions….
/
[…]
[…]
https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews
It must be Russia because Novichok mean ‘newbie’ in russian.!!!
Interesting industrial news. Lectures and support staff join together to make their union have a backbone.
https://libcom.org/news/lecturers-rebel-union-pushes-poor-pension-offer-13032018
Yesterday there was considerable discussion and reaction on Open Mike to the announcement by the Green Party that they will no longer be asking “Patsy” questions in Parliament as they consider these questions whereby a member of the Government of the day asks questions of a Minister etc of that Government about decisions, progress and/or achievements in an aspect of that Minister’s portfolio.
This discussion under 9 and its subthreads included suggestions by myself and others that the Green MPs had asked such questions (of each other) right up until the last day Parliament last sat ( Thu 1 March 2018). Alwyn put up the (only) four questions that the Green MPs had asked in the last two weeks of that period as showing that these were patsy questions (but did not provide links to either the videos or Hansard).
I am very familiar with the workings of Parliament and its resources including their website, so was just going to put up the links to the videos for those four questions but then decided to identify all oral questions that all Green MPs have instigated or answered since the new government came into being in Nov 2017 until now to get a better picture of the overall situation vis a vis Green Party participation in Question Time and the types of questions they have been asking or have been asked, and by whom.
I completed this last evening and have written up a summary analysis (with video link)s identifying:
– each primary oral question asked by or to each Green MP to another Green MP
– any questions asked of Labour or NZF by Green MPs
– any questions asked by Labour or NZF of Green MPs
– any questions asked by National of Green MPs
Green Party MPs participation in Oral Questions since Nov 2017 to 1 March 2018.
* Questions in last two weeks of Parliament (20 Feb – 1 March 2018) raised as examples by Alwyn, Open Mike 18 March 2018.
GOLRIZ GHAHRAMAN
1 March 2018 to Shaw * https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=198774
CHLOE SWARBRICK
12 Dec 2017 to Genter https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=197591
MARAMA DAVIDSON
28 Feb 2018 to Sage * https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=198702
30 Jan 2018 to Shaw https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=198038
15 Nov 2017 to Genter https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=197082
15 Nov 2017 to Sage https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=197082
GARETH HUGHES
20 Feb 2018 to Shaw * https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=198408
1 Feb 2018 to Sage https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=198180
19 Dec 2017 to Shaw https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=197909
28 Nov 2017 to Shaw https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=197184
JAN LOGIE – Parliamentary Under Secretary Justice (Sexual and Domestic Violence Issues)
22 Feb 2018 to Shaw * https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=198573
14 Feb 2018 to Shaw https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=198281
14 Dec 2017 to Shaw https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=197728
6 Dec 2017 to Genter https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=197451
9 Nov 2017 to Sage https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=196986
No questions to Logie from other Green MPs or from other Parties.
No questions from Logie to Labour or NZF.
EUGENE SAGE – Minister of Conservation; Minister of Land Information; Associate Minister of Environment
No questions to other Green Ministers or MPs.
Three questions to Sage from other Green MPs:
– 28/2 Davidson; 1/02 Hughes; 30/11 Davidson; 9/11 Logie – see links under each MP’s name.
No questions to Labour or NZF; or from Labour or NZF to Sage.
Three questions to Sage from National;
Jonathan Young 19 Dec https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=197910
Maggie Barry 15 Nov https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=197087
Brownlee 9 Nov https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=196985
JULIE ANNE GENTER – currently Minister of Women; Associate Minister of Transport; Association Minister of Health
Two questions from Genter to Swarbrick re Green Party Member’s Medicinal Cannabis Bill
31 Jan 2018 https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=198114
31 Jan 2018 https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=198109
No questions by Genter to other Green MPs, or from Genter to Labour, NZF.
Three questions to Genter from other Green MPs:
Davidson 15/11; Swarbrick 12/12; Logie 6/12 – See links under each MP’s name.
Three questions to Genter from National:
Reti to David Clark but Genter replied for Clark 22/2 https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=198568
Bishop to Genter 15/2 https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=198361
Bennett to Genter 14/11 https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=197020
NOTE: 6 Dec 2017 – Genter participated in Joyce to Robertson Question at 8.30 mins with patsy question to Robertson which was rejected by the Speaker.
https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=197453
JAMES SHAW – Co-leader; Minister of Climate Change; Minister of Statistics; Associate Minister of Finance
No questions to other Green Ministers or MPs.
Eight (8) questions to him from other Green MPS:
Hughes – 20/2; 19/12; 28/11 Logie – 22/2; 14/2; 14/12 Davidson – 30/1 Ghahraman – 1/3 links under each MP’s name.
No questions from Shaw to Labour or NZF; or to Shaw from Labour or NZF.
Two (2) questions to Shaw from National:
Chris Bishop 20 Dec; https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=197990
Todd Muller 22 Feb. https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=198578
Shaw has taken part in five (5) patsy questions to Robertson on three occasions as follows:
14 Feb 2018 – Tamati Coffey to Robertson patsy question; Shaw comes in at 2.06 min with his own patsy to Robertson:
https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=198279
1 Feb 2018 Steven Joyce to Robertson (not a patsy); Shaw comes in at 5.30 min with a patsy for Robertson, and then again at 6.00 min when Joyce took offence at Shaw’s question and Shaw had to withdraw and apologise.
https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=198176
7 Dec 2018 – Steven Joyce to Robertson – a doozy where Joyce walked straight into it. Shaw is the first one in with a patsy to Robertson at 2.0 minute which was laughed at and not answered; and after some time with everyone and their dog participating, Shaw comes in again at 8.30 minutes with a valid but still patsy question allowing Robertson to again lambast Joyce.
https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=197536
Overall Conclusions
Since Parliament has been sitting from Nov 2017 until on 1 March when it broke for three weeks, Green MPs have instigated and replied to 17 primary oral questions – all from one Green MP to another Green MP in the latter’s capacity as a Minister or in the case of two questions to Chloe Swarbrick in her capacity as sponsor of the Green Party Member’s Bill on medicinal cannabis. These two questions were quite legitimate Questions to Members which are in addition to the 12 questions asked each sitting day. So in terms of the latter, the Green Party have strictly speaking only asked 15 QT questions.
All 17 primary questions (plus the supplementary questions asked by the same or another Green MP following the primary one) fit the definition of Patsy questions in being questions from a MP in the government to a Minister in that government designed to allow the Minister to speak on the work underway or achieved in their portfolios.
These 17 primary oral questions may well be the Green Part’s entire oral question allocation over that time (I have been unable to find a definitive source for numbers allocated to each Party but see addendum now added at the end of this comment.).
Green MPs have not instigated any primary oral questions to Labour or NZF Ministers over that period; nor have Labour and NZF instigated any primary oral questions to Green Ministers or MPs.
National have instigated seven (7) primary oral questions to Green MPs in their Ministerial capacities – 2 to Shaw; 2 to Genter; and 3 to Sage.
Green MPs have occasionally participated in asking supplementary questions where the primary question to Labour or NZF has been instigated by National but I have not identified all instances of these as most instances are not readily identifiable without a lot of work.
However, I have identified and provided the links to four more prominent occasions when Green MPs did take part in asking supplementary questions as already detailed under Genter and Shaw above.
This is NOT me being selective to show Greens in a bad light. It is simply that the Parliamentary On Demand filter system throws up participation in these more major debates by listing/providing video links to them under Shaw’s name, for example – whereas it doesn’t list or provide video links to participation in less prominent debates. (Not clear what the filter criteria is for this.)
The following are just some of my personal thoughts since doing this quick and somewhat rough analysis.
In theory, this seems a good and noble decision by the Green Party to forego asking patsy questions. However, the Green MPs have not foregone doing so to date right up to the last sitting day on 1 March 2018.
The above analysis would suggest that, for the most part, the Green decision to give their (very small) oral question allocation to the Opposition is really only likely to affect the Greens themselves – in that they will no longer be able to ask each other patsy questions allowing them to tell the House what they are achieving in their various Ministerial portfolios. If they do, they could open themselves to claims of hypocrisy, failing to keep their promises etc.
As Shaw has said, they are able to tell the public what they are achieving via Press Releases. However, Press Releases are not part of the official historic record of Parliament through Hansard etc as are Oral Questions in Parliament.
But time will tell. If they ask no questions – and no other Party including National ask them many or any questions in Question Time – then they may be seen as choosing to not participate in a legitimate part of Parliamentary process under the Westminister system. Or they may be seen as having been left out in the cold by the other Parties. We will see.
Addendum : Green Party Share of Questions to date:
I have yet to find a definitive source for how many questions are currently allocated to each Party. However, I have bee able to work out the following:
Nov/Dec 2017 – 15 sitting days @ 12 Questions per day = 180 Q in total.
Greens asked 7 Q. = 4.86% of total 180 Q
30 Jan/1 March 2018 = 12 sitting days @12 Questions per day = 144 Q in total.
Greens asked 8 Q = 4.44% of total of 144 Q in total.
NOTE – The 2 Questions asked by Genter of Swarbrick on 31 Jan 2018 re the Greens Member Bill are not included as these were questions not included in the 12 daily QT questions, but separate additional Questions to Members allowed under the rules.
Wow. I am impressed.
The information I put up was done in a much simpler manner.
In you addendum you say
“I have yet to find a definitive source for how many questions are currently allocated to each Party”
According to this
https://www.parliament.nz/en/visit-and-learn/how-parliament-works/parliamentary-practice-in-new-zealand/chapter-39-questions/
I think that we must assume.
There are 120 members of the House.
There are 31 who are excluded because the are Ministers, Associate Ministers or Under-secretaries (22 Labour, 5 NZF, 4 Green)
I am not sure where the speaker is intended to be counted but I assume he is counted in the number who can ask questions.
Therefor there are 89 who count in the question allocation rule.
The Green Party should be allocated 4/89 of the questions available. That is 4.5% which fits in with your calculation.
National of course are going to get 63% of those available as they get 56/89.
It is a minor point but was there a question time on every day that Parliament sat?
When you calculated the possible number of questions did you consider that?
There is no question time on some days. Budget day is an example.
Thanks for you explanation re the question allocation -I was too focused on the rest and that was bugging me.
Re the question time calculations. Yes I did check – via a quick check through Daily Progress. So for example, Parliament resumed on 7 November, but 7 and 8 November were ceremonial/administrative days with no QT. QT started on Thu, 9 Nov. Then in Dec, Parliament met up to and including Weds 20 Dec, but rose Weds evening and did not sit on Thurs 21 Dec. Hence the sitting days/QTs work out at 5 X 3 days = 15 X 12 = 180 Questions. Been there done that. Worked closely with Parl for many years, including a few secondments to Minister offices, Select Committees etc.
“Worked closely with Parl for many years”.
Yes, I must admit I thought that was probably the case.
I have only a layman’s interest in the subject although I knew quite a lot of MPs in earlier years. Winston is the last one left of that era though.
I think I met every PM from Holyoake to English except for Kirk, Bolger and Key. Eleven out of fourteen.
Only in a country as small as New Zealand would that really happen for an ordinary person like me. Note I’m only saying met, not that I had anything really to do with most of them.
When I said that my method was much simple all I did was look at this
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/order-paper-questions/list-of-oral-questions/
I just looked at the final two weeks and picked out the names of Green MPs.
I didn’t actually bother reading Hansard for those questions in particular. I do read the questions most days but with the patsies I usually only look to see whether an Opposition MP has bothered to ask a Supplementary.
God it must be demeaning to be an MP who is assigned to ask one of these questions.
Press release may not be but I’m that government policy releases are although, if they are, they’re hard to find.
I think what needs to happen is a better website design that makes it easy to find this sort of information.
Re government policy releases, I’m not sure they are part of the Parliamentary record other than the passage of Bills as a result of those policies.
Sorry, I have spent too many hours in the last day or so researching – I’m taking a break!
I actually find parts of the updated Parliament website excellent now – particularly the filters on finding things in On Demand video section. But I agree there are other parts that drive me crazy. I actually find that a well defined Google search for something on the Parliament website gets me there far quicker than trying to find it on the Parl website.
Awesome.
Are the Greens compelled to ask patsy questions? Is this a condition of their arrangement with Labour? Or is it just because of precedents set a hundred years ago?
It is how it is done. It has evolved but not for the better. As part of this effort the Greens are also seeking changes tot he Standing Orders.
People are talking about Question Time, what it is and if it works. Mission partly accomplished I’d say.
IF this can truly damage Labour, then labour was in a VERY fragile place.
Imagine if the revelation that our Defence Commander had lied had been met by a suspension pending investigation. Strong leadership indeed.
Cool. Thanks.
“IF this can truly damage Labour, then labour was in a VERY fragile place.”
So very true.
Oh come on tracey – diversions/digs #1 and diversions/digs #2. So transparent.
Diversion 1 – nothing to do with damaging Labour (and implying its in a VERY fragile place) – this about the Green Party not Labour.
Diversion 2 – Oh, look over there – our Defence Commander has lied. etc
Cmon this is a few questions. Not the mother of all scandals. The beltway and political geeks may love to wallow in this but it is not the broo haha some here are making it.
I didnt imply Labour is fragile. I replied to the suggestion this was damaging Labour by suggesting that notion ( of another not me) woukd make Labour far more fragile than they appear.
A few patsy questions go to National as part of a strategy to tidy up Parliament versus a Defence Force Commanda lying. You bet I think the second is way more important. Especially as he continues to run our defence.
Are yousaying suspending the Defence Commander wouldnt have moved the media focus from Young Lab?
Can someone please give me some advice(morrissey???) on filling out an oia request, to get documents held about myself and the communications between people about myself. I.E. pH records, emails etc
Thank you
V
[Easiest way is through the FYI website (https://fyi.org.nz/) but please note all requests are public – MS]
You can do it through this website, but be aware that requests and responses are made public https://fyi.org.nz/
Are you sure it’s an OIA request you need and not one via the Privacy Act? That is a different process, and information is not made public.
https://www.privacy.org.nz/the-privacy-act-and-codes/privacy-principles/access/requests/
Thank you so much. I will read through and take the best course of action. I would love nothing more than to just have this public.
“the communications between people about myself. I.E. pH records, emails etc”
A few of us have been talking about you in the smoko room, then I think a few texts as well.
There was of course that big email chain going on in November too.
Need any more info?
You can email the Departments who hold the records, directly. Use their general email which can be found by a google search.
Start your email with these words
Please treat this email as a requestion for information under the Official Information Act.
Then list what documents you want.
Part three in a series of interviews with working women.
https://libcom.org/blog/series-interviews-working-class-women-west-london-part-3-16032018
I’ve seen and helped people deal with the same rip off type immigration consultants here in NZ. A overcrowded house, is somthing which is also common in Auckland. In all, this is somthing which could have been written about life here. The charging of health care, and the extortion process to get people to pay.
Funny how working peoples stories are virtually the same the world over. You’d think the elites and sycophants hated working people or somthing.
https://libcom.org/blog/series-interviews-working-class-women-west-london-part-3-16032018
I agree with Phil Goff’s views on the Auckland citys spending on waste water management spend now and save billions in the future . Councils and governments can lend money at a rate bellow the rate of inflation so it is logical to spend now and save in the long term save money the environment and wild life . heres a link to newsroom
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/03/18/97308/phil-goffs-legacy-plan-clean-beaches
ka kite ano
He was in parliament for an awfully long time and an MP for Auckland…. has he just noticed how fucked up the sewer systems and waste water management is?
Kia ora Scotty Morrison from Tekarere bro may be you should have English subtitles so those of us who don”t have te reo mastered like you can learn te reo ka pai ka kite ano
Scotty positive branding is everything in marketing anything the problem is that OUR Maori Culture has had a negative branding campaign by the MSM that has damaged Maori culture over the last 150 years Eco Maori wants that to stop
ka pai ka kite ano P.S Helen Clark stopped this phenomenon but when she lost the election the negative branding started up again
This is a bit scary. If true, the democrats are looking more corporate/establishment not less. Working people get shafted again.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/03/07/dems-m07.html
A hell of a lot happened in 1968, so this year is the 50th anniversary of a lot of important events. Some very positive, some negative, some horrendous.
One of the most horrendous was the US massacre of Vietnamese civilians at My Lai on March 16, 1968.
One of the best books about Vietnam is Nick Turse’s “Kill Anything That Moves: the real American war in Vietnam”.
We put the introduction to the book up on Redline a few years back. Well worth reading.
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2013/02/14/my-lai-and-the-real-american-war-in-vietnam/
Articles about some other key events – from the Tet Offensive to the strike by women workers at the Ford car plant at Dagenham, which helped start the women’s liberation movement in Britain – are linked to here: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2018/02/14/1968-the-year-of-revolutions/
Well M.Hooton certainly earned his money this morning…….contract up for review?
It was a shocking display. He deliberately re-arranged facts in order to produce an alternative to the truth. And Mike Williams didn’t do nearly enough to counter it although to be fair, its a difficult task when Hooton is allowed to shout over the top of his adversaries so they can’t be heard.
At one point he claimed… Jacinda Ardern was putting on an act when she was asked about the Young Labour camp story. He maintained… of course she knew about it, and I think he might even have used the words “she’s lying”. That is a serious accusation to make on a public platform and I would think deserves a response. But my bet is he’ll be allowed to get away with it.
To my knowledge, no-one in the media has mentioned the fact Jacinda Ardern was overseas when the incident came to light and had only just returned when it broke in the media. While she should have been told sooner, I expect that was a reason why it didn’t happen.
Mike Williams has never countered anything hoooooter says.
He’s as useful as bike peddles on a fish.
+1
Great comment Brigid.
Williams did more than once say that Hooton was wrong.
Hooton of course in the style of great dissemblers just repeated the lie.
Mrs Mac1 thought that Williams did all right. People listening could judge for themselves who was lying or not.
Then Hooton went on to push the alternate reality view that Ardern must have known about it, but did a pretty good job of feigning surprise when confronted by reporters on her return from overseas.
People could then really see what was fiction.
Anyone who doubts National are in campaign mode need to read this admission they “accidentally” emailed people who signed a ptition treating them like Nat Party members and asked them for donations.
Classic Nat strategy. Do something dodgy. Gain the advantage then apologise. Repeat.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/352790/national-apologises-for-mass-database-sign-up
Neither stuff nor herald online consider National Party major breach of privacy newsworthy…
I was planning to drop that link in Daily Review.
An up-to-date version of their former rort in the 1970s and probably the 80s. It was Nat. Party raffle tickets in those days. Anyone who bought one ended up on the membership list. Great way to acquire a healthy looking membership even though many of them never asked to be members and may have never known they were members.
They can only do that trick once.
If they rinse and repeat, then everyone with half a memory will know they’re dishonest.
Russian opposition figure and two time survivor of suspected poisoning attempts –
Tekaea I say that site in Auckland that is before the courts for the devolepment of that whenua should be stopped as there will be a treasure trove of Maori historical artifacts and information in that whenua land. If it is developed this will be a opportunity lost to educate us about OUR tepuna and whenua it will be like England discovering historical artifacts in a hundred years time when high rise buildings are built that need deep foundations dug to reveal OUR maori historical artifacts in bits and pieces heres the link from News Room.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwi647nNzPfZAhVGbrwKHYH8CQMQFghGMAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsroom.co.nz%2F2018%2F01%2F22%2F77058%2Fnew-life-in-fight-for-historic-auckland-land&usg=AOvVaw3ZJqkAycT7G7yM24ExNssl Kia kaha ka kite ano
Kia ora Mike from News Hub yes we need to band those fishing practices that kill and threaten the survival OUR precious native dolphins . I still admire Obama I just don’t like him associating with shonky he is a great man he backed a bright prosperous future for the Mokos i.e renewable energy and the Paris climate agreement .
Ka kaha ka kite ano
News Hub I say that teachers and nurses should get a good pay rise the CEOs of these organizations should try and live on a nurses or teachers wage and see half go in rent and see if they can survive on that money these peoples jobs are just as important as the police so they should get paid fairly for there great work. The big picture is the nurses and teachers industry’s are lady dominated industry’s were as the police force is a male dominated industry and they get payed generously for a 40 hour week We have to start the journey to give equality for OUR ladys now keep up the good fight ladys . When my mokos get to the work force I would like to see a more equal society for all humans Kia kaha ka kite ano
The Project Wallis I seen your expression when you were interviewing Jonathan colman lol and then you have The naked Samoans David is a strait up Kiwi like you Wallis is Back benches going again good to see you getting air time Ka kite ano
Morning the AM Show I was studding Maori culture last nite I have found the same phenomenon there is a total change in the modem story’s from the story I have read on the subject and guess what the producer was called Bradley,
IT is a nother form of Ngati Porous the facts being distorted manipulated to make my Tipuna look like they had no Mana my Tepuna won’t be happy .
I will be changeing these lies some people could be making these unaware of what they are doing but some will know exactly whats going on some much for the thanks for what my Tipuna have done in shaping OUR society into the beautiful country we have today KIA KAHA ka kite ano P.S Duncan our Tipuna did not like swearing it bad Karma I stopped swearing on the standard an found this fact out later
Good morning The Cafe hope fully we have help launch Paris new book Titled
Paris Queen ka kite ano
“Jacinda Ardern stuns climate campaigners, rocks up to accept 45,000 signature petition asking Govt to stop oil drilling”
Will Prime Minister Ardern listen to the scientists?
“Ignoring Science at Our Peril”
Or, will the Prime Minister listen to loony tune Act leader David Seymour?
Most oil exploration jobs are foreign national jobs not kiwi local workers positions currently now so we are effectively “subsidising foreign workers now with the National Government 2015/17 grants given previously to big oi around the time of the oil conferences.
“There seems to be trickery involved for the ‘jobs in oil exploration’. These large vessels for seismic surveys and the big rigs for test drilling all come from overseas and they are staffed by fly in flyout contractors.”
We are being played by the “loss of regional jobs” boogie so heavily by Corporate big oil so heavily that even Jacinda said it in her “watered down wet bus ticket to big oil press ‘apologist’ response on TV1, news hub and RNZ today when asked “why don’t you commit to no more exploration now as the greenpeace asked in the petition”?????
Jacinda; – you need to finally get serious and also wean yourself off oil now!!!!!; – as if you don’t – your child will not have a future so toughen up will you while you have the bloody chance before your Government crumbles, and then before hell breaks loose!!!!!.
“The IPCC has concluded that to prevent irreparable environmental disaster emissions need to be capped so that temperature increases no more than 2 degrees celsius from pre industrial ages.”
GOOD FOR GREENPEACE WHILE ‘Jacinda ASKS FOR MORE TIME????????????
There is no more time Jacinda.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/petition-delivered-parliament-today-calling-end-oil-exploration
Petition to be delivered to parliament today calling for end to oil exploration
8:18am
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NZN
Environmental groups are to present a 45,000-signature petition to parliament calling for the end of oil exploration around New Zealand.
Oil exploration vessel.
Source: 1 NEWS
The petition will be handed to Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods at midday on Monday.
Greenpeace says Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was widely praised for stating before the election that climate change is the nuclear-free moment of her generation but her words must be turned into action.
“The world can’t afford to burn even existing fossil fuel reserves let alone seek out new oil and gas if we want to avoid catastrophic warming,” said Greenpeace climate campaigner Kate Simcock.
News Hub transport is vital for our small regions as vital as our blood vessels are to us take any mode of transport from a region is like cutting the blood supply to ones hand eventually one hand would fall off . I am still amazed that we let rail get so bad . I have my theory and guess whos on Air New Zealand’s board shonky still carrying on with the task he was original given while he was you know what.
Ka pai Shane Jones don’t let OUR te tangata be starved of a vital service that is needed for prosperity.
There you go the internet used for cheating the 99.9 % of Democracy I had a debate with a person on the power of computers and the internet has over some people .
The corrupt people have know about subliminal messaging for centurys they have used this to undermine native cultures . And this is the reason I have a beef with people using the word crack in any sentence .
Mike I’m quite glade that I only got educated till I was 9 years old . If not than I would have the same view as a lot of people have on OUR Tipuna as the people that were educated by New Zealand Schools about Ngati Porous Tipuna and there great role they played in establishing OUR Aotearo New Zealand wonderful SOCIETY . The storys are totally different to that that is told in these GREAT Old STATES MEN autobiography ECO MAORI is going to change these farcical storys that are being feed to te mokopunas . Kia Kaha Ka kite ano
So my neo libreal neighbor is a true REDNECK he is a Exclusive Brethren no-wonder he walks around like he has a stick up his—- .
He thinks his farcial view is the only view on the planet .One of his brothers gets on the alcohol kills 3 people and his m8 distort the course of justice and he gets a slap on the hand yes people one law for us and no laws for the people with money and the right connections. These people are so judge mental until it is them in the—– then thy cover it up with bribes and lies here is the links .
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjF7v2-q_rZAhUCErwKHcGYDfMQqOcBCCgwAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.stuff.co.nz%2Fnational%2F102350200%2Fexclusive-brethren-members-in-cleanup-operation-after-fatal-crash&usg=AOvVaw33fYFYDwEL33tRRlwBnEjN
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjW6rfqq_rZAhUMTbwKHcX5AecQFgg2MAM&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nzherald.co.nz%2Fnz%2Fnews%2Farticle.cfm%3Fc_id%3D1%26objectid%3D11999786&usg=AOvVaw2CS1GFbZHJjDFR0TB_LWX3
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwihwLXyr_rZAhVMO7wKHX-EBbwQFghEMAU&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nzherald.co.nz%2Fnz%2Fnews%2Farticle.cfm%3Fc_id%3D1%26objectid%3D12000309&usg=AOvVaw30Hlovf3cwsXsuioRGKhGT
Ana to kai
Good morning Am Show These Air line companies need to become innervate so they can carry on providing there services to the people instead of the slash and burn approach they have this should be installed into there constitution this small change will make everyone life better .
No shonky you can not see me trough the camera Many Thanks to Obama for gracing our shores with your presence you and your family will love OUR beautiful country . I could see that Obama put a tremendous amount of effort into carring out his role as President as best as a person could Ka pai .
Its a sad day when we see another of Papatuanukus mother earths great creatures nearly pass into extinction .Many thanks Mark for showing the story Benji Marshall younger brother Jeremy Mashall King to play for the BullDogs Kia kaha Jeremy.
Ka kite ano
I admire Rob Fyfe he is a old school Kiwi New Zealander that puts his good principles first . I worked for a couple who had a daughter on that Erebus flight they have passed now the loss of there only child affected them quite badly . If I had the time I would do more research into the topics I comment on but thanks to shonky I have to work 60 hours a week just to keep my Waka in a strait line .here is a link to the Erebus disaster .
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiFveyTx_vZAhXMwLwKHZzxALUQFghVMAM&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FAir_New_Zealand_Flight_901&usg=AOvVaw0c-o_KtUoncUoq21YDMdgz
Ka kite ano
Name a government agency in which the vast majority of staff have zero knowledge (other than heresay) of the legislation under which the Agency provides services to the public.
Hint the agency and its respective Ministry provides aid to more than half the population, many of whom are considered to be our most vulnerable.
As a “social” Ministry it’s staff are beholden to many Acts, and regulations, the least of which are the Privacy, and the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 neither of which are well known to staff either (excepting a few specialist professional staff who have responsibility for child welfare.)
Is it proper for a majority of Ministry staff to have zero knowledge of the legislation?
The Ministry does have an open line for staff to seek legal advice before making decisions. But how can that work effectively if the staff member lacks the base knowledge to properly frame the question?
Many of the Ministries staff have no decision making authority, nor access to that legal advice because they work in call centres and are solely tasked with giving advice to, and taking information from clients. Never mind the fact they do not have any knowledge to impart, or the English language skills necessary to obtain or impart useful or accurate advice.
Have you figured it out yet? Another hint, this Ministry serves both our youngest and our oldest citizens, amongst others.