Open mike 19/03/2024
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6:00 am, March 19th, 2024 - 72 comments
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- Angelic Hosts.
JOSEPH TWISTED THE DISHCLOTH gently in the wine-glass, removed it carefully, and held the glass up to the light. Though the bar was dimly lit, there was illumination enough to set the glass a-sparkle. Satisfied, Joesph replaced it carefully on the shelf.“Whose that fellow at the end of the bar?”The ...11 hours ago - 2024: A Year of Dishonouring the Past and Ignoring the Future.
Three Wise Men? Successful political leadership embodies a keen awareness of past, present, and future, along with the wisdom to adjudicate what is owed, and should be paid, to each. Sadly, such leadership has not been much in evidence during 2024. Indeed, New Zealanders have seen just how badly things can ...14 hours ago
- Running Us Off The Rails.
Crossing Cancelled: The decision to pull the plug on the IRex project was one of the earliest – and stupidest – decisions New Zealand’s new conservative coalition government would make in the first year of its parliamentary term. And that stupidity was only compounded as the year wore on.LET’S BEGIN WITH ...14 hours ago
- Uruguay, pioneer in renewable energy: a model for the world?
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Johani Carolina Ponce Tacuarembó, Uruguay. (Image credit: Getty Images) [Haz clic aquí para leer en español] It has a population of just under 3.5 million inhabitants, produces nearly 550,000 tons of beef per year, and boasts a glorious soccer reputation with two World ...15 hours ago - Meri Kirihimete 2024
Morena all,In my paywalled newsletter yesterday, I signed off for Christmas and wished readers well, but I thought I’d send everyone a quick note this morning.This hasn’t been a good year for our small country. The divisions caused by the Treaty Principles Bill, the cuts to our public sector, increased ...16 hours ago - Bernard’s Pick ‘n’ Mix for Tues, Dec 24
This morning’s six standouts for me at 6.30 am include:Kāinga Ora is quietly planning to sell over $1 billion worth of state-owned land under 300 state homes in Auckland’s wealthiest suburbs, including around Bastion Point, to give the Government more fiscal room to pay for tax cuts and reduce borrowing.A ...18 hours ago - A Birthday Wish!
Hi,It’s my birthday on Christmas Day, and I have a favour to ask.A birthday wish.I would love you to share one Webworm story you’ve liked this year.The simple fact is: apart from paying for a Webworm membership (thank you!), sharing and telling others about this place is the most important ...19 hours ago - Love, happiness, blur
The last few days have been a bit too much of a whirl for me to manage a fresh edition each day. It's been that kind of year. Hope you don't mind.I’ve been coming around to thinking that it doesn't really matter if you don't have something to say every ...1 day ago - All I Want For Christmas
The worms will live in every hostIt's hard to pick which one they eat the mostThe horrible people, the horrible peopleIt's as anatomic as the size of your steepleCapitalism has made it this wayOld-fashioned fascism will take it awaySongwriter: Twiggy Ramirez Read more ...2 days ago - The 1 Good Thing Left In Journalism
Hi,It’s almost Christmas Day which means it is almost my birthday, where you will find me whimpering in the corner clutching a warm bottle of Baileys.If you’re out of ideas for presents (and truly desperate) then it is possible to gift a full Webworm subscription to a friend (or enemy) ...2 days ago - Bernard’s Picks ‘n’ Mixes for Monday, December 23
This morning’s six standouts for me at 6.30am include:Rachel Helyer Donaldson’s scoop via RNZ last night of cuts to maternity jobs in the health system;Maddy Croad’s scoop via The Press-$ this morning on funding cuts for Christchurch’s biggest food rescue charity;Benedict Collins’ scoop last night via 1News on a last-minute ...2 days ago - 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #51
A listing of 25 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 15, 2024 thru Sat, December 21, 2024. Based on feedback we received, this week's roundup is the first one published soleley by category. We are still interested in ...2 days ago
- Dance Magic
Well, I've been there, sitting in that same chairWhispering that same prayer half a million timesIt's a lie, though buried in disciplesOne page of the Bible isn't worth a lifeThere's nothing wrong with youIt's true, it's trueThere's something wrong with the villageWith the villageSomething wrong with the villageSongwriters: Andrew Jackson ...3 days ago - Government Forces Universities to Enforce “Free Speech” While Limiting Universities̵...
ACT would like to dictate what universities can and can’t say. We knew it was coming. It was outlined in the coalition agreement and has become part of Seymour’s strategy of “emphasising public funding” to prevent people from opposing him and his views—something he also uses to try and de-platform ...3 days ago - Fact brief – Are we heading into an ‘ice age’?
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- As Our Power Lessens: Published
So the Solstice has arrived – Summer in this part of the world, Winter for the Northern Hemisphere. And with it, the publication my new Norse dark-fantasy piece, As Our Power Lessens at Eternal Haunted Summer: https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/issues/winter-solstice-2024/as-our-power-lessens/ As previously noted, this one is very ‘wyrd’, and Northern Theory of Courage. ...3 days ago - By Any Other Name.
The Natural Choice: As a starter for ten percent of the Party Vote, “saving the planet” is a very respectable objective. Young voters, in particular, raised on the dire (if unheeded) warnings of climate scientists, and the irrefutable evidence of devastating weather events linked to global warming, vote Green. After ...4 days ago
- Bernard’s last Saturday Soliloquy for 2024
The Government cancelled 60% of Kāinga Ora’s new builds next year, even though the land for them was already bought, the consents were consented and there are builders unemployed all over the place. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political ...4 days ago - Bernard’s Picks ‘n’ Mixes for Saturday, December 21
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on UnsplashEvery morning I get up at 3am to go around the traps of news sites in Aotearoa and globally. I pick out the top ones from my point of view and have been putting them into my Dawn Chorus email, which goes out with a podcast. ...4 days ago - 2024 OIA stats
Over on Kikorangi Newsroom's Marc Daalder has published his annual OIA stats. So I thought I'd do mine: 82 OIA requests sent in 2024 7 posts based on those requests 20 average working days to receive a response Ministry of Justice was my most-requested entity, ...4 days ago - Climate Change: A perverse incentive
The government published its first Biennial Transparency Report under the Paris Agreement yesterday, and the media has correctly noted that it is missing any plan to actually meet our target. While it hypes domestic emissions reductions so far - which have been good, but will likely get worse thanks to ...4 days ago
- Economic Bulletin December 2024
Welcome to the December 2024 Economic Bulletin. We have two monthly features in this edition. In the first, we discuss what the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update from Treasury and the Budget Policy Statement from the Minister of Finance tell us about the fiscal position and what to ...4 days ago - NZCTU make submission in opposition to Treaty Principles Bill
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi have submitted against the controversial Treaty Principles Bill, slamming the Bill as a breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and an attack on tino rangatiratanga and the collective rights of Tangata Whenua. “This Bill seeks to legislate for Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles that are ...4 days ago
- ZB’s Power Couple
I don't knowHow to say what's got to be saidI don't know if it's black or whiteThere's others see it redI don't get the answers rightI'll leave that to youIs this love out of fashionOr is it the time of yearAre these words distraction?To the words you want to hearSongwriters: ...5 days ago - Austerity thumps GDP most since 1991
Our economy has experienced its worst recession since 1991. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, December 20 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above and the daily Pick ‘n’ Mix below ...5 days ago
- Weekly Roundup 20-December-2024
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The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the year’s news with: on climate. Her book of the year was Tim Winton’s cli-fi novel Juice and she also mentioned Mike Joy’s memoir The Fight for Fresh Water. ...5 days ago
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The Government can head off to the holidays, entitled to assure itself that it has done more or less what it said it would do. The campaign last year promised to “get New Zealand back on track.” When you look at the basic promises—to trim back Government expenditure, toughen up ...5 days ago - Skeptical Science New Research for Week #51 2024
Open access notables An intensification of surface Earth’s energy imbalance since the late 20th century, Li et al., Communications Earth & Environment: Tracking the energy balance of the Earth system is a key method for studying the contribution of human activities to climate change. However, accurately estimating the surface energy balance ...5 days ago
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Data released by Statistics New Zealand today showed a significant slowdown in the economy over the past six months, with GDP falling by 1% in September, and 1.1% in June said CTU Economist Craig Renney. “The data shows that the size of the economy in GDP terms is now smaller ...6 days ago
- Cheeseburgers and Stunt Monkeys
One last thing before I quitI never wanted any moreThan I could fit into my headI still remember every single word you saidAnd all the shit that somehow came along with itStill, there's one thing that comforts meSince I was always caged and now I'm freeSongwriters: David Grohl / Georg ...6 days ago - MSD rejecting 220 pleas for food grants each day
Sparse offerings outside a Te Kauwhata church. Meanwhile, the Government is cutting spending in ways that make thousands of hungry children even hungrier, while also cutting funding for the charities that help them. It’s also doing that while winding back new building of affordable housing that would allow parents to ...6 days ago
- The Wing Parties’ Economic Policies.
It is difficult to make sense of the Luxon Coalition Government’s economic management.This end-of-year review about the state of economic management – the state of the economy was last week – is not going to cover the National Party contribution. Frankly, like every other careful observer, I cannot make up ...6 days ago - Back on Track
This morning I awoke to the lovely news that we are firmly back on track, that is if the scale was reversed.NZ ranks low in global economic comparisonsNew Zealand's economy has been ranked 33rd out of 37 in an international comparison of which have done best in 2024.Economies were ranked ...6 days ago - Book Review: How Big Things Get Done
This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called How Big Things Get Done by Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner Want to know how to do something big? Ask someone who has done it before! Professor Bent Flyvbjerg has spent his career studying megaprojects. In 2023, ...6 days ago
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Remember those silent movies where the heroine is tied to the railway tracks or going over the waterfall in a barrel? Finance Minister Nicola Willis seems intent on portraying herself as that damsel in distress. According to Willis, this country’s current economic problems have all been caused by the spending ...6 days ago - Dragging our way towards the finish line, the end of this year can’t come soon enough for many…
Similar to the cuts and the austerity drive imposed by Ruth Richardson in the 1990’s, an era which to all intents and purposes we’ve largely fiddled around the edges with fixing in the time since – over, to be fair, several administrations – whilst trying our best it seems to ...6 days ago - Handling Democracy.
String-Pulling in the Dark: For the democratic process to be meaningful it must also be public. WITH TRUST AND CONFIDENCE in New Zealand’s politicians and journalists steadily declining, restoring those virtues poses a daunting challenge. Just how daunting is made clear by comparing the way politicians and journalists treated New Zealanders ...6 days ago
- Open letter to the Minister of Dwindling Finances
Dear Nicola Willis, thank you for letting us know in so many words that the swingeing austerity hasn't worked.By in so many words I mean the bit where you said, Here is a sea of red ink in which we are drowning after twelve months of savage cost cutting and ...6 days ago - Open Government: The joke ends
The Open Government Partnership is a multilateral organisation committed to advancing open government. Countries which join are supposed to co-create regular action plans with civil society, committing to making verifiable improvements in transparency, accountability, participation, or technology and innovation for the above. And they're held to account through an Independent ...6 days ago
- An unusual sort of press conference
Today I tuned into something strange: a press conference that didn’t make my stomach churn or the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Which was strange, because it was about the torture of children. It was the announcement by Erica Stanford — on her own, unusually ...6 days ago - This substack has talked about this government’s seeming corruption & pro-corporate issues...
This is a must watch, and puts on brilliant and practical display the implications and mechanics of fast-track law corruption and weakness.CLICK HERE: LINK TO WATCH VIDEOOur news media as it is set up is simply not equipped to deal with the brazen disinformation and corruption under this right wing ...6 days ago - NZCTU: Minister needs to listen to the evidence on engineered stone ban
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Acting Secretary Erin Polaczuk is welcoming the announcement from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden that she is opening consultation on engineered stone and is calling on her to listen to the evidence and implement a total ban of the product. “We need ...6 days ago
- Wednesday 18 December
The Government has announced a 1.5% increase in the minimum wage from 1 April 2025, well below forecast inflation of 2.5%. Unions have reacted strongly and denounced it as a real terms cut. PSA and the CTU are opposing a new round of staff cuts at WorkSafe, which they say ...6 days ago
- Can the government change its mind on the ferries?
The decision to unilaterally repudiate the contract for new Cook Strait ferries is beginning to look like one of the stupidest decisions a New Zealand government ever made. While cancelling the ferries and their associated port infrastructure may have made this year's books look good, it means higher costs later, ...6 days ago
- Notes from Afar: Will Luxon Attend Waitangi Day? And Opposition Calls Out Nicola Willis for “C...
Hi there! I’ve been overseas recently, looking after a situation with a family member. So apologies if there any less than focused posts! Vanuatu has just had a significant 7.3 earthquake. Two MFAT staff are unaccounted for with local fatalities.It’s always sad to hear of such things happening.I think of ...7 days ago - Member’s morning
Today is a special member's morning, scheduled to make up for the government's theft of member's days throughout the year. First up was the first reading of Greg Fleming's Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill, which was passed unanimously. Currently the House is debating the third reading of ...7 days ago
- Going Backwards
We're going backwardsIgnoring the realitiesGoing backwardsAre you counting all the casualties?We are not there yetWhere we need to beWe are still in debtTo our insanitiesSongwriter: Martin Gore Read more ...7 days ago - Blaming Treasury & Labour, Willis looks for even more Austerity
Willis blamed Treasury for changing its productivity assumptions and Labour’s spending increases since Covid for the worsening Budget outlook. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, December 18 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above ...7 days ago
- December-24 AT Board Meeting
Today the Auckland Transport board meet for the last time this year. For those interested (and with time to spare), you can follow along via this MS Teams link from 10am. I’ve taken a quick look through the agenda items to see what I think the most interesting aspects are. ...7 days ago
- The Making of a Mental Health Rockstar
Hi,If you’re a New Zealander — you know who Mike King is. He is the face of New Zealand’s battle against mental health problems. He can be loud and brash. He raises, and is entrusted with, a lot of cash. Last year his “I Am Hope” charity reported a revenue ...7 days ago - It could have been worse
Probably about the only consolation available from yesterday’s unveiling of the Half-Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) is that it could have been worse. Though Finance Minister Nicola Willis has tightened the screws on future government spending, she has resisted the calls from hard-line academics, fiscal purists and fiscal hawks ...7 days ago
- The Deep Divisions of Local Government
The right have a stupid saying that is only occasionally true:When is democracy not democracy? When it hasn’t been voted on.While not true in regards to branches of government such as the judiciary, it’s a philosophy that probably should apply to recently-elected local government councillors. Nevertheless, this concept seemed to ...7 days ago - Willis’ austerity strategy just isn’t working
Long story short: the Government’s austerity policy has driven the economy into a deeper and longer recession that means it will have to borrow $20 billion more over the next four years than it expected just six months ago. Treasury’s latest forecasts show the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s fiscal strategy of ...1 week ago
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On November 1, 2024 we announced the publication of 33 rebuttals based on the report "Rebutting 33 False Claims About Solar, Wind, and Electric Vehicles" written by Matthew Eisenson, Jacob Elkin, Andy Fitch, Matthew Ard, Kaya Sittinger & Samuel Lavine and published by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia ...1 week ago
- Join us for a pop-up Hoon at 5pm on HYEFU
1 week ago - ‘Ideas Worth Saving’: A Call for Papers
Some years ago, I found myself pondering the power of literature to endure. Or at least the power of some of it to endure, while the rest vanishes in mere decades: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2019/08/07/look-on-my-works-ye-mighty-and-despair-the-literary-future/. I have similarly had fun with the subject in some of my short stories, such as Another Alexandria ...1 week ago - Corrections is torturing prisoners again
In 1998, in the wake of the Paremoremo Prison riot, the Department of Corrections established the "Behaviour Management Regime". Prisoners were locked in their cells for 22 or 23 hours a day, with no fresh air, no exercise, no social contact, no entertainment, and in some cases no clothes and ...1 week ago
- HYEFU and BPS data shows New Zealand is way off track
New data released by the Treasury shows that the economic policies of this Government have made things worse in the year since they took office, said NZCTU Economist Craig Renney. “Our fiscal indicators are all heading in the wrong direction – with higher levels of debt, a higher deficit, and ...1 week ago
- “Better economic management”
At the 2023 election, National basically ran on a platform of being better economic managers. So how'd that turn out for us? In just one year, they've fucked us for two full political terms: The government's books are set to remain deeply in the red for the near term ...1 week ago
- Shameless, clueless
AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...1 week ago - Minimum wage ‘increase’ is an effective cut
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi are saying that the Government should do the right thing and deliver minimum wage increases that don’t see workers fall further behind, in response to today’s announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased by 1.5%, well short of forecast inflation. “With inflation forecast ...1 week ago
- Crazy ’bout a Sharp-dressed Man
Oh, I weptFor daysFilled my eyesWith silly tearsOh, yeaBut I don'tCare no moreI don't care ifMy eyes get soreSongwriters: Paul Rodgers / Paul Kossoff. Read more ...1 week ago - How much should you worry about a collapse of the Atlantic conveyor belt?
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob Henson In this aerial view, fingers of meltwater flow from the melting Isunnguata Sermia glacier descending from the Greenland Ice Sheet on July 11, 2024, near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the ...1 week ago
- 8% ACT Party Creates One Ring To Rule Them All
In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...1 week ago - When austerity worsens public debt & cuts GDP
Willis is expected to have to reveal the bitter fiscal fruits of her austerity strategy in the HYEFU later today. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/TheKakaMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, December 17 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast ...1 week ago
- Govt to double number of toll roads
On Friday the government announced it would double the number of toll roads in New Zealand as well as make a few other changes to how toll roads are used in the country. The real issue though is not that tolling is being used but the suggestion it will make ...1 week ago
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The Prime Minister yesterday engaged in what looked like a pre-emptive strike designed to counter what is likely to be a series of depressing economic statistics expected before the end of the week. He opened his weekly post-Cabinet press conference with a recitation of the Government’s achievements. “It certainly has ...1 week ago
- Gordon Campbell On The Coalition’s Empty Gestures, And Abortion Refusal As The New Slavery
This whooping cough story from south Auckland is a good example of the coalition government’s approach to social need – spend money on urging people to get vaccinated but only after you’ve cut the funding to where they could get vaccinated. This has been the case all year with public ...1 week ago
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Back in 2023 the New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties raised concerns about the inherent conflict of interest involved in public service agencies supporting parliamentary select committees. Our parliament is run on a shoestring, so depends on the public service for advice. But public service agencies work for Ministers, not ...1 week ago
- If There Is A God
And if there is a GodI know he likes to rockHe likes his loud guitarsHis spiders from MarsAnd if there is a GodI know he's watching meHe likes what he seesBut there's trouble on the breezeSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan Read more ...1 week ago - A Lipstick Government
Here’s a quick round up of today’s political news:1. MORE FOOD BANKS, CHARITIES, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTERS AND YOUTH SOCIAL SERVICES SET TO CLOSE OR SCALE BACK AROUND THE COUNTRY AS GOVT CUTS FUNDINGSome of Auckland's largest foodbanks are warning they may need to close or significantly reduce food parcels after ...1 week ago - NZCTU open letter to Treasury on undue restrictions on restricted briefings
Iain Rennie, CNZMSecretary and Chief Executive to the TreasuryDear Secretary, Undue restrictions on restricted briefings This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been ...1 week ago
- National’s Greatest Misses 2023-4
National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...4 days ago - Release: Minister’s plan for tertiary sector a backwards step
Returning to the model that was failing for most polytechnics and Institutes of Technology is not the answer. ...4 days ago
- Release: National buries 1019 planned homes
It’s been revealed that National has cancelled 60 percent of its housing projects planned before mid-2025 amidst housing woes. ...5 days ago
- Release: Rule-Czar bill a right-wing power grab
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...5 days ago
- Release: Why not both? Luxon shuns Waitangi celebrations
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is running away from problems of his own creation, with his decision not to go to Waitangi. ...5 days ago
- Govt’s ‘free speech’ legislation stokes fear, not freedom
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...5 days ago - Release: Nicola Willis spirals country deeper into recession
The economy shrank 1% this quarter and New Zealand has tumbled into the depths of a recession of Nicola Willis’ making. ...5 days ago
- Release: Hikes for company directors but not ordinary Kiwis
Working people are going backwards while company directors are being given huge pay hikes. ...6 days ago
- ECE no place to cut corners
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...6 days ago
- Release: Strengthening Justice Services for New Zealanders
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...7 days ago
- Release: Labour will continue fight against destructive projects
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...1 week ago
- Green Government will revoke dodgy fast-track projects
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...1 week ago
- Government for the wealthy keeps pushing austerity
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...1 week ago
- Release: Visa changes let migrant workers be paid less
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...1 week ago
- Release: Nightmare before Christmas for Nicola Willis
With more debt and a larger deficit, Nicola Willis’ reputation is in tatters after her failure to return the Government’s books to surplus. ...1 week ago
- Warning to Fast-Track Applicants – ‘Exploit the Whenua, Face the Consequences’
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...1 week ago
- Release: Govt cuts wages for lowest paid NZers… again
For the second year running, the government has effectively cut wages for the lowest paid workers in New Zealand. ...1 week ago
- Govt’s miserly 1.5% minimum wage will take workers backwards
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...1 week ago
- Release: Govt shirking responsibility for rate hikes
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...1 week ago
- Luxon’s ‘localism’ strikes again
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...1 week ago
- Release: Govt breaks promise on EV chargers
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...1 week ago
- Greens call for end to subsidies for Methanex
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...1 week ago
- Govt child poverty targets allow for increase in poverty
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Four weeks annual leave under threat
The Government’s attack on workers continues with news it is scrapping work on the Holidays Act. ...2 weeks ago
- Govt’s emissions plan for measly 1% reduction
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...2 weeks ago
- Greens stand in solidarity with Whakaata Māori on sad day
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...2 weeks ago
- Sanctions regime to create more hardship for families
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...2 weeks ago
- Govt gifts renters housing anxiety for Christmas
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: National Party urged to support modern slavery legislation
Labour is urging the Prime Minister to walk the talk and support legislation combating modern slavery. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour has lost confidence in the Speaker
The Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament made an unprecedented decision on the government amendment to the Fast Track Approvals Bill last night. ...2 weeks ago
- One year on, still no progress on new ferries
Today’s announcement from the Government on its plan for new ferries throws more uncertainty on the future of the country’s rail network. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Nicola Willis’ smaller ferries will cost more
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...2 weeks ago
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I know roads aren't fashionable at the moment.
This is the latest update on Te Ahu a Turanga the Manawatu Gorge replacement road. It has a voiceover with the construction manager.
Due for completion in a little over a year, locals, especially a lot of Ashhurst folk, will be relieved when done. Having all those trucks traipse through the village to get to the Saddle Road has been disruptive.
It must be said, there is a railway line still running through the Gorge, which barring a slip or two has been uninterrupted…
That team is doing a sterling job. In particular strong mana whenua outcomes on the project.
The fly-through gives you a sense of what a rebuild of SH1 through the Brynderwyns is going to face up to.
So his orangeness isn't asset rich, cash poor, his orangeness is broke.
/
Lawyers for former President Donald Trump admitted in a new court filing that he cannot secure a bond on his $464 million civil fraud judgment.
In a Monday court filing, Trump’s legal team wrote that “posting a full undertaking is a practical impossibility.”
The filing explains that Trump is having difficulty finding any company underwrite a bond of this size, with his lawyers stating, “The amount of the judgment, with interest, exceeds $464 million, and very few bonding companies will consider a bond of anything approaching that magnitude.”
https://www.mediaite.com/trump/breaking-trump-says-paying-465-million-fraud-bond-is-a-practical-impossibility-in-new-court-filing/
I wish I was broke if this is what it means.
I imagine that Musk, Bezos, or even Zuckerberg would find it difficult to get anyone willing to guarantee the payment of a debt that size. Perhaps Arnault could help him out.
For Trump, who has made a career out of stiffing the people he employed, it will of course be an extremely hard thing to arrange.
My heart bleeds for him.
Perhaps the bloke who, after two decades abroad working with Kremlin-adjacent mobsters and money men turned up to run tRump's 2016 campaign, for free, will help him out.
Former President Donald Trump’s team is in discussions with Paul Manafort, his 2016 campaign chairman whom he later pardoned, to potentially help with the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, three sources familiar with the ongoing conversations told CNN.
Manafort, who was one of several individuals who ran Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, was pardoned by Trump after being found guilty of several financial crimes in 2018.
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/18/politics/paul-manafort-trump-reelection/index.html
I doubt he would be much help. According to the only source I found with Google he is only worth about $10 million.
Trump really does have some great friends, doesn't he? Why am I not surprised?
The ones I picked were because they were seriously rich, Arnault being the highest at $235 billion, according to Forbes. As far as I know none of them has anything to do with Trump though. Perhaps they are too smart to go near him.
I'm sure Mr Manafort will be able to arrange a
laundromatlender of last resort to spot his orangeness the lazy half billion he needs. For a price, of course.Putin might play? Trump seems to an admirer of his. Please God, don't let Trump get back into the Oval Office. I would rather have a forgetful Biden to a mad Trump who seems to think he is running against Obama.
The only way Luxon and co can deliver tax cuts – if they don't raise GST or some other meaningful source of revenue – is going to be by massive cuts and, most likely, a shock and awe campaign of privatisation. The whole thing will come bodyguarded with a zariba of culture war distraction, a trap which a lot of the identity politics crowd will enthusiastically wade into.
Zariba! Zariba!
Pretty soon one of them will use the "N" word, I'm betting!
Which one? There's at least two which are pretty incendiary.
Yes and winnie plays his part with his calculated comments.
Tamaki keeps getting oxygen for his anti diversity law breaking behaviour …..dressed in his own gang insigna.
Willis positioning with hand wringing so private equity can continue the march key/english begun with charter schools, running down health, education, housing etc.
Nowhere near enough gets written about the hollowing out and reduction in capacity the previous nact govt indulged in.
True tc, especially their sell-off of state houses to finance tax cuts…watch this space.
Listening to this link, I get the impression that the low and middle income earners he feigns to care deeply about will have their share of the tax-cuts wiped out by new "revenue sources" and it will be leave them worse off than they are now:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/christopher-luxon-not-ruling-out-new-taxes-or-reducing-promised-tax-cuts-as-fiscal-warnings-grow-analysis-finds-39-billion-hole/72BNFCMZWFGMVF2YBAFQXXYQWU/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CWe%20are%20deeply%20committed%20to,when%20costed%20by%20Government%20officials.
On archivedotli
https://archive.li/N322k
Press conference (starts 25.30)
btw, don't read the comments
https://www.youtube.com/live/X4J4vvfD99Esi=MBTYF9uQKNPYKJxx&t=1533
Central government, i.e., this Coalition of Charlatans, will keep its ill-fated promises, especially to its core voter base. It’ll run an aggressive PR campaign to portray them as promise-keepers and saviours of our ‘doomed’ economy. At the same time there will be a running maul of steep rates increases by Local Government and deep cuts in ‘luxury’ services accompanied by an avalanche of rising costs moved progressively onto the users/consumers (aka users-pay) by the metastasising private sector. God save New Zealand.
See also https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/03/19/govt-must-find-1-5-billion-more-to-pay-for-tax-cuts/ [behind a subscription wall, for now]
The departments with big managerial strata include MBIE, NZTA, Housing. TVNZ and Health well gutted already.
When that 7% headcount cut hits, they will never ever recover back to that salary level.
How about raising the tax brackets for PAYE earners:
first $20k at 10.5%
$20k-$60k at 17.5%
$60k-$100k at 30%
$100k-$180k at 33%
+$180k at39%
How about lowering and eventually removing tax on work and place taxes on wealth and unearned income instead?
" unearned income instead?"
Financial Transaction Tax is good for that.
I cant imagine no tax being deducted from wages ever. I think we will always pay tax on wages and salaries.
only because we lack the political will to change. Why should hard work be taxed when you can let people keep all of their income from hard work and instead tax wealth and unearned income. And as someone mentioned above, a financial transactions tax on large volume transactions.
All of these things way more than make up for the loss of income tax.
A few years back a study was done and people were seriously talking about implementing a 0.1% financial transactions tax on large volume transactions. The bankers said nope.
That's not 1%, but 1/10th of 1%, or 1/1,000th of the value of each of these transactions to be taxed. The bankers couldn't even bare to be taxed that miniscule amount on transactions that have figures in the billions and even trillions.
It was estimated that such a tax would be enough to end global poverty 'overnight'
All it takes is the will to stop being owned and commanded by the 'elites'
From an interactive stuff survey
https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350211572/have-your-say-how-government-handling-cost-living-crisis
How is the Government handling the cost of living crisis?
Very well. 6 %
Well. 8 %
Okay 7 %
Poorly. 19 %
Very poorly. 54 %
Too early to tell 9%
TELLING
Planning to lay people off , to cure the cost of living crisis, economic geniuses they are not
Wrong! Shane Jones's proposed Resource Management Act rules (aka "Anything Goes") will see many new and wonderful projects get the green light.
Unemployment will disappear overnight, along with the environment.
I'm torn by the mining one,
Any one living a modern life relies on extractive industry, is it really right that we sweep that extraction under the carpet to another country?
Environmentally-friendly extractive industries on spaceship Earth – why not. But civilisation needs a sound 'just transition' path to solve the obvious problem of what to do when there's nothing left to extract – could space mining save us?
No
1. we're not even close to being able to do that
2. sustainably
3. if we were and we did it now, it would fuel capitalism and the climate/ecology crises, killing the planet.
circular economies are one solution. We don't need a new iphone every year, we need smart phones that are repairable with interchangeable parts so the bits of the dead ones can be used in keeping existing ones in good shape.
Probably some interesting programming challenges there. Has the work been done on how to upgrade iphones without replacing them? If we can send people to Mars… etc
We should be reclaiming and mining dump sites too.
What little honeymoon the COC had is over as the sheeple wake up to being shafted so the already well off can do even better.
Luxon cant sell the snake oil like the last bloke did. Good to see some in the media going in hard …..doing their jobs finally as they face the prospect of no job.
Now VERY POORLY IS 59%
What this tells me is that if Labour dump Hipkins (he is forever tainted by the bad election loss) and put in a new leader, the Left can win in 2026.
Who would you suggest as leader?
Parker…
Serious times need a serious/intelligent leader..
Parker has both..in spades…
..(..and he will get a geeky nickname..and probably won't do dog videos..)
Surely you jest? His last leadership bid didn't go so well. Parker is probably due to retire later this year. Can you see the average voter turning back to Labour if Chippy was gone and Parker was leader?
After the chaos this regime will create….yes..the mood will be for someone like him…
But if as you say he is retiring..my points are pointless..
Jimmy says "probably…"
Stay true, Phil 🙂
David Parker is da bomb.
Noted..
I thought as most people you would go with McNulty. Although Ginny Anderson or Carmel Sepuloni could be possibilities.
As mentioned above, I only think Parker may retire as he is surely nearing the end of his career and he didn't seem too happy with Hipkins reversing many policies. As mentioned he is not really an "exciting" person and thus the accountant comment!
Says it all – "Chippie" is a really dumb nickname for a leader who ought to be serious.
It is a nickname his school chums gave him and it has stuck to him ever since. It has nothing to do with carpentry although I gather it is a hobby of his. Nothing wrong with the nickname and it is used with affection.
McAnulty.
Speaks with a familiar vernacular.
Not a career politician.
Appears to be a little closer or relatable to the average worker.
Feels like he is in 'my corner'.
From the provinces.
I would agree that McAnulty is the best of the current bunch in gaining traction with 'ordinary' voters. Before his spectacular feat of self-destruction, I'd have said Michael Wood was a strong contender.
Parker has all the charm and relatability of an accountant (apologies to any accountants in the room).
I can see him as the money man – much as Roger Douglas, equally charm deficient, was to Lange (i.e. running the show behind the scenes) – but not as a leader.
That's not to say that there isn't a new Labour leader who's not currently in Parliament.
It was fascinating to hear our (putative) Prime Minister bothsiding his (putative) deputy's remarks and calling for a return to civility in politics on RNZ National this morning.
Yet again, the right has proven itself to be incredibly thin skinned by getting all in a pother and manufacturing boatloads of faux outrage about being booed by a bunch of schoolchildren or getting called "dictatorial" when they ride roughshod over proper constitutional process.
Somehow, Luxon tried to make an argument that this cancels out Winston Peters calling co-governance Nazism. Because, of course, the two are morally equivalent.
How very much like National. When in power: insist on deference by the plebs. When in opposition: say whatever the fuck you like because that's just robust politics.
My thoughts too. Tries to lay the blame at the feet of the Opposition parties for Winston’s outburst. His tactics are so transparent. But I guess there's plenty of gullible folk around who fall for it.
Well said indeed Res.
Winston Peters has always been racist, but since the 2020 election in a bid to deprive A.C.T. of votes – Winston genuinely dislikes Seymour – he has gone full racist in ways that those who have followed his career for the duration he has been in politics whould be shocked by. The Nazi-era Germany comparison might be the lowest yet, but it is just the latest.
Is the "N" word out of reach? One would hope so. But if he has sunk this low, I wouldn't put the bank on it.
I attempted to watch Question time for the first time in a few years. It elicited the reaction of hysterical laughter alternating with nausea and dry retching. Is this normal?
I suspect you may have been disappointed if you did watch. It was a disappointing display all round from the opposition MPs. Labours new finance spokesperson in particular looked completely at sea.
I thought hipkins did ok..
Genter gets the most bored face award..during her co-leaders speech in praise of kiri te kanawa..
The mad-dog award goes to the act mp sitting behind/to the right of hoggard..he provides much humour..with his over-acting/snarling-antics..
..he has that angry old thin man..about to explode..vibe about him..
..I have him bookmarked as worthy of watching..
..and I noted that (the other) act mps don't smile..they smirk..
..they veer between faux-outrage…and that group smirk..
Lux-on repeated his deep concerns about low-paid nz'ers..
..if you didn't know he was talking absolute shite..you'd think he cared..
..he also repeated how he really didn't want to make the children of difficult tenants at kaianga ora…homeless..but he was going to…but he really really didn't want to..
..and that earned him today's big-whopper award…
..and he clearly doesn't like speaking maari-words..
..so he sez 'kay-ay'…eh..?
Oh good, I wasn't over-reacting then
Heve a joint before you watch..
.. it'll up your laughter quota..
I forgot the farcical-answer award..that the police minister romped away with..
He stood up and boasted about some raids where a phone number of plants were destroyed..
He went on to claim the destruction of these cannabis plants prevented many squillion dollars worth of harm to society..
W.t.f. has he been smoking..?
Could someone take him aside and tell him that cannabis is a prescribed medicine for many/for many needs..
And that the only reason it is not fully legal..
..is down to the gutlessness of the two major parties..
Very glad you watched it for me, Phillip 🙂
I lasted (somehow) the length of Q1. Luxon and his masterclass on how not to answer a question and how much he cared about me (a renter). That would explain the retching reaction…
The thing with luxon is that all of his expressed concerns…
..are faux-concerns..
..and yes..his concerns for renters does take the cake..can be nausea inducing..
I want a journalist to ask him how much the rents have gone up over the past few years..on his mortgage-free rental portfolio..
I am actually surprised no journalist has already had the wit/intelligence to ask that question..
An aspect of luxon I find quite fascinating…is how you know that pretty much everything he sez..is a big fat stinking lie..
..and it is so obvious…
… is down to the sucking up to the drug companies and Big Pharma.
"The mad-dog award goes to the act mp sitting behind/to the right of hoggard..he provides much humour..with his over-acting/snarling-antics..
..he has that angry old thin man..about to explode..vibe about him.."
Yes.
Hoggard? Oh my Goddard!!!!
No, Rose. The Opposition questions were fair and reasonable. The "answers"??
Watch what Luxon did and listen to what he didn't say.
And weep.
That was extremely painful to watch. How is this sort of behaviour even allowed???
SNA – this needs a post, weka!
Have you heard what they've done???
didn't NACTF policy get stopped because it was unlawful? I haven't been following closely. Would you like to do a post? I can cross post if you find something good online too (with permission).
The brief interview in this RNZ article shows the malice of this Government's actions. It is unfathomable that funding for people with disabilities cannot now be used to assist them in accessing various regular activities which require transport with caregivers, or for caregiver transport and accommodation support when disabled people are away from home.
What sort of people would have devised such a cruel strategy to save the Government money, presumably to help fund the unnecessary, inequitable, unaffordable tax cuts? As the finance minister, Nicola Willis should be confronted with explaining this decision.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/middayreport/audio/2018930729/shock-over-changes-to disability-funding
"Shock over changes to disability funding
Parents and whānau of people with disabilities are in shock and extremely disappointed by sudden limitations to funding – stopping people from using it for transport, food or accommodation for support workers.
The department issued the new rules on Monday, surprising the disability community without consultation or warning.
The Ministry says the funding is not being cut, but what it can be spent on has been cut significantly.
Ian Perry's son is in a electric wheelchair and has significant disabilities.
Perry spoke to Charlotte Cook".
It's quite simple. Traditionally, people reliant on these services don't vote for the Right. So there's no votes to be lost.
Plus, we're up against a bunch of sociopaths. What else can you call people who can deliberately cause so much harm to so many people without batting and eyelid, and still sleep at night?
I can't quite believe what is coming out of the Disability Minister's mouth. It's like they just aren't even pretending to care now.
I'll revise that. I've just watched the press conference (rather than reading the news articles). I think she does care to an extent. But she just doesn't know what she is doing, she's making mistakes, now blaming the Ministry and previous government, and ultimately is obfuscating about it not being a funding cut. Still very bad.
Full press conference in the hall is here.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/03/19/minister-takes-aim-at-pedicures-for-carers-in-disability-funds-row/
Yes I wouldn't rely on the media re what they say about the coalition. They have been unrelenting in their attacks on the coalition right from after election night.
They come across as people who can't believe a solid majority voted for the coalition and their majority in the polls remain stable
"a solid majority voted for the coalition"
Not possible.
People vote for a party and a candidate, not a "coalition".
This sick-mix is nobody's choice.
This has galvanised the disability community profoundly.
There's been petitions, emails, letters, meetings, questioning the government and the activist groups & political parties are acting now.
This will be one of the factors for a new social movement and we must start now.
The iron is hot and we are the sword and the heat.
Rolling-on-Gravel, this is like a dystopian nightmare. So an uprising of rage is called for.
Is Winston Peters playing Goebbel's role? Propaganda Chief? Giving the reason for the 'removal of rights?" regarding "things Maori"
Even that does not explain the "cuts to school lunch funding or changes to access for disability funding, plus removal of housing as a primary need."
This coalition is removing "wellbeing" from their brief and putting "austerity" in as their answer,
They have a victorian workhouse view, or even the Nazi view "work will set you free" meanwhile they starve the worker.
That is an extreme view of what is happening
…. but dystopian means as bad as it can get. What horrors await in Willis' first Budget?
Are they using the money saved to
1.upgrade the homes to fully service the needs of those confined to them?
2.increase incomes to super levels (and free rather than half fare on the CSC public transport)?
According to Nine to Noon this morning – CEO Paula Tesoriero – the money 'saved' will be going to funding the physical equipment and house modifications [I don't know if that's true, but that's what she said]
It was hard to get a straight answer from her – but it sounded like the discretionary spending part of the budget blew out in December – and they put it down to Christmas and holidays – but the numbers kept climbing in the new year – rather than dropping down to previous levels.
Consequently, they had to pause/cap the expenditure, or risk not being able to pay for the physical accommodations outlined above.
She, notably, didn't give a good answer about why they need to spend millions with 3rd party contractors, in order to administer the funding to disabled people.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018930874/ministry-apologises-as-10-000-sign-petition-over-disability-funding-changes