Australia is ignoring climate change, by continuing to support mining. Coal fired power stations and coal for China.
There will be even more fires next summer.
Sabine 1.1
19 May 2019 at 7:35 am
honestly at this point we can assume that everyone is ignoring climate change……
Not everyone.
The real victory has been for someone prepared to go out in front on this issue.
“We have a new beginning for our environment. I will be a climate leader for you.”
Zali Steggall
As I have said before, climate change will become the deciding issue in all elections. There is no middle ground on this issue. Those who spend their time looking for this middle ground are wasting their time.
The issue is money, or the environment.
Speaking of the role that climate change played in the overall Liberal Party victory Tony Abbot, in his own unique way, admits to the Liberals failing morally, but succeeding financially.
“Where climate change is a moral issue, we Liberals do it tough. But where climate change is an economic issue, as a result, tonight shows we do very, very well.
when we the people stop looking for a leader and just start marching then we maybe have a chance.
But i 'will' be a leader……damn it who ever this person is, why aren't you leading already.
We have had decades of lipservice and i personally look at these people and all i see is someone who would not pass a KPI meeting at McDo but c an sprout platitudes and thus we are to elect them to parliament cause they say what some want to hear.
if climate chance by now is not an issue then this planet is fucked already. It should have been an issue several decades ago.
No people need to start leading themselves and then maybe the highly paid do nothing crowd in suits and taxpayer paid limousines will start doing something at last.
In a small way, the Greenpeace protest on the steps of parliament against the issuing of oil exploration permits, caused the Prime Minister to step aside in going to her scheduled meeting with the Indonesian Ambassador, to announce to the protesters that she would allow no new permits to be issued.
In a big way, the massive grass roots protests against nuclear ships gave us the leadership to ban them.
As of yet, we have not seen this sort of protest movement around climate change, but we may.
If we build the movement, if we keep the pressure up, just as they have in the past, our leaders will rise to the occasion.
well the mass movement better start now cause we are already late.
and for me the change will not come so as long as pulling boats up and down the country is still considered acceptable. I use the boat example as to me it is simply wasteful without purpose but cause havoc to the environment in so many ways and it happens without fault every weekend.
but some like to wait others don't. But the one thing i never expect is a politician to lead. They don't ever lead. They only ever follow – and even then only kicking and screaming and this is the same for the larger population, Oz and US a shining example.
. .
"But the one thing i never expect is a politician to lead. They don't ever lead. They only ever follow."
I agree with that as a generalisation, but there are exceptions. Parliament voted in favour of Sue Bradford's 'anti-smacking' bill (by 113 votes to 8), and ignored the result of a subsequent citizens-iniated referendum that aimed to overturn the legislation. Angela Merkel's decision to accept large numbers of Syrian refugees might be another exception – you will have a better idea than me of whether that is an appropriate example.
But you’re right, of course. In a democracy it's very difficult for the Government to take the lead on programmes that are unpopular, however necessary they might be. China’s ‘one child policy’ would never fly in India.
Germany has been accepting refugees for a long time now, I grew up in a very provincial town in bavaria with kurds, iranians, palestinians, vietnamese, chinese, south africans, syrians, iraquis to just name one. In this town you can get some excellent ethnic food btw. In saying that this will change. My generation will probably be the end of the World War 2 residue that feels that we might should be generous to others lest we allow a repeat of history, and we already did with the crimes against the muslim population in ex Yugoslavia. We stood by and did fuck all.
What she did was to prevent a disaster that would otherwise have happened with people illegally entering the country and it costing more to the tax payer then allowing people in in an orderly fashion and being able to weed out those that might not be genuine.
As for the 'anti smacking' law, i was here in the country and could not believe the brouhaha about it, seriously. I mean it is the least of things to do to not beat your children to death or into submission and that a law was needed for that kind of surprised me. What did not surprise me was the reaction of the Women and children are chattle crowd that insist in its right to 'train' their children as they see fit.
And to finish, where is Sue Bradford now? ( i know as i follow her on FB).
The left lost another sitter again in Australia as it did in the UK and United States over the last 3 years and yet there is still zero critical examining of our own out of it'ness and why people just can't elect left wing governments, instead electing to blame everyone and everything else for our own shortcomings.
Sabine 1.3.2
19 May 2019 at 8:12 am
But we must not be smug. We have thousands upon thousands of low order Flat Earthers and Zilch Climate hobos. Headed by Tauranga currently…..
Ironic then, that Tauranga is in the cross hairs of climate change, as the New Zealand city most likely to be flattened by an extreme weather event, before the turn of the century.
James, what is the margarine covered milk toast aka Mr. NO Bridges for Northland doing?
Oh helping to create a christian support party?
me thinks you protest much but support a party that is has no mates and does fuck all all day other then collect wages and drives around in taxpayer funded limousines.
or as John Raulston Saul (unconscious civilization ) puts it.
“The neo-conservatives, who are closely linked to the neo-corporatists, are rather different. They claim to be conservatives, when everything they stand for is a rejection of conservatism. They claim to present an alternate social model, when they are little more than the courtiers of the corporatist movement. Their agitation is filled with the bitterness and cynicism typical of courtiers who scramble for crumbs at the banquet tables of real power, but are always denied a proper chair.”
@Sabine I'm not sure who you're replying to there, but you are aware that for most of us, that heating allowance is swallowed straight up into the rent. In the rare circumstances where one's rent isn't more that one's entire core benefit, eg those in State Housing, the extra few dollars a week for a few months a year gets earmarked for little luxuries like medications, necessary toiletries, food, money on the bus card, that sort of thing.
So while of course it's better than nothing it's a token political gesture by a government that historically has already proven it has no concern about the well being of beneficiaries, it only pretends to. And rest assured, the SECOND the other crowd get back in, the heating allowance (at least for beneficiaries- it'll be too politically difficult for them to take it off the oldies) will be the first thing they scrap.
i don't care if if if………. my friends gets 20$ heating allowance. That is twenty dollars that other wise she would not have. It can go to rent, food, heating. She is still getting it.
Her doctor visits are now 18 rather then 35. She needs to see a doctor often. the difference goes to food, rent, or heating, or toiletries. her choice.
the fact is that any country only has so much money, that money comes from the working population, small businesses ( and only small businesses as our large businesses don't pay taxes or get money shoveled up their arses to bail them out when they fuck up – be they insurance companies or dairy milk extractors).
So unless our government grows some spines and guts, and our population does the same you will always have the issue that there is only so much money to go around, and sadly our government has not got guts, and our population does not have guts either, or we would demand better not by hitting the streets but by opting out of the bullshit.
My staff got a pay increase, not because they is doing better, not because i am doing better but because the government legislates it. and while i am happy for people to earn more money, at some stage i will look at my earnings and stop working, go on the dole as will my staff…….great ey?
So you might actually just for a moment ask yourself who should pay for all that stuff that you would like to distribute and come up with a good plan cause the current lot as much as the last lot have got no plans.
And this is why we can't have nice things. And this is why we have poor people.
Because we don't want to tax businesses, we don't want a CGT we don't want to rock the boat.
Laslty, i did not vote for Labour, as i saw no reason to vote for National light. I wasted my vote on the Greens to get no gummibears. Next time i will be voting for Legalise Aotearoa, as they are the only party that actually has prison reform in mind, will allow for people to use the herb for medicinal reasons without having to debase themselves before Chloe Swarbrook or people like Peter Fucking Dunne, and they will create jobs and raise the tax revenue, and maybe then, beneficiaries can have an increase in their weekly payments.
Sabine, you are aware there has not been any real increase to the core benefit rates for over 2 decades now? Perhaps $1-2 a week every April 1st depending on the rate of inflation. In fact, for 3 years in a row recently we got exactly 0c. The largest increase has been a whole $5 a week that came with Bill's GST rise, he still thinks that was more than enough to compensate us for the price of everything going up by 2.5%. And everyone wonders why the MSD budget is blowing out on emergency hardship grants and Temporary Additional Support that is meant to be short term but so many of us now have to claim long term just to get by.
Now let's also look at this from the general economy perspective. EVERY cent a beneficiary receives goes straight back into the economy. No Kiwisaver, no savings for an emergency. Landlords, power and telcos, transport companies, medical costs,supermarkets. And of course, 15% tax back via GST which is promptly recycled back into next weeks benefit. Plus, don't forget that for whatever reason, benefits are taxed, and what we get is net. And no, we don't get a refund. No idea how that works, but we are taxpayers too. Many beneficiaries also work part-time and are paying tax. It's a giant money go round.
I once again bring up the basic cost/benefit consequences- why are our politicians- and by extension voters- so happy to keep us on starvation rations "because there isn't enough money" but somehow there's always enough money for the logical consequences of poverty, ie increased hospitalisations and costs to the criminal justice system?
Back before our income slid so far backwards vs cost of living I could meet with a friend weekly at a cafe for a coffee, maybe something to eat. You know, a bit of normal life, but also support a local business. That stopped happening a long time ago. Multiply that small loss of business by many of us, and small business can- and do- go out of business. A coffee from McDonalds is much cheaper.
I totally agree, we need a government that will grow a spine and get some guts but it's not going to happen. Our population is now so indoctrinated into believing we a) have a cushy lifestyle at their personal expense and b) we're all a bunch of lazy drug-addled scroungers, even sick and disabled and get a job. 30 years of divide and conquer has been highly successful.
Thanks for your insightful input, Kay. To a large extent you're dead right.
However, I disagree voters by and large support the status quo. Labour and the Greens both campaigned on poverty and fiscal management (pointing at the cost/benefit consequences you rightly highlighted) which a number on the right also acknowledge, thus understand the need for change.
Additionally, if Labour did now what they have implied they plan to later do, we'd be on a far better path to achieving that change.
Therefore, it's not voters that are holding them back. I believe the public support for change is there. It's our representation that is falling short and continually letting us down.
A lot of traditional Labour supporters are losing faith due to Labour's continuing failure to deliver.
The way Bryan Bruce has been talking of late, I wouldn't be too surprised if there was a hard hitting documentary coming soon holding Jacinda to account.
When deplomacy and war is unwise then a third option must be made available. We need a change in mindset from preventing climate change to managing the risks and risk arbitrage.
In in my opinion 3 key technologies will be vital in maintaining New Zealand's population with in 5 million to 10 million people. 1) is energy policy, 2) is communications technology and 3) transport technology. Research into new and advanced ultra light materials such as nano technology is rather slow so I doubt the chances of a revolutionary technology arriving in time to curb the 6th extinction event will materialise by the end of the century. So we have to swap out the motor pool and drive hard towards wind and solar farms while at the same time processing climate refuges while living with in population limits.
To be perfectly honest Sam you are coming up with some good points, and we can add them to the ones churning round in the concrete mixer. We do need to keep the contents on the move so they don't settle into a hard to shift lump. But what about some steps to lighten the load?
Research into new and advanced ultra light materials such as nano technology is rather slow so I doubt the chances of a revolutionary technology arriving in time to curb the 6th extinction event will materialise
No use relying on every new technology. In a world where people are finding micro plastics at depths of thousands of feet in the ocean, adding nano technology bits is going to kill off even further animals. Think again.
When deplomacy and war is unwise then a third option must be made available. We need a change in mindset from preventing climate change to managing the risks and risk arbitrage.
In my opinion 3 key technologies will be vital in maintaining New Zealand's population with in 5 million to 10 million people.
Then you say at 2.10pm: To be perfectly honest I don’t care what level New Zealand’s population is stable at.
Why don't you come up with one doable small step to make things better instead of fretting about the big stuff. Tell us and then say how you are going to go about it. We don't need any more Nostrodamus prognostications, we need helpful, kindly action good for all. 'That's your mission Sam should you choose to accept it.'
Its arguable that the fetus is apart of the woman so her choice really. I really couldn't careless what normal people get upto in there own time. I'v done more services to society and humanity. I'm perfectly fine with giving New Zealand my prime years from 25-35 and I'm fine with going down the other side on my own time.
Some fair enough points there Chairman, with one quibble.
"fiscal management (pointing at the cost/benefit consequences you rightly highlighted) which a number on the right also acknowledge, thus understand the need for change"
There is no real change in fiscal management proposed. Or even 'implied'. Just some swapping deck chairs on the Titanic.
All our Political Parties believe in Austerity Budgets.
Sorry, 'Fiscal Responsibility.
Yet as far as I know there has never been a radical change of direction and improvement in societal outcomes for all, without increased spending.
Our leaders have sold this concept to most voters under the guise of 'Household Budget Balancing'. Which is ironic in a nation addicted to household dept through Mortgages.
Also hilarious, as any home owner should know, to claim 'surpluses' by not maintaining the property let fixing any problems before they get out of hand.
“Laslty, i did not vote for Labour, as i saw no reason to vote for National light”
How about voting for NZ First then?
I opted tom vote for NZ First also as they are more gutsy and ready to introduce things like using the “reserve bank act” to print money, to do the same as all our big economic trading partners are?
So by printing money to restore our “esssential infrustructure” makes prefect sense as Michael Joseph Savage did this post depression in 1937 as that is a better plan then just instead of selling our last public assets as is still happening all over this country now.
nope. they are not gutsy, see CGT and Weed, not even a little
these are two issues here in NZ that would have been fairly easy if anyone currently in government were actually concerned with bettering society rather then passing the KPI meeting at the election boot for another few years of grift.
The one is that we don't want to take from the rich to to give to the poor.
The second we have no issue locking our young, our maori/pacifica population, our men up for something to silly as weed, all the while meth is wreaking havoc and people are dying of synthetic weed – thanks Peter fucking Dunne.
So i fail to see where they have guts.
We need to get our prisons empty of people that actually do not 'crime'. I don't consider growing / possesing /using weed as a crime. but we not only here – but all over the civilised world cause tremendous harm with our stupid 'war on drugs/brown people' bullshit and do nothing and to boot we pay for the misery we cause. Billions of dollars to lock humans up in chicken cages with no way out once released.
The money that we would save ….i mean think of it. At least half of our prisons would be empty, records could be cleaned up allowing a lot of men and women a chance to live life again properly, have careers, travel etc.
But no. That would be going to far for the sensibilitys of some who would never ever go to prison if caught snorting cocaine of the backbench.
CGT, we need to raise revenue to pay for stuff. But not like this. No surely there must be ways we can raise money from those that don't own houses and farms and businesses. Right? sure, Yeah, Tui.
no guts, no glory, but hey they have jobs, get decent salaries and as James told me today we even pay for their drivers of the government issued limousines. Maybe there we could save some money, but then the dears in expensive suits n shoes would have to take their own car or gasp take the train, what would the world come to it if we had a government with guts rather then just 'feelgood' papers that amount to nothing.
i just point out that despite all their faults they did a few things, and in the case of my friends it helped.
that does not say its ok.
but as i stated above, we need to come up with better plans than just distributing money that we take from others.
one thing would be free healthcare so that instead of offering emergency care we start offering preventive care and thus reduce costs.
At some stage someone has to do the math, and no i don't expet either National or Labor to do so. Cause the money – unless we start printing it – needs to come from somewhere and currently its the few that work and small to medium sized businesses that carry the burden.
So what are your plans to increase the welfare for people? From whom would you take the money to distribute to the poor? And please consider that Labour is not going to to a CGT. And they are not going to decrim Weed to create a new agri business and revenue stream.
So please one of you who constantly cries about how stuff ain't enough, please tell me where you are going to take the money from, and then tell me what the chances are that anyone at Labour/Greens/NZFirst had/has/and will have the guts, spine to push it through.
Cause i – a cheap house homeowner, was all for the CGT.
Theres the ever question, seldom answered……There are two responses to that I believe. First, the wherewithal must largely come from where its available (those with excess) and the second response is as you note, the will/ability lacks to implement it and not just from the politicians.
When Little was leading the party, he pointed to the $20 billion military spend as a revenue source. Now we have Jacinda and all of a sudden there is no more money.
Additionally, there was no need for her to totally drop the CGT. She could have put it to referendum.
assure me then that that extra top up will improve the conditions of New Zealand's most vulnerable and won't just go into subsidising the capitalists lifestyle.
It is largely agreed upon direct government transfers is the best way to improve the conditions of the most vulnerable.
Some will be just coping with those costs you mentioned, thus anything more will be of assistance. Others are living rough (in cars etc) so course more money will be of assistance.
Well I'm not entirely sure even if we doubled benefits that that would significantly reduce the number of people living in cars.
Just fundamental for every unit of wealth there is at least one unit of inequality that everyone is willing to put up with, and neither can be zero. So my fear is that any increase in benefits will cause extra digits of inequality and Iv got Thomas Picketys book of research, Capital in The 21st Centruy to back up my claim.
Im not arguing that we shouldn't subsidise low wage work ect because I think we should. I just want to insure that we end subsidies to the already wealthy as well.
Cutting elsewhere in the budget is largely irrelevant. The question is if bulstering beneficiaries budgets pushes the economy over a major inflation threshold (e.g beneficiaries buying up so much stuff that price rationing kicks in). That seems vanishingly unlikely so the government doesn't need to consider its budget position and a trade off for this decision.
Of course this kind of budget focused decision making is exactly what is holding back left wing politics. Primarily by causing it to not deliver on election promises time and time again.
Rockland County, NY has just banned unvaccinated children from any public place (schools, churches, supermarkets, playgrounds….even walking down the street) for 30 days to either try and get ahead of the measles outbreak or coerce vaccination. This is much more extensive than the Seattle which has only banned the unvaccinated from schools.
It is entirely predictable that the full public ban will be extended elsewhere, possibly indefinitely.
in the time of my youth, children with measels / rubella/ mumps etc and such were kept at home for 3+ weeks.
They were quaranteed at home to prevent outbreaks, or issues for non vaccinated people and pregnant mothers.
So yeah, don't vaccinate you kid if you don't believe in it for religious reasons, or because the science scares you or what ever. But keep these kids at home. I don't understand what is so hard about that.
And in saying that, and i guess many that work in open plan offices that live through 5+ month of constant cold/flu going around because some workers choose to go to work sick, stay at home for at least three days. Sorry if you can't afford it, but maybe just maybe your co-worker who is not yet sick can't afford it either.
In NZ if you run a food business and you or your staff have the runs longer for 24 hours you are forced to stay at home, you have to list that in a diary (food control plan) and come inspection time you actually have to produce that to the council person.
Now why can't we expect that of people who don't vaccinated their kids or themselves?
Two bimbos, a pompous ass and a cowardly "humanitarian consultant". These people are representative of New Zealand journalism?!?!?!?
Just a few weeks after the dissenting journalist and free speech hero Julian Assange was forcefully dragged out of his place of asylum by British police, World Press Freedom Day was "celebrated" in Wellington earlier this month with a farcical event organized by the….(wait for it!!)…. British High Commission.
Of course, New Zealand has many fine, decent, and brilliant journalists, politicians and academics. In spite of that fact, the British High Commission managed, with uncanny precision, to unearth the four worst people it could find in Wellington on that day.
Anyway, for any masochists out there who want to watch this frightful performance, here's a brief rundown of the five worthies on your screen….
On the LEFT is Nicola Young, one of the less distinguished National (i.e. Tory) MPs in this country. Her father, whose seat she inherited, was one of the less distinguished National MPs of the 1970s.
SECOND FROM LEFT is Tova O'Brien, an undistinguished "political correspondent" who in several years of anodyne television appearances—I can't in all conscience call it reporting— has revealed only that she doesn't know much at all about politics either here or overseas. Note that her only response to the challenge of the young woman here is a winsome giggle.
In the MIDDLE is the British High Commissioner Laura Clarke, who is without question the alpha male in this building. She exudes born-to-rule ascendancy, and the Kiwis on either side of her are in her thrall. She seems amused at Julian Assange's mistreatment.
Squatting SECOND FROM RIGHT is a waste of space called Richard Harman, who is notorious in this country for the curmudgeonly expression on his face as he delivers his pompous and deeply reactionary views. Harman has been a figure of fun since election night 1981, when he was humiliated live on air by the Labour Party leader Bill Rowling. In this clip, it's Harman who cites that eminent scholar and unimpeachable authority Luke Harding. (Tova O'Brien no doubt has not even heard of Harding.)
On the RIGHT is one Dr Andrew Ladley, billed grandly as a "humanitarian consultant" and "public lawyer." Oddly, he has nothing at all to say, but nods his head in agreement as Harman cites the "work" of Luke Harding.
Oh Morrissey You are so scathing. I suspect all these people deserve such an honest and unbiased report on their work and background. Are you sure you are justified in letting them have both barrels like this?
Not scathing, Mr Shark, accurate. I don't like having to point out that Richard Harman is a scoundrel and a liar, and that Andrew Ladley is a head-nodding coward, but they are facts.
Thanks for that link Morrissey, that is a very similar point I was (probably unsuccessfully no doubt) to make on Incognito's piece today 'Hate Speech Is an Evitable Evil', how can anyone really expect civil discourse to ever reign on the internet, when the establishment MSM itself is totally mired in it's own world half truths, lies and disinformation and the purveyors are so well rewarded? …when has Kim Hill ever let a counter narrative to Luke Harding have time on her show about Trump/Russia? or why hasn't she had Harding back on her show to explain what a bunch of bullshit his book ' Collusion ' turned out to be…it will never happen, so division and mistrust are further entrenched, and all the time enabled by a dysfunctional media, both here at home and abroad.
Paul Brennan's a decent sort of fella as well I have to say. I quite like it when the locums are in (Kim Hill on MR; Lynne Freeman on N2N; and elsewhere – just for a change in style)
They should play swapsies a little more often
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
OwT Yes there are good people in RadioNZ and good to hear them in different places FTTT. Ones i don't like I am probably rather biased.
Do you have any feelings about Nicole McCarthy that you would like to share? Also I think that the afternoon guy Jesse Mulligan is pretty good. Do you know what Simon Mercep is doing now – he seemed to have been dumped unceremoniously and irrationally. What was the story do you know?
Gosh Morrissey I don't know that I can accept your review of Mr Mulligan, except that you are often dismal and ignorant yourself so would be a good judge of that in others.
Really? When I start saying things like "some guy called John Philip Sousa" and "Sometimes when I read this stuff I get the sense that Russia are L-L-L-LOOKIN’ for trouble, are L-L-L-LOOKIN’ to create tension with the U.S.", your charge will have some merit.
JIM MORA: That song sounds like “Burning Bridges”. JESSE MULLIGAN: Never heard of it.
…Stunned silence….
JIM MORA: From the movie Kelly’s Heroes. JESSE MULLIGAN: Nope. ZARA POTTS: I’ve never heard of it either. JESSE MULLIGAN: When did it come out?
Jim Mora, Mike Hoskin, I love Putin and Assange, Shapiro…is an idiot, blah blah bloody blah, we get it Moz can you stop please now Its like a fkn broken record I don’t think we are holding out for your daily appraisal of news personalities, media outlets and commentators
bewildered: “I love Putin”, do I? And why have you connected Assange and Putin, as though they are a pair?
Gabby: Sixth formers read insatiably—at least I did. I doubt that Jesse Mulligan did, or does now.
greywarshark: Don't worry, my friend, I've never seen it either. The problem in Mulligan's case was that he had not HEARD of it, just like he had never encountered the name of J.P. Sousa.
All I know is we have a public broadcaster that's struggling, and that there seems to be a few in there decision makers) that are buying into the cult of personality, of demographic targeting and audience share. It's not what PB should be about.
(Incidentally – today's Media Watch, and the benefits of having staff representation on the Board – not a bad idea)
It also seems there's been an intake of cadets lately – including on the technical side of things, and some decisions I think that have been a bit weird (like alex behan's departure from Music101.
Other than that – people have their good days and their bad days.
(I haven't yet read Morrisey's links but I'd not be surprised if they linked to suggestions of plagiarism and/or pretentiousness).
Noel (for me) is increasingly tolerable, Jesse so-so (until the next time he claims 'old school status' and keeps the I I I me me me to a minimum)
I haven't yet read Morrisey's links but I'd not be surprised if they linked to suggestions of plagiarism and/or pretentiousness.
Read 'em, Tim! I don't think you'll find Noelle McCarthy tolerable at all, unless you think—like some on this board—that it's acceptable to laugh at the suffering of political prisoners, and to deride people like Vanessa Redgrave and Roger Waters for speaking up for the victims of mass murder.
For the first time in state history, this week a Texas House committee held a public hearing on a bill that would allow criminal prosecution of women for their abortions.
The bill currently makes all abortions a crime, with no exceptions. Prosecutors could even bring the charge of homicide for abortions, a crime that in Texas could carry a sentence of the death penalty.
State Rep. Tony Tinderholt, a Republican, first introduced the bill in 2017, and again this year. The bill has many legislative hurdles to clear before becoming law, but this week's hearing marked the most progress yet by Tinderholt's proposal.
In a letter sent Friday to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Kim Song — Pyongyang’s permanent representative at the UN — said the incident was “an unlawful and outrageous act”, according to North Korea’s state news agency KCNA.
“This act of dispossession has clearly indicated that the United States is indeed a gangster country that does not care at all about international laws,” the letter said.
That article was interesting reading. Lots of revelation but little detail and even less attribution of source. So National's leak has now verging on complete structural collapse of the containment vessel.
But a soimon sponsored hiving off an evangelical off shoot party seems likely, since he's from that background.
How it's going to go down with the rest of the Party and the electorate could be another matter.
That incendiary comment by Ngaro will embolden a (hopefully) small minority in NZ.
What can we logically infer about National list MP Ngaro's opinion of those who facilitate or have had an abortion? Make no mistake, given the means this guy would be ‘fast following’ the Alabama legislature like a rat up a drainpipe.
(Have we a reasonable population strategy now in 2019.)
New Zealand has no clearly articulated population strategy: we do not know how big a population we want, or why and how to manage migration to get there….
We are also addicted to population growth to pay for unfunded fiscal promises like universal health and super that cannot be paid for with a dwindling pool of taxpayers.
On google under Population control in New Zealand the items soon pass onto tahr and rabbit control. It seems there is not a lively discussion on it.
Scoop shows a good item on population in NZ, 7 Feb 2019 from Stats NZ. It refers to change in defining migration numbers.
The latest provisional estimate of annual migration in the year ended November 2018 was 43,400, plus or minus 1,500. This was the first official release of estimates using the ‘outcomes-based’ measure, which replaces the previous ‘intentions-based’ method of measuring migration, which it has replaced (see Net migration trending down).
"In today’s world, such rhetoric seems beyond belief. Yet the consumer spree carries on regardless, and few of us are aware that we’re still willing slaves to a completely artificial injunction to consume, and to define ourselves by what we consume."
The real winner of the Australian elections was BAU on the climate.
Scott Morrison finds the fabled 'middle ground' on climate change.
"He was able to straddle the Queensland pro-coal folk and also those who are a bit more for renewables and the like. He locked in the base, but the more progressive elements didn't see him as King Canute in the way [former prime minister Tony] Abbott was."
But there is no middle ground on climate change. Scott Morrison policy on climate change is really business as usual.
But unfortunately business as usual on the climate is not tenable in Australia, which is posited by scientists to be one of the worst hit of all countries.
What this means, is that the instability in Australian politics will continue, and Scott Morrison's tenure as Australia's Prime Minister is likely to be very short.
The first real crisis for Morrison's administration will be over Adani, just as it would have been for a Bill Shorten administration. Because Labor just like the liberals were pretty much in support of this mega coal mine project.
The real winner of the Australian elections was BAU on the climate.
Scott Morrison finds the fabled 'middle ground' on climate change.
"He was able to straddle the Queensland pro-coal folk and also those who are a bit more for renewables and the like. He locked in the base, but the more progressive elements didn't see him as King Canute in the way [former prime minister Tony] Abbott was."
But there is no middle ground on climate change. Scott Morrison policy on climate change is really business as usual.
But unfortunately business as usual on the climate is not tenable in Australia, which is posited by scientists to be one of the worst hit of all countries.
What this means, is that the instability in Australian politics will continue, and Scott Morrison's tenure as Australia's Prime Minister is likely to be very short.
The last six Australian Prime Ministers were rolled from their position by inner party turmoil in disputes over climate change.
This situation has not changed.
The first real climate change crisis for Morrison's administration, will be over Adani, just as it would have been for a Bill Shorten administration. Because Labor just like the liberals were pretty much in support of this mega coal mine project.
We need to protect our wildlife as we are the Guardian of all these beautiful creatures gifted to us to use and care for not abuse and drive them to extinction
These 8 Bird Species Have Disappeared This Decade
The pace of bird extinction is picking up as their habitats vanishIn the Amazon, where many of these species were once abundant, deforestation is a growing concern. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that more than 17 million hectares of forest were lost between 2001 and 2012. An editorial published last March in Science Advancesfound that the Amazon is reaching an ecological tipping point—if 40 percent of the region is deforested, scientists say the ecosystem will be irreversibly altered Ka kite ano links below
Its a unusual phenomenon all the strike that happened when Labour is in power.
The Pike River mine reentry is today that is cool te tangata will be happy.
Well Mark I agree with that statement. The All Blacks are Rugby.
There is a real power imbalance between all employees and employers with under 20 employees with the 90 day sack at a wim employment laws not just people who work in parliament.
You would think that mental trauma should be covered by ACC I say because it's a injury that can't be seen and is quite common ACC not covering it is just a easy cop out to save $$$$.
Its te tangata te tangata if we make our retirement policies to hard for new residents then we will will end up with a section of our society in hardship and the kaumatua are already vanurable. Change is needed because some take advantage of our soft retirement laws for new residents it's just needs to be balanced.
Social media is a worry Graham you have to sift through the bullshit and find the truth not many people have those SKILLS. I don't do photos everything I do is public knowledge
I agree all tamariki should have a plan set in pohatu for trades or any good skill start at schools to set them up for LIFE.
People do need to learn to be critical thinkers information is the same as Tangata don't trust it verbal or data unless you can verify it. Its the same as Tangata don't trust them unless you know you can trust them. I say a bit of shady stuff being going down with the right neck winning power when the polls show there opposition was in a winning position. The right neck are dirty cheats.
JESSICA SAVAGE
Artist Jessica Savage Broer photoshopped this image to include President Donald Trump. She said she wanted to make the point that people need to use critical thinking skills
Here is one reason why the leftys lost in Australia there is another Eco Maori can't say as it right up there with the worst behaviour seen in the last decade.
One thing that has been so far underplayed is News Corp’s newspaper monopoly throughout the region. Those newspapers have mounted a sustained propaganda campaignin favour of the new mine. On the reef coast they have downplayed the damage to the Great Barrier Reef owing to the climate crisis. And if anyone can be blamed for turning Bob Brown’s visit into a harbinger of doom, it’s these papers Ka kite ano links below.
With Parliament staff problems it all boils down to Mps not being held accountable for there actions that's when the scab fester and turn into a big mess.
Its sad that Gloria has to have police guard her in NZ the redneck rising out of the dirt we all know who has impowered them.
When people flee the police they are out of control if they were in control they would not flee don't chance them.
My HUAWEI phone is going good this is a minor hick up I sure they will have their own backup system in place. . Ka kite ano
I have commented on the subject of Parliament staff I did not realise how bad it was now that the bad behaviour has been exposed it can be cleaned up.
Its good that more funding is going to the ambulance free service.
Awatea Mita Kia kaha I Tau toko you in your championing Prisoners rights Yes a lot of our prisoners are vulnerable for 1 they would not be there 2 they have a hard time navigateing the system as it changes so fast if you are in jail for 5 years unless you have someone who's got your back when you get out your stuffed
Yes The true Maori story of our history need to be heard from Maori and not just the European point of view.
Passenger trains from Waikato to Auckland is great that will lower Aotearoa carbon footprint.
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 ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Pacific Media Watch Earthwise hosts Lois and Martin Griffiths. Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths on Plains FM 96.9 community radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region. David talks about the struggle to raise awareness ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Australia is ignoring climate change, by continuing to support mining. Coal fired power stations and coal for China.
There will be even more fires next summer.
honestly at this point we can assume that everyone is ignoring climate change.
The little bit of investment in renewables is not to compat climate change but to future proof if at all that is actually possible.
Aussie is doing what most of the world does. Nothing. Business as usual, lets not rock the boat.
Not everyone.
The real victory has been for someone prepared to go out in front on this issue.
As I have said before, climate change will become the deciding issue in all elections. There is no middle ground on this issue. Those who spend their time looking for this middle ground are wasting their time.
The issue is money, or the environment.
Speaking of the role that climate change played in the overall Liberal Party victory Tony Abbot, in his own unique way, admits to the Liberals failing morally, but succeeding financially.
Tony Abbot.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/abbott-likely-to-lose-warringah-as-early-counting-shows-huge-primary-vote-for-steggall-20190518-p51oq4.html
when we the people stop looking for a leader and just start marching then we maybe have a chance.
But i 'will' be a leader……damn it who ever this person is, why aren't you leading already.
We have had decades of lipservice and i personally look at these people and all i see is someone who would not pass a KPI meeting at McDo but c an sprout platitudes and thus we are to elect them to parliament cause they say what some want to hear.
if climate chance by now is not an issue then this planet is fucked already. It should have been an issue several decades ago.
No people need to start leading themselves and then maybe the highly paid do nothing crowd in suits and taxpayer paid limousines will start doing something at last.
All politics is pressure
We don't look for leaders, we create them.
We create them with our actions on the ground.
Cometh the hour, cometh the man/woman
In a small way, the Greenpeace protest on the steps of parliament against the issuing of oil exploration permits, caused the Prime Minister to step aside in going to her scheduled meeting with the Indonesian Ambassador, to announce to the protesters that she would allow no new permits to be issued.
In a big way, the massive grass roots protests against nuclear ships gave us the leadership to ban them.
As of yet, we have not seen this sort of protest movement around climate change, but we may.
If we build the movement, if we keep the pressure up, just as they have in the past, our leaders will rise to the occasion.
well the mass movement better start now cause we are already late.
and for me the change will not come so as long as pulling boats up and down the country is still considered acceptable. I use the boat example as to me it is simply wasteful without purpose but cause havoc to the environment in so many ways and it happens without fault every weekend.
but some like to wait others don't. But the one thing i never expect is a politician to lead. They don't ever lead. They only ever follow – and even then only kicking and screaming and this is the same for the larger population, Oz and US a shining example.
. .
"But the one thing i never expect is a politician to lead. They don't ever lead. They only ever follow."
I agree with that as a generalisation, but there are exceptions. Parliament voted in favour of Sue Bradford's 'anti-smacking' bill (by 113 votes to 8), and ignored the result of a subsequent citizens-iniated referendum that aimed to overturn the legislation. Angela Merkel's decision to accept large numbers of Syrian refugees might be another exception – you will have a better idea than me of whether that is an appropriate example.
But you’re right, of course. In a democracy it's very difficult for the Government to take the lead on programmes that are unpopular, however necessary they might be. China’s ‘one child policy’ would never fly in India.
nope Andrea Merkle did nothing to special there,
Germany has been accepting refugees for a long time now, I grew up in a very provincial town in bavaria with kurds, iranians, palestinians, vietnamese, chinese, south africans, syrians, iraquis to just name one. In this town you can get some excellent ethnic food btw. In saying that this will change. My generation will probably be the end of the World War 2 residue that feels that we might should be generous to others lest we allow a repeat of history, and we already did with the crimes against the muslim population in ex Yugoslavia. We stood by and did fuck all.
What she did was to prevent a disaster that would otherwise have happened with people illegally entering the country and it costing more to the tax payer then allowing people in in an orderly fashion and being able to weed out those that might not be genuine.
As for the 'anti smacking' law, i was here in the country and could not believe the brouhaha about it, seriously. I mean it is the least of things to do to not beat your children to death or into submission and that a law was needed for that kind of surprised me. What did not surprise me was the reaction of the Women and children are chattle crowd that insist in its right to 'train' their children as they see fit.
And to finish, where is Sue Bradford now? ( i know as i follow her on FB).
“But the one thing i never expect is a politician to lead. They don’t ever lead.”
Sabine
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, does.
https://twitter.com/aoc?lang=en
Catalina Cruz leads
https://nowthisnews.com/videos/politics/catalina-cruz-on-undocumented-immigrants-accessing-drivers-licenses
Yes: Patricia Bremner
Burn Burn Burn
The Australian people since birth have been brainwashed by right wing False Prophets – such as the miarculous Tony Abbott.
In fact, Abbott appears to be Australia's only scientist. Which is to say that Australians Love Fire more than Life itself.
But we must not be smug. We have thousands upon thousands of low order Flat Earthers and Zilch Climate hobos. Headed by Tauranga currently.
"Which is to say that Australians Love Fire more than Life itself. "
Makes you think, that…
But we must not be smug. We have thousands upon thousands of low order Flat Earthers and Zilch Climate hobos. Headed by Tauranga currently.
so very true.
The left lost another sitter again in Australia as it did in the UK and United States over the last 3 years and yet there is still zero critical examining of our own out of it'ness and why people just can't elect left wing governments, instead electing to blame everyone and everything else for our own shortcomings.
Ironic then, that Tauranga is in the cross hairs of climate change, as the New Zealand city most likely to be flattened by an extreme weather event, before the turn of the century.
We've committed to an overhaul but we won't be raising benefits at this election – Carmel Sepuloni
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/q-and-a
The left need far better representation. Shame on you Labour.
Dont worry – it’s the year of delivery. Jacinda said so.
James, what is the margarine covered milk toast aka Mr. NO Bridges for Northland doing?
Oh helping to create a christian support party?
me thinks you protest much but support a party that is has no mates and does fuck all all day other then collect wages and drives around in taxpayer funded limousines.
shows how little you know.
You dont drive around round in a limousine- you get driven.
Pffftt
"You don't drive around in a limousine"
What, they drive themselves? Chauffeurs drive around in limousines, James.
Pfffffft
read the context of the conversation Robert.
Normally your put downs / cheeky replies are the most clever of people here – but this one is a bit of a stretch.
James, your comments are showing all garbled and scrambled on my device.
Big night last night? Is your head fallen onto your keyboard?
i get it as well sometimes.
Often if I cut / paste in my comment – something to do with the text editor I assume.
Cut and paste doesn't drive itself Jimmy pffft
A stretch-limousine? No wonder his spending was that high.
oh damn,
and we – the taxpayer pay the driver, right?
Jeez jimbo, you mean the lazy farquhar couldn't even be bothered driving?
Eeyore and his pin-on tail!
The tail is wagging the donkey.
Pigeon scrambling for crumbs.
or as John Raulston Saul (unconscious civilization ) puts it.
“The neo-conservatives, who are closely linked to the neo-corporatists, are rather different. They claim to be conservatives, when everything they stand for is a rejection of conservatism. They claim to present an alternate social model, when they are little more than the courtiers of the corporatist movement. Their agitation is filled with the bitterness and cynicism typical of courtiers who scramble for crumbs at the banquet tables of real power, but are always denied a proper chair.”
Wagging – sp?
I used F7. Maybe I should have used Shift+F7?
beneficiaries receive the heating allowance.
beneficiaries now pay less going to the doctors.
the children of beneficiaries can apply to Winz for driving lessons.
while these measures are not a direct benefit increase they do increase the amount received considerably.
so you might want to take that into account.
@Sabine I'm not sure who you're replying to there, but you are aware that for most of us, that heating allowance is swallowed straight up into the rent. In the rare circumstances where one's rent isn't more that one's entire core benefit, eg those in State Housing, the extra few dollars a week for a few months a year gets earmarked for little luxuries like medications, necessary toiletries, food, money on the bus card, that sort of thing.
So while of course it's better than nothing it's a token political gesture by a government that historically has already proven it has no concern about the well being of beneficiaries, it only pretends to. And rest assured, the SECOND the other crowd get back in, the heating allowance (at least for beneficiaries- it'll be too politically difficult for them to take it off the oldies) will be the first thing they scrap.
to the chairman.
i don't care if if if………. my friends gets 20$ heating allowance. That is twenty dollars that other wise she would not have. It can go to rent, food, heating. She is still getting it.
Her doctor visits are now 18 rather then 35. She needs to see a doctor often. the difference goes to food, rent, or heating, or toiletries. her choice.
the fact is that any country only has so much money, that money comes from the working population, small businesses ( and only small businesses as our large businesses don't pay taxes or get money shoveled up their arses to bail them out when they fuck up – be they insurance companies or dairy milk extractors).
So unless our government grows some spines and guts, and our population does the same you will always have the issue that there is only so much money to go around, and sadly our government has not got guts, and our population does not have guts either, or we would demand better not by hitting the streets but by opting out of the bullshit.
My staff got a pay increase, not because they is doing better, not because i am doing better but because the government legislates it. and while i am happy for people to earn more money, at some stage i will look at my earnings and stop working, go on the dole as will my staff…….great ey?
So you might actually just for a moment ask yourself who should pay for all that stuff that you would like to distribute and come up with a good plan cause the current lot as much as the last lot have got no plans.
And this is why we can't have nice things. And this is why we have poor people.
Because we don't want to tax businesses, we don't want a CGT we don't want to rock the boat.
Laslty, i did not vote for Labour, as i saw no reason to vote for National light. I wasted my vote on the Greens to get no gummibears. Next time i will be voting for Legalise Aotearoa, as they are the only party that actually has prison reform in mind, will allow for people to use the herb for medicinal reasons without having to debase themselves before Chloe Swarbrook or people like Peter Fucking Dunne, and they will create jobs and raise the tax revenue, and maybe then, beneficiaries can have an increase in their weekly payments.
Sabine, you are aware there has not been any real increase to the core benefit rates for over 2 decades now? Perhaps $1-2 a week every April 1st depending on the rate of inflation. In fact, for 3 years in a row recently we got exactly 0c. The largest increase has been a whole $5 a week that came with Bill's GST rise, he still thinks that was more than enough to compensate us for the price of everything going up by 2.5%. And everyone wonders why the MSD budget is blowing out on emergency hardship grants and Temporary Additional Support that is meant to be short term but so many of us now have to claim long term just to get by.
Now let's also look at this from the general economy perspective. EVERY cent a beneficiary receives goes straight back into the economy. No Kiwisaver, no savings for an emergency. Landlords, power and telcos, transport companies, medical costs,supermarkets. And of course, 15% tax back via GST which is promptly recycled back into next weeks benefit. Plus, don't forget that for whatever reason, benefits are taxed, and what we get is net. And no, we don't get a refund. No idea how that works, but we are taxpayers too. Many beneficiaries also work part-time and are paying tax. It's a giant money go round.
I once again bring up the basic cost/benefit consequences- why are our politicians- and by extension voters- so happy to keep us on starvation rations "because there isn't enough money" but somehow there's always enough money for the logical consequences of poverty, ie increased hospitalisations and costs to the criminal justice system?
Back before our income slid so far backwards vs cost of living I could meet with a friend weekly at a cafe for a coffee, maybe something to eat. You know, a bit of normal life, but also support a local business. That stopped happening a long time ago. Multiply that small loss of business by many of us, and small business can- and do- go out of business. A coffee from McDonalds is much cheaper.
I totally agree, we need a government that will grow a spine and get some guts but it's not going to happen. Our population is now so indoctrinated into believing we a) have a cushy lifestyle at their personal expense and b) we're all a bunch of lazy drug-addled scroungers, even sick and disabled and get a job. 30 years of divide and conquer has been highly successful.
Thanks for your insightful input, Kay. To a large extent you're dead right.
However, I disagree voters by and large support the status quo. Labour and the Greens both campaigned on poverty and fiscal management (pointing at the cost/benefit consequences you rightly highlighted) which a number on the right also acknowledge, thus understand the need for change.
Additionally, if Labour did now what they have implied they plan to later do, we'd be on a far better path to achieving that change.
Therefore, it's not voters that are holding them back. I believe the public support for change is there. It's our representation that is falling short and continually letting us down.
A lot of traditional Labour supporters are losing faith due to Labour's continuing failure to deliver.
The way Bryan Bruce has been talking of late, I wouldn't be too surprised if there was a hard hitting documentary coming soon holding Jacinda to account.
Who knew a wet blanket could emit a doleful moan!
We could build a water bottling plant on it!
But is it water?
Seems more like sour grapes.
It just needs a loving squeeze and the water that has made it soggy will drip away and lo the wonderful lightness of being.
I’d be very concerned if we couldn’t find a market for it. It would be another failing of the Left to make good use of The Chairman.
James'll take a barrel-full. That's one customer.
I was more hoping for an exporter.
When deplomacy and war is unwise then a third option must be made available. We need a change in mindset from preventing climate change to managing the risks and risk arbitrage.
In in my opinion 3 key technologies will be vital in maintaining New Zealand's population with in 5 million to 10 million people. 1) is energy policy, 2) is communications technology and 3) transport technology. Research into new and advanced ultra light materials such as nano technology is rather slow so I doubt the chances of a revolutionary technology arriving in time to curb the 6th extinction event will materialise by the end of the century. So we have to swap out the motor pool and drive hard towards wind and solar farms while at the same time processing climate refuges while living with in population limits.
" drive hard towards wind and solar farms "
Sam – might I recommend you watch the Susan Krumdieck clip at the top of today's "How to get there" thread – it's excellent! But sobering.
To be perfectly honest I don’t care what level New Zealand’s population is stable at.
To be perfectly honest Sam you are coming up with some good points, and we can add them to the ones churning round in the concrete mixer. We do need to keep the contents on the move so they don't settle into a hard to shift lump. But what about some steps to lighten the load?
Research into new and advanced ultra light materials such as nano technology is rather slow so I doubt the chances of a revolutionary technology arriving in time to curb the 6th extinction event will materialise
No use relying on every new technology. In a world where people are finding micro plastics at depths of thousands of feet in the ocean, adding nano technology bits is going to kill off even further animals. Think again.
When deplomacy and war is unwise then a third option must be made available. We need a change in mindset from preventing climate change to managing the risks and risk arbitrage.
In my opinion 3 key technologies will be vital in maintaining New Zealand's population with in 5 million to 10 million people.
Then you say at 2.10pm: To be perfectly honest I don’t care what level New Zealand’s population is stable at.
Why don't you come up with one doable small step to make things better instead of fretting about the big stuff. Tell us and then say how you are going to go about it. We don't need any more Nostrodamus prognostications, we need helpful, kindly action good for all. 'That's your mission Sam should you choose to accept it.'
Its arguable that the fetus is apart of the woman so her choice really. I really couldn't careless what normal people get upto in there own time. I'v done more services to society and humanity. I'm perfectly fine with giving New Zealand my prime years from 25-35 and I'm fine with going down the other side on my own time.
Some fair enough points there Chairman, with one quibble.
There is no real change in fiscal management proposed. Or even 'implied'. Just some swapping deck chairs on the Titanic.
All our Political Parties believe in Austerity Budgets.
Sorry, 'Fiscal Responsibility.
Yet as far as I know there has never been a radical change of direction and improvement in societal outcomes for all, without increased spending.
Our leaders have sold this concept to most voters under the guise of 'Household Budget Balancing'. Which is ironic in a nation addicted to household dept through Mortgages.
Also hilarious, as any home owner should know, to claim 'surpluses' by not maintaining the property let fixing any problems before they get out of hand.
Welll said Sasha,
“Laslty, i did not vote for Labour, as i saw no reason to vote for National light”
How about voting for NZ First then?
I opted tom vote for NZ First also as they are more gutsy and ready to introduce things like using the “reserve bank act” to print money, to do the same as all our big economic trading partners are?
So by printing money to restore our “esssential infrustructure” makes prefect sense as Michael Joseph Savage did this post depression in 1937 as that is a better plan then just instead of selling our last public assets as is still happening all over this country now.
Our Napier Port and Auckland port are next to go.
When is the maddness going to stop.
nope. they are not gutsy, see CGT and Weed, not even a little
these are two issues here in NZ that would have been fairly easy if anyone currently in government were actually concerned with bettering society rather then passing the KPI meeting at the election boot for another few years of grift.
The one is that we don't want to take from the rich to to give to the poor.
The second we have no issue locking our young, our maori/pacifica population, our men up for something to silly as weed, all the while meth is wreaking havoc and people are dying of synthetic weed – thanks Peter fucking Dunne.
So i fail to see where they have guts.
We need to get our prisons empty of people that actually do not 'crime'. I don't consider growing / possesing /using weed as a crime. but we not only here – but all over the civilised world cause tremendous harm with our stupid 'war on drugs/brown people' bullshit and do nothing and to boot we pay for the misery we cause. Billions of dollars to lock humans up in chicken cages with no way out once released.
The money that we would save ….i mean think of it. At least half of our prisons would be empty, records could be cleaned up allowing a lot of men and women a chance to live life again properly, have careers, travel etc.
But no. That would be going to far for the sensibilitys of some who would never ever go to prison if caught snorting cocaine of the backbench.
CGT, we need to raise revenue to pay for stuff. But not like this. No surely there must be ways we can raise money from those that don't own houses and farms and businesses. Right? sure, Yeah, Tui.
no guts, no glory, but hey they have jobs, get decent salaries and as James told me today we even pay for their drivers of the government issued limousines. Maybe there we could save some money, but then the dears in expensive suits n shoes would have to take their own car or gasp take the train, what would the world come to it if we had a government with guts rather then just 'feelgood' papers that amount to nothing.
Energy payments are minimal. Moreover, short-term. Designed to meet winter increases in energy costs and not long-term daily costs/needs.
Labour promised $8 GP visits, but only delivered on $18 visits, which was the same amount National offered.
Not all beneficiaries have dependent children.
Benefit rates are far too low and need increasing now. Labour are aware of this but refuse to rectify this with pace.
i don't dispute any of this.
i just point out that despite all their faults they did a few things, and in the case of my friends it helped.
that does not say its ok.
but as i stated above, we need to come up with better plans than just distributing money that we take from others.
one thing would be free healthcare so that instead of offering emergency care we start offering preventive care and thus reduce costs.
At some stage someone has to do the math, and no i don't expet either National or Labor to do so. Cause the money – unless we start printing it – needs to come from somewhere and currently its the few that work and small to medium sized businesses that carry the burden.
So what are your plans to increase the welfare for people? From whom would you take the money to distribute to the poor? And please consider that Labour is not going to to a CGT. And they are not going to decrim Weed to create a new agri business and revenue stream.
So please one of you who constantly cries about how stuff ain't enough, please tell me where you are going to take the money from, and then tell me what the chances are that anyone at Labour/Greens/NZFirst had/has/and will have the guts, spine to push it through.
Cause i – a cheap house homeowner, was all for the CGT.
Theres the ever question, seldom answered……There are two responses to that I believe. First, the wherewithal must largely come from where its available (those with excess) and the second response is as you note, the will/ability lacks to implement it and not just from the politicians.
@Sabine
When Little was leading the party, he pointed to the $20 billion military spend as a revenue source. Now we have Jacinda and all of a sudden there is no more money.
Additionally, there was no need for her to totally drop the CGT. She could have put it to referendum.
Why use defence money for something else?
Priorities.
and what would one of those priorities be?
Vastly increasing benefit rates. The investment in this alone will produce savings largely across the board.
assure me then that that extra top up will improve the conditions of New Zealand's most vulnerable and won't just go into subsidising the capitalists lifestyle.
Are you questioning the capability of beneficiaries to spend the top ups wisely?
Budget: $120 dole increased to let's be generous. $240
rent – landlord $200
food – Pak n Save $40
Did I miss anything? Now assure me that money will improve the living conditions of New Zealand's most vulnerable.
It is largely agreed upon direct government transfers is the best way to improve the conditions of the most vulnerable.
Some will be just coping with those costs you mentioned, thus anything more will be of assistance. Others are living rough (in cars etc) so course more money will be of assistance.
Well I'm not entirely sure even if we doubled benefits that that would significantly reduce the number of people living in cars.
Just fundamental for every unit of wealth there is at least one unit of inequality that everyone is willing to put up with, and neither can be zero. So my fear is that any increase in benefits will cause extra digits of inequality and Iv got Thomas Picketys book of research, Capital in The 21st Centruy to back up my claim.
Im not arguing that we shouldn't subsidise low wage work ect because I think we should. I just want to insure that we end subsidies to the already wealthy as well.
The accidental PM accidentally dropped the CGT, Chairman.
Cutting elsewhere in the budget is largely irrelevant. The question is if bulstering beneficiaries budgets pushes the economy over a major inflation threshold (e.g beneficiaries buying up so much stuff that price rationing kicks in). That seems vanishingly unlikely so the government doesn't need to consider its budget position and a trade off for this decision.
Of course this kind of budget focused decision making is exactly what is holding back left wing politics. Primarily by causing it to not deliver on election promises time and time again.
This is as good as it gets
Rockland County, NY has just banned unvaccinated children from any public place (schools, churches, supermarkets, playgrounds….even walking down the street) for 30 days to either try and get ahead of the measles outbreak or coerce vaccination. This is much more extensive than the Seattle which has only banned the unvaccinated from schools.
It is entirely predictable that the full public ban will be extended elsewhere, possibly indefinitely.
in the time of my youth, children with measels / rubella/ mumps etc and such were kept at home for 3+ weeks.
They were quaranteed at home to prevent outbreaks, or issues for non vaccinated people and pregnant mothers.
So yeah, don't vaccinate you kid if you don't believe in it for religious reasons, or because the science scares you or what ever. But keep these kids at home. I don't understand what is so hard about that.
And in saying that, and i guess many that work in open plan offices that live through 5+ month of constant cold/flu going around because some workers choose to go to work sick, stay at home for at least three days. Sorry if you can't afford it, but maybe just maybe your co-worker who is not yet sick can't afford it either.
In NZ if you run a food business and you or your staff have the runs longer for 24 hours you are forced to stay at home, you have to list that in a diary (food control plan) and come inspection time you actually have to produce that to the council person.
Now why can't we expect that of people who don't vaccinated their kids or themselves?
Rockland country issued the emergency declaration in March..
It was overturned by the courts in April…and county appeal was then turned down.
A memorial day special from the POS who advocated torture and familial retribution.
https://twitter.com/TaskandPurpose/status/1129851086360272896
did they say nice thing about him?
did they kiss up or down?
It gets worse.
https://twitter.com/jaredbkeller/status/1129844700884754433
Either take a punt on tRump having a get out of gaol free card, or go down with the ship.
Straddling the fence isn't an option.
https://twitter.com/justinamash/status/1129831615952236546
https://tttthreads.com/thread/1129831615952236546.html
Yep, the first Repug House Rep to show any evidence of a spine in standing up to Needy Amin this term.
But nobody should ever mistake him for any kind of friend of the left; he's a hard-core libertarian.
1. Really? You got the report soon after the summary so it doesn't really matter how it was summarised by someone else.
2. Of course, the whole report was a hit job. If impeachment was obvious, then it would be obvious.
The circle is complete, again.
https://twitter.com/dbongino/status/1129873567527706624
Two bimbos, a pompous ass and a cowardly "humanitarian consultant". These people are representative of New Zealand journalism?!?!?!?
Just a few weeks after the dissenting journalist and free speech hero Julian Assange was forcefully dragged out of his place of asylum by British police, World Press Freedom Day was "celebrated" in Wellington earlier this month with a farcical event organized by the….(wait for it!!)…. British High Commission.
Of course, New Zealand has many fine, decent, and brilliant journalists, politicians and academics. In spite of that fact, the British High Commission managed, with uncanny precision, to unearth the four worst people it could find in Wellington on that day.
Anyway, for any masochists out there who want to watch this frightful performance, here's a brief rundown of the five worthies on your screen….
On the LEFT is Nicola Young, one of the less distinguished National (i.e. Tory) MPs in this country. Her father, whose seat she inherited, was one of the less distinguished National MPs of the 1970s.
SECOND FROM LEFT is Tova O'Brien, an undistinguished "political correspondent" who in several years of anodyne television appearances—I can't in all conscience call it reporting— has revealed only that she doesn't know much at all about politics either here or overseas. Note that her only response to the challenge of the young woman here is a winsome giggle.
In the MIDDLE is the British High Commissioner Laura Clarke, who is without question the alpha male in this building. She exudes born-to-rule ascendancy, and the Kiwis on either side of her are in her thrall. She seems amused at Julian Assange's mistreatment.
Squatting SECOND FROM RIGHT is a waste of space called Richard Harman, who is notorious in this country for the curmudgeonly expression on his face as he delivers his pompous and deeply reactionary views. Harman has been a figure of fun since election night 1981, when he was humiliated live on air by the Labour Party leader Bill Rowling. In this clip, it's Harman who cites that eminent scholar and unimpeachable authority Luke Harding. (Tova O'Brien no doubt has not even heard of Harding.)
On the RIGHT is one Dr Andrew Ladley, billed grandly as a "humanitarian consultant" and "public lawyer." Oddly, he has nothing at all to say, but nods his head in agreement as Harman cites the "work" of Luke Harding.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBRvLNQCImk
Oh Morrissey You are so scathing. I suspect all these people deserve such an honest and unbiased report on their work and background. Are you sure you are justified in letting them have both barrels like this?
Not scathing, Mr Shark, accurate. I don't like having to point out that Richard Harman is a scoundrel and a liar, and that Andrew Ladley is a head-nodding coward, but they are facts.
Well done that woman !
Citing Harding!! as if he's an authority, when he's been disgraced with his Manafort rubbish
Unbelievable , especially after Assange so recently received an award. For what?
For journalism
https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/jailed-assange-receives-award-created-to-honour-slain-journalist/news-story/8e9f3ecb7db973332f1091791ef9f5ee
Thanks for that link Morrissey, that is a very similar point I was (probably unsuccessfully no doubt) to make on Incognito's piece today 'Hate Speech Is an Evitable Evil', how can anyone really expect civil discourse to ever reign on the internet, when the establishment MSM itself is totally mired in it's own world half truths, lies and disinformation and the purveyors are so well rewarded? …when has Kim Hill ever let a counter narrative to Luke Harding have time on her show about Trump/Russia? or why hasn't she had Harding back on her show to explain what a bunch of bullshit his book ' Collusion ' turned out to be…it will never happen, so division and mistrust are further entrenched, and all the time enabled by a dysfunctional media, both here at home and abroad.
What's your point morsissey?
Sorry, Gabby, I'll try to be less obscurantist next time around.
🙂
Paul Brennan's a decent sort of fella as well I have to say. I quite like it when the locums are in (Kim Hill on MR; Lynne Freeman on N2N; and elsewhere – just for a change in style)
They should play swapsies a little more often
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
OwT Yes there are good people in RadioNZ and good to hear them in different places FTTT. Ones i don't like I am probably rather biased.
Do you have any feelings about Nicole McCarthy that you would like to share? Also I think that the afternoon guy Jesse Mulligan is pretty good. Do you know what Simon Mercep is doing now – he seemed to have been dumped unceremoniously and irrationally. What was the story do you know?
Do you have any feelings about Nicole McCarthy that you would like to share?
Don't know what Tim thinks of her, but here's what I feel about her: contempt. Here are two reasons why:
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/01/hur-hur-hur-hur-hur-vanessa-redgraves.html
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2017/12/possibly-most-repellent-panel-pre-show.html
Also I think that the afternoon guy Jesse Mulligan is pretty good.
Really? You can't have been listening to him in October 2016….
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/01/jesse-mulligan-sometimes-when-i-read.html
Jesse Mulligan the 2019 version is what I was thinking of.
He was still as dismal and as ignorant as ever in early 2018.
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/11/jesse-mulligan-approvingly-quoted-one.html
Gosh Morrissey I don't know that I can accept your review of Mr Mulligan, except that you are often dismal and ignorant yourself so would be a good judge of that in others.
Really? When I start saying things like "some guy called John Philip Sousa" and "Sometimes when I read this stuff I get the sense that Russia are L-L-L-LOOKIN’ for trouble, are L-L-L-LOOKIN’ to create tension with the U.S.", your charge will have some merit.
Jim Mora, Mike Hoskin, I love Putin and Assange, Shapiro…is an idiot, blah blah bloody blah, we get it Moz can you stop please now Its like a fkn broken record I don’t think we are holding out for your daily appraisal of news personalities, media outlets and commentators
Jessy's the Eternal Sixth Former.
I never saw Kellys Heroes either. Retires in deep shame.
bewildered: “I love Putin”, do I? And why have you connected Assange and Putin, as though they are a pair?
Gabby: Sixth formers read insatiably—at least I did. I doubt that Jesse Mulligan did, or does now.
greywarshark: Don't worry, my friend, I've never seen it either. The problem in Mulligan's case was that he had not HEARD of it, just like he had never encountered the name of J.P. Sousa.
All I know is we have a public broadcaster that's struggling, and that there seems to be a few in there decision makers) that are buying into the cult of personality, of demographic targeting and audience share. It's not what PB should be about.
(Incidentally – today's Media Watch, and the benefits of having staff representation on the Board – not a bad idea)
It also seems there's been an intake of cadets lately – including on the technical side of things, and some decisions I think that have been a bit weird (like alex behan's departure from Music101.
Other than that – people have their good days and their bad days.
(I haven't yet read Morrisey's links but I'd not be surprised if they linked to suggestions of plagiarism and/or pretentiousness).
Noel (for me) is increasingly tolerable, Jesse so-so (until the next time he claims 'old school status' and keeps the I I I me me me to a minimum)
I haven't yet read Morrisey's links but I'd not be surprised if they linked to suggestions of plagiarism and/or pretentiousness.
Read 'em, Tim! I don't think you'll find Noelle McCarthy tolerable at all, unless you think—like some on this board—that it's acceptable to laugh at the suffering of political prisoners, and to deride people like Vanessa Redgrave and Roger Waters for speaking up for the victims of mass murder.
Onya, Iceland.
https://metro.co.uk/2019/05/18/iceland-use-eurovision-song-contest-protest-israeli-occupation-palestinian-territories-9598077/
well i guess if abortion is murder, the the death penalty applies
https://www.kptv.com/texas-bill-would-allow-death-penalty-for-women-who-get/article_40ec2221-b035-5552-afe5-d97ad0b9d637.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=user-share&fbclid=IwAR3PxFwqfqeWmaSYTZg4woRNO4UwT0nP6IfmwCyXbJtfyM_fr-_SdNJ5uxQ
this is funny
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/05/north-korea-demands-un-action-over-ship-seizure-by-gangster-us/
Best leave compound words to German.
https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/lifestyle/heinz-s-ketchup-mayo-condiment-mayochup-gets-joked-online-it-means-sh-face-in-cree-R4H6iGAAVkyA9LX-OvNp1g/
National MP Alfred Ngaro said abortion is "an unholy Holocaust in our nation".
Jami-Lee Ross has slammed Ngaro's views.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/05/jami-lee-ross-challenges-alfred-ngaro-over-holocaust-abortion-post.html
Meanwhile,
Simon Bridges has confirmed he's talked with MP Alfred Ngaro about the establishment of a religious party.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/112834386/simon-bridges-confirms-hes-talked-with-mp-about-a-breakaway-christian-party
That article was interesting reading. Lots of revelation but little detail and even less attribution of source. So National's leak has now verging on complete structural collapse of the containment vessel.
But a soimon sponsored hiving off an evangelical off shoot party seems likely, since he's from that background.
How it's going to go down with the rest of the Party and the electorate could be another matter.
That incendiary comment by Ngaro will embolden a (hopefully) small minority in NZ.
What can we logically infer about National list MP Ngaro's opinion of those who facilitate or have had an abortion? Make no mistake, given the means this guy would be ‘fast following’ the Alabama legislature like a rat up a drainpipe.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/5/18/18630562/alabama-abortion-ban-voters-exemption-for-rape-incest
Alfred Ngaro = National's new "divide the vote and rule campaign stategy".
Immigration – how many people can NZ contain and still have a decent society?
Shamubeel Eaqub: Population strategy needed – In 2016. https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/82381169/shamubeel-eaqub-population-strategy-needed
(Have we a reasonable population strategy now in 2019.)
New Zealand has no clearly articulated population strategy: we do not know how big a population we want, or why and how to manage migration to get there….
We are also addicted to population growth to pay for unfunded fiscal promises like universal health and super that cannot be paid for with a dwindling pool of taxpayers.
What did the Greens say in October 2008?
Greens' family policy slammed https://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10538144
In 2018 – https://www.interest.co.nz/news/95315/new-zealand-has-added-equivalent-population-waikato-region-2013-net-migration-main-driver (Some good graphs here at interest.co.nz site.)
On google under Population control in New Zealand the items soon pass onto tahr and rabbit control. It seems there is not a lively discussion on it.
Scoop shows a good item on population in NZ, 7 Feb 2019 from Stats NZ. It refers to change in defining migration numbers.
The latest provisional estimate of annual migration in the year ended November 2018 was 43,400, plus or minus 1,500. This was the first official release of estimates using the ‘outcomes-based’ measure, which replaces the previous ‘intentions-based’ method of measuring migration, which it has replaced (see Net migration trending down).
The outcomes-based measure is a more accurate measure of migration than the intentions-based measure. This accuracy will flow through into other data uses, including official population estimates. (see Planned revisions below). http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1902/S00152/are-we-there-yet-heading-for-a-population-of-5-million.htm
we may not have an official population strategy but we do have a growth strategy…and that includes population
https://nzier.org.nz/publication/grow-for-it-how-population-policies-can-can-promote-economic-growth-nzier-working-paper-20121
Doomed to grow.
Doomed by growth.
Surely TVNZ can find someone better than Mark Crysell
Watching a piece on TVNZ1 right now about the stresses of teaching. Unfortunately the presenter is Mark Crysell….
https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/01/surely-television-one-viewers-deserve.html
The real winner of the Australian elections was BAU on the climate.
Scott Morrison finds the fabled 'middle ground' on climate change.
"He was able to straddle the Queensland pro-coal folk and also those who are a bit more for renewables and the like. He locked in the base, but the more progressive elements didn't see him as King Canute in the way [former prime minister Tony] Abbott was."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/112842530/australian-election-how-morrison-successfully-tapped-into-middle-australia
But there is no middle ground on climate change. Scott Morrison policy on climate change is really business as usual.
But unfortunately business as usual on the climate is not tenable in Australia, which is posited by scientists to be one of the worst hit of all countries.
What this means, is that the instability in Australian politics will continue, and Scott Morrison's tenure as Australia's Prime Minister is likely to be very short.
The first real crisis for Morrison's administration will be over Adani, just as it would have been for a Bill Shorten administration. Because Labor just like the liberals were pretty much in support of this mega coal mine project.
The real winner of the Australian elections was BAU on the climate.
Scott Morrison finds the fabled 'middle ground' on climate change.
"He was able to straddle the Queensland pro-coal folk and also those who are a bit more for renewables and the like. He locked in the base, but the more progressive elements didn't see him as King Canute in the way [former prime minister Tony] Abbott was."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/112842530/australian-election-how-morrison-successfully-tapped-into-middle-australia
But there is no middle ground on climate change. Scott Morrison policy on climate change is really business as usual.
But unfortunately business as usual on the climate is not tenable in Australia, which is posited by scientists to be one of the worst hit of all countries.
What this means, is that the instability in Australian politics will continue, and Scott Morrison's tenure as Australia's Prime Minister is likely to be very short.
The last six Australian Prime Ministers were rolled from their position by inner party turmoil in disputes over climate change.
This situation has not changed.
The first real climate change crisis for Morrison's administration, will be over Adani, just as it would have been for a Bill Shorten administration. Because Labor just like the liberals were pretty much in support of this mega coal mine project.
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.
https://youtu.be/0TYMz3mmAKw
We need to protect our wildlife as we are the Guardian of all these beautiful creatures gifted to us to use and care for not abuse and drive them to extinction
These 8 Bird Species Have Disappeared This Decade
The pace of bird extinction is picking up as their habitats vanishIn the Amazon, where many of these species were once abundant, deforestation is a growing concern. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that more than 17 million hectares of forest were lost between 2001 and 2012. An editorial published last March in Science Advancesfound that the Amazon is reaching an ecological tipping point—if 40 percent of the region is deforested, scientists say the ecosystem will be irreversibly altered Ka kite ano links below
https://youtu.be/h1TxdpNx4QY
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/09/news-macaw-extinct-bird-species-deforestation/
Kia ora The AM Show.
Its a unusual phenomenon all the strike that happened when Labour is in power.
The Pike River mine reentry is today that is cool te tangata will be happy.
Well Mark I agree with that statement. The All Blacks are Rugby.
There is a real power imbalance between all employees and employers with under 20 employees with the 90 day sack at a wim employment laws not just people who work in parliament.
You would think that mental trauma should be covered by ACC I say because it's a injury that can't be seen and is quite common ACC not covering it is just a easy cop out to save $$$$.
Its te tangata te tangata if we make our retirement policies to hard for new residents then we will will end up with a section of our society in hardship and the kaumatua are already vanurable. Change is needed because some take advantage of our soft retirement laws for new residents it's just needs to be balanced.
Social media is a worry Graham you have to sift through the bullshit and find the truth not many people have those SKILLS. I don't do photos everything I do is public knowledge
I agree all tamariki should have a plan set in pohatu for trades or any good skill start at schools to set them up for LIFE.
KA KITE ANO
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.
https://youtu.be/5Yj4j_lZMBo
People do need to learn to be critical thinkers information is the same as Tangata don't trust it verbal or data unless you can verify it. Its the same as Tangata don't trust them unless you know you can trust them. I say a bit of shady stuff being going down with the right neck winning power when the polls show there opposition was in a winning position. The right neck are dirty cheats.
JESSICA SAVAGE
Artist Jessica Savage Broer photoshopped this image to include President Donald Trump. She said she wanted to make the point that people need to use critical thinking skills
Ka kite ano links below
https://i.stuff.co.nz/technology/112874676/deepfakes-and-synthetic-media-the-new-age-of-disinformation-is-growing
Here is one reason why the leftys lost in Australia there is another Eco Maori can't say as it right up there with the worst behaviour seen in the last decade.
One thing that has been so far underplayed is News Corp’s newspaper monopoly throughout the region. Those newspapers have mounted a sustained propaganda campaign in favour of the new mine. On the reef coast they have downplayed the damage to the Great Barrier Reef owing to the climate crisis. And if anyone can be blamed for turning Bob Brown’s visit into a harbinger of doom, it’s these papers Ka kite ano links below.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/21/north-queensland-is-just-at-the-sharp-end-of-whats-happening-across-australia
Kia ora Newshub.
With Parliament staff problems it all boils down to Mps not being held accountable for there actions that's when the scab fester and turn into a big mess.
Its sad that Gloria has to have police guard her in NZ the redneck rising out of the dirt we all know who has impowered them.
When people flee the police they are out of control if they were in control they would not flee don't chance them.
My HUAWEI phone is going good this is a minor hick up I sure they will have their own backup system in place. . Ka kite ano
Kia ora Te ao Maori News.
I have commented on the subject of Parliament staff I did not realise how bad it was now that the bad behaviour has been exposed it can be cleaned up.
Its good that more funding is going to the ambulance free service.
Awatea Mita Kia kaha I Tau toko you in your championing Prisoners rights Yes a lot of our prisoners are vulnerable for 1 they would not be there 2 they have a hard time navigateing the system as it changes so fast if you are in jail for 5 years unless you have someone who's got your back when you get out your stuffed
Yes The true Maori story of our history need to be heard from Maori and not just the European point of view.
Passenger trains from Waikato to Auckland is great that will lower Aotearoa carbon footprint.
Ka kite ano P.S I need to get my hard ware sorted