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.
Has anybody else noticed Cameron Slater still obsessing over Jacinda Ardern? The disgraced Whale Oil blogger seems to have made it his life’s mission to shadow the former Prime Minister of New Zealand like some unhinged stalker lurking in the digital bushes.The man’s obsession with Ardern isn't just unhealthy...it’s downright ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is climate change a net benefit for society? Human-caused climate change has been a net detriment to society as measured by loss of ...
When the National Party hastily announced its “Local Water Done Well” policy, they touted it as the great saviour of New Zealand’s crumbling water infrastructure. But as time goes by it's looking more and more like a planning and fiscal lame duck...and one that’s going to cost ratepayers far more ...
Donald Trump, the orange-hued oligarch, is back at it again, wielding tariffs like a mob boss swinging a lead pipe. His latest economic edict; slapping hefty tariffs on imports from China, Mexico, and Canada, has the stench of a protectionist shakedown, cooked up in the fevered minds of his sycophantic ...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
One pill makes you largerAnd one pill makes you smallAnd the ones that mother gives youDon't do anything at allGo ask AliceWhen she's ten feet tallSongwriter: Grace Wing Slick.Morena, all, and a happy Bicycle Day to you.Today is an unofficial celebration of the dawning of the psychedelic era, commemorating the ...
It’s only been a few months since the Hollywood fires tore through Los Angeles, leaving a trail of devastation, numerous deaths, over 10,000 homes reduced to rubble, and a once glorious film industry on its knees. The Palisades and Eaton fires, fueled by climate-driven dry winds, didn’t just burn houses; ...
Four eighty-year-old books which are still vitally relevant today. Between 1942 and 1945, four refugees from Vienna each published a ground-breaking – seminal – book.* They left their country after Austria was taken over by fascists in 1934 and by Nazi Germany in 1938. Previously they had lived in ‘Red ...
Good Friday, 18th April, 2025: I can at last unveil the Secret Non-Fiction Project. The first complete Latin-to-English translation of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola’s twelve-book Disputationes adversus astrologiam divinatricem (Disputations Against Divinatory Astrology). Amounting to some 174,000 words, total. Some context is probably in order. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) ...
National MP Hamish Campbell's pathetic attempt to downplay his deep ties to and involvement in the Two by Twos...a secretive religious sect under FBI and NZ Police investigation for child sexual abuse...isn’t just a misstep; it’s a calculated lie that insults the intelligence of every Kiwi voter.Campbell’s claim of being ...
New Zealand First’s Shane Jones has long styled himself as the “Prince of the Provinces,” a champion of regional development and economic growth. But beneath the bluster lies a troubling pattern of behaviour that reeks of cronyism and corruption, undermining the very democracy he claims to serve. Recent revelations and ...
Give me one reason to stay hereAnd I'll turn right back aroundGive me one reason to stay hereAnd I'll turn right back aroundSaid I don't want to leave you lonelyYou got to make me change my mindSongwriters: Tracy Chapman.Morena, and Happy Easter, whether that means to you. Hot cross buns, ...
New Zealand’s housing crisis is a sad indictment on the failures of right wing neoliberalism, and the National Party, under Chris Luxon’s shaky leadership, is trying to simply ignore it. The numbers don’t lie: Census data from 2023 revealed 112,496 Kiwis were severely housing deprived...couch-surfing, car-sleeping, or roughing it on ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on a global survey of over 3,000 economists and scientists showing a significant divide in views on green growth; and ...
Simeon Brown, the National Party’s poster child for hubris, consistently over-promises and under-delivers. His track record...marked by policy flip-flops and a dismissive attitude toward expert advice, reveals a politician driven by personal ambition rather than evidence. From transport to health, Brown’s focus seems fixed on protecting National's image, not addressing ...
Open access notables Recent intensified riverine CO2 emission across the Northern Hemisphere permafrost region, Mu et al., Nature Communications:Global warming causes permafrost thawing, transferring large amounts of soil carbon into rivers, which inevitably accelerates riverine CO2 release. However, temporally and spatially explicit variations of riverine CO2 emissions remain unclear, limiting the ...
Once a venomous thorn in New Zealand’s blogosphere, Cathy Odgers, aka Cactus Kate, has slunk into the shadows, her once-sharp quills dulled by the fallout of Dirty Politics.The dishonest attack-blogger, alongside her vile accomplices such as Cameron Slater, were key players in the National Party’s sordid smear campaigns, exposed by Nicky ...
Once upon a time, not so long ago, those who talked of Australian sovereign capability, especially in the technology sector, were generally considered an amusing group of eccentrics. After all, technology ecosystems are global and ...
The ACT Party leader’s latest pet project is bleeding taxpayers dry, with $10 million funneled into seven charter schools for just 215 students. That’s a jaw-dropping $46,500 per student, compared to roughly $9,000 per head in state schools.You’d think Seymour would’ve learned from the last charter school fiasco, but apparently, ...
India navigated relations with the United States quite skilfully during the first Trump administration, better than many other US allies did. Doing so a second time will be more difficult, but India’s strategic awareness and ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi is concerned for low-income workers given new data released by Stats NZ that shows inflation was 2.5% for the year to March 2025, rising from 2.2% in December last year. “The prices of things that people can’t avoid are rising – meaning inflation is rising ...
Last week, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment recommended that forestry be removed from the Emissions Trading Scheme. Its an unfortunate but necessary move, required to prevent the ETS's total collapse in a decade or so. So naturally, National has told him to fuck off, and that they won't be ...
China’s recent naval circumnavigation of Australia has highlighted a pressing need to defend Australia’s air and sea approaches more effectively. Potent as nuclear submarines are, the first Australian boats under AUKUS are at least seven ...
In yesterday’s post I tried to present the Reserve Bank Funding Agreement for 2025-30, as approved by the Minister of Finance and the Bank’s Board, in the context of the previous agreement, and the variation to that agreement signed up to by Grant Robertson a few weeks before the last ...
Australia’s bid to co-host the 31st international climate negotiations (COP31) with Pacific island countries in late 2026 is directly in our national interest. But success will require consultation with the Pacific. For that reason, no ...
Old and outdated buildings being demolished at Wellington Hospital in 2018. The new infrastructure being funded today will not be sufficient for future population size and some will not be built by 2035. File photo: Lynn GrievesonLong stories short from our political economy on Thursday, April 17:Simeon Brown has unveiled ...
The introduction of AI in workplaces can create significant health and safety risks for workers (such as intensification of work, and extreme surveillance) which can significantly impact workers’ mental and physical wellbeing. It is critical that unions and workers are involved in any decision to introduce AI so that ...
Donald Trump’s return to the White House and aggressive posturing is undermining global diplomacy, and New Zealand must stand firm in rejecting his reckless, fascist-driven policies that are dragging the world toward chaos.As a nation with a proud history of peacekeeping and principled foreign policy, we should limit our role ...
Sunday marks three months since Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president. What a ride: the style rude, language raucous, and the results rogue. Beyond manners, rudeness matters because tone signals intent as well as personality. ...
There are any number of reasons why anyone thinking of heading to the United States for a holiday should think twice. They would be giving their money to a totalitarian state where political dissenters are being rounded up and imprisoned here and here, where universities are having their funds for ...
Taiwan has an inadvertent, rarely acknowledged role in global affairs: it’s a kind of sponge, soaking up much of China’s political, military and diplomatic efforts. Taiwan soaks up Chinese power of persuasion and coercion that ...
The Ukraine war has been called the bloodiest conflict since World War II. As of July 2024, 10,000 women were serving in frontline combat roles. Try telling them—from the safety of an Australian lounge room—they ...
Following Canadian authorities’ discovery of a Chinese information operation targeting their country’s election, Australians, too, should beware such risks. In fact, there are already signs that Beijing is interfering in campaigning for the Australian election ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). From "founder" of Tesla and the OG rocket man with SpaceX, and rebranding twitter as X, Musk has ...
Back in February 2024, a rat infestation attracted a fair few headlines in the South Dunedin Countdown supermarket. Today, the rats struck again. They took out the Otago-Southland region’s internet connection. https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360656230/internet-outage-hits-otago-and-southland Strictly, it was just a coincidence – rats decided to gnaw through one fibre cable, while some hapless ...
I came in this morning after doing some chores and looked quickly at Twitter before unpacking the groceries. Someone was retweeting a Radio NZ story with the headline “Reserve Bank’s budget to be slashed by 25%”. Wow, I thought, the Minister of Finance has really delivered this time. And then ...
So, having teased it last week, Andrew Little has announced he will run for mayor of Wellington. On RNZ, he's saying its all about services - "fixing the pipes, making public transport cheaper, investing in parks, swimming pools and libraries, and developing more housing". Meanwhile, to the readers of the ...
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?W.B. Yeats, The Second Coming, 1921ALL OVER THE WORLD, devout Christians will be reaching for their bibles, reading and re-reading Revelation 13:16-17. For the benefit of all you non-Christians out there, these are the verses describing ...
Give me what I want, what I really, really want: And what India really wants from New Zealand isn’t butter or cheese, but a radical relaxation of the rules controlling Indian immigration.WHAT DOES INDIA WANT from New Zealand? Not our dairy products, that’s for sure, it’s got plenty of those. ...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
Yesterday, 5,500 senior doctors across Aotearoa New Zealand voted overwhelmingly to strike for a day.This is the first time in New Zealand ASMS members have taken strike action for 24 hours.They are asking the government tofund them and account for resource shortfalls.Vacancies are critical - 45-50% in some regions.The ...
For years and years and years, David Seymour and his posse of deluded neoliberals have been preaching their “tough on crime” gospel to voters. Harsher sentences! More police! Lock ‘em up! Throw away the key. But when it comes to their own, namely former Act Party president Tim Jago, a ...
Judith Collins is a seasoned master at political hypocrisy. As New Zealand’s Defence Minister, she's recently been banging the war drum, announcing a jaw-dropping $12 billion boost to the defence budget over the next four years, all while the coalition of chaos cries poor over housing, health, and education.Apparently, there’s ...
I’m on the London Overground watching what the phones people are holding are doing to their faces: The man-bun guy who could not be less impressed by what he's seeing but cannot stop reading; the woman who's impatient for a response; the one who’s frowning; the one who’s puzzled; the ...
You don't have no prescriptionYou don't have to take no pillsYou don't have no prescriptionAnd baby don't have to take no pillsIf you come to see meDoctor Brown will cure your ills.Songwriters: Waymon Glasco.Dr Luxon. Image: David and Grok.First, they came for the Bottom FeedersAnd I did not speak outBecause ...
The Health Minister says the striking doctors already “well remunerated,” and are “walking away from” and “hurting” their patients. File photo: Lynn GrievesonLong stories short from our political economy on Wednesday, April 16:Simeon Brown has attacked1 doctors striking for more than a 1.5% pay rise as already “well remunerated,” even ...
The time is ripe for Australia and South Korea to strengthen cooperation in space, through embarking on joint projects and initiatives that offer practical outcomes for both countries. This is the finding of a new ...
Hi,When Trump raised tariffs against China to 145%, he destined many small businesses to annihilation. The Daily podcast captured the mass chaos by zooming in and talking to one person, Beth Benike, a small-business owner who will likely lose her home very soon.She pointed out that no, she wasn’t surprised ...
National’s handling of inflation and the cost-of-living crisis is an utter shambles and a gutless betrayal of every Kiwi scraping by. The Coalition of Chaos Ministers strut around preaching about how effective their policies are, but really all they're doing is perpetuating a cruel and sick joke of undelivered promises, ...
Most people wouldn't have heard of a little worm like Rhys Williams, a so-called businessman and former NZ First member, who has recently been unmasked as the venomous troll behind a relentless online campaign targeting Green Party MP Benjamin Doyle.According to reports, Williams has been slinging mud at Doyle under ...
Illustration credit: Jonathan McHugh (New Statesman)The other day, a subscriber said they were unsubscribing because they needed “some good news”.I empathised. Don’t we all.I skimmed a NZME article about the impacts of tariffs this morning with analysis from Kiwibank’s Jarrod Kerr. Kerr, their Chief Economist, suggested another recession is the ...
Let’s assume, as prudence demands we assume, that the United States will not at any predictable time go back to being its old, reliable self. This means its allies must be prepared indefinitely to lean ...
Over the last three rather tumultuous US trade policy weeks, I’ve read these four books. I started with Irwin (whose book had sat on my pile for years, consulted from time to time but not read) in a week of lots of flights and hanging around airports/hotels, and then one ...
Indonesia could do without an increase in military spending that the Ministry of Defence is proposing. The country has more pressing issues, including public welfare and human rights. Moreover, the transparency and accountability to justify ...
Former Hutt City councillor Chris Milne has slithered back into the spotlight, not as a principled dissenter, but as a vindictive puppeteer of digital venom. The revelations from a recent court case paint a damning portrait of a man whose departure from Hutt City Council in 2022 was merely the ...
That's the conclusion of a report into security risks against Green MP Benjamin Doyle, in the wake of Winston Peters' waging a homophobic hate-campaign against them: GRC’s report said a “hostility network” of politicians, commentators, conspiracy theorists, alternative media outlets and those opposed to the rainbow community had produced ...
That's the conclusion of a report into security risks against Green MP Benjamin Doyle, in the wake of Winston Peters' waging a homophobic hate-campaign against them: GRC’s report said a “hostility network” of politicians, commentators, conspiracy theorists, alternative media outlets and those opposed to the rainbow community had produced ...
National Party MP Hamish Campbell’s ties to the secretive Two By Twos "church" raises serious questions that are not being answered. This shadowy group, currently being investigated by the FBI for numerous cases of child abuse, hides behind a facade of faith while Campbell dodges scrutiny, claiming it’s a “private ...
National Party MP Hamish Campbell’s ties to the secretive Two By Twos "church" raises serious questions that are not being answered. This shadowy group, currently being investigated by the FBI for numerous cases of child abuse, hides behind a facade of faith while Campbell dodges scrutiny, claiming it’s a “private ...
The economy is not doing what it was supposed to when PM Christopher Luxon said in January it was ‘going for growth.’ Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short from our political economy on Tuesday, April 15:New Zealand’s economic recovery is stalling, according to business surveys, retail spending and ...
This is a guest post by Lewis Creed, managing editor of the University of Auckland student publication Craccum, which is currently running a campaign for a safer Symonds Street in the wake of a horrific recent crash.The post has two parts: 1) Craccum’s original call for safety (6 ...
NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff has published an opinion piece which makes the case for a different approach to economic development, as proposed in the CTU’s Aotearoa Reimagined programme. The number of people studying to become teachers has jumped after several years of low enrolment. The coalition has directed Health New ...
The growth of China’s AI industry gives it great influence over emerging technologies. That creates security risks for countries using those technologies. So, Australia must foster its own domestic AI industry to protect its interests. ...
Unfortunately we have another National Party government in power at the moment, and as a consequence, another economic dumpster fire taking hold. Inflation’s hurting Kiwis, and instead of providing relief, National is fiddling while wallets burn.Prime Minister Chris Luxon's response is a tired remix of tax cuts for the rich ...
Girls who are boys who like boys to be girlsWho do boys like they're girls, who do girls like they're boysAlways should be someone you really loveSongwriters: Damon Albarn / Graham Leslie Coxon / Alexander Rowntree David / Alexander James Steven.Last month, I wrote about the Birds and Bees being ...
Australia needs to reevaluate its security priorities and establish a more dynamic regulatory framework for cybersecurity. To advance in this area, it can learn from Britain’s Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, which presents a compelling ...
Deputy PM Winston Peters likes nothing more than to portray himself as the only wise old head while everyone else is losing theirs. Yet this time, his “old master” routine isn’t working. What global trade is experiencing is more than the usual swings and roundabouts of market sentiment. President Donald ...
President Trump’s hopes of ending the war in Ukraine seemed more driven by ego than realistic analysis. Professor Vladimir Brovkin’s latest video above highlights the internal conflicts within the USA, Russia, Europe, and Ukraine, which are currently hindering peace talks and clarity. Brovkin pointed out major contradictions within ...
In the cesspool that is often New Zealand’s online political discourse, few figures wield their influence as destructively as Ani O’Brien. Masquerading as a champion of free speech and women’s rights, O’Brien’s campaigns are a masterclass in bad faith, built on a foundation of lies, selective outrage, and a knack ...
The international challenge confronting Australia today is unparalleled, at least since the 1940s. It requires what the late Brendan Sargeant, a defence analyst, called strategic imagination. We need more than shrewd economic manoeuvring and a ...
This year's General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) will take place as a fully hybrid conference in both Vienna and online from April 27 to May 2. This year, I'll join the event on site in Vienna for the full week and I've already picked several sessions I plan ...
Here’s a book that looks not in at China but out from China. David Daokui Li’s China’s World View: Demystifying China to Prevent Global Conflict is a refreshing offering in that Li is very much ...
The New Zealand National Party has long mastered the art of crafting messaging that resonates with a large number of desperate, often white middle-class, voters. From their 2023 campaign mantra of “getting our country back on track” to promises of economic revival, safer streets, and better education, their rhetoric paints ...
A global contest of ideas is underway, and democracy as an ideal is at stake. Democracies must respond by lifting support for public service media with an international footprint. With the recent decision by the ...
It is almost six weeks since the shock announcement early on the afternoon of Wednesday 5 March that the Governor of the Reserve Bank, Adrian Orr, was resigning effective 31 March, and that in fact he had already left and an acting Governor was already in place. Orr had been ...
After stonewalling requests for information on boot camps, the Government has now offered up a blog post right before Easter weekend rather than provide clarity on the pilot. ...
More people could be harmed if Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey does not guarantee to protect patients and workers as the Police withdraw from supporting mental health call outs. ...
The Green Party recognises the extension of visa allowances for our Pacific whānau as a step in the right direction but continues to call for a Pacific Visa Waiver. ...
The Government yesterday released its annual child poverty statistics, and by its own admission, more tamariki across Aotearoa are now living in material hardship. ...
Today, Te Pāti Māori join the motu in celebration as the Treaty Principles Bill is voted down at its second reading. “From the beginning, this Bill was never welcome in this House,” said Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader, Rawiri Waititi. “Our response to the first reading was one of protest: protesting ...
The Green Party is proud to have voted down the Coalition Government’s Treaty Principles Bill, an archaic piece of legislation that sought to attack the nation’s founding agreement. ...
A Member’s Bill in the name of Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter which aims to stop coal mining, the Crown Minerals (Prohibition of Mining) Amendment Bill, has been pulled from Parliament’s ‘biscuit tin’ today. ...
Labour MP Kieran McAnulty’s Members Bill to make the law simpler and fairer for businesses operating on Easter, Anzac and Christmas Days has passed its first reading after a conscience vote in Parliament. ...
Nicola Willis continues to sit on her hands amid a global economic crisis, leaving the Reserve Bank to act for New Zealanders who are worried about their jobs, mortgages, and KiwiSaver. ...
Today, the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill has passed its third and final reading, but there is one more stage before it becomes law. The Governor-General must give their ‘Royal assent’ for any bill to become legally enforceable. This means that, even if a bill gets voted ...
Abortion care at Whakatāne Hospital has been quietly shelved, with patients told they will likely have to travel more than an hour to Tauranga to get the treatment they need. ...
Thousands of New Zealanders’ submissions are missing from the official parliamentary record because the National-dominated Justice Select Committee has rushed work on the Treaty Principles Bill. ...
Today’s announcement of 10 percent tariffs for New Zealand goods entering the United States is disappointing for exporters and consumers alike, with the long-lasting impact on prices and inflation still unknown. ...
The National Government’s choices have contributed to a slow-down in the building sector, as thousands of people have lost their jobs in construction. ...
Willie Apiata’s decision to hand over his Victoria Cross to the Minister for Veterans is a powerful and selfless act, made on behalf of all those who have served our country. ...
The Privileges Committee has denied fundamental rights to Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Rawiri Waititi and Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, breaching their own standing orders, breaching principles of natural justice, and highlighting systemic prejudice and discrimination within our parliamentary processes. The three MPs were summoned to the privileges committee following their performance of a haka ...
April 1 used to be a day when workers could count on a pay rise with stronger support for those doing it tough, but that’s not the case under this Government. ...
Winston Peters is shopping for smaller ferries after Nicola Willis torpedoed the original deal, which would have delivered new rail enabled ferries next year. ...
The Government should work with other countries to press the Myanmar military regime to stop its bombing campaign especially while the country recovers from the devastating earthquake. ...
In an art world context, photography has evolved significantly over the years pushing boundaries in both technique and concept. No longer the poor cousin of painting, but still much more affordable thanks to photographs being sold in numbered editions, an art photograph doesn’t merely capture a moment—artists use the medium ...
Last year, 20,000 observations of Christchurch species were made during the annual City Nature Challenge, a way for anyone to get involved in biodiversity. It’s back again this month. Even in suburbia, even on grey autumn weekends, there is biodiversity. You just need the time to look for it: to ...
Asia Pacific Report Peaceful protesters in Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest city Auckland held an Easter prayer vigil honouring Palestinian political prisoners and the sacrifice of thousands of innocent lives as relentless Israeli bombing of displaced Gazans in tents killed at least 92 people in two days. Organisers of the rally ...
ANALYSIS:By Ben Bohane This week Cambodia marks the 50th anniversary of the fall of Phnom Penh to the murderous Khmer Rouge, and Vietnam celebrates the fall of Saigon to North Vietnamese forces in April 1975. They are being commemorated very differently; after all, there’s nothing to celebrate in Cambodia. ...
By Gujari Singh in Washington The Trump administration has issued a new executive order opening up vast swathes of protected ocean to commercial exploitation, including areas within the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument. It allows commercial fishing in areas long considered off-limits due to their ecological significance — despite ...
New Zealand commemoration lead John McLeod said a small team, including members of the NZDF and the NZ Embassy, assisted in the covering up of remains that were exposed. ...
This Bill is a great opportunity to improve our system of government across all levels. Let’s make sure we get it right and give the public a say on a simple and enduring solution. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Nicholls, Senior Research Associate in Media and Communications, University of Sydney Tech giant Google has just suffered another legal blow in the United States, losing a landmark antitrust case. This follows on from the company’s loss in a similar case last ...
Paddy GowerAmanda Luxon. I mean what can you say. Easter is a good time to publish my latest reckons at Stuff because without exaggeration or making too much of things, Amanda Luxon walks among us like Jesus but probably with better shoes.Jesus healed. How good is that? It’s really good, ...
How can an afternoon be long when it starts at one o’clock and finishes at half past three? Beauden thought about that as he stood at the back of the classroom and looked through the large window to the upper grounds where his colleague Monty Spiers was taking a phys ed ...
Alex Casey delves into the enduring success of The Artist’s Way, a self-help book beloved by everyone from retirees to famous rappers. On the video call, my mum is gesticulating so wildly while recounting all her recent creative endeavours that she knocks her cup of tea over a work-in-progress jigsaw ...
Feijoa scholar Kate Evans reviews the dish everybody raves about at Metro’s 2024 restaurant of the year, Forest. People have been telling me I need to try the deep-fried feijoa dessert at Forest for about three years now. I’m embarrassed it took me this long, but it takes a lot ...
Chef, author and reality television judge Colin Fassnidge takes us through his life in television. Colin Fassnidge is a huge television fan. He watches every blockbuster TV series the moment it drops and scores every single show on his Instagram account. It’s a habit that recently caught the attention of ...
Why are shops on Parnell Road allowed to open on Easter Sunday? It’s all thanks to an obsolete rule from the 1970s that’s been ‘frozen in time’.Originally published in 2023.Under our current trading laws, most stores are required to stay closed on Good Friday and Easter Sunday (along ...
Yael Shochat, chef-owner of Auckland restaurant Ima Cuisine, shares the recipe for her hot cross buns – regularly voted among the best in the city.Originally published in 2019.HOT CROSS BUNSMakes 12You may use equal weights of pre-ground spices, but you’ll get a much better flavour if ...
Gràinne Moss knows she can’t tackle the final leg of one of the world’s toughest swimming challenges alone.In her quest to complete the Oceans Seven marathon challenge, 38 years after she began, she’s enlisted the help of two remarkable women – one barely out of her teens, and the other ...
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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.
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