ASB Bank said there was a chance of a small tick up in dairy prices at this week’s auction , “but the overall trend remains still weak and highlights one of the key areas of downside risk to the NZ economy,” the bank said.
Highlights the problem of putting all our eggs in one basket. Thanks banks, farmers and government for all being so bloody stupid.
With wave of Iranian oil imminent, a shudder in Saudi Arabia
If the governments of the world were doing what they should be doing then demand for oil and other fossil fuels should be declining steadily.
“Oxfam said a three-pronged approach was needed: a crackdown on tax dodging; higher investment in public services; and higher wages for the low paid.
It said a priority should be to close down tax havens, increasingly used by rich individuals and companies to avoid paying tax and which had deprived governments of the resources needed to tackle poverty and inequality.
Three years ago, David Cameron told the WEF that the UK would spearhead a global effort to end aggressive tax avoidance in the UK and in poor countries, but Oxfam said promised measures to increase transparency in British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, such as the Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands, had not been implemented.
Goldring said: “We need to end the era of tax havens which has allowed rich individuals and multinational companies to avoid their responsibilities to society by hiding ever increasing amounts of money offshore.
Once again RNZ has this morning has some economist (if he could call himself one) being interviewed this morning on the Business Report (or whatever it is called) and part of the discussion was about there probably would be, once again, no pay rises forthwith this year for workers. It came to pass that the “economist” said that there were other ways to recompense workers, the interviewer had the sense to ask him “what other ways were there?” and – I just couldn’t believe my ears, he pontificated on that “praise” and “pats on the back” and “a job well done” went a long way to make it worthwhile for workers.
Where do these people come from for God’s sake. How patronising can you get. Did anybody else hear this and what do they think of it. Is it just me or what? My partner said “calm down its just spin” – how are they allowed to get away with this absolute bullshit – this is the second day in a row I have heard about a “glowing economy” ad nauseum from RNZ. Tell that to people who haven’t had a pay rise for God knows when and costs going up all the time. Pat on the back – its sick making and going back to early Victorian days when one fobbed their hat and grovelled just to survive. How about recompensing for the hard work in pay increases – isn’t that what its all about – slavery is supposed to have been abolished years ago – I think not.
5 minutes of propaganda by RNZ business section on behalf of big corporates.
First up
‘Employee confidence back in positive territory – survey’
Westpac Senior economist Anne Boniface.
Another spokesperson for the banksters is allowed to go unchallenged.
Westpac’s profits for 2015 was $916 million; clearly no free money to pay its workers.
Then the report you referred to.
‘HR report reveals NZers least confident of wage rise’
Blair Cashin from Randstad was saying the same type of stuff last year as well.
Thank you Paul for linking all the conversations. I am a bit of a technophobe and am learning to link information I hear – but for me, all takes time!! I just cannot fathom why there isn’t a sort of code of compliance these radio stations and TV channels have to apply. They have a Broadcasting Standards one I know but to just be allowed to put such utter crap out there without certain standards applying seems odd to me. RNZ is meant to be pretty up front with what it broadcasts – I think its going to be yet another source of information I am going to turn off.
Personally what that man said this morning has to be the worst sort of rubbish I have heard for a long time.
It’s not what he said. You would expect the Head of a company like Randstad to say something like this.
It’s the fact that our only state broadcaster provides a megaphone for these views – unchallenged.
Chair of the Radio New Zealand Board of Governors
Richard Griffin was appointed to the board as a governor in May 2010. He has an extensive career in print media, radio, television and public relations. A past Radio New Zealand Political Editor and a life member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery, he served as Chief Press Secretary and Media Adviser to Prime Minister, Jim Bolger from 1993 until 1998. He was Manager of Policy Development, Government Relations and Communications for TVNZ from 2000 to 2007. Mr Griffin is a Director of the public relations consultancy, Fraser, Griffin, Wood.
JOSH EASBY
Deputy Chair – Radio New Zealand Board of Governors
Josh Easby has over 35 years of experience in business development. He has held senior positions within the New Zealand and UK commercial radio industry, and more recently with Australasian Media group APN News and Media Ltd. He played a vital role in the consolidation of the New Zealand radio industry in the 1990s and has held senior operational roles in the New Zealand commercial radio and publishing markets.
He is a past executive member of the commercial Radio Broadcasters Association and was General Manager for Radio Hauraki. He has published several books, is a keen soccer fan and has had administrative involvement with clubs in England and New Zealand.
TIWANA TIBBLE
Radio New Zealand Board of Governors
Tiwana Tibble has been the chief executive of the Ngati Whatua o Orakei Maori Trust Board since 1998. Prior to that he was the Company Secretary and Financial Controller at the Maori Development Corporation Ltd.
GARY MONK
Radio New Zealand Board of Governors
Gary has had a long involvement in New Zealand primary industry. Having completed a law degree he embarked on a career in the seafood industry in 1976 and established Intersea Limited in 1983. He is a shareholder and non-executive Chairman of Mathias International Limited, a privately owned New Zealand company trading in agricultural primary products, and is a Director and non-executive Chairman of New Zealand Light Leathers Limited, a tannery based in Timaru exporting deer leather to Europe, China and the USA.
SHEENA HENDERSON
Radio New Zealand Board of Governors
Sheena Henderson, previously Global Brand director for Fonterra, is a Christchurch-based consultant specialising in branding, marketing and corporate advisory work.
DEBORAH TAYLOR
Radio New Zealand Board of Governors
Deborah Taylor is a self-employed business consultant from Queenstown. She has an extensive financial and legal background and is a former director and principal of a chartered accountants firm.
MELISSA CLARK-REYNOLDS
Radio New Zealand Board of Governors
Wellingtonian Melissa Clark-Reynolds is a technology entrepreneur who has taken several companies from start up through to high growth.
Her last business was MiniMonos – a children’s games site which aims to provide a community for children based in good values: providing environmental education while playing great games. She is now CEO of Looxie, an online media startup.
She is featured in Her Business’s Hall of Fame, was named by Forbes Magazine as one of 10 Female Entrepreneurs to watch, and is also an Independent Director of the NZ Centre for Gifted Education.
I spy with my little eye COMMERCIAL broadcasting experience; treating audiences as consumers not citizens; branding; demographic targeting; bean cunting (oops missed the ‘o’); cumfy little board room chairs; cronyism; etc.
One of the main things any (next) government should address as a priority IF THEY ARE CONCERNED about NZ remaining a 1st world democracy (actually we’re already a bit passed that) is appointments to public service positions ……
that’s alongside usurping judicial power and vesting it in the executive; legislation passed under urgency; etc. (Generally recognising that democracy isn’t elected dictatorships.)
I’m not sure however, that either National, Labour, (and now Greens) are up for all that but I’ll be watching policy promises
I don’t know what it is about economics. There’s something in it that makes many people who take up economics lose their humanity. Or maybe it just attracts the wrong type of people.
Economists remind me of the old alchemists constantly trying to turn lead into gold. They’re formulaic, to the economist everything in life has a magic formula. There’s a perfect level of tax, a perfect level of economic growth, a perfect level of unemployment, a perfect level of inflation… etc etc. They try to be logical while at the same time acting irrationally.
They’re an odd bunch, would be amusing if they didn’t do so much harm.
Read a few books on economics in my time. Generally aimed at about year 8-9 intellectual school level. Full of old world metaphors and few real definitions.
i.e. ‘steam’.. dampening down’…’putting a lid on’… etc
Q -Why did god invent economists?
A -To make meteorologists look good. …(old joke and my apologies to current day meteorologists who are actually very skilled.)
macro economics is the study of entire economies comprising aggregated production, labour, social policy, resources etc…in other words large grouped factors that are predictable in average……and
‘Oxfam said that the 62 richest people having as much wealth as the poorest 50% of the population is a remarkable concentration of wealth, given that it would have taken 388 individuals to have the same wealth as the bottom 50% in 2010. ”
a very small group with (likely) diametrically opposed goals
Message to Lynn and other writers.
I’d like it if the above was posted as a guest post, in the next couple of days (with Stephanie’s permission of course). I’d like to discuss it here, and I think others might too.
For some reason, I’m not able to copy and paste a snippet from the blog
United doesn’t equal a tiny group of extremists berating and abusing the larger group of moderates until that group is forced to capitulate and agree absolutely with the extremists world view.
If you think that’s the path to success, you’re going to be seriously disappointed.
It is too hard for a ‘basic’ person like you to get bm and I’m pleased about that because having a (insults deleted) like you pushing opinions gives us an idea of what we are up against and why ‘left unity’ is necessary.
arsehole righties giving advice to the left? yeah nah – same for you pucker.
Notice how this picture inverts one of the standard tropes of the right-wing commentariat. According to endless pundits, it is the egalitarian left, obsessed with a “politics of envy”, who irrationally focus on the distribution of wealth and income at the expense of what really matters, making people’s lives better. But here we see that a focus on inequality, indeed a lust for inequality, is characteristic of the wealthy who value inequality for its own sake and who rejoice in the subordination of their fellows.
The RWNJs actually want others to be envious of them and probably get really upset when told that we’re actually disgusted by them.
According to Energinet, Denmark’s electric utility, the country’s turbines accounted for the equivalent of 42 percent of all electricity produced for the year. It’s the highest proportion for any country — breaking a record the country set just last year — and represents more than a doubling compared to just 10 years ago.
Proves that full renewable energy is possible. But, then, we already knew that here in NZ with ~70% of electricity produced by renewables. We just don’t have a government willing to go all out and produce the rest that we need via renewables including that needed for transport.
A nice clip of The Eagles playing Hotel California at their Induction Ceremony in 1998 after they got together again, they are steaming. And there are pics of a real eagle soaring into the video, taken by another eagle surely.
This is something that should be thought about and acted to advance now. It’s time has come, again. But for politicians it’s real work, not leading to a plum job out of the pollie heaven. So they will take it up reluctantly only if pushed. It’s euthanasia, assisted dying etc
Pollies can be quick enough to send citizens to war and aggression in this or another country (I regard the raid on Tuhoe as a practice police-military action). But it is too uppity of citizens to want to have charge of themselves and their time of death, that is legal and accessible. Ask politicians to act dutifully to the citizens and responsibly in supporting and finalising a well-written, fair, adequate and suitable Bill and act before the end of this month, January, less than a fortnight away. Don’t leave it in the hands of authoritarian detractors who want to make decisions for others who should be able to decide themselves on this most important right.
Ms Seales took legal action for the right to die with dignity in a case that played out as the curtain fell on her life. She died hours after the High Court ruled it was a debate that needed to be had by Parliament and not the courts.
Lecretia Seales’ husband Matt Vickers after her death and the judge’s decision
Parliament picked up on that challenge, with its health select committee launching an inquiry in response to a petition calling for a law change to permit medically assisted dying in the event of terminal illness or other specific circumstances.
Her husband Matt Vickers said it would be a tragedy if the chance to have a debate on the topic was wasted.
This link put up by a commenter on RADIONZ comment channel RNZ Talk –
Frithogar
Make submissions here – note there is a verification process at the bottom of the page
The closing date is February 1 http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/pb/sc/make-submission/0SCHE_SCF_51DBHOH_PET63268_1/petition-of-hon-maryan-street-and-8974-others
and
chienfou
There’s a prospect of appearing before the committee to speak to your submission. I’d encourage anyone who possibly can to volunteer. It adds a lot of weight to the democratic process, especially if it’s not just the same old Wellington hacks turning up.
Lecretia and Matt’s blog – http://lecretia.org/ Lecretia’s Choice
Lecretia Seales believed ill people enduring intolerable suffering with no hope of recovery should have the choice to request assistance to end their lives.
Have no fear greywarshark, this Bill will be passed.
It is popular on the left, on the right and in the centre.
Anyone who expresses concern that such legislation should be approached with extreme caution is written off as a sadistic godbotherer.
My concern, for what it is worth, is that until there is legislation that entitles all New Zealanders to publicly funded health and disability care then legislation facilitating ‘voluntary euthanasia’ should be put on hold.
It will be hard to incorporate protections against people being coerced into taking this option when the State is doing the coercing.
Rosemay Mc
Well I hope that you are right, it will be passed. It is rational from most points of view, and it is ethical also from most.
But I understand that you may be concerned about coercion. Also there are lacks in the ‘publicly funded health and disability care’, and it would be good if someone could decide to go from a situation of excellent care, and not miserable conditions, not supported properly and fairly.. No legislation can be perfect, but we can try and also be watchdogs against misuse. I want people to have the right to decide after going through prescribed but not draconian, procedures.
tbh, I wouldn’t want the current government writing and passing euthanasia legislation. I just don’t trust them.
Ideally a government would take a year to educate the citizens about what euthanasia is, what the issues are on various sides, and what the likely parameters are within NZ when it comes to enacting legislation. That time could be used to run workshops in communities and facilitate debate and discussion across a wide section of society as possible. Leaving this up to petitions and select committee hearings is not ok for such an important issue. It’s also not black and white about what should be legislated and that needs debate.
I’m generally in favour of euthanasia but like Rosemary I have concerns from a health and disability perspective, as well as issues for the elderly. I also think we should be looking at this debate within the context of a resource depletion future but I don’t expect many to agree with me on that.
“….was the kind of environmentalist who loved progress, hated red tape and shared his knowledge with anyone who’d listen.
In the face of advancing glaucoma and what seemed like an unending mountain of red tape, Charles took his life on September 13, Megan said.
“The difficulty with having science on your side is that it is of no assistance if the denizens of officialdom do not understand that science.” ”
Its truly awful that he could not face the prospect of impending blindness, but I can understand how someone who spent his entire working life battling government bureaucracy could be tipped over the edge.
Accessing disability supports in New Zealand for those not under ACC’s Serious Injury service is a nightmare of hoop jumping and red tape untangling. For some, the prospect has been too much.
For others, they have spent many years battling, and it has been a seemingly trivial speed bump that has been the tipping point.
Two cases come to mind…the real issue was not entirely ‘unbearable pain and suffering’ but the loss of dignity at having to beg for basic supports in one case and the knowledge that the disability was going to have as much of an effect on loved ones in the other….in both of these cases the Voluntary Euthanasia lobby swooped down and commandeered the narrative and the underlying cause of the suicide was lost.
I have no faith that this government is capable of constructing legislation that will provide the safeguards needed.
Not when this government has made it quite clear that the rights of people with disabilities can be arbitrarily cast aside.
Professor Kevin Anderson of the Tyndall Centre Manchester, interviewed on Friday 8th January. This first of three videos covers the outcomes and significance of the recent UN climate conference in Paris.
he is of course quite correct….we are deluding ourselves if we believe we can continue anything like the current system and avoid the consequences of that system….and the discussion on the practical changes required is a conversation nobody appears willing to have.
How she claims to represent the left I do not know.
She is almost as much of a propagandist as Roughan.
And if she represents Labour, then it really is still a neo-liberal party.
She only gets oxygen because she supports the establishment.
Another round in the dance of seven veils but getting closer to an unfudged answer. Apparently no caucus members have approached their leader to support it. And he aint sounding impressed either.
From what I’ve gathered, their ‘technique’ is all about damaging a woman’s judgement and self esteem so that she deigns to let the “artist” do what he wants to her. The only reason that would be necessary is if he were a pointless waste of space whom nobody would ever want to know, biblically or otherwise.
Negging is probably just their automatic reflex to the rejection they know they deserve, A bit sad, really.
yeah. I should probably say “sad in a ‘that abuser is such a broken half-shell of a human being, it’s a shame cute babies can end up becoming warped monsters’ sort of way”.
Watched the first half online. Intriguing. Really good. Some say that it could usurp the emptiness of TV news.
Supposed to be available on Freeview 50 but not here anyway. Must find out if re-programming could find it here in Marlborough.
You probably need to update the tuning on your TV. Not many will automatically pick up a new channel that has become available – you need to make it scan what is now available…
“Some say that it could usurp the emptiness of TV news.”
Sure felt more honest to me. Less invested in pointless smoothness and more into the reporting, interviewing and showing us real New Zealanders. Worked well without the pictures on my drive home today too.
So then this fucking nightmare played over the Trump-o-Tron, as four very old veterans saluted the screen from the stage. It is hands down the most pandering feat of jingoism/Creed-worship one could imagine. You can watch the full video below. Caution, contains a clip of Michael Jordan dunking a basketball.
[…]
FUBU, aka “For Us By Us” is a line of hiphop branded clothing, i believe now partially owned by Samsung and manufactured in Korea & Cambodia. Here being worn in its 2 piece “FUBUSport” track suit form by an overweight white man actively booing Black Lives Matter mentions and foreign outsourced production. It’s so perfect I could cry.
[…]
bold claim coming from a guy who’s military experience is solely limited to being enrolled in a private military academy in the 8th grade, which he claimed gave him “more training militarily than a lot of the guys that go into the military”
All the young dudes
(Hey dudes)
Carry the news
(Where are ya)
Boogaloo dudes
(Stand up Come on)
Carry the news
All the young dudes
(I want to hear you)
Carry the news
(I want to see you)
Boogaloo dudes
(And I want to talk to you all of you)
Carry the news
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In 1998, in the wake of the Paremoremo Prison riot, the Department of Corrections established the "Behaviour Management Regime". Prisoners were locked in their cells for 22 or 23 hours a day, with no fresh air, no exercise, no social contact, no entertainment, and in some cases no clothes and ...
New data released by the Treasury shows that the economic policies of this Government have made things worse in the year since they took office, said NZCTU Economist Craig Renney. “Our fiscal indicators are all heading in the wrong direction – with higher levels of debt, a higher deficit, and ...
At the 2023 election, National basically ran on a platform of being better economic managers. So how'd that turn out for us? In just one year, they've fucked us for two full political terms: The government's books are set to remain deeply in the red for the near term ...
AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi are saying that the Government should do the right thing and deliver minimum wage increases that don’t see workers fall further behind, in response to today’s announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased by 1.5%, well short of forecast inflation. “With inflation forecast ...
Oh, I weptFor daysFilled my eyesWith silly tearsOh, yeaBut I don'tCare no moreI don't care ifMy eyes get soreSongwriters: Paul Rodgers / Paul Kossoff. Read more ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob HensonIn this aerial view, fingers of meltwater flow from the melting Isunnguata Sermia glacier descending from the Greenland Ice Sheet on July 11, 2024, near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the ...
In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...
Willis is expected to have to reveal the bitter fiscal fruits of her austerity strategy in the HYEFU later today. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/TheKakaMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, December 17 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast ...
On Friday the government announced it would double the number of toll roads in New Zealand as well as make a few other changes to how toll roads are used in the country. The real issue though is not that tolling is being used but the suggestion it will make ...
The Prime Minister yesterday engaged in what looked like a pre-emptive strike designed to counter what is likely to be a series of depressing economic statistics expected before the end of the week. He opened his weekly post-Cabinet press conference with a recitation of the Government’s achievements. “It certainly has ...
This whooping cough story from south Auckland is a good example of the coalition government’s approach to social need – spend money on urging people to get vaccinated but only after you’ve cut the funding to where they could get vaccinated. This has been the case all year with public ...
And if there is a GodI know he likes to rockHe likes his loud guitarsHis spiders from MarsAnd if there is a GodI know he's watching meHe likes what he seesBut there's trouble on the breezeSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan Read more ...
Here’s a quick round up of today’s political news:1. MORE FOOD BANKS, CHARITIES, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTERS AND YOUTH SOCIAL SERVICES SET TO CLOSE OR SCALE BACK AROUND THE COUNTRY AS GOVT CUTS FUNDINGSome of Auckland's largest foodbanks are warning they may need to close or significantly reduce food parcels after ...
Iain Rennie, CNZMSecretary and Chief Executive to the TreasuryDear Secretary, Undue restrictions on restricted briefings This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been ...
This is a guest post by Tim Adriaansen, a community, climate, and accessibility advocate.I won’t shut up about climate breakdown, and whenever possible I try to shift the focus of a climate conversation towards solutions. But you’ll almost never hear me give more than a passing nod to ...
A grassroots backlash has forced a backdown from Brown, but he is still eyeing up plenty of tolls for other new roads. And the pressure is on Willis to ramp up the Government’s austerity strategy. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 8, 2024 thru Sat, December 14, 2024. Listing by Category Like last week's summary this one contains the list of articles twice: based on categories and based on ...
I started writing this morning about Hobson’s Pledge, examining the claims they and their supporters make, basically ripping into them. But I kept getting notifications coming through, and not good ones.Each time I looked up, there was another un-subscription message, and I felt a bit sicker at the thought of ...
Once, long before there was Harry and Meghan and Dodi and all those episodes of The Crown, they came to spend some time with us, Charles and Diana. Was there anyone in the world more glamorous than the Princess of Wales?Dazzled as everyone was by their company, the leader of ...
The collective right have a problem.The entire foundation for their world view is antiscientific. Their preferred economic strategies have been disproven. Their whole neoliberal model faces accusations of corporate corruption and worsening inequality. Climate change not only definitely exists, its rapid progression demands an immediate and expensive response in order ...
Just ten days ago, South Korea's president attempted a self-coup, declaring martial law and attempting to have opposition MPs murdered or arrested in an effort to seize unconstrained power. The attempt was rapidly defeated by the national assembly voting it down and the people flooding the streets to defend democracy. ...
Hi,“What I love about New Zealanders is that sometimes you use these expressions that as Americans we have no idea what those things mean!"I am watching a 30-something year old American ramble on about how different New Zealanders are to Americans. It’s his podcast, and this man is doing a ...
What Chris Penk has granted holocaust-denier and equal-opportunity-bigot Candace Owens is not “freedom of speech”. It’s not even really freedom of movement, though that technically is the right she has been granted. What he has given her is permission to perform. Freedom of SpeechIn New Zealand, the right to freedom ...
All those tears on your cheeksJust like deja vu flow nowWhen grandmother speaksSo tell me a story (I'll tell you a story)Spell it out, I can't hear (What do you want to hear?)Why you wear black in the morning?Why there's smoke in the air? Songwriter: Greg Johnson.Mōrena all ☀️Something a ...
National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...
After years of advocacy, the Green Party is very happy to hear the Government has listened to our collective voices and announced the closure of the greyhound racing industry, by 1 August 2026. ...
In response to a new report from ERO, the Government has acknowledged the urgent need for consistency across the curriculum for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools. ...
The Green Party is appalled at the Government introducing legislation that will make it easier to penalise workers fighting for better pay and conditions. ...
Thank you for the invitation to speak with you tonight on behalf of the political party I belong to - which is New Zealand First. As we have heard before this evening the Kinleith Mill is proposing to reduce operations by focusing on pulp and discontinuing “lossmaking paper production”. They say that they are currently consulting on the plan to permanently shut ...
Auckland Central MP, Chlöe Swarbrick, has written to Mayor Wayne Brown requesting he stop the unnecessary delays on St James Theatre’s restoration. ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says Health New Zealand will move swiftly to support dozens of internationally-trained doctors already in New Zealand on their journey to employment here, after a tripling of sought-after examination places. “The Medical Council has delivered great news for hardworking overseas doctors who want to contribute ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has appointed Sarah Ottrey to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). “At my first APEC Summit in Lima, I experienced firsthand the role that ABAC plays in guaranteeing political leaders hear the voice of business,” Mr Luxon says. “New Zealand’s ABAC representatives are very well respected and ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced four appointments to New Zealand’s intelligence oversight functions. The Honourable Robert Dobson KC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, and the Honourable Brendan Brown KC has been appointed as a Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants. The appointments of Hon Robert Dobson and Hon ...
Improvements in the average time it takes to process survey and title applications means housing developments can progress more quickly, Minister for Land Information Chris Penk says. “The government is resolutely focused on improving the building and construction pipeline,” Mr Penk says. “Applications to issue titles and subdivide land are ...
The Government’s measures to reduce airport wait times, and better transparency around flight disruptions is delivering encouraging early results for passengers ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Improving the efficiency of air travel is a priority for the Government to give passengers a smoother, more reliable ...
The Government today announced the intended closure of the Apollo Hotel as Contracted Emergency Housing (CEH) in Rotorua, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. This follows a 30 per cent reduction in the number of households in CEH in Rotorua since National came into Government. “Our focus is on ending CEH in the Whakarewarewa area starting ...
The Government will reshape vocational education and training to return decision making to regions and enable greater industry input into work-based learning Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds says. “The redesigned system will better meet the needs of learners, industry, and the economy. It includes re-establishing regional polytechnics that ...
The Government is taking action to better manage synthetic refrigerants and reduce emissions caused by greenhouse gases found in heating and cooling products, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds says. “Regulations will be drafted to support a product stewardship scheme for synthetic refrigerants, Ms. Simmonds says. “Synthetic refrigerants are found in a ...
People travelling on State Highway 1 north of Hamilton will be relieved that remedial works and safety improvements on the Ngāruawāhia section of the Waikato Expressway were finished today, with all lanes now open to traffic, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“I would like to acknowledge the patience of road users ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds, has announced a new appointment to the board of Education New Zealand (ENZ). Dr Erik Lithander has been appointed as a new member of the ENZ board for a three-year term until 30 January 2028. “I would like to welcome Dr Erik Lithander to the ...
The Government will have senior representatives at Waitangi Day events around the country, including at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, but next year Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has chosen to take part in celebrations elsewhere. “It has always been my intention to celebrate Waitangi Day around the country with different ...
Two more criminal gangs will be subject to the raft of laws passed by the Coalition Government that give Police more powers to disrupt gang activity, and the intimidation they impose in our communities, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. Following an Order passed by Cabinet, from 3 February 2025 the ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Justice Christian Whata as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Whata’s appointment as a Judge of the Court of Appeal will take effect on 1 August 2025 and fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Hon Justice David Goddard on ...
The latest economic figures highlight the importance of the steps the Government has taken to restore respect for taxpayers’ money and drive economic growth, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Data released today by Stats NZ shows Gross Domestic Product fell 1 per cent in the September quarter. “Treasury and most ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Minister of Education David Seymour today announced legislation changes to strengthen freedom of speech obligations on universities. “Freedom of speech is fundamental to the concept of academic freedom and there is concern that universities seem to be taking a more risk-averse ...
Police Minister, Mark Mitchell, and Internal Affairs Minister, Brooke van Velden, today launched a further Public Safety Network cellular service that alongside last year’s Cellular Roaming roll-out, puts globally-leading cellular communications capability into the hands of our emergency responders. The Public Safety Network’s new Cellular Priority service means Police, Wellington ...
State Highway 1 through the Mangamuka Gorge has officially reopened today, providing a critical link for Northlanders and offering much-needed relief ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“The Mangamuka Gorge is a vital route for Northland, carrying around 1,300 vehicles per day and connecting the Far ...
The Government has welcomed decisions by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and Ashburton District Council confirming funding to boost resilience in the Canterbury region, with construction on a second Ashburton Bridge expected to begin in 2026, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Delivering a second Ashburton Bridge to improve resilience and ...
The Government is backing the response into high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Otago, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says. “Cabinet has approved new funding of $20 million to enable MPI to meet unbudgeted ongoing expenses associated with the H7N6 response including rigorous scientific testing of samples at the enhanced PC3 ...
Legislation that will repeal all advertising restrictions for broadcasters on Sundays and public holidays has passed through first reading in Parliament today, Media Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “As a growing share of audiences get their news and entertainment from streaming services, these restrictions have become increasingly redundant. New Zealand on ...
Today the House agreed to Brendan Horsley being appointed Inspector-General of Defence, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Mr Horsley’s experience will be invaluable in overseeing the establishment of the new office and its support networks. “He is currently Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, having held that role since June 2020. ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government has agreed to the final regulations for the levy on insurance contracts that will fund Fire and Emergency New Zealand from July 2026. “Earlier this year the Government agreed to a 2.2 percent increase to the rate of levy. Fire ...
The Government is delivering regulatory relief for New Zealand businesses through changes to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act. “The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill, which was introduced today, is the second Bill – the other being the Statutes Amendment Bill - that ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed further progress on the Hawke’s Bay Expressway Road of National Significance (RoNS), with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board approving funding for the detailed design of Stage 1, paving the way for main works construction to begin in late 2025.“The Government is moving at ...
The Government today released a request for information (RFI) to seeking interest in partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned land with low farming and conservation value (excluding National Parks) Forestry Minister Todd McClay announced. “Planting trees on Crown-owned land will drive economic growth by creating more forestry jobs in our regions, providing more wood ...
Court timeliness, access to justice, and improving the quality of existing regulation are the focus of a series of law changes introduced to Parliament today by Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee. The three Bills in the Regulatory Systems (Justice) Amendment Bill package each improve a different part of the ...
A total of 41 appointments and reappointments have been made to the 12 community trusts around New Zealand that serve their regions, Associate Finance Minister Shane Jones says. “These trusts, and the communities they serve from the Far North to the deep south, will benefit from the rich experience, knowledge, ...
The Government has confirmed how it will provide redress to survivors who were tortured at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit (the Lake Alice Unit). “The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care found that many of the 362 children who went through the Lake Alice Unit between 1972 and ...
It has been a busy, productive year in the House as the coalition Government works hard to get New Zealand back on track, Leader of the House Chris Bishop says. “This Government promised to rebuild the economy, restore law and order and reduce the cost of living. Our record this ...
“Accelerated silicosis is an emerging occupational disease caused by unsafe work such as engineered stone benchtops. I am running a standalone consultation on engineered stone to understand what the industry is currently doing to manage the risks, and whether further regulatory intervention is needed,” says Workplace Relations and Safety Minister ...
Mehemea he pai mō te tangata, mahia – if it’s good for the people, get on with it. Enhanced reporting on the public sector’s delivery of Treaty settlement commitments will help improve outcomes for Māori and all New Zealanders, Māori Crown Relations Minister Tama Potaka says. Compiled together for the ...
Mr Roger Holmes Miller and Ms Tarita Hutchinson have been appointed to the Charities Registration Board, Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Louise Upston says. “I would like to welcome the new members joining the Charities Registration Board. “The appointment of Ms Hutchinson and Mr Miller will strengthen the Board’s capacity ...
More building consent and code compliance applications are being processed within the statutory timeframe since the Government required councils to submit quarterly data, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “In the midst of a housing shortage we need to look at every step of the build process for efficiencies ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey is proud to announce the first three recipients of the Government’s $10 million Mental Health and Addiction Community Sector Innovation Fund which will enable more Kiwis faster access to mental health and addiction support. “This fund is part of the Government’s commitment to investing in ...
New Zealand is providing Vanuatu assistance following yesterday's devastating earthquake, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. "Vanuatu is a member of our Pacific family and we are supporting it in this time of acute need," Mr Peters says. "Our thoughts are with the people of Vanuatu, and we will be ...
The Government welcomes the Commerce Commission’s plan to reduce card fees for Kiwis by an estimated $260 million a year, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says.“The Government is relentlessly focused on reducing the cost of living, so Kiwis can keep more of their hard-earned income and live a ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour has welcomed the Early Childhood Education (ECE) regulatory review report, the first major report from the Ministry for Regulation. The report makes 15 recommendations to modernise and simplify regulations across ECE so services can get on with what they do best – providing safe, high-quality care ...
The Government‘s Offshore Renewable Energy Bill to create a new regulatory regime that will enable firms to construct offshore wind generation has passed its first reading in Parliament, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says.“New Zealand currently does not have a regulatory regime for offshore renewable energy as the previous government failed ...
Legislation to enable new water service delivery models that will drive critical investment in infrastructure has passed its first reading in Parliament, marking a significant step towards the delivery of Local Water Done Well, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly say.“Councils and voters ...
New Zealand is one step closer to reaping the benefits of gene technology with the passing of the first reading of the Gene Technology Bill, Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins says. "This legislation will end New Zealand's near 30-year ban on gene technology outside the lab and is ...
ByKoroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor New Zealand’s Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) says impending bad weather for Port Vila is now the most significant post-quake hazard. A tropical low in the Coral Sea is expected to move into Vanuatu waters, bringing heavy rainfall. Authorities have issued warnings to people ...
Cosmic CatastropheThe year draws to a close.King Luxon has grown tired of the long eveningsListening to the dreary squabbling of his Triumvirate.He strolls up to the top floor of the PalaceTo consult with his Astronomer Royal.The Royal Telescope scans the skies,And King Luxon stares up into the heavensFrom the terrestrial ...
Spinoff editor Mad Chapman and books editor Claire Mabey debate Carl Shuker’s new novel about… an editor. Claire: Hello Mad, you just finished The Royal Free – overall impressions? Mad: Hi Claire, I literally just put the book down and I would have to say my immediate impression is ...
Christmas and its buildup are often lonely, hard and full of unreasonable expectations. Here’s how to make it to Jesus’s birthday and find the little bit of joy we all deserve. Have you found this year relentless? Has the latest Apple update “fucked up your life”? Have you lost two ...
Despite overwhelming public and corporate support, the government has stalled progress on a modern day slavery law. That puts us behind other countries – and makes Christmas a time of tragedy rather than joy, argues Shanti Mathias. Picture the scene on Christmas Day. Everyone replete with nice things to eat, ...
Asia Pacific Report “It looks like Hiroshima. It looks like Germany at the end of World War Two,” says an Israeli-American historian and professor of holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University about the horrifying reality of Gaza. Professor Omer Bartov, has described Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza as an ...
The New Zealand government coalition is tweaking university regulations to curb what it says is an increasingly “risk-averse approach” to free speech. The proposed changes will set clear expectations on how universities should approach freedom of speech issues. Each university will then have to adopt a “freedom of speech statement” ...
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone New York prosecutors have charged Luigi Mangione with “murder as an act of terrorism” in his alleged shooting of health insurance CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month. This news comes out at the same time as ...
Pacific Media Watch The union for Australian journalists has welcomed the delivery by the federal government of more than $150 million to support the sustainability of public interest journalism over the next four years. Combined with the announcement of the revamped News Bargaining Initiative, this could result in up to ...
It’s a little under two months since the White Ferns shocked the cricketing world, deservedly taking home the T20 World Cup. Since then the trophy has had a tour around the country, five of the squad have played in the WBBL in Australia while most others have returned to domestic ...
Comment: If we say the word ‘dementia’, many will picture an older person struggling to remember the names of their loved ones, maybe a grandparent living out their final years in an aged care facility. Dementia can also occur in people younger than 65, but it can take time before ...
Piracy is a reality of modern life – but copyright law has struggled to play catch-up for as long as the entertainment industry has existed. As far back as 1988, the House of Lords criticised copyright law’s conflict with the reality of human behaviour in the context of burning cassette ...
MONDAY“Merry Xmas, and praise the Lord,” said Sheriff Luxon, and smiled for the camera. There was a flash of smoke when the shutter pressed down on the magnesium powder. The sheriff had arranged for a photographer from the Dodge Gazette to attend a ceremony where he handed out food parcels to ...
As he makes a surprise return to Shortland Street, actor Craig Parker takes us through his life in television. Craig Parker has been a fixture on television in Aotearoa for nearly four decades. He had starring roles in iconic local series like Gloss, Mercy Peak and Diplomatic Immunity, featured in ...
The Ōtautahi musician shares the 10 tracks he loves to spin, including the folk classic that cured him of a ‘case of the give-ups’. When singer-songwriter Adam McGrath returns to Kumeu’s Auckland Folk Festival from January 24-27, he’s not planning on simply idling his way through – he wants the late ...
Alex Casey spends an afternoon on the job with River, the rescue dog on a mission to spread joy to Ōtautahi rest homes.Almost everyone says it is never enough time. But River the rescue dog, a jet black huntaway border collie cross, has to keep a tight pace to ...
Asia Pacific Report Fiji activists have recreated the nativity scene at a solidarity for Palestine gathering in Fiji’s capital Suva just days before Christmas. The Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre and Fijians for Palestine Solidarity Network recreated the scene at the FWCC compound — a baby Jesus figurine lies amidst the ...
By 1News Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver and 1News reporters A number of Kiwis have been successfully evacuated from Vanuatu after a devastating earthquake shook the Pacific island nation earlier this week. The death toll was still unclear, though at least 14 people were killed according to an earlier statement from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Scully, Professor in Modern History, University of New England Bunker.Image courtesy of Michael Leunig, CC BY-NC-SA Michael Leunig – who died in the early hours of Thursday December 19, surrounded by “his children, loved ones, and sunflowers” – was the ...
The House - On Parliament's last day of the year, there was the rare occurrence of a personal (conscience) vote on selling booze over the Easter weekend. While it didn't have the numbers to pass, it was a chance to get a rare glimpse of the fact ...
A new poem by Holly Fletcher. bejeweled log i was dreaming about wasps / wee darlings that followed me / ducking under objects / that i was fated to pickup / my fingers seeking / and meeting with tiny proboscis’s / but instead / i wake up / roll sideways ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Flora Hui, Research Fellow, Centre for Eye Research Australia and Honorary Fellow, Department of Surgery (Ophthalmology), The University of Melbourne Versta/Shutterstock Australians are exposed to some of the highest levels of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation in the world. While we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Terry, Professor of Business Regulation, University of Sydney Michael von Aichberger/Shutterstock Even if you’ve no idea how the business model underpinning franchises works, there’s a good chance you’ve spent money at one. Franchising is essentially a strategy for cloning ...
If something big is going to happen in Ferndale, it’s going to happen at Christmas. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If there’s one episode of Shortland Street you should watch each year, it’s the annual Christmas cliffhanger. The final episode of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William A. Stoltz, Lecturer and expert Associate, National Security College, Australian National University US President-elect Donald Trump has named most of the members of his proposed cabinet. However, he’s yet to reveal key appointees to America’s powerful cyber warfare and intelligence institutions. ...
Announcing the top 10 books of the the year at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber, $37) The phenomenal Irish writer is the unsurprising chart topper for 2024 with her fourth novel that, much like her first ...
It’s the economy, stupid……
‘Dairy futures point to weak demand’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11575842
NZ sharemarket falls again
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/business/294349/nz-sharemarket-falls-again
Weak growth and dairy prices weigh on kiwi
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11575715
With wave of Iranian oil imminent, a shudder in Saudi Arabia
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11575666
Quoting first article:
Highlights the problem of putting all our eggs in one basket. Thanks banks, farmers and government for all being so bloody stupid.
If the governments of the world were doing what they should be doing then demand for oil and other fossil fuels should be declining steadily.
China GDP drops to 25-year low
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11576210
Interactive map on ISDS
http://teamdata.oneworld.nl/projects/isds/movementmap-claimants/
Also good long read on ISDS
“Why companies sue countries (and how they do it) ” http://longreads.oneworld.nl/en/about-isds/
Thanks for the long read – on ISDS very good summary.
We don’t want a bar of it.
Think tanks: how independent are they?
“Big business orders its pro-TTIP arguments from these think tanks”
http://www.bilaterals.org/?big-business-orders-its-pro-ttip
The information came from this study
https://decorrespondent.nl/3874/How-we-looked-into-think-tanks-and-TTIP-and-feel-free-to-use-our-data/853522027644-4f371269
This growing global inequality, in my view, is becoming simply obscene.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/18/richest-62-billionaires-wealthy-half-world-population-combined
“Oxfam said a three-pronged approach was needed: a crackdown on tax dodging; higher investment in public services; and higher wages for the low paid.
It said a priority should be to close down tax havens, increasingly used by rich individuals and companies to avoid paying tax and which had deprived governments of the resources needed to tackle poverty and inequality.
Three years ago, David Cameron told the WEF that the UK would spearhead a global effort to end aggressive tax avoidance in the UK and in poor countries, but Oxfam said promised measures to increase transparency in British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, such as the Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands, had not been implemented.
Goldring said: “We need to end the era of tax havens which has allowed rich individuals and multinational companies to avoid their responsibilities to society by hiding ever increasing amounts of money offshore.
… ”
I agree.
Penny Bright
2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.
Once again RNZ has this morning has some economist (if he could call himself one) being interviewed this morning on the Business Report (or whatever it is called) and part of the discussion was about there probably would be, once again, no pay rises forthwith this year for workers. It came to pass that the “economist” said that there were other ways to recompense workers, the interviewer had the sense to ask him “what other ways were there?” and – I just couldn’t believe my ears, he pontificated on that “praise” and “pats on the back” and “a job well done” went a long way to make it worthwhile for workers.
Where do these people come from for God’s sake. How patronising can you get. Did anybody else hear this and what do they think of it. Is it just me or what? My partner said “calm down its just spin” – how are they allowed to get away with this absolute bullshit – this is the second day in a row I have heard about a “glowing economy” ad nauseum from RNZ. Tell that to people who haven’t had a pay rise for God knows when and costs going up all the time. Pat on the back – its sick making and going back to early Victorian days when one fobbed their hat and grovelled just to survive. How about recompensing for the hard work in pay increases – isn’t that what its all about – slavery is supposed to have been abolished years ago – I think not.
5 minutes of propaganda by RNZ business section on behalf of big corporates.
First up
‘Employee confidence back in positive territory – survey’
Westpac Senior economist Anne Boniface.
Another spokesperson for the banksters is allowed to go unchallenged.
Westpac’s profits for 2015 was $916 million; clearly no free money to pay its workers.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/businessnews/audio/201785906/employee-confidence-back-in-positive-territory-survey
http://www.westpac.co.nz/business/economic-updates/our-economics-team/
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/73612560/asb-anz-bnz-and-westpac-rake-in-459-billion-of-profits
Then the report you referred to.
‘HR report reveals NZers least confident of wage rise’
Blair Cashin from Randstad was saying the same type of stuff last year as well.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/businessnews/audio/201785907/hr-report-reveals-nzers-least-confident-of-wage-rise
http://www.randstad.co.nz/about-randstad/our-company/the-team/meet-the-team-in-wellington
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/better-business/65466063/Unhappy-workers-eye-the-exit
Thank you Paul for linking all the conversations. I am a bit of a technophobe and am learning to link information I hear – but for me, all takes time!! I just cannot fathom why there isn’t a sort of code of compliance these radio stations and TV channels have to apply. They have a Broadcasting Standards one I know but to just be allowed to put such utter crap out there without certain standards applying seems odd to me. RNZ is meant to be pretty up front with what it broadcasts – I think its going to be yet another source of information I am going to turn off.
Personally what that man said this morning has to be the worst sort of rubbish I have heard for a long time.
It’s not what he said. You would expect the Head of a company like Randstad to say something like this.
It’s the fact that our only state broadcaster provides a megaphone for these views – unchallenged.
As designed with griffin at the helm and a nat stacked board.
Details of the Board here.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/about/board-profile
RICHARD GRIFFIN
Chair of the Radio New Zealand Board of Governors
Richard Griffin was appointed to the board as a governor in May 2010. He has an extensive career in print media, radio, television and public relations. A past Radio New Zealand Political Editor and a life member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery, he served as Chief Press Secretary and Media Adviser to Prime Minister, Jim Bolger from 1993 until 1998. He was Manager of Policy Development, Government Relations and Communications for TVNZ from 2000 to 2007. Mr Griffin is a Director of the public relations consultancy, Fraser, Griffin, Wood.
JOSH EASBY
Deputy Chair – Radio New Zealand Board of Governors
Josh Easby has over 35 years of experience in business development. He has held senior positions within the New Zealand and UK commercial radio industry, and more recently with Australasian Media group APN News and Media Ltd. He played a vital role in the consolidation of the New Zealand radio industry in the 1990s and has held senior operational roles in the New Zealand commercial radio and publishing markets.
He is a past executive member of the commercial Radio Broadcasters Association and was General Manager for Radio Hauraki. He has published several books, is a keen soccer fan and has had administrative involvement with clubs in England and New Zealand.
TIWANA TIBBLE
Radio New Zealand Board of Governors
Tiwana Tibble has been the chief executive of the Ngati Whatua o Orakei Maori Trust Board since 1998. Prior to that he was the Company Secretary and Financial Controller at the Maori Development Corporation Ltd.
GARY MONK
Radio New Zealand Board of Governors
Gary has had a long involvement in New Zealand primary industry. Having completed a law degree he embarked on a career in the seafood industry in 1976 and established Intersea Limited in 1983. He is a shareholder and non-executive Chairman of Mathias International Limited, a privately owned New Zealand company trading in agricultural primary products, and is a Director and non-executive Chairman of New Zealand Light Leathers Limited, a tannery based in Timaru exporting deer leather to Europe, China and the USA.
SHEENA HENDERSON
Radio New Zealand Board of Governors
Sheena Henderson, previously Global Brand director for Fonterra, is a Christchurch-based consultant specialising in branding, marketing and corporate advisory work.
DEBORAH TAYLOR
Radio New Zealand Board of Governors
Deborah Taylor is a self-employed business consultant from Queenstown. She has an extensive financial and legal background and is a former director and principal of a chartered accountants firm.
MELISSA CLARK-REYNOLDS
Radio New Zealand Board of Governors
Wellingtonian Melissa Clark-Reynolds is a technology entrepreneur who has taken several companies from start up through to high growth.
Her last business was MiniMonos – a children’s games site which aims to provide a community for children based in good values: providing environmental education while playing great games. She is now CEO of Looxie, an online media startup.
She is featured in Her Business’s Hall of Fame, was named by Forbes Magazine as one of 10 Female Entrepreneurs to watch, and is also an Independent Director of the NZ Centre for Gifted Education.
Business, finance, sales and marketing, fisheries and iwi led by bolgers old press secretary.
Spot any broadcasting experience ?
I spy with my little eye COMMERCIAL broadcasting experience; treating audiences as consumers not citizens; branding; demographic targeting; bean cunting (oops missed the ‘o’); cumfy little board room chairs; cronyism; etc.
One of the main things any (next) government should address as a priority IF THEY ARE CONCERNED about NZ remaining a 1st world democracy (actually we’re already a bit passed that) is appointments to public service positions ……
that’s alongside usurping judicial power and vesting it in the executive; legislation passed under urgency; etc. (Generally recognising that democracy isn’t elected dictatorships.)
I’m not sure however, that either National, Labour, (and now Greens) are up for all that but I’ll be watching policy promises
I don’t know what it is about economics. There’s something in it that makes many people who take up economics lose their humanity. Or maybe it just attracts the wrong type of people.
Economists remind me of the old alchemists constantly trying to turn lead into gold. They’re formulaic, to the economist everything in life has a magic formula. There’s a perfect level of tax, a perfect level of economic growth, a perfect level of unemployment, a perfect level of inflation… etc etc. They try to be logical while at the same time acting irrationally.
They’re an odd bunch, would be amusing if they didn’t do so much harm.
economists …the high priests of the new religion….have faith my son
Read a few books on economics in my time. Generally aimed at about year 8-9 intellectual school level. Full of old world metaphors and few real definitions.
i.e. ‘steam’.. dampening down’…’putting a lid on’… etc
Q -Why did god invent economists?
A -To make meteorologists look good. …(old joke and my apologies to current day meteorologists who are actually very skilled.)
something to ponder..
macro economics is the study of entire economies comprising aggregated production, labour, social policy, resources etc…in other words large grouped factors that are predictable in average……and
‘Oxfam said that the 62 richest people having as much wealth as the poorest 50% of the population is a remarkable concentration of wealth, given that it would have taken 388 individuals to have the same wealth as the bottom 50% in 2010. ”
a very small group with (likely) diametrically opposed goals
.. and not a broadcaster in sight !
Put Kim Hill on the board to safeguard broadcast standards.
There should not be any partisan objections.
The property bubble in west china has collapsed ..
http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/…/west-china-property-market-has-quietly- collapsed/
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2015-08/26/content_21715500.htm
blogs.ft.com/…/property-bubble-risks-popping-in-chinas-rural-southwest/
english.caixin.com/2013-04-12/100513654.html
http://www.bloombergview.com/…/china-can-t-afford-to-let-its-housing-bubble- pop
http://www.cnbc.com/…/this-city-is-worlds-riskiest-for-property-bubble-ubs.html
http://www.thebubblebubble.com/china-bubble/
http://www.wsj.com/…/more-than-1-in-5-homes-in-chinese-cities-are-empty-survey -says-1402484499
http://www.businessinsider.com/roubini-the-mother-of-all-asset-bubbles-will-burst- in-2016-2014-12
https://bootstheory.wordpress.com/2016/01/19/building-a-mass-movement/
Message to Lynn and other writers.
I’d like it if the above was posted as a guest post, in the next couple of days (with Stephanie’s permission of course). I’d like to discuss it here, and I think others might too.
For some reason, I’m not able to copy and paste a snippet from the blog
That’s been discussed so many times on here.
Just to save time, a quick summary.
It’s all the fault of white heterosexual males and if you disagree you’re a supporter of rape culture, homophobia, misogyny and you’re a racist.
Endless back and forth bickering and finger pointing.
I’m sure you don’t want the left to be united, BM.
Your summary is bullshit.
United doesn’t equal a tiny group of extremists berating and abusing the larger group of moderates until that group is forced to capitulate and agree absolutely with the extremists world view.
If you think that’s the path to success, you’re going to be seriously disappointed.
If you shill for the current government you’re not a moderate.
Trolling a community that doesn’t share your views isn’t moderate either.
false framing
pretty clumsy there bm, even for you
So many issues to troll through, nobodys perfect.
Very succinct BM
It is too hard for a ‘basic’ person like you to get bm and I’m pleased about that because having a (insults deleted) like you pushing opinions gives us an idea of what we are up against and why ‘left unity’ is necessary.
arsehole righties giving advice to the left? yeah nah – same for you pucker.
in other news, all is well.
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/18/gdp-growth-estimates-fall-below-1-percent.html
and then there is this, guys, it’s gonna get better then it was in 2008! Yuppie! rejoice, our overlords know what they do, really they do.
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/15/a-recession-worse-than-2008-is-coming-commentary.html
Piketty, Rousseau and the desire for inequality
The RWNJs actually want others to be envious of them and probably get really upset when told that we’re actually disgusted by them.
Can you guess which country just set a new world record for wind power?
Proves that full renewable energy is possible. But, then, we already knew that here in NZ with ~70% of electricity produced by renewables. We just don’t have a government willing to go all out and produce the rest that we need via renewables including that needed for transport.
Aw, shit.
Another one bites the big one.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/294412/heartache-tonight-the-eagles'-glenn-frey-dies
A nice clip of The Eagles playing Hotel California at their Induction Ceremony in 1998 after they got together again, they are steaming. And there are pics of a real eagle soaring into the video, taken by another eagle surely.
Plus a few photos of them as hairy youngsters for nostalgia.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnkJcjBCG88
And The Eagles playing HC Unplugged and making beautiful sounds on their guitars, drums bongo I think, very special.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-WmXLb00Xc
“The sky won’t snow and the sun won’t shine”
RIp Glenn Frey, one of the greats of his time.
Cheer up…
This is something that should be thought about and acted to advance now. It’s time has come, again. But for politicians it’s real work, not leading to a plum job out of the pollie heaven. So they will take it up reluctantly only if pushed. It’s euthanasia, assisted dying etc
Pollies can be quick enough to send citizens to war and aggression in this or another country (I regard the raid on Tuhoe as a practice police-military action). But it is too uppity of citizens to want to have charge of themselves and their time of death, that is legal and accessible. Ask politicians to act dutifully to the citizens and responsibly in supporting and finalising a well-written, fair, adequate and suitable Bill and act before the end of this month, January, less than a fortnight away. Don’t leave it in the hands of authoritarian detractors who want to make decisions for others who should be able to decide themselves on this most important right.
RADIONZ broadcast Matt Vickers a few days ago asking people to come forward and take up Lecretia’s plea.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/294319/have-your-say-on-euthanasia,-urges-lecretia%27s-husband
This link put up by a commenter on RADIONZ comment channel RNZ Talk –
Frithogar
Make submissions here – note there is a verification process at the bottom of the page
The closing date is February 1
http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/pb/sc/make-submission/0SCHE_SCF_51DBHOH_PET63268_1/petition-of-hon-maryan-street-and-8974-others
and
chienfou
There’s a prospect of appearing before the committee to speak to your submission. I’d encourage anyone who possibly can to volunteer. It adds a lot of weight to the democratic process, especially if it’s not just the same old Wellington hacks turning up.
Lecretia and Matt’s blog – http://lecretia.org/
Lecretia’s Choice
Lecretia Seales believed ill people enduring intolerable suffering with no hope of recovery should have the choice to request assistance to end their lives.
Scoop reporting the Lecretia Seales tragedy and the initiative taken by her and her husband.
http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=76594
edited
Have no fear greywarshark, this Bill will be passed.
It is popular on the left, on the right and in the centre.
Anyone who expresses concern that such legislation should be approached with extreme caution is written off as a sadistic godbotherer.
My concern, for what it is worth, is that until there is legislation that entitles all New Zealanders to publicly funded health and disability care then legislation facilitating ‘voluntary euthanasia’ should be put on hold.
It will be hard to incorporate protections against people being coerced into taking this option when the State is doing the coercing.
Rosemay Mc
Well I hope that you are right, it will be passed. It is rational from most points of view, and it is ethical also from most.
But I understand that you may be concerned about coercion. Also there are lacks in the ‘publicly funded health and disability care’, and it would be good if someone could decide to go from a situation of excellent care, and not miserable conditions, not supported properly and fairly.. No legislation can be perfect, but we can try and also be watchdogs against misuse. I want people to have the right to decide after going through prescribed but not draconian, procedures.
tbh, I wouldn’t want the current government writing and passing euthanasia legislation. I just don’t trust them.
Ideally a government would take a year to educate the citizens about what euthanasia is, what the issues are on various sides, and what the likely parameters are within NZ when it comes to enacting legislation. That time could be used to run workshops in communities and facilitate debate and discussion across a wide section of society as possible. Leaving this up to petitions and select committee hearings is not ok for such an important issue. It’s also not black and white about what should be legislated and that needs debate.
I’m generally in favour of euthanasia but like Rosemary I have concerns from a health and disability perspective, as well as issues for the elderly. I also think we should be looking at this debate within the context of a resource depletion future but I don’t expect many to agree with me on that.
Talking about deciding to go….
like Charles Mitchell,
http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/75922680/raglan-whitebait-pioneer-charles-mitchell-dies-age-64
“….was the kind of environmentalist who loved progress, hated red tape and shared his knowledge with anyone who’d listen.
In the face of advancing glaucoma and what seemed like an unending mountain of red tape, Charles took his life on September 13, Megan said.
“The difficulty with having science on your side is that it is of no assistance if the denizens of officialdom do not understand that science.” ”
Its truly awful that he could not face the prospect of impending blindness, but I can understand how someone who spent his entire working life battling government bureaucracy could be tipped over the edge.
Accessing disability supports in New Zealand for those not under ACC’s Serious Injury service is a nightmare of hoop jumping and red tape untangling. For some, the prospect has been too much.
For others, they have spent many years battling, and it has been a seemingly trivial speed bump that has been the tipping point.
Two cases come to mind…the real issue was not entirely ‘unbearable pain and suffering’ but the loss of dignity at having to beg for basic supports in one case and the knowledge that the disability was going to have as much of an effect on loved ones in the other….in both of these cases the Voluntary Euthanasia lobby swooped down and commandeered the narrative and the underlying cause of the suicide was lost.
I have no faith that this government is capable of constructing legislation that will provide the safeguards needed.
Not when this government has made it quite clear that the rights of people with disabilities can be arbitrarily cast aside.
Wow, almost a radical social democrat.
http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.co.nz/2016/01/winstons-choice.html
Only printed in the press, I wonder why?
That’s normal for it to be only in one paper at a time isn’t it?
Generally he is in 4 or 5 for one piece.
Professor Kevin Anderson of the Tyndall Centre Manchester, interviewed on Friday 8th January. This first of three videos covers the outcomes and significance of the recent UN climate conference in Paris.
Thankyou for the links Paul.
he is of course quite correct….we are deluding ourselves if we believe we can continue anything like the current system and avoid the consequences of that system….and the discussion on the practical changes required is a conversation nobody appears willing to have.
David Cunliffe has a guest post today at TDB: “In a Land of Plenty”
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2016/01/19/guest-blog-david-cunliffe-in-a-land-of-plenty/
Gee that Josie Pagani works hard at undermining Labour and its membership. This time by supporting TPPA and by belittling Andrew Little. Andrew Geddis is there to correct Josie’s silly unfounded assertions.
http://www.pundit.co.nz/content/opponents-of-the-tpp-have-been-vague-about-their-alternative#comment-42531
How she claims to represent the left I do not know.
She is almost as much of a propagandist as Roughan.
And if she represents Labour, then it really is still a neo-liberal party.
She only gets oxygen because she supports the establishment.
The very definiton of useful idiot.
Duncan Garner interviews Andrew Little about Labour’s position on TPP:
http://www.radiolive.co.nz/Is-Labour-opposed-to-the-TPP-or-not/tabid/506/articleID/111587/Default.aspx
Another round in the dance of seven veils but getting closer to an unfudged answer. Apparently no caucus members have approached their leader to support it. And he aint sounding impressed either.
And, from the “there IS a god” files…
this…http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/76020121/controversial-pickup-artists-cancel-new-zealand-event-plans
Lol
pickups dropped off…
or as someone pointed out, they might be negging us.
How so?
Knew I should have added a smiley. I gather spurning is one of their strategies.
I hate it when I’m caught being a literalist 😉
I had to google negging and then wished I hadn’t.
It was probably accurate with or without smileys.
From what I’ve gathered, their ‘technique’ is all about damaging a woman’s judgement and self esteem so that she deigns to let the “artist” do what he wants to her. The only reason that would be necessary is if he were a pointless waste of space whom nobody would ever want to know, biblically or otherwise.
Negging is probably just their automatic reflex to the rejection they know they deserve, A bit sad, really.
and creepy.
yeah. I should probably say “sad in a ‘that abuser is such a broken half-shell of a human being, it’s a shame cute babies can end up becoming warped monsters’ sort of way”.
oh you said enough.
Really enjoying the new Checkpoint.
Watched the first half online. Intriguing. Really good. Some say that it could usurp the emptiness of TV news.
Supposed to be available on Freeview 50 but not here anyway. Must find out if re-programming could find it here in Marlborough.
You probably need to update the tuning on your TV. Not many will automatically pick up a new channel that has become available – you need to make it scan what is now available…
“Some say that it could usurp the emptiness of TV news.”
Sure felt more honest to me. Less invested in pointless smoothness and more into the reporting, interviewing and showing us real New Zealanders. Worked well without the pictures on my drive home today too.
I’m kind of enjoying the lack of slick too, even the little mistakes they are making here and there. Not sure about Campbell’s glasses though.
true, though I was thinking my next pair may look more like that. 🙂
lol, ok I’m obviously living too far in the back blocks to have seen that trend coming.
think Jemaine Clement
ah.
Oh dear…
So then this fucking nightmare played over the Trump-o-Tron, as four very old veterans saluted the screen from the stage. It is hands down the most pandering feat of jingoism/Creed-worship one could imagine. You can watch the full video below. Caution, contains a clip of Michael Jordan dunking a basketball.
[…]
FUBU, aka “For Us By Us” is a line of hiphop branded clothing, i believe now partially owned by Samsung and manufactured in Korea & Cambodia. Here being worn in its 2 piece “FUBUSport” track suit form by an overweight white man actively booing Black Lives Matter mentions and foreign outsourced production. It’s so perfect I could cry.
[…]
bold claim coming from a guy who’s military experience is solely limited to being enrolled in a private military academy in the 8th grade, which he claimed gave him “more training militarily than a lot of the guys that go into the military”
…
https://storify.com/tinymediaempire/i-went-to-a-donald-trump-rally-and-saw-a-mean-wear
‘Tis the time….
All the young dudes
(Hey dudes)
Carry the news
(Where are ya)
Boogaloo dudes
(Stand up Come on)
Carry the news
All the young dudes
(I want to hear you)
Carry the news
(I want to see you)
Boogaloo dudes
(And I want to talk to you all of you)
Carry the news
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfwVfEXJhQQ
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jan/18/mott-the-hoople-drummer-dale-griffin-dies-aged-67
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/19/davos-super-rich-wealth-inequality
Invite to Davos……BYO guillotine