I wonder what policies Labour and the Greens will unveil to help counter corruption and promote genuine transparency in New Zealand?
Will either Labour, or the Greens ( preferably both) pick up the ball and demand the proper implementation and enforcement of the Public Records Act 2005 (particularly s.17) regarding transparency and accountability in the spending of public monies on private consultants and contractors?
Will either Labour, or the Greens, call for an end to the Neo-liberal / Rogernomic$ model of private procurement for public services at central and local government level?
For the benefit of other readers, the Public Records Act does not control the ‘transparency’ of public information, merely the collection and storage of it.
(a) to provide for the continuation of the repository of public archives called the National Archives with the name Archives New Zealand (Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga); and
(b) to provide for the role of the Chief Archivist in developing and supporting government recordkeeping, including making independent determinations on the disposal of public records and certain local authority archives; and
(c) to enable the Government to be held accountable by—
(i)ensuring that full and accurate records of the affairs of central and local government are created and maintained; and
(ii)providing for the preservation of, and public access to, records of long-term value; and
(d)to enhance public confidence in the integrity of public records and local authority records; and
(e) to provide an appropriate framework within which public offices and local authorities create and maintain public records and local authority records, as the case may be; and
(f) through the systematic creation and preservation of public archives and local authority archives, to enhance the accessibility of records that are relevant to the historical and cultural heritage of New Zealand and to New Zealanders’ sense of their national identity; and
(g) to encourage the spirit of partnership and goodwill envisaged by the Treaty of Waitangi (Te Tiriti o Waitangi), as provided for by section 7; and
(h) to support the safekeeping of private records.
The Public Records Act does not control the ‘accessibility’ of public information, merely the collection and storage of it. It contains only narrow exceptions for long-term archives, as referenced above, but not for shorter-term records such as the ones successfully used in the recent court case to convict corrupt people.
I notice you have offered this described benefit a number of times following Penny’s comments on this matter.
I can’t help thinking that such curt blunt comments aren’t so much intended to benefit other readers as they are intended to be snide..
Me and others have patiently explained these matters to Ms Bright many times. I do not have the energy to do more than make sure the record is straight in case any readers are mislead by the constant repetition of falsehoods.
I am clear by now that she will not learn anything and I do not expect a personal reaction – hence my prefix. If I was being snide, it would not be subtle. 🙂
Perhaps it would be helpful if people actually read the Purpose of the Act.
The PRA mandates the Creation, Maintenance, Disposal (either destruction or transfer to Archives), and Preservation of Public Records..
One of the most important parts of the 2005 Act was that it required that the Government be held accountable by ensuring that full and accurate records of the affairs of central and local government be created and maintained as well as providing for the preservation of, and public access to, records of long-term value.
Access to Public Records is contained in Part 3 of the Act but it should be noted this applies specifically to public records that have been in existence for 25 years or are about to be transferred to the control of the Chief Archivist. There is a crossover here between the PRA and the Official Information Act (as well as the Privacy Act). However Good Recordkeeping Practice is that agencies should determine Access on Records at the point of creation.
I should add that Access to Public Records is decided by the Agency responsible for them. Access can and is changed. For example quite a few open Police Records had to be restricted once the Clean Slate legislation was passed (it was a bloody nightmare and a good example of unintended consequences and lack of consultation at the time).
The principle behind Access in the Act is that records should be Open unless there is a good reason to restrict access – this can encompass personal privacy, national security, commercial sensitivity or preservation status and a number of other reasons. The reason for restriction must be documented and subject to review. There are very few public records permanently restricted (adoption records used to be but I’m not sure if they still are) although some of the restrictions can last up to 100 years (usually to do with personal privacy – eg, health records).
The city of Deir Ezzor (Deir ez-Zur) in east-Syria is on the verge of falling into the hands of the Takfiris of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). More than 100,000 civilian inhabitants of Deir Ezzor and thousands of soldiers defending them are in immediate danger of being murdered by the savage ISIS forces. The current situation is a direct consequence of U.S. military action against the SAA and non-action against ISIS.
Deir Ezzor is besieged by ISIS since September 2015. But the city was well defended by its garrison of Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and all further attacks by ISIS were repelled. Supply to the city was hauled in by air through the Deir Ezzor airport and through air drops by the Syrian and Russian airforces. Relief by ground forces and ground supplies are not possible as Deir Ezzor is more than 100 km away from the nearest SAA positions west of Palmyra and as the desert in between is under the control of ISIS.
Four days ago a new attack by ISIS on Deir Ezzor was launched and has since continued. ISIS reinforcements and resupplies had come over months despite air interdiction from the Russian and Syrian airforces. Yesterday ISIS managed to cut off the airport, where the local SAA command and its main supplies are hosted, from the city proper. It is now attacking in full force from all sides. Bad weather makes air support from the outside sporadic and difficult. Unless some unforeseen happens it is only a question of time until the airport and the city fall to ISIS.
The U.S. has condoned and/or even actively supported the imminent ISIS taking of Deir Ezzor by (at least) three measures:
a massive U.S. air attack on SAA forces in September 2016 enabled ISIS to take a controlling position and to cut off SAA resupplies
a U.S. attack against a power station in January disabled the last electricity supplies to the city
U.S. non-intervention enabled ISIS reinforcements from Mosul and west Iraq to Deir Ezzor in east-Syria
Paul, thank you for this. I went looking for corroboration, and didn’t find anything apart from the likes of RT, Sputnik etc. So I went looking for information about Moon of Alabama, and that was certainly entertaining. This one’s a good sampler: http://www.maryscullyreports.com/moon-of-alabama-the-dregs-of-assadist-propaganda/
Gotta say though that the rest of what’s on Mary Scully Reports is an interesting collection of views. So thanks for provoking the search that led me to finding it.
Much the same could be said of Coventry based Osama Suleiman who runs under the name “Syrian Observatory of Human Rights”.
Except, for “some reason” he’s treated as an authority by western media reporting on Syria and to such an extent that his Coventry based operation forms the basis for much of their story telling.
And in a similar but reversed situation, outside of the western media’s echo chamber, corroboration for Suleiman’s stuff is hard to come by.
Meanwhile, independent journalists on the ground reporting from Syria have arrived at broadly similar conclusions to one another – which kind of indicates that what they are each independently saying is kind of close to the mark, if not completely on point.
And do the BBC or other western outlets rush to get their hands on these first hand reports from within Syria? Well no. Of course not.
Has a journalist from any major western news outlet gone to eastern Aleppo yet to bring back first hand accounts from all those people that they (the BBC and others) claimed were going to be raped and murdered by the Syrian Army?
No. I wonder why not?
But don’t you worry you’re pretty wee head there Andre. Keep up the good work of just mindlessly ‘piling on’ and attacking any and all who don’t reflect or amplify the western narrative. There’s a word or term for that type of fairly mindless (and somewhat dangerous) behaviour…
You want corroboration of some-ones analysis? Fuck sake, use your brain, think things through and then either agree or disagree with the analysis in part or in whole.
But whatever, how’s about you drop this dog-shit crusade of just mindlessly denouncing people who are perhaps proposing ways of understanding things that don’t accord with your own received perceptions and understandings?
Seriously. You want to delve into their analysis to see if it stacks up/is reasonable/ is bunk…then you’re going to have to a fair bit of google searching on a number of related fronts.
eg – find news reports about the power station near Deir Ezzor. Find info on the US appraisal of ISIL (I’ll help you with that one – Kerry’s recorded address to members of the Syrian diaspora – a strong ISIL = bargaining chip to oust Assad).
Read various reports on the US bombing of Syrian army units.
Think it all through. Join dots. Accept/reject given pieces of info according to how verifiable or believable they are – how credible or verifiable the principle sources are – or how the info fits/doesn’t fit with what is already known with a high degree of certainty.
Filter it all through your ideological framework and see if it works or whether you have to shift your thinking.
Or just decide that *this* is what you want to believe and mindlessly rage against anything that doesn’t accord with that belief.
Hey Joe90. I noticed you removed that link to PropOrNot fairly quickly.
This enthusiasm for ‘cleansing the airwaves’ as it were by just roundly condemning people and sources if what they are saying/reporting doesn’t fit with the official narrative – you have no problem with that?
2016 was the hottest year on record, setting a new high for the third year in a row, with scientists firmly putting the blame on human activities that drive climate change.
The final data for 2016 was released on Wednesday by the three key agencies – the UK Met Office and Nasa and Noaa in the US – and showed 16 of the 17 hottest years on record have been this century.
Direct temperature measurements stretch back to 1880, but scientific research indicates the world was last this warm about 115,000 years ago and that the planet has not experienced such high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere for 4m years.
In 2016, global warming delivered scorching temperatures around the world. The resulting extreme weather means the impacts of climate change on people are coming sooner and with more ferocity than expected, according to scientists.
I have posted about the following:
a. dangerous climate change statistics released from last year
b. developments in the Syrian War
c. a query about a new homelessness film
d. a report about the failure of government to invest in R and D.
I’ll leave that to readers to decide if it is clickbait.
With Trump in power the world will not give a damn about climate change.
FFS the Secretary of State ran Enron for over a decade.
Paris 21 was the peak of globally unified concern, and will now quickly unwind other than in specific national efforts.
With the US Secretary of Energy run by that nut job from Texas, expect to see their local fracking wells go full bore, and OPEC get the Iranian and Saudi wells going full speed ahead as prices pull out of the doldrums. And of course, Big Coal comes straight back right across the US power grid.
It seems to be a surprise to the hard-lefties that this is what happens when they can’t swallow their disappointment that the candidate closest to their views isn’t good enough, so they enable the far-opposite to their views into power.
1. What is a “hard leftie”?
2. How could anyone in NZ who isn’t a US citizen possibly or in any way whatsoever “enable the far-opposite to their views into power” in the US?
1: in the context of The Standard, a “hard-leftie” is anyone who thinks Labour and the Greens are both so far right they’re not worth voting for.
2: I would hope that local hard-lefties would take the lesson from how Trump became prez-elect and instead of devoting their energies to tearing down Labour and Greens, would try to build something closer to their views. Particular since the barrier to representation under MMP is very low compared to other electoral systems.
See, here’s the thing. The term ‘hard left’ (meaningless as it is) is piece of terminology used by the likes of Wayne Mapp and others to dismiss people and what they have to say.
Now I know you’re all up for denouncing people and what not. (But still.)
So anyone who reckons the Green Party and the Labour Party are too far to the right are ‘hard left’ are they? And what about anyone who reckons they’re centrist and throws a tick at a party advocating non-centrist policies? Those people ‘hard left’ too?
Actually. Isn’t it more accurate to say that anyone not ascribing to your fairly conventional/orthodox world view is (variously) a shill, ‘hard left’, an apologist, a bot…
And if that’s the case (and I don’t think that’s an unreasonable proposition given the content of a fair number of your comments), then isn’t it you yourself who are displaying the tendencies of a political puritan (assuming ‘hard’ refers to ideologically immutability)?
Seems to me that’s about where we’re at. Wha’d’ye reckon there Andre? Close enough?
My objection is to people that put their efforts into tearing down Labour or Greens because they’re not left enough. If they choose to instead put their efforts into building up Mana or something else that better suits their beliefs, then I’ll cheer them on.
Personally, I’m pragmatic politically. I’ll go with whoever is closest to my views that actually has a reasonable chance of gaining power. Which in New Zealand right now means the Greens, even though I’m seriously disappointed in their positions on a lot of issues.
In the US, it meant I voted for Hillary, even though Stein was much closer to my views, and there’s a whole bunch of others I would have preferred to be the Dem nominee. Because on average, Hillary would move things in the direction I want, even while some of her actions would absolutely infuriate me. Because I know Trump will go hard in the wrong direction on almost every issue that matters to me. And that’s too high a price to pay for the momentary gratification of casting a protest vote.
So you’re a US citizen in NZ who voted for Clinton…which (referring to your original comment) puts you in the camp of a very small number of people in NZ who could have had any impact on the US election.
I’ll take your criticism Andre and up the game. It’s not about the labour party being left enough. It’s about the labour party actually being nothing more than a liberal party.
It’s about you and people like you who say one thing and do another. Seriously, get over yourself, your person lost. She went into the campaign know she had to win the electoral collages and she lost. Unlikable, unpopular and a really awful campaign, but blame the ‘hard left’ or the Russians, blame anyone but the fact when you serve a turd, you lose.
May I add under Obama people have woken up to how bad the democratic party has actually got. For that we should thank him. So as a american you can tell me how many seats they have lost at the federal and state level, over 800 is it not? If that is not a wake up call, I don’t know what is needed.
But to blame the people who warned you, and actually offer an alternative – is just tiresome and boorish.
The labour party is a liberal party just like the democrates. It is no longer a social democratic party, it no longer servers the interests of working people. Hence why working people don’t vote for it, and here is a prediction, working people just won’t vote in the up coming election.
So yeah I’ve knocked labour for years to try and get it to move. It will never, it is too vested in self interest. I’m going to laugh at being called hard left – if that means I get to think for myself – then call me anything you want. Because I’d rather be freethinker than be brain dead liberal who can’t even see the rubbish they keep serving up – no one wants.
The wikipedia definition of liberalism starts with “generally they support ideas and programmes such as freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, free markets, civil rights, democratic societies, secular governments, gender equality, and international cooperation.”
Which of those principles do you object to? Because I value all of them, with defining the boundaries between one person’s freedom and another’s as one of the key roles of government.
What’s stopping you going hard to help build Mana, or the IP (like xanthe appears to be starting to do) or something new? Surely if there’s so much support for your beliefs and Labour is alienating those supporters, then it should be easy to get enough support to get into parliament.
But you can be sure that the likeliest result from just carping at Labour and Greens from the sidelines is that National get returned for a fourth term. Is that what you want?
Well, socialists want to see representative democracy overthrown and replaced with a one-party state in which the one party has absolute power, so my money would be on “all of them.”
I oppose free markets. And I oppose international co-operation. Both are just an excuse for neo-colonialism – let me explain that – what both of those mean inside a liberal world view, is a white way or wrong way.
What does gender equality even mean? We can’t even agree on what gender even is. So in the mean time, men still control the world. So would I rather have equality, any second, of any day, of any week. But with men firmly in control, and a economic system to help them keep that control, it is just not going to happen. If anything, liberalism will mean women are on track to go backwards. It was a liberal system which elected trump, no.
Civil rights within an economic system built on exploitation. OK now if that is not great press, I don’t know what is. It’s one thing to say somthing, another all together do do somthing about it. Have you read Dr Martin Luther King? His later works and speeches are truly liberation theology. Great man.
But to your point, I help the poor. I don’t help people to get power to abuse the poor with. We have enough people playing that silly game, and you think after 200 odd years or more, people would have released it only works to a point. You have to either embrace more democracy, or totalitarianism. So am I a totalitarian, never, Liberation theology is my starting point, with a heavy dose of Christian anarchism. So I’m not looking for state solutions, never have been. .
All I am doing is pointing out labour are a liberal party, and that they have not shown any signs in changing economics. I find that liberal economics hurts the poor and wrecks culture. It hurts women, and worships violence, particularly war, which helps generates profits so it can propagandise back to you how great liberalism is. But, in the twenty first century if we are serious about civil rights, equality and freedom then we need to look how we do economics.
I see Psycho Milt is at his usual trolling best. Most of the time it’s so dull to read his narrow world view, with so little attachment to real human beings. What lies next Milt, what new ways will you come up with to attack working people and their culture?
generally they support ideas and programmes such as freedom of …x, y and zwithin the confines of a liberal paradigm that has a severely curtailed or limited concept of freedom.
Sure. I’m a socialist myself and certainly don’t want to overthrow representative democracy or replace it with a one-party state. But if commenters are reducing liberalism down to something only an ACT Party member would recognise, why not join in the fun?
What does gender equality even mean? We can’t even agree on what gender even is.
Hardly surprising, given that gender is a social construct so is very much open to interpretation. It’s less open to interpretation than class is though, and I expect you don’t have much of a problem with recognising class-based inequality. Also, if you struggle with the idea of gender equality, think of it in terms of equality of the sexes – there are only two and the inequality is fairly easily identified.
“the Secretary of State ran Enron”.
It is Exxon, or more precisely Exxon Mobil, not Enron for Christ’s sake.
The people who were running Enron were a pack of crooks.
Would you accept me saying something like “Andrew Little was formerly the head of Enron” rather than “Former head of the EPMU”?
Auckland’s thousands of homeless youth are the subject of a new documentary.
Studies from Otago University found half of New Zealand’s 40,000 homeless live in Auckland, and that the majority of them were under 25.
On our Doorstep – a documentary made by students from AUT’s master of human rights class – aims to shine a light on lives within a largely hidden demographic.
During the production process, student Monique van Veen said she had heard a “massive spectrum of reasons” why youth ended up homeless; from fleeing violent families to feeling marginalised in smaller towns and drifting to Auckland “to find their people”.
Amazing how the number of homeless was last month reported to be 20,000 and now the figure magically doubles to 40,000. Homelessness is a real problem that is being addressed and the current housing boom is part of the solution. Ridiculous and unbelievable figures are not helpful to a constructive debate.
Inequality has not changed much in the last eight years as you probably well know. In fact it is slightly reduced. What is the big deal about inequality anyway? It will always be there, Always has been there. People are not equal in their abilities. Poverty is also greatly reduced with record employment levels and a massive rise in welfare payments. This is New Zealand. We are an egalitarian country where the top few high earners pay most of the tax revenue. This is a great place to live.
Fizzy having a constructive debate with you is near on impossible, as soon as you are asked to produce facts or evidence to some of your claims, you run away.
And when people produce evidence, such as studies from Otago University, you claim that their figures are ridiculous and unbelievable. Sort it out Fizzy because it makes you look very foolish very often.
The Otago study was debunked within hours of its release. Do you seriously believe it? Their definition of homelessness was quite ridiculous. Keep up with the play. Exaggerating is what caused people to ignore Chicken Little. “The sky is falling”
Fisanil is relying on Paula Bennett’s
Myth their is no poverty in NZ.
But he has mucked up and admitted that their are 20,0000 more than National would admit.
Fisani your fired to close to the truth!
Once a pioneer of the social welfare state, New Zealand now has over 40,000 people who are homeless, forced to live in their cars and in garages as a result of rapid house price and rent rises and a shortage of social housing.
And that was August last year.
And, no, this government is not addressing homelessness. All they do is put in place policies that help rich people steal from everyone else.
When the Key Government came to power in 2008 it promised to place research, science and technology at the forefront of its drive to fuel the economy through innovation……
…..After a small boost in 2009 we have actually gone backwards. Official data shows our research, science and technology investment has dropped steadily from 1.32 per cent in 2010 to 1.27 per cent in 2012 to 1.17 per cent of GDP in 2014.
We are still awaiting the data for 2016. Crucially, private sector investment sits near the bottom of the OECD family of nations. New Zealand is seriously research averse.
Neither the vision, nor the Office of the Science Advisor nor the Science Prizes nor the perennial restructuring of the science sector has done a thing to get this ship steering towards the kind of investment targets we should have in front of us.
As a consequence we will continue to fall short in our aspirations for education, health, transport and welfare – because we can’t afford those aspirations and we don’t invest enough in research, science and technology to turn our productivity around.
The data is actually worse than typically presented, ratioed to GDP. Because we have a low GDP per capita it means research investment per capita is not a third that of Denmark but more like a seventh.
Sadly, though the data is well-known, research leaders and agencies tend to avoid protesting because the received wisdom is that rocking the funding boat is counter-productive…….
…..Science is now buried somewhere in the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) along with it the vision and the focus.
With Industrial Research Ltd morphing into Callaghan Innovation we no longer have a crown research institute focusing on research for the manufacturing sector – the sector most likely to be able to deliver significant productivity gains…….
……Possibly the biggest failing was to scrap the research and development (R&D) tax credit. With the global financial crisis biting hard in 2009, tax credits were seen as unnecessary budgetary expenditure…….
…..We need to get away from immigration-fuelled growth (with all its problems) to innovation-fuelled growth. Research, science and technology needs to come back out of MBIE if the original vision and focus is to be regained.
It would take a whole bunch more than a bit more public money to alter the entire economy from a low-productivity-per-worker, low-salary economy to a high end one with dozens of firms having massive R&D budgets spent locally, justifying hundreds of young bright people to stay here and commit for the long term.
Don’t even mention the Growth and Innovation Framework.
No party here has anything resembling an innovation plan for New Zealand.
The incoming Key government made it pretty clear they thought the government didn’t need to be doing much in the way of research and development because the private sector’s well capable of doing that for itself. It was a deeply cynical thing to say (from the Key government? Who’d have thought it? I’m shocked!), because, as anyone working in the field is aware, the private sector mostly lacks interest in research and development and the shareholders tend to look on it as money wasted that could have gone to them as dividends. Hence the decline in research and development during Key’s tenure.
After a small boost in 2009 we have actually gone backwards. Official data shows our research, science and technology investment has dropped steadily from 1.32 per cent in 2010 to 1.27 per cent in 2012 to 1.17 per cent of GDP in 2014.
We’re a small nation which means that we need to be doing proportionally more R&D. At least 5% of GDP into R&D by the government with plans to extend that to 25% or more over the next decade or so.
We are still awaiting the data for 2016. Crucially, private sector investment sits near the bottom of the OECD family of nations. New Zealand is seriously research averse.
We’re cheap and think that we can get by just by using commodities that any nation can produce just as well and then import everything else that we need.
This means that our economy doesn’t develop and we get poorer as we export all of our resources.
So you reject IP policy because “they wont be in parliament this year”?
Have you not noticed that the “conventional wisdom” no longer is reliable?
I prefer to wait and see how they go in real time
Regardless of your prescient election prediction, What comment do you make on the Internet Party innovation policy? Is it a good policy? what parts could be supported by other parties? https://internet.org.nz/policies.html https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WsUDgnRSjcHOxpQtWOiZnhAdJaHOywOL7X61Us84fBY/edit
Little has jumped the shark today with his disgraceful suggestion that Solid Energy be exempted from H&S laws so that Pike River can be re-entered again.
He’s basically admitting that the mine is unsafe to enter and that it’s a massive punt? Can we expect more deaths in the re-entry process?
And the reason Directors now have personal liability for health and safety is ……
the Pike River disaster ……
and resultant legislation…..
which Little now wants suspended……
to help the Pike River disaster ….
Director’s personal liability was a very necessary change and is having a noticeable effect on H&S, to the extent that some outfits have become so strict it’s going to hurt them. (Written warning for climbing out a truck with hard hat in hand rather than on head, because it was very windy)
However.
It could be worthwhile to consider an exemption process to allow extraordinary, controlled, activities like a possible Pike re-entry. Can Mines Rescue continue at all under the current legislation?
Maybe the exemption law should transfer personal responsibility/liability to Peters and Little then. If it’s just a “figleaf” then they should be happy to agree to those terms.
So – lets assume the directors get a “free pass” (thanks to littles new bill) for the re-entry and people go in there.
But oops – something goes wrong and people die – who takes accountability for letting them go in there knowing that there have been reports saying it was dangerous?
“Sadly nobody”
“We are talking about now under the laws that were passed since”
Indeed. Still, why waste an opportunity, eh James! Key slid out of it, but why should Little!!!
I don’t really understand what you are trying to say.
These links all seem to be talking about Metrowater being prosecuted.
Given that Metrowater is, I understand, wholly owned by the Auckland Council any payment by the ratepayers of Auckland IS a payment by the owners.
Who else could possibly be expected to pay fines levied on a Council owned company?
@ James Well since nobody took accountability for the deaths in the first place does it matter?
There was no interest in preventing the Pike River deaths by Government and the Mine, but now the families want to get the bodies out (and previously the men out in the hours post blast) it’s all about Health and Safety. The miners could also die in a car accident getting there.
The terrorist attacks on September 11, killed 2,996 people but 32,479 American’s were killed the same year in the US by car accidents, over 10 times more.
Death is very political and nothing to do with risk.
Looks to me like he is suggesting a work around the issue of liability, not safety. Which are two different things I think some here are failing to appreciate.
Hands up who thinks the people that would be willing to re-enter the mine would do so unsafely if they had an exemption from the legislation?
Hands up who thinks the directors would oppose any re-entering if they could be personally held responsible for any problems with that?
btw, people take risks in rescuing or recovering bodies all the time. They’re highly skilled and competent including not just in risk assessment but in deciding the degree to which they are willing to put themselves at risk in order to do something good.
Indeed he is concentrating on Liability – but the directors have received a report which said it was unsafe – so despite other reports commissioned by others there is at least some professional view that it is unsafe.
Whilst I agree with a third independent report (as suggested by Little) – it does not deminish the fact that there IS advise that it is dangerous.
Is it acceptable that people be allowed to risk their lives (because they would be) to recover bodies? Should we change our laws to remove liability to let somebody do work that *could* result in their death?
Personally I take note of the fact that dead people have stopped caring about things like where they’re buried, what with being dead an’ all, so people who go on about “bringing our [name of dead relative here] home” are beyond my comprehension. You can’t bring him home – he’s dead! He doesn’t get any less dead for his corpse being moved somewhere else!
That said, some people do make a fuss about dead bodies and these particular people aren’t going to give up. Also, the owners’ and government’s determination to prevent recovery of the bodies suggests they’re concerned about how what will be found in there will reflect on them. Both of those reasons suggest volunteers should be allowed to mount a recovery operation if they’re willing to sign a waiver. If that requires the government to explicitly allow it, they should.
I can understand why right-wingers would want that, but why would anyone else?
There’s a fairly obvious difference between people carrying out search/rescue/recovery operations volunteering to expose themselves to risk to help other people, and employers wanting the ability to profit from having employees contract out of H&S protections in their workplace. Or at least, it’s obvious to people who aren’t right-wingers.
No, it’s entirely the same. Either you support rights and responsibilities for workers or you don’t.
If Little proceeds with this line of attack he shouldn’t turn around and complain if another government suspends H&S laws for work on some important infrastructure project for example.
I love how you twist “search and rescue” to include retrieval of inanimate biological matter. Saving lives is another matter entirely from what is proposed.
“Either you support rights and responsibilities for workers or you don’t.”
There is a pretty simple solution to that. Allow a volunteer crew to enter the mine.
Pike River is not now primarily a workplace, so this isn’t about setting a precedent for workers. This is why people are comparing the situation to SAR rather than mining operations. If the volunteers want to assess the risk and take it, let them.
I think a better solution would be to sack the entire board of Solid Energy and replace them with Peters and Little. See if they’ll actually put their reputation where their mouth is when there’s noone else to point the finger at.
I’m sure you do, because you seem to think this is an issue of what you value rather than one of what the families and rescuers value. It’s nothing to do with Little or Peters. And I notice you sidestep my rebuttal of your argument, so I guess you are now reduced to “I don’t like it”.
I’m actually not against recovery of the bodies in principle, i’m just mindful that fingers get pointed in the right places if something goes wrong.
If the government had caved earlier and more people had died, they’d have been crucified. Now it’s increasingly a Peters/Little issue, and if they want it, they should be ultimately responsible (along with the families).
It’s clear from the language used in the comment, that you do not care about the feelings of the families, or gaining understanding about events causing the tragedy
I love how you twist “search and rescue” to include retrieval of inanimate biological matter.
What “twist?” I wrote search/rescue/recovery because recovery of corpses is part of search and rescue, albeit not the preferred outcome.
I totally get that putting people at risk to retrieve corpses is stupid, and that people have no right to demand that someone else take that risk just because they feel some pointless attachment to the biological material in question, and that there’s a “Where does this stop?” question re how far the state should be expected to go to recover something that’s hardly even useful as compost. However, in this case, we have a location that isn’t that hard to get to, volunteers willing to go in and at least some reports that say it should be safe to do so. It should be a no-brainer.
@Psycho Milt – it’s also about answers – the families have a right to know how their loved ones died and get their question’s answered. I’m more thinking that the mine or government don’t want that information answered hence their move to seal up the mine to prevent the truth coming out that might damage their calls of non existent efforts of rescue made to the men.
As the families lawyers have said. The mine should be treated as a crime scene as 29 people died in there.
Personally I take note of the fact that dead people have stopped caring about things like where they’re buried, what with being dead an’ all, so people who go on about “bringing our [name of dead relative here] home” are beyond my comprehension. You can’t bring him home – he’s dead! He doesn’t get any less dead for his corpse being moved somewhere else!
Yep, agree with that.
That said, I happen to think that we need to go into the mine to find out what happened so we can take steps to correct. That would be difficult to do now but there’d still be some evidence.
It’s not “a fuss about dead bodies”. The Pike royal commission never concluded the direct cause of the explosion, largely because there was no re-entry of the mine to gather evidence.
Of course it is going to be dangerous , many things in life are dangerous , that’s why we train people to do dangerous jobs.
Also why they don’t use robots with cameras to have a good look around for a start makes you think they are hiding something.
They did. First robot drowned. Second robot found a rockfall blocking the path – might be small, might be completely unstable and run for hundreds of metres, nobody knows.
ISTR they used a robot usually used for suspect devices. First one went under a waterfall.
The other thing is that it’s actually a pretty difficult problem – underground means it needs a cable for the length of the shaft, which is a kilometre or so. Snag that and you’re screwed. Terrain is possibly more rugged than where they plonked the mars rovers, and those only travel a few km a year (if at all) anyway. Although they have different challenges.
No idea.
I suspect the vent would be pretty strewn with debris. And even if the thing fits in the hole, you’re still dangling it down 150m or so.
It really is the sort of environment that needs the adaptability of a person, (at the current level of tech), and specialists. If a robotics expert comes out and shows an OTS product that will be able to operate remotely in that environment as well as clear obstacles like rock falls and pipes/ducts/machinery pieces, and maybe even recover large objects, then fair enough. But “failure to successfully deploy a robot to open up the mine” is not really a criticism I’d be comfortable making, especially when there are less speculative issues to examine.
“Is it acceptable that people be allowed to risk their lives (because they would be) to recover bodies?”
People risk their lives on a regular basis doing mountain search and rescue, surf lifesaving, among a bunch of other activities. They do it on a volunteer, non-work basis. They are experts at assessing the risks they are taking on, and are experts in managing those risks.
Having been in the situation being an expert preparing to go into a hazardous situation for a search and rescue operation, and having non-experts try to stop me because they think it’s too dangerous, I can certainly feel the frustration of those experts that want to go in and are currently being prevented from doing so.
So if a piece of legislation removes the liability concerns that seem to be the biggest obstacle and allows a team of willing experts to go in, then I wouldn’t oppose it. Regardless of whether those experts’ motivation is respect to colleagues and their families or trying to learn more about what went wrong.
For some people, retrieving the remains of a loved one is incredibly important. When you experience that from someone, even a complete stranger, and you’re in a position to help, it’s inspirational. While I’ve never been in the position of the remains being a friend or colleague, I imagine the need to do something (safely) would be vastly stronger.
If all that’s needed is a change in mindset from it being a workplace (with all the health and safety requirements based around non-experts being able to learn there safely) to it being the scene of a search and rescue operation (where all involved are volunteer experts actively managing themselves), then I’m for it.
Even though personally, my remains will be just a meat container that’s stopped twitching and it can be left where it dropped or chucked in a landfill for all I’ll care, and I certainly hope and expect no-one ever puts themselves at risk for my remains. And that my loved ones have enough sense to go along with that.
If anyone carries out an activity for a “person conducting a business or undertaking” (whether or not the undertaking is for profit or gain), then they are counted as a “worker” (whether paid or not), and anywhere the worker goes is a “workplace”.
There are some qualifications and exceptions for those three terms (and I’m no lawyer so don’t be structuring your own H&S policies around what I wrote 🙂 ), but the short answer to your question is “yep”.
Pity they did not worry about ‘liability’ before they killed the miners in an unsafe mine. What liability – they got off without prosecution! Now it’s different?? What a double standard.
“the government claimed the mine could not be re-entered because of the liability risk, so on the first day of the new parliamentary year he would seek leave to table his bill.
That would exonerate Solid Energy’s directors from being held liable for any harm to people taking part in the mine re-entry, he said.
Mr Little said the victims’ families were promised everything that could be done to recover their loved ones’ bodies would be done, and the government needed to follow through on that.”
I said it a few days ago, there are some who literally believe (and not even then) that if Andrew Little should get a shovel and start digging himeself to be considered an honest man.
Little has not jumped the shark!!! He is just seperating ussues here. At the same time as saying the there should be a third enquiry independent of goverment and the families of those that have died, and thus acknowledging that there are still outstanding issues to be resolved about saftey, he is addressing the issue of director liability as this is being used as a reason to not enter the mine quite seperate from addressing risk of re entry.
It shows something of where financial power and influence lies in NZ, but doesn’t show the way to truly change it. It needs a far deeper structural change to the whole system, rather than some quota-focused window dressing.
A list of the 45 listed companies without any female directors in 2016 contains some of the biggest names in New Zealand business.
Last week, information filed by companies on the stock exchange’s main board showed 17 percent of directors last year were women.
The figure is the same as 2015.
This is the blunt face of our current form of patriarchal capitalism. But the people most negatively impacted by it are the mean, women and children (also very often includes brown people) at the lower end of the power hierarchy.
People don’t easily give up power, wealth and influence. Women will be let into the top tier as long as those guys at the very top don’t lose their hold o power and status.
Technically, I’m not homeless. I have a roof over my head but it’s the roof of my brother’s van. Besides that and a bag I don’t have much else.
If you’re like me you don’t have kitchen facilities or a freezer so you can’t do a week’s groceries, it’s almost impossible. You want to eat good food but you can’t so you face eating day-to-day, takeaways mostly.
If you use your head and you want to stay healthy you can still buy fruit, you can still buy some good things. But it’s not cheap living day-to-day, in fact, it’s more expensive.
I wasn’t abused or anything like that. I don’t use hard drugs, I’ve never used P in my life and I don’t smoke marijuana. But even without that, all those things I need to live by can’t be met on $140 in a week, it just can’t be done.
…
I don’t have qualifications and this has kept me from securing a job I really like. But I have hope to join a course through the help of Work and Income this year and I want to be a barista. People love drinking flat whites and I think I’d be good at making them.
What people may not realise is that most beggars have grown up in poor, unstable households and they can’t read or write. They end up using drugs and they know they’re not going to get a job, they’re never going to travel and they’ll never enjoy restaurants.
The world needs to invest $25 trillion in new oil-producing capacity over the next 25 years to meet growing demand, Saudi Aramco’s chief executive Amin Nasser said at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday.
According to the CEO of Saudi Arabia’s giant state-held oil company, global demand for oil and gas will still grow in the coming decades, so if capital investment drops, it could create “spikes” in prices and hurt the global economy, CNBC reports. Demand is still healthy and oil “will be with us for decades”, CNBC quoted Nasser as telling a Wall Street Journal panel at the Davos forum.
The global oil and gas industry needs to expand and requires more investment, Nasser said.
That’s how disconnected from reality that these ‘business’ leaders are.
Destroying the environment for profit isn’t how you build a good and sustainable economy.
I believe Key resigned as he saw a major source of funding dry up, funding associated with the TPPA being implemented while he was in office. On that basis I think its unlikely he would start advising Trump suddenly. But I have no evidence for this.
“Golden Bay residents frustrated at council inaction and concerned for the environment at Reilly St are distributing flyers and have installed large information signs at the entrance, recycling bins, a compost toilet and a money collection box.
With the biennial Luminate festival looming near, many fear freedom camping numbers will increase.”
True that.. Luminate brings thousands here.
Oh dang, on that link of DOC campsites, there are a few alerts, some are because they have bombed the place with 1080
“Tracks and roads in the area have been cleared of bait but park users should be aware that baits can get caught up in trees and can be dislodged through wind action many days after the operation. Do not touch these baits. ”
I’m being a bit naughty here….but do you folk in the Takaka region realise that the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association is having their yearly national rally in Richmond this year? February 23rd-27th I believe.
Yes Siree….hundreds and hundreds of indigenous motorhomers all bitten by the travel bug and looking for fun and good times in the SI.
Yon farmer with the swish -bang problem…how about he organise, say, a wee country/folk music festival, right down there on the river bank….welcoming CSC Kiwi campers, encourage them to stay awhile?
Some of us members are grumpy buggers….
Despite the preponderance of government apparatchiks like Fred Kaplan,
there ARE many decent and hardworking journalists in the United States today.
In a particularly dark time in American history, the likes of Glenn Greenwald, Chris Hedges, Laura Poitras, Matt Taibbi, Jeremy Scahill, Peter Maass, Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez and Allan Nairn are living testimony to the fact that journalists are perhaps our last best hope.
But then there are specimens like Fred Kaplan, who in another time and place would have been composing diatribes against Lin Piao for the People’s Daily or denouncing Jewish doctors in Pravda….
Dunno, more see it as mainstreaming ecologically sustainable ideas, and forcing national to either agree to chase the centre, and really turn off their core support, or come out and attack Morgan and start alienating their urban liberal centre.
Pretty much everything the Toppers have come up with is going to go down like a cup of cold sick in the milking shed, UBI, capital taxes, resource levies and whatever to come, but it’s another voice getting alternative, sustainable ideas out there and reaching a different audience to the Greens. I see it as complementing the Greens rather than competing with them.
Me too. Why would an existing Green voter shift their vote from an established party with highly competent MPs already in parliament to a new party of most unknowns and who’s policies are already being done by the Greens?
I’ll be interested to see what their policy in other areas looks like.
he’s coming up with ideas i’ve heard nowhere else , tradable pollution rights with a lowering bar , charges on all commercial water use. these are real world solutions to operating in a capitalist country. It fits with my thinking that capitalism is fine as long as it is heavily regulated.
the bit about the green votes was just my clunky click grabbing
Not posted in “power down” cause its just too depressing….
“In short, not a single one of the scientists polled thought the 2C target likely to be met. Bill McGuire, professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at University College London, is most emphatic. “My personal view,” he says, “is that there is not a cat in hell’s chance.””
“I think we actively chose to forgo the carbon budgets for a likely chance of 2C many years ago,” says Kevin Anderson, currently professor of climate change at Uppsala University in Sweden. “Judging that rate at which our emissions would need to be reduced was too politically challenging to contemplate.”
A detailed account of how Democrat supporters in a number of rustbelt heavy steel counties turned to Trump and to the Republicans; buckle in for a hard read:
And Trump’s victory is the triumph of capitalism. For Donald Trump is the perfect capitalist: selfish, vulgar, bigoted, privileged. The worshipper of Mammon and no other gods.
Lies are the weapons of demagogues and tyrants, the self-serving delusions of narcissists, and the enemies of free civil society.
Ω
The United States of America, 2017, is utterly different from Germany of 1933. German power was concentrated in the army. American power is concentrated in corporations: especially banks and financial corporations, oil corporations, and military contractors.
I have resisted the comparisons of Trump to Hitler… Still, it is eerie how closely Trump has followed Hitler’s play book. And we should not forget that Hitler’s first campaign, once he got a little power, was to muzzle and tame the press.
“They’re all liars,” sayeth the Liar.
Lies and nonsensical pronouncements will serve primarily as distractions, that we not see their fingers in the public till.
Watch the money. Follow the money. Money is what matters to Trump and his family. Money will be at the center of much of what Trump does. (And money, perhaps, will be his downfall.)
Lies will distract us from the further erosion of civil liberties, and from the free passes being given to polluters.
Ω
The Trump Administration, if it can’t be somehow stopped, will be worse than any of us wish to imagine. Corruption will be rampant. Great numbers of people will be brutalized through economics. Civic duty will be replaced by predation and the clear-cutting of the commons.
By allowing money to be the rule of all things, the demonic forces of greed, lies, and coercion inevitably tend to give the most predatory persons and cartels free access to the public trust. The rise of authoritarian regimes leads to the seizure of the commons by the powerful and the monetization of public lands, public airspace, every public marketplace, and to the sort of vast corruption we are more used to in “third-world” countries.
It is the nature of a corporation, under current charter, to maximize monetary profit. That is its sole morality. A corporation is the spirit of greed given a body. Buddhists call the entities of limitless craving pretas—“hungry ghosts.” Zen students give the hungry ghosts small offerings out of compassion, even knowing they can never be satisfied. But to conjure forth the spirits of greed and craving, and then by magical writs to give them corporeal body and immortality, and then to release them out of the magic circle to prey and feed on the world of sentient beings–that is daylight madness.
Money is also a phantasm. We have given it so much power that now we are its slaves. We created “economy,” which should be housekeeping, but instead is a poisonous lash on our backs, wielded by the “invisible” slavemaster’s hand. All the nations of planet Earth are now ensnared within its web. Fundamentally, none of it is “necessary.” We could invent a different system.
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Climate change is everywhere. And when something's everywhere it can feel like it's nowhere. So how do we get our heads ...
Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
Buzz from the Beehive A significant decline in natural gas production has given Resources Minister Shane Jones an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the mining and burning of coal. For good measure, he has praised an announcement from Genesis Energy that it will resume importing coal. He and Energy ...
“Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Here is my subjective ranking on a “most-left” to “most-right” scale of most of our major NZ Universities, with some anecdotal (and at times amusing) evidence to back up the claim.Extreme Left Auckland University of TechnologyEvidenceThe ...
Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes – Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National ...
Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
Placards and mourners outside the Kilbirnie Mosque following the Christchurch terror attack: MSD has terminated the Kaiwhakaoranga service, which has been used by 415 families since the attacks. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The Government’s pledge to only cut ‘back office’ staff rather than ‘frontline’ services is on increasingly shaky ground, with ...
There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Photo by Jari Hytönen on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government is talking up the crucial role of gas as a transition fuel “through to 2050 and beyond”. In a gas strategy to be released on Thursday, the government envisages the fuel’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Next week the government will again next try to get its legislation through to deal with non-citizens who won’t cooperate with efforts to deport them. The bill, which the opposition and crossbench refused to rush ...
A long-term project that will set out an alternative vision for Aotearoa that looks beyond the narrow confines of the policy straight jacket adopted by successive governments. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bree Hurst, Associate Professor, Faculty of Business and Law, QUT, Queensland University of Technology TK Kurikawa/Shutterstock A much-awaited report into Coles and Woolworths has found what many customers have long believed – Australia’s big supermarkets engage in price gouging. What started ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daniel Ghezelbash, Associate Professor and Deputy Director, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Law & Justice, UNSW Sydney The Albanese government wanted to avoid an inquiry into its migration amendment bill. The report, handed down yesterday by a senate committee that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joo-Cheong Tham, Professor, Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne Lobbying is at the heart of government. Who has access to and influence over key government officials shapes the decisions governments make – and how they make them. The ability to influence ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Myfany Turpin, Associate Professor, Ethnomusicology, Linguistics and Ethnobiology, University of Sydney The act representing Australia at this year’s Eurovision contest has sadly not qualified for the grand final. Yet for Zaachariaha Fielding and Michael Ross, the duo that makes up Electric Fields, ...
In announcing changes to the school lunches programme, David Seymour said kids would no longer be served ‘woke’ foods. To clear up any confusion, The Spinoff has compiled a guide to the wokeness levels of some common food items. Apple = NOT WOKE Avocado = WOKE Avocado, smashed = EVEN ...
The Minister Responsible for GCSB and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security have been notified of this review, and have been provided a finalised Terms of Reference. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Minglu Chen, Senior Lecturer, Government and International Relations, University of Sydney Robert Way/Shutterstock As the past few years have illustrated so clearly, the Australia-China relationship is complicated. As such, it is crucial for Australians to develop a more nuanced understanding of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mariana Campbell, Research Lecturer, Conservation, Charles Darwin University Marilyn Connell Australian freshwater turtles are facing an alarming trend. Almost half of these species are listed as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered. The Mary River turtle (Elusor macrurus) is one of Australia’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Debbie Passey, Digital Health Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne Algorithms have become integral to our lives. From social media apps to Netflix, algorithms learn your preferences and prioritise the content you are shown. Google Maps and artificial intelligence are nothing without ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Josephine Barbaro, Associate Professor, Principal Research Fellow, Psychologist, La Trobe University Unsplash We’ve come a long way in terms of understanding that everyone thinks, interacts and experiences the world differently. In the past, autistic people, people with attention deficit hyperactive disorder ...
PNG Post-Courier Papua New Guinea’s deputy opposition leader James Nomane has accused the government of “reckless economic management” that has forced devaluation to manage loan repayments in foreign currency and placate the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Prime Minister James Marape “must stop lying to the people of Papua New Guinea”, ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Bookseller Confessional, in which we get to know Aotearoa’s booksellers. This week: Jane Arthur, author of Brown Bird, and former bookseller at Good Books.The book I wish I’d writtenI have been working on not comparing myself to others. On accepting that what I can ...
The final decision on the Wellington District Plan makes it official: High-density housing is legal across most of Wellington. Housing minister Chris Bishop has announced his decision on the Wellington District Plan, approving a series of amendments to radically upzone most of Wellington, allowing tens of thousands of new townhouses ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. “Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to ...
RNZ News As Israel presses ahead with strikes in Rafah and seizing the Rafah crossing from Egypt, aid agencies are sounding the alarm of a “catastrophic humanitarian situation”. Rafah was “significant” because it was the only part in Gaza that had not been terribly damaged by the conflict, United Nations ...
With funding set to be scrapped for the Hamilton-Auckland commuter train, Te Huia enthusiast Georgie Dansey argues for it to be thrown a lifeline. It’s 5.45am and the chain of my crappy old bike falls off slugging up the one hill in Hamilton. I contemplate yeeting the bike into the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Cooke, Honorary Fellow, School of the Environment, The University of Queensland We feel ecological grief when we lose places, species or ecosystems we value and love. These losses are a growing threat to mental health and wellbeing globally. We all see ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shauna Brail, Associate Professor, Institute for Management & Innovation, University of Toronto A shift to hybrid and remote work continues to affect worker presence in Toronto’s downtown.(Shutterstock) Downtown Toronto, the core of Canada’s largest city, continues to reel from the lingering ...
Responding to an Auditor-General's report slamming failures in the administration of the 2023 General Election, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said: ...
Productivity apps now make up a big chunk of the software market. But do they work? And why do they all have AI integrations?Despite being firmly on the record as a physical planner fan, I sometimes dream of something better than my pretty diary and its scrawled, ugly, interior ...
The Taxpayers’ Union says the Beehive need to lead by example, following reports of more than $50,000 spent upgrading video conferencing equipment and furniture in the Prime Minister’s office. Taxpayers’ Union Campaign Manager, Connor Molloy, ...
An objective list of the 50 most powerful people in New Zealand, as judged by the Spinoff Editorial Board. It’s power list season, baby, and we want in on the action. Sure, there’s the rich list and the powerful “c-suite” list and the young people with power (hmmm) but here, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thalia Anthony, Professor of Law, University of Technology Sydney ShutterstockThis article contains information on deaths in custody and the names of deceased people, and describes ongoing colonial violence towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. First Nations people in Australia ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alex Simpson, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Macquarie University Netflix Baby Reindeer’s phenomenal success has much to do with its writer and lead, Richard Gadd, who plays Donny in a tender semi-autobiographical account of sexual abuse, harassment and stalking. Gadd’s story has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Collins, Laureate Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Newcastle KarolinaGrabowska/Pexels If you didn’t have food allergies as a child, is it possible to develop them as an adult? The short answer is yes. But the reasons why are much ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Moon, Professor of History, Auckland University of Technology Ans Westra, self-portrait, c. 1963. National Library ref AWM-0705-F They try but invariably fail – those writers who believe they are capable of encapsulating in prose or verse the essence of ...
Stewart Sowman-Lund looks at the growing concern around the world in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. What’s all this? When Covid-19 arrived on our shores in early 2020, some argued we were too slow, or crucially, ill-prepared for a pandemic. So ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Franco Montalto, Professor of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering and Director, Sustainable Water Resource Engineering Laboratory, Drexel University Water runs into a storm drain in a Los Angeles alley on Aug. 19, 2023, during Tropical Storm Hilary.Citizen of the Planet/Universal Images ...
The inquest into the death of Gore toddler Lachlan Jones has turned up a new witness who says he saw two teenagers and a small child in a high vis vest in the area where the boy’s body was found the day he died. Lachie’s body was discovered face up ...
Stories from the tenancy trenches, featuring spider infestations, cupboard rats and same-sex discrimination. Lucy’s brother was living in a damp 1930s building in Mt Eden where “he had to tie the cupboard doors closed so the rats didn’t get in”. Although he shared custody of his six-year-old son, his property ...
Simeon Brown, Chris Luxon, and Wayne Brown climbed into a hole and announced a plan to solve Auckland’s water woes. This is how it’ll work. New Zealand’s pipes are munted. They’re cracked and leaking, and struggling to handle all the extra poos excreted by our rising population. It’s a big, ...
I knew Taika Waititi quite well when he was a kid. His mother lived in a tall narrow house in Aro St, and my youngest sister had a similar house two doors along. They were both single mums, they each had a son aged seven. Taika and my nephew Stepan ...
Opinion: “As time passes, knowledge of the circumstances of the August 2016 outbreak will fade and its immediate impact will be lost.” This statement is from the 2017 report of the Official Inquiry into the Havelock North campylobacteriosis outbreak. The then National-led government established the inquiry after the outbreak left ...
Opinion: Nicholas Khoo looks at two key points in the high-stakes foreign policy pact debate – and asks if NZ can engage with as little drama as possible. The post Where to next for the Aukus ruckus? appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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Opinion: ‘Reference-class forecasting’ is at the heart of improving pricing a project and identifying the expected timeframe but it doesn’t appear to be in use here The post ‘Think fast and act slowly’ is failing big projects appeared first on Newsroom. ...
What do a sombrero in Argentina and cognitive driving tests have in common? Don’t worry, we’re not setting up a bad joke. Hinengaro Clinic dementia clinician Gregory Winkelman has the answer on today’s episode of The Detail. “We ask a patient’s spouse or son or daughter: If you went to ...
Wellington long jumper Phoebe Edwards is back and she’s having fun again. Until this year, Edwards, a top athlete in her teens, had never competed as a senior athlete in New Zealand. In March, the 26-year-old won a national long jump title in a lifetime best of 6.28m after ...
After replacing a fifth of their caucus in just four months, the Greens’ opportunity to reset, reshuffle and refocus on the Government is quickly slipping away The post Persistent Green Party scandals delay caucus reset appeared first on Newsroom. ...
ANALYSIS:By Olli Hellmann, University of Waikato When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day today on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also to mark a defining event for national identity. The battle of Gallipoli against ...
By Robin Martin, RNZ News reporter A New Zealand local authority, Whanganui District Council, has passed a motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, condemnation of all acts of violence and terror against civilians on both sides of the conflict and the immediate return of hostages. It comes as ...
Asia Pacific Report The Aotearoa chapter of the Women’s International league for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) has appealed to the New Zealand government to call out Israel over the “cruel and barbaric use of force” in Gaza and demand a permanent ceasefire. The league’s open letter was sent to Prime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government will invest $566 million over a decade on data, maps and other tools to promote exploration and development in Australia’s resources industry. The project will fund “the first comprehensive map of what’s ...
Asia Pacific Report Following an open letter by Auckland University academics speaking out in support of their students’ right to protest against the genocidal Israeli war on Gaza, a group of academics at Otago University have today also called on New Zealand academic institutions to “repair colonial violence” and end ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Linda J. Graham, Professor and Director of the Centre for Inclusive Education, Queensland University of Technology Ryan Tauss/ Unsplash, CC BY Two male students have been expelled from a Melbourne private school for their involvement in a list ranking female students. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The Reserve Bank is now assuming Australians will see no interest rate cuts this year – and quite possibly none before the next federal election, due next May. That’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Hayward, Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, RMIT University The Victorian budget offered more of the same on Tuesday, with the only change being how the budget papers were packaged. The usual shrink wrap was gone, hinting at savings in the pages ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Coalition is demanding extensive amendments to the government’s legislation targeting non-citizens who refuse to co-operate with their removal. In a dissenting report to the senate inquiry into the legislation, the Coalition says it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vanita Yadav, Senior Research Fellow, Urban Transformations Research Centre, Western Sydney University Brett Boardman/Belvoir The complex and grappling issue of violence against women takes centre stage in the soul-stirring solo dance drama Nayika: A Dancing Girl. During a dinner conversation ...
I wonder what policies Labour and the Greens will unveil to help counter corruption and promote genuine transparency in New Zealand?
Will either Labour, or the Greens ( preferably both) pick up the ball and demand the proper implementation and enforcement of the Public Records Act 2005 (particularly s.17) regarding transparency and accountability in the spending of public monies on private consultants and contractors?
Will either Labour, or the Greens, call for an end to the Neo-liberal / Rogernomic$ model of private procurement for public services at central and local government level?
Penny Bright
Proven ‘anti-privatisation / anti-corruption campaigner’.
2017 Independent candidate Mt Albert by-election.
[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.]
For the benefit of other readers, the Public Records Act does not control the ‘transparency’ of public information, merely the collection and storage of it.
How is a ‘public’ record ‘public’ Sacha – if it’s not readily accessible for public scrutiny?
Studied the 226 page ‘Reasons For The Verdict of Fitzgerald J’?
$1.1 million paid in bribes for ‘consultancy’ work that could not be substantiated with a single scrap of evidence.
How many other ‘public officials’ simultaneously are ‘private consultants’?
How widespread is THAT practice?
Any view on that one Sacha?
Penny Bright
Proven ‘anti-privatisation / anti-corruption campaigner’.
2017 Independent candidate Mt Albert by-election.
This is what I’m relying upon Sacha – for my considered opinion regarding the Public Records Act 2005 – what it says?
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2005/0040/latest/DLM345536.html
3 Purposes of Act
The purposes of this Act are—
(a) to provide for the continuation of the repository of public archives called the National Archives with the name Archives New Zealand (Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga); and
(b) to provide for the role of the Chief Archivist in developing and supporting government recordkeeping, including making independent determinations on the disposal of public records and certain local authority archives; and
(c) to enable the Government to be held accountable by—
(i)ensuring that full and accurate records of the affairs of central and local government are created and maintained; and
(ii)providing for the preservation of, and public access to, records of long-term value; and
(d)to enhance public confidence in the integrity of public records and local authority records; and
(e) to provide an appropriate framework within which public offices and local authorities create and maintain public records and local authority records, as the case may be; and
(f) through the systematic creation and preservation of public archives and local authority archives, to enhance the accessibility of records that are relevant to the historical and cultural heritage of New Zealand and to New Zealanders’ sense of their national identity; and
(g) to encourage the spirit of partnership and goodwill envisaged by the Treaty of Waitangi (Te Tiriti o Waitangi), as provided for by section 7; and
(h) to support the safekeeping of private records.
The Public Records Act does not control the ‘accessibility’ of public information, merely the collection and storage of it. It contains only narrow exceptions for long-term archives, as referenced above, but not for shorter-term records such as the ones successfully used in the recent court case to convict corrupt people.
@Sacha 1.1 and 1.1.1.1
I notice you have offered this described benefit a number of times following Penny’s comments on this matter.
I can’t help thinking that such curt blunt comments aren’t so much intended to benefit other readers as they are intended to be snide..
Me and others have patiently explained these matters to Ms Bright many times. I do not have the energy to do more than make sure the record is straight in case any readers are mislead by the constant repetition of falsehoods.
I am clear by now that she will not learn anything and I do not expect a personal reaction – hence my prefix. If I was being snide, it would not be subtle. 🙂
Perhaps it would be helpful if people actually read the Purpose of the Act.
The PRA mandates the Creation, Maintenance, Disposal (either destruction or transfer to Archives), and Preservation of Public Records..
One of the most important parts of the 2005 Act was that it required that the Government be held accountable by ensuring that full and accurate records of the affairs of central and local government be created and maintained as well as providing for the preservation of, and public access to, records of long-term value.
Access to Public Records is contained in Part 3 of the Act but it should be noted this applies specifically to public records that have been in existence for 25 years or are about to be transferred to the control of the Chief Archivist. There is a crossover here between the PRA and the Official Information Act (as well as the Privacy Act). However Good Recordkeeping Practice is that agencies should determine Access on Records at the point of creation.
I should add that Access to Public Records is decided by the Agency responsible for them. Access can and is changed. For example quite a few open Police Records had to be restricted once the Clean Slate legislation was passed (it was a bloody nightmare and a good example of unintended consequences and lack of consultation at the time).
The principle behind Access in the Act is that records should be Open unless there is a good reason to restrict access – this can encompass personal privacy, national security, commercial sensitivity or preservation status and a number of other reasons. The reason for restriction must be documented and subject to review. There are very few public records permanently restricted (adoption records used to be but I’m not sure if they still are) although some of the restrictions can last up to 100 years (usually to do with personal privacy – eg, health records).
Thank you. We have had that sort of discussion here before, Greg. Like water off a duck’s back.
The similarities between Trump and Stalin – lies, disregard of expertise and facts, mutual regard for authoritarian thugs.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/01/a_lesson_for_trump_from_stalin_lies_work_up_to_a_point.html
But you guys loved Stalin, lolz.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/aug/24/stalin-hitler-victims
Who loves stalin?
http://img03.deviantart.net/f9bc/i/2006/172/1/b/commission__hitler_x_staline_by_ghislainwildcat.jpg
Ant that a little too Godwin, even for you Puckish?
Trump: Writing my inaugural address at the Winter White House, Mar-a-Lago, three weeks ago. Looking forward to Friday
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/821772494864580614
Looking forward to it too Mr Trump! #MAGA.
The incoming Pumpkin Pinochet regime has just the job for ya!. #MAGA.
https://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/gov/5963194512.html
(*cough*)
bwahahahahahahahaha
*galgenhumor
How The U.S. Enabled ISIS To Take Deir Ezzor
Paul, thank you for this. I went looking for corroboration, and didn’t find anything apart from the likes of RT, Sputnik etc. So I went looking for information about Moon of Alabama, and that was certainly entertaining. This one’s a good sampler: http://www.maryscullyreports.com/moon-of-alabama-the-dregs-of-assadist-propaganda/
Gotta say though that the rest of what’s on Mary Scully Reports is an interesting collection of views. So thanks for provoking the search that led me to finding it.
Much the same could be said of Coventry based Osama Suleiman who runs under the name “Syrian Observatory of Human Rights”.
Except, for “some reason” he’s treated as an authority by western media reporting on Syria and to such an extent that his Coventry based operation forms the basis for much of their story telling.
And in a similar but reversed situation, outside of the western media’s echo chamber, corroboration for Suleiman’s stuff is hard to come by.
Meanwhile, independent journalists on the ground reporting from Syria have arrived at broadly similar conclusions to one another – which kind of indicates that what they are each independently saying is kind of close to the mark, if not completely on point.
And do the BBC or other western outlets rush to get their hands on these first hand reports from within Syria? Well no. Of course not.
Has a journalist from any major western news outlet gone to eastern Aleppo yet to bring back first hand accounts from all those people that they (the BBC and others) claimed were going to be raped and murdered by the Syrian Army?
No. I wonder why not?
But don’t you worry you’re pretty wee head there Andre. Keep up the good work of just mindlessly ‘piling on’ and attacking any and all who don’t reflect or amplify the western narrative. There’s a word or term for that type of fairly mindless (and somewhat dangerous) behaviour…
Here’s corroboration (slanted). The Guardian. The Nation.
You want corroboration of some-ones analysis? Fuck sake, use your brain, think things through and then either agree or disagree with the analysis in part or in whole.
But whatever, how’s about you drop this dog-shit crusade of just mindlessly denouncing people who are perhaps proposing ways of understanding things that don’t accord with your own received perceptions and understandings?
I don’t see how either of those articles supports the assertion that the “US enabled ISIS to take Deir Ezzor”.
Sarcasm is all you have to offer, but it’s not getting the job done, I’m afraid.
I think I’ve counselled you to do this before, but I’ll have one more go:
STOP POSTING NONSENSE AND START READING. SERIOUSLY.
Is there a library near your house?
Go there now.
The assertion the writer makes is their analysis.
Seriously. You want to delve into their analysis to see if it stacks up/is reasonable/ is bunk…then you’re going to have to a fair bit of google searching on a number of related fronts.
eg – find news reports about the power station near Deir Ezzor. Find info on the US appraisal of ISIL (I’ll help you with that one – Kerry’s recorded address to members of the Syrian diaspora – a strong ISIL = bargaining chip to oust Assad).
Read various reports on the US bombing of Syrian army units.
Think it all through. Join dots. Accept/reject given pieces of info according to how verifiable or believable they are – how credible or verifiable the principle sources are – or how the info fits/doesn’t fit with what is already known with a high degree of certainty.
Filter it all through your ideological framework and see if it works or whether you have to shift your thinking.
Or just decide that *this* is what you want to believe and mindlessly rage against anything that doesn’t accord with that belief.
Hey Joe90. I noticed you removed that link to PropOrNot fairly quickly.
This enthusiasm for ‘cleansing the airwaves’ as it were by just roundly condemning people and sources if what they are saying/reporting doesn’t fit with the official narrative – you have no problem with that?
No energy or enthusiasm for anything but distracting myself, Bill
Family stuff, sick with worry and drowning in others tears.
Sorry to hear that. Nothing I can say really – sympathy.
Ta.
I can’t really concentrate so I’m sitting on the phone, worrying and distracting myself.
Bugger.
Good luck.
Kia kaha e hoa
Thanks again to all.
Tough 24 hours and we’re not out of the woods just yet but lucid, extubated, and sleeping sans sedation.
‘The swamp is Goldman Sachs’: how the bank is rewarded for putting profits over people
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jan/18/goldman-sachs-protests-new-york-trump-cabinet
Nigeria air strike: dozens dead as camp for internally displaced people hit by mistake
MSF staff report at least 50 dead in airstrike on camp in Borno state where families made homeless by Boko Haram were sheltering
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/17/nigeria-military-jet-mistakenly-bombs-displaced-families-camp-boko-haram
That is truly tragic.
Yes, pretty surprising to find it practically buried in world news for the scale of the catastrophe and deaths.
Some news of more import than the daily clickbait provided by our McCarthyist comrades on this site.
2016 hottest year ever recorded – and scientists say human activity to blame
More important in your opinion you mean.
…the daily clickbait provided by our McCarthyist comrades on this site.
Says the guy who’s already posted four links by 9am….
I have posted about the following:
a. dangerous climate change statistics released from last year
b. developments in the Syrian War
c. a query about a new homelessness film
d. a report about the failure of government to invest in R and D.
I’ll leave that to readers to decide if it is clickbait.
Yep, its clickbait
PR, he said ‘readers’ could comment. 🙂
With Trump in power the world will not give a damn about climate change.
FFS the Secretary of State ran Enron for over a decade.
Paris 21 was the peak of globally unified concern, and will now quickly unwind other than in specific national efforts.
With the US Secretary of Energy run by that nut job from Texas, expect to see their local fracking wells go full bore, and OPEC get the Iranian and Saudi wells going full speed ahead as prices pull out of the doldrums. And of course, Big Coal comes straight back right across the US power grid.
This is President Trump’s era now.
So that is not news?
News to many Trump supporters here.
It seems to be a surprise to the hard-lefties that this is what happens when they can’t swallow their disappointment that the candidate closest to their views isn’t good enough, so they enable the far-opposite to their views into power.
I think you’re describing the centre lefty phenomenon.
Great band name.
Indeed.
With more real consequences to come.
1. What is a “hard leftie”?
2. How could anyone in NZ who isn’t a US citizen possibly or in any way whatsoever “enable the far-opposite to their views into power” in the US?
1: in the context of The Standard, a “hard-leftie” is anyone who thinks Labour and the Greens are both so far right they’re not worth voting for.
2: I would hope that local hard-lefties would take the lesson from how Trump became prez-elect and instead of devoting their energies to tearing down Labour and Greens, would try to build something closer to their views. Particular since the barrier to representation under MMP is very low compared to other electoral systems.
See, here’s the thing. The term ‘hard left’ (meaningless as it is) is piece of terminology used by the likes of Wayne Mapp and others to dismiss people and what they have to say.
Now I know you’re all up for denouncing people and what not. (But still.)
So anyone who reckons the Green Party and the Labour Party are too far to the right are ‘hard left’ are they? And what about anyone who reckons they’re centrist and throws a tick at a party advocating non-centrist policies? Those people ‘hard left’ too?
Actually. Isn’t it more accurate to say that anyone not ascribing to your fairly conventional/orthodox world view is (variously) a shill, ‘hard left’, an apologist, a bot…
And if that’s the case (and I don’t think that’s an unreasonable proposition given the content of a fair number of your comments), then isn’t it you yourself who are displaying the tendencies of a political puritan (assuming ‘hard’ refers to ideologically immutability)?
Seems to me that’s about where we’re at. Wha’d’ye reckon there Andre? Close enough?
My objection is to people that put their efforts into tearing down Labour or Greens because they’re not left enough. If they choose to instead put their efforts into building up Mana or something else that better suits their beliefs, then I’ll cheer them on.
Personally, I’m pragmatic politically. I’ll go with whoever is closest to my views that actually has a reasonable chance of gaining power. Which in New Zealand right now means the Greens, even though I’m seriously disappointed in their positions on a lot of issues.
In the US, it meant I voted for Hillary, even though Stein was much closer to my views, and there’s a whole bunch of others I would have preferred to be the Dem nominee. Because on average, Hillary would move things in the direction I want, even while some of her actions would absolutely infuriate me. Because I know Trump will go hard in the wrong direction on almost every issue that matters to me. And that’s too high a price to pay for the momentary gratification of casting a protest vote.
So you’re a US citizen in NZ who voted for Clinton…which (referring to your original comment) puts you in the camp of a very small number of people in NZ who could have had any impact on the US election.
I’ll take your criticism Andre and up the game. It’s not about the labour party being left enough. It’s about the labour party actually being nothing more than a liberal party.
It’s about you and people like you who say one thing and do another. Seriously, get over yourself, your person lost. She went into the campaign know she had to win the electoral collages and she lost. Unlikable, unpopular and a really awful campaign, but blame the ‘hard left’ or the Russians, blame anyone but the fact when you serve a turd, you lose.
May I add under Obama people have woken up to how bad the democratic party has actually got. For that we should thank him. So as a american you can tell me how many seats they have lost at the federal and state level, over 800 is it not? If that is not a wake up call, I don’t know what is needed.
But to blame the people who warned you, and actually offer an alternative – is just tiresome and boorish.
The labour party is a liberal party just like the democrates. It is no longer a social democratic party, it no longer servers the interests of working people. Hence why working people don’t vote for it, and here is a prediction, working people just won’t vote in the up coming election.
So yeah I’ve knocked labour for years to try and get it to move. It will never, it is too vested in self interest. I’m going to laugh at being called hard left – if that means I get to think for myself – then call me anything you want. Because I’d rather be freethinker than be brain dead liberal who can’t even see the rubbish they keep serving up – no one wants.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberalism
The wikipedia definition of liberalism starts with “generally they support ideas and programmes such as freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, free markets, civil rights, democratic societies, secular governments, gender equality, and international cooperation.”
Which of those principles do you object to? Because I value all of them, with defining the boundaries between one person’s freedom and another’s as one of the key roles of government.
What’s stopping you going hard to help build Mana, or the IP (like xanthe appears to be starting to do) or something new? Surely if there’s so much support for your beliefs and Labour is alienating those supporters, then it should be easy to get enough support to get into parliament.
But you can be sure that the likeliest result from just carping at Labour and Greens from the sidelines is that National get returned for a fourth term. Is that what you want?
Which of those principles do you object to?
Well, socialists want to see representative democracy overthrown and replaced with a one-party state in which the one party has absolute power, so my money would be on “all of them.”
Not democratic socialists.
I oppose free markets. And I oppose international co-operation. Both are just an excuse for neo-colonialism – let me explain that – what both of those mean inside a liberal world view, is a white way or wrong way.
What does gender equality even mean? We can’t even agree on what gender even is. So in the mean time, men still control the world. So would I rather have equality, any second, of any day, of any week. But with men firmly in control, and a economic system to help them keep that control, it is just not going to happen. If anything, liberalism will mean women are on track to go backwards. It was a liberal system which elected trump, no.
Civil rights within an economic system built on exploitation. OK now if that is not great press, I don’t know what is. It’s one thing to say somthing, another all together do do somthing about it. Have you read Dr Martin Luther King? His later works and speeches are truly liberation theology. Great man.
But to your point, I help the poor. I don’t help people to get power to abuse the poor with. We have enough people playing that silly game, and you think after 200 odd years or more, people would have released it only works to a point. You have to either embrace more democracy, or totalitarianism. So am I a totalitarian, never, Liberation theology is my starting point, with a heavy dose of Christian anarchism. So I’m not looking for state solutions, never have been. .
All I am doing is pointing out labour are a liberal party, and that they have not shown any signs in changing economics. I find that liberal economics hurts the poor and wrecks culture. It hurts women, and worships violence, particularly war, which helps generates profits so it can propagandise back to you how great liberalism is. But, in the twenty first century if we are serious about civil rights, equality and freedom then we need to look how we do economics.
I see Psycho Milt is at his usual trolling best. Most of the time it’s so dull to read his narrow world view, with so little attachment to real human beings. What lies next Milt, what new ways will you come up with to attack working people and their culture?
generally they support ideas and programmes such as freedom of …x, y and z within the confines of a liberal paradigm that has a severely curtailed or limited concept of freedom.
Not democratic socialists.
Sure. I’m a socialist myself and certainly don’t want to overthrow representative democracy or replace it with a one-party state. But if commenters are reducing liberalism down to something only an ACT Party member would recognise, why not join in the fun?
What does gender equality even mean? We can’t even agree on what gender even is.
Hardly surprising, given that gender is a social construct so is very much open to interpretation. It’s less open to interpretation than class is though, and I expect you don’t have much of a problem with recognising class-based inequality. Also, if you struggle with the idea of gender equality, think of it in terms of equality of the sexes – there are only two and the inequality is fairly easily identified.
Oh dear, Pyscho Milt could not read the next sentence or indeed finish the paragraph. Poor poppet.
“1: in the context of The Standard, a “hard-leftie” is anyone who thinks Labour and the Greens are both so far right they’re not worth voting for.”
In other words a TDB commentator.
I kill me.
“the Secretary of State ran Enron”.
It is Exxon, or more precisely Exxon Mobil, not Enron for Christ’s sake.
The people who were running Enron were a pack of crooks.
Would you accept me saying something like “Andrew Little was formerly the head of Enron” rather than “Former head of the EPMU”?
Perhaps a better analogy would be that Andrew Little was “…the former head of the Taxpayers Union” rather than “…the former head of the EPMU”! 👿
Does anyone know when/where this film can be viewed?
On our doorstep: The story of Auckland’s homeless youth
Amazing how the number of homeless was last month reported to be 20,000 and now the figure magically doubles to 40,000. Homelessness is a real problem that is being addressed and the current housing boom is part of the solution. Ridiculous and unbelievable figures are not helpful to a constructive debate.
Do you care about the levels of inequality and poverty in this country?
It would appear not.
Inequality has not changed much in the last eight years as you probably well know. In fact it is slightly reduced. What is the big deal about inequality anyway? It will always be there, Always has been there. People are not equal in their abilities. Poverty is also greatly reduced with record employment levels and a massive rise in welfare payments. This is New Zealand. We are an egalitarian country where the top few high earners pay most of the tax revenue. This is a great place to live.
fidiani, in the 6011 bubble — telling it like it is.
Fizzy having a constructive debate with you is near on impossible, as soon as you are asked to produce facts or evidence to some of your claims, you run away.
And when people produce evidence, such as studies from Otago University, you claim that their figures are ridiculous and unbelievable. Sort it out Fizzy because it makes you look very foolish very often.
The Otago study was debunked within hours of its release. Do you seriously believe it? Their definition of homelessness was quite ridiculous. Keep up with the play. Exaggerating is what caused people to ignore Chicken Little. “The sky is falling”
once again no proof, just your words… who debunked it where is the evidence for this claim of yours?
Fisanil is relying on Paula Bennett’s
Myth their is no poverty in NZ.
But he has mucked up and admitted that their are 20,0000 more than National would admit.
Fisani your fired to close to the truth!
Oh, look at that, fisiani’s lying again:
And that was August last year.
And, no, this government is not addressing homelessness. All they do is put in place policies that help rich people steal from everyone else.
Yes I can tell where it will be shown by reading the link you posted.
There was this on the link you posted:
“The documentary will be screened at AUT on Wednesday evening, and there will be a petition for attendees to sign.”
So I’d say, at a guess, it’ll be screened at AUT on Wednesday evening.
You’re welcome 🙂
It was this Wednesday……..
On Our Doorstep: A voice for homeless youth
6pm – 8.30pm
Wednesday, January 18
Room WA224A – The Conference Centre
AUT City Campus
http://www.aut.ac.nz/study-at-aut/study-areas/social-sciences/social-sciences-and-public-policy-events-folder/on-our-doorstep-a-voice-for-homeless-youth
you might want to contact them via their facebook page in some of the links, then
What a useless government.
Govt has dropped the ball on R&D
It would take a whole bunch more than a bit more public money to alter the entire economy from a low-productivity-per-worker, low-salary economy to a high end one with dozens of firms having massive R&D budgets spent locally, justifying hundreds of young bright people to stay here and commit for the long term.
Don’t even mention the Growth and Innovation Framework.
No party here has anything resembling an innovation plan for New Zealand.
Well, many other countries spend 2-4% on R&D. If we were in that range, it would help immensely.
But the proportion of the R&D that is private sector v public sector is what in those countries?
We have such low private R&D it’s hard to have sympathy for them.
Too many of our corporates are freeloaders on state-funded R&D, just as they are with wages thanks to Working For Families picking up the slack.
Can you show that?
Too busy with job today but all the stats are public.
If you have enough hours to spare in your life you could look here….
http://www.callaghaninnovation.govt.nz/grants/grant-recipients
Not what I would call transparent…but absolutely typical for MOBIE.
The incoming Key government made it pretty clear they thought the government didn’t need to be doing much in the way of research and development because the private sector’s well capable of doing that for itself. It was a deeply cynical thing to say (from the Key government? Who’d have thought it? I’m shocked!), because, as anyone working in the field is aware, the private sector mostly lacks interest in research and development and the shareholders tend to look on it as money wasted that could have gone to them as dividends. Hence the decline in research and development during Key’s tenure.
As designed and just to be sure they had bovver boy joyce brutally restructure and move the govt r&d centres about to send a clear message.
We’re a small nation which means that we need to be doing proportionally more R&D. At least 5% of GDP into R&D by the government with plans to extend that to 25% or more over the next decade or so.
We’re cheap and think that we can get by just by using commodities that any nation can produce just as well and then import everything else that we need.
This means that our economy doesn’t develop and we get poorer as we export all of our resources.
“What a useless government.”
The doom and gloom on here is absolutely remarkable..?
” No party here has anything resembling an innovation plan for New Zealand.”
Apart from the Internet Party of course
https://internet.org.nz/policies.html
Do they exist?
Yes.
Only as a name.
Any political party that will be in parliament this year would be great to hear from on innovation strategy.
So you reject IP policy because “they wont be in parliament this year”?
Have you not noticed that the “conventional wisdom” no longer is reliable?
I prefer to wait and see how they go in real time
Regardless of your prescient election prediction, What comment do you make on the Internet Party innovation policy? Is it a good policy? what parts could be supported by other parties?
https://internet.org.nz/policies.html
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WsUDgnRSjcHOxpQtWOiZnhAdJaHOywOL7X61Us84fBY/edit
No, they exist as a political party in pretty much the same way that the Greens existed in 1976.
Little has jumped the shark today with his disgraceful suggestion that Solid Energy be exempted from H&S laws so that Pike River can be re-entered again.
He’s basically admitting that the mine is unsafe to enter and that it’s a massive punt? Can we expect more deaths in the re-entry process?
link?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11784504
And the reason Directors now have personal liability for health and safety is ……
the Pike River disaster ……
and resultant legislation…..
which Little now wants suspended……
to help the Pike River disaster ….
Little has made a moronic statement.
I don’t know its moronic so much as being backed into a corner by Peters and going for the less worst option
Or not…
Director’s personal liability was a very necessary change and is having a noticeable effect on H&S, to the extent that some outfits have become so strict it’s going to hurt them. (Written warning for climbing out a truck with hard hat in hand rather than on head, because it was very windy)
However.
It could be worthwhile to consider an exemption process to allow extraordinary, controlled, activities like a possible Pike re-entry. Can Mines Rescue continue at all under the current legislation?
Definitely can, when there’s an emergency on. Not claiming to be an expert in their regulations though.
This year I’ve been part of the drills that have to be done in a deep shaft.
Loathed it.
He’s basically saying let’s whip away the figleaf you’re hiding behind, nuttyanal.
Maybe the exemption law should transfer personal responsibility/liability to Peters and Little then. If it’s just a “figleaf” then they should be happy to agree to those terms.
+1 Gabby.
Send volunteer farmers who are exempt from the H@S laws in.
Worm farmers maybe?
well obviously! 🙂
Send in convicted child sex offenders, murderers and rapists and offer them a reduction in sentencing in return
The cooperites and exclusive brethren PR.
Bigly
So – lets assume the directors get a “free pass” (thanks to littles new bill) for the re-entry and people go in there.
But oops – something goes wrong and people die – who takes accountability for letting them go in there knowing that there have been reports saying it was dangerous?
Who took responsibility when it happened the first time, James?
Sadly nobody – and that is why the laws were tightened to ensure liability moving forward.
We are talking about now under the laws that were passed since then to stop it happening again.
So – what happens if Littles grandstanding bill passes and people die?
“Sadly nobody”
“We are talking about now under the laws that were passed since”
Indeed. Still, why waste an opportunity, eh James! Key slid out of it, but why should Little!!!
Because Key made laws to stop it again. Little is wanting to change the law to allow it to happen.
If people do get back in there under his bill, and it goes wrong (And I really hope it does not) – he will have blood on his hands.
Imagine if something like this happens.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/88560030/One-by-one-3-utility-workers-in-the-US-descended-into-a-manhole-One-by-one-they-died
Little will then start raving about it all being Bill English’s fault for allowing the change in the law Little is asking for.
You can be quite sure that he wouldn’t take any responsibility for the matter.
Ratepayers pay, owners walk.
/
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=149335
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9162759/Gas-explosion-company-must-pay-400-000
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=150402
I don’t really understand what you are trying to say.
These links all seem to be talking about Metrowater being prosecuted.
Given that Metrowater is, I understand, wholly owned by the Auckland Council any payment by the ratepayers of Auckland IS a payment by the owners.
Who else could possibly be expected to pay fines levied on a Council owned company?
@ James Well since nobody took accountability for the deaths in the first place does it matter?
There was no interest in preventing the Pike River deaths by Government and the Mine, but now the families want to get the bodies out (and previously the men out in the hours post blast) it’s all about Health and Safety. The miners could also die in a car accident getting there.
The terrorist attacks on September 11, killed 2,996 people but 32,479 American’s were killed the same year in the US by car accidents, over 10 times more.
Death is very political and nothing to do with risk.
Looks to me like he is suggesting a work around the issue of liability, not safety. Which are two different things I think some here are failing to appreciate.
Hands up who thinks the people that would be willing to re-enter the mine would do so unsafely if they had an exemption from the legislation?
Hands up who thinks the directors would oppose any re-entering if they could be personally held responsible for any problems with that?
btw, people take risks in rescuing or recovering bodies all the time. They’re highly skilled and competent including not just in risk assessment but in deciding the degree to which they are willing to put themselves at risk in order to do something good.
Indeed he is concentrating on Liability – but the directors have received a report which said it was unsafe – so despite other reports commissioned by others there is at least some professional view that it is unsafe.
Whilst I agree with a third independent report (as suggested by Little) – it does not deminish the fact that there IS advise that it is dangerous.
Is it acceptable that people be allowed to risk their lives (because they would be) to recover bodies? Should we change our laws to remove liability to let somebody do work that *could* result in their death?
I do not think thats acceptable.
Personally I take note of the fact that dead people have stopped caring about things like where they’re buried, what with being dead an’ all, so people who go on about “bringing our [name of dead relative here] home” are beyond my comprehension. You can’t bring him home – he’s dead! He doesn’t get any less dead for his corpse being moved somewhere else!
That said, some people do make a fuss about dead bodies and these particular people aren’t going to give up. Also, the owners’ and government’s determination to prevent recovery of the bodies suggests they’re concerned about how what will be found in there will reflect on them. Both of those reasons suggest volunteers should be allowed to mount a recovery operation if they’re willing to sign a waiver. If that requires the government to explicitly allow it, they should.
“if they’re willing to sign a waiver”
then perhaps we could have workers in other mines sign Health and safety waivers as well.
And port workers, and everybody else in a dangerous job.
I can understand why right-wingers would want that, but why would anyone else?
There’s a fairly obvious difference between people carrying out search/rescue/recovery operations volunteering to expose themselves to risk to help other people, and employers wanting the ability to profit from having employees contract out of H&S protections in their workplace. Or at least, it’s obvious to people who aren’t right-wingers.
No, it’s entirely the same. Either you support rights and responsibilities for workers or you don’t.
If Little proceeds with this line of attack he shouldn’t turn around and complain if another government suspends H&S laws for work on some important infrastructure project for example.
I love how you twist “search and rescue” to include retrieval of inanimate biological matter. Saving lives is another matter entirely from what is proposed.
What are your views on black box recorder retrieval?
Does it involve defending the National government?
“Director’s liability” != all “H&S laws”,
“search/rescue/recovery” != “search and rescue”
Your premises are broken.
“Either you support rights and responsibilities for workers or you don’t.”
There is a pretty simple solution to that. Allow a volunteer crew to enter the mine.
Pike River is not now primarily a workplace, so this isn’t about setting a precedent for workers. This is why people are comparing the situation to SAR rather than mining operations. If the volunteers want to assess the risk and take it, let them.
I think a better solution would be to sack the entire board of Solid Energy and replace them with Peters and Little. See if they’ll actually put their reputation where their mouth is when there’s noone else to point the finger at.
(apologies for the mixed metaphors)
I’m sure you do, because you seem to think this is an issue of what you value rather than one of what the families and rescuers value. It’s nothing to do with Little or Peters. And I notice you sidestep my rebuttal of your argument, so I guess you are now reduced to “I don’t like it”.
I’m actually not against recovery of the bodies in principle, i’m just mindful that fingers get pointed in the right places if something goes wrong.
If the government had caved earlier and more people had died, they’d have been crucified. Now it’s increasingly a Peters/Little issue, and if they want it, they should be ultimately responsible (along with the families).
It’s clear from the language used in the comment, that you do not care about the feelings of the families, or gaining understanding about events causing the tragedy
Weasel words are a tool of the callow!
I love how you twist “search and rescue” to include retrieval of inanimate biological matter.
What “twist?” I wrote search/rescue/recovery because recovery of corpses is part of search and rescue, albeit not the preferred outcome.
I totally get that putting people at risk to retrieve corpses is stupid, and that people have no right to demand that someone else take that risk just because they feel some pointless attachment to the biological material in question, and that there’s a “Where does this stop?” question re how far the state should be expected to go to recover something that’s hardly even useful as compost. However, in this case, we have a location that isn’t that hard to get to, volunteers willing to go in and at least some reports that say it should be safe to do so. It should be a no-brainer.
@Psycho Milt – it’s also about answers – the families have a right to know how their loved ones died and get their question’s answered. I’m more thinking that the mine or government don’t want that information answered hence their move to seal up the mine to prevent the truth coming out that might damage their calls of non existent efforts of rescue made to the men.
As the families lawyers have said. The mine should be treated as a crime scene as 29 people died in there.
Yep, agree with that.
That said, I happen to think that we need to go into the mine to find out what happened so we can take steps to correct. That would be difficult to do now but there’d still be some evidence.
It’s not “a fuss about dead bodies”. The Pike royal commission never concluded the direct cause of the explosion, largely because there was no re-entry of the mine to gather evidence.
Of course it is going to be dangerous , many things in life are dangerous , that’s why we train people to do dangerous jobs.
Also why they don’t use robots with cameras to have a good look around for a start makes you think they are hiding something.
They did. First robot drowned. Second robot found a rockfall blocking the path – might be small, might be completely unstable and run for hundreds of metres, nobody knows.
Where is the R&D on that one? We can do mass surveillance and drone bombs, Mars robots, but a simple search and rescue robot seems beyond them.
ISTR they used a robot usually used for suspect devices. First one went under a waterfall.
The other thing is that it’s actually a pretty difficult problem – underground means it needs a cable for the length of the shaft, which is a kilometre or so. Snag that and you’re screwed. Terrain is possibly more rugged than where they plonked the mars rovers, and those only travel a few km a year (if at all) anyway. Although they have different challenges.
Did they drop one done the vent or is that on the same side of the rock fall as the entrance
edit the vent is after the rock fall
.https://www.google.com/search?q=pike+river+lay+out&rlz=1C1CHBF_enNZ699NZ699&espv=2&biw=1242&bih=602&tbm=isch&imgil=5Qgfo6UFhx_ZsM%253A%253BSIO36lY40cV5lM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.stuff.co.nz%25252Fnational%25252Fpike-river-mine-disaster%25252F4370668%25252FNo-Pike-River-mine-rescue-tonight&source=iu&pf=m&fir=5Qgfo6UFhx_ZsM%253A%252CSIO36lY40cV5lM%252C_&usg=__Obw7e53lk3y21LFRjf0Pj7j-dJA%3D&ved=0ahUKEwinjt7Mm83RAhVFNpQKHQnIA5oQyjcIMg&ei=niuAWKfHL8Xs0ASJkI_QCQ#imgrc=5Qgfo6UFhx_ZsM%3A
No idea.
I suspect the vent would be pretty strewn with debris. And even if the thing fits in the hole, you’re still dangling it down 150m or so.
It really is the sort of environment that needs the adaptability of a person, (at the current level of tech), and specialists. If a robotics expert comes out and shows an OTS product that will be able to operate remotely in that environment as well as clear obstacles like rock falls and pipes/ducts/machinery pieces, and maybe even recover large objects, then fair enough. But “failure to successfully deploy a robot to open up the mine” is not really a criticism I’d be comfortable making, especially when there are less speculative issues to examine.
“Is it acceptable that people be allowed to risk their lives (because they would be) to recover bodies?”
People risk their lives on a regular basis doing mountain search and rescue, surf lifesaving, among a bunch of other activities. They do it on a volunteer, non-work basis. They are experts at assessing the risks they are taking on, and are experts in managing those risks.
Having been in the situation being an expert preparing to go into a hazardous situation for a search and rescue operation, and having non-experts try to stop me because they think it’s too dangerous, I can certainly feel the frustration of those experts that want to go in and are currently being prevented from doing so.
So if a piece of legislation removes the liability concerns that seem to be the biggest obstacle and allows a team of willing experts to go in, then I wouldn’t oppose it. Regardless of whether those experts’ motivation is respect to colleagues and their families or trying to learn more about what went wrong.
+1
Massive difference between going out to save a human life, and going out to pick up a bag of bones.
How about if they are your bone mate. Or your son’s bones.
The reality is that they are someone’s loved ones bones.
If you show that little compassion for your employees and fellow humans it’s going to be a very lonely existence having to do everything yourself.
For some people, retrieving the remains of a loved one is incredibly important. When you experience that from someone, even a complete stranger, and you’re in a position to help, it’s inspirational. While I’ve never been in the position of the remains being a friend or colleague, I imagine the need to do something (safely) would be vastly stronger.
If all that’s needed is a change in mindset from it being a workplace (with all the health and safety requirements based around non-experts being able to learn there safely) to it being the scene of a search and rescue operation (where all involved are volunteer experts actively managing themselves), then I’m for it.
Even though personally, my remains will be just a meat container that’s stopped twitching and it can be left where it dropped or chucked in a landfill for all I’ll care, and I certainly hope and expect no-one ever puts themselves at risk for my remains. And that my loved ones have enough sense to go along with that.
Is it still a work place if Sullied Energy have closed it?
All the comments around director’s liabilities and Health & Safety regs indicate it’s still considered a workplace.
yup.
If anyone carries out an activity for a “person conducting a business or undertaking” (whether or not the undertaking is for profit or gain), then they are counted as a “worker” (whether paid or not), and anywhere the worker goes is a “workplace”.
There are some qualifications and exceptions for those three terms (and I’m no lawyer so don’t be structuring your own H&S policies around what I wrote 🙂 ), but the short answer to your question is “yep”.
This is the kind of disgusting comment I talked about higher up the thread. Imagine if someone talked that way about YOUR dead family members.
Experts acting of their own volition, is 100% acceptable
We will have to bring all our Soldiers back from the middle East.
+100 Weka.
Pity they did not worry about ‘liability’ before they killed the miners in an unsafe mine. What liability – they got off without prosecution! Now it’s different?? What a double standard.
No, what Andrew Little is saying is
“the government claimed the mine could not be re-entered because of the liability risk, so on the first day of the new parliamentary year he would seek leave to table his bill.
That would exonerate Solid Energy’s directors from being held liable for any harm to people taking part in the mine re-entry, he said.
Mr Little said the victims’ families were promised everything that could be done to recover their loved ones’ bodies would be done, and the government needed to follow through on that.”
<a href="http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/322634/labour-would-remove-liability-for-pike-river-re-entry
+1
you again with your obvious liberal bias.
I said it a few days ago, there are some who literally believe (and not even then) that if Andrew Little should get a shovel and start digging himeself to be considered an honest man.
in the meantime People prefer to be waiting for Godot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyKnLGT74TQ
Little has not jumped the shark!!! He is just seperating ussues here. At the same time as saying the there should be a third enquiry independent of goverment and the families of those that have died, and thus acknowledging that there are still outstanding issues to be resolved about saftey, he is addressing the issue of director liability as this is being used as a reason to not enter the mine quite seperate from addressing risk of re entry.
Pondering on this article on RNZ’s website:
All-male boards revealed
It shows something of where financial power and influence lies in NZ, but doesn’t show the way to truly change it. It needs a far deeper structural change to the whole system, rather than some quota-focused window dressing.
This is the blunt face of our current form of patriarchal capitalism. But the people most negatively impacted by it are the mean, women and children (also very often includes brown people) at the lower end of the power hierarchy.
People don’t easily give up power, wealth and influence. Women will be let into the top tier as long as those guys at the very top don’t lose their hold o power and status.
Then there are those who are the most visible casualties of this system. On Stuff today, an article that reports on some beggars explaining why they beg.
Martin, 53 years old in Auckland:
$25 trillion investment needed to meet future oil demand
That’s how disconnected from reality that these ‘business’ leaders are.
Destroying the environment for profit isn’t how you build a good and sustainable economy.
FFS. This kind of thing really does my head in. It’s more like, $25 Trillion is needed to ensure people continue to rely on oil. Pure Greed
Any else wondering whether our former PM will pop up soon as another Trump special advisor?
Well, I wouldn’t be surprised. He’s definitely got the destroy everything for our profit mentality that Trump needs.
“Any else wondering whether our former PM will pop up soon as another Trump special advisor?”
Hmmm….interesting. They would certainly bond over their inability to judge the appropriateness of their behaviour.
I am assuming Our Former Leader is lying low and laying down extra layers of teflon for when the real reason for his abrupt departure is revealed.
I’m guessing that the shit, when it comes, will be acid and fan forced.
yes. And I also think Key is more of an Obama (+CIA, NSA, FBI) boy than a Trump one.
He’s probably still embarrassed about not being invited to the wedding.
I believe Key resigned as he saw a major source of funding dry up, funding associated with the TPPA being implemented while he was in office. On that basis I think its unlikely he would start advising Trump suddenly. But I have no evidence for this.
Max Key is Trumps man
Was trying to find anything in the papers but could not – Does anyone know when the Hagamans / Little case is scheduled for court?
Magic 8ball predicts Early Beatlewig’s legal team will push for a date close to election time.
I suggest your magic balls are probably on the money
Little goes up against big money sweatheart deals , sounds like a vote winner for labour to me if it’s played well.
Little is found guilty of defamation and loses his house – sounds like a huge vote loser to me.
Humans, huh.
/
Machaca’s track
http://www.ocearch.org/
More Freedom Camping issues at our tourism hot spots.
“Some nights up to 400 illegal campers are occupying the area in the carpark, the bushes and all the way down the riverbank. The council’s local enforcement officer has been told to not patrol the area because of safety concerns”
“Golden Bay residents frustrated at council inaction and concerned for the environment at Reilly St are distributing flyers and have installed large information signs at the entrance, recycling bins, a compost toilet and a money collection box.
With the biennial Luminate festival looming near, many fear freedom camping numbers will increase.”
True that.. Luminate brings thousands here.
Wonder why they don’t just use the DOC campsites, after all they are very very cheap. and they usually have a toilet and water.
Oh dang, on that link of DOC campsites, there are a few alerts, some are because they have bombed the place with 1080
“Tracks and roads in the area have been cleared of bait but park users should be aware that baits can get caught up in trees and can be dislodged through wind action many days after the operation. Do not touch these baits. ”
Yippe skippy
Awesome timing.
I’m being a bit naughty here….but do you folk in the Takaka region realise that the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association is having their yearly national rally in Richmond this year? February 23rd-27th I believe.
Yes Siree….hundreds and hundreds of indigenous motorhomers all bitten by the travel bug and looking for fun and good times in the SI.
Yon farmer with the swish -bang problem…how about he organise, say, a wee country/folk music festival, right down there on the river bank….welcoming CSC Kiwi campers, encourage them to stay awhile?
Some of us members are grumpy buggers….
Dang ! Lmao 😀
https://media.tenor.co/images/5ae9a40d3f740d2f5192a163912aac23/raw
Mother Nature has a bit of revenge on freedom campers…
Weather bomb strikes – more heavy rain on the weekend
Hopefully they all move away from the river.. that might work out very nicely for the Farmer 😀 Good stuff we need a bit more rain.
Campers beware, the rain is coming
Guardian : Yemen death toll has reached 10,000, UN says
BBC : Yemen conflict: At least 10,000 killed, says UN
Emboldened.
https://twitter.com/clintonyates/status/821835922408882176
must be one of these economically disparaged and abandoned white male working class voters. You know the ones for JOBS!
Despite the preponderance of government apparatchiks like Fred Kaplan,
there ARE many decent and hardworking journalists in the United States today.
In a particularly dark time in American history, the likes of Glenn Greenwald, Chris Hedges, Laura Poitras, Matt Taibbi, Jeremy Scahill, Peter Maass, Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez and Allan Nairn are living testimony to the fact that journalists are perhaps our last best hope.
But then there are specimens like Fred Kaplan, who in another time and place would have been composing diatribes against Lin Piao for the People’s Daily or denouncing Jewish doctors in Pravda….
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/war_stories/2017/01/why_president_obama_was_right_to_grant_chelsea_manning_clemency.html
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11785284
tops coming after the green vote.
Dunno, more see it as mainstreaming ecologically sustainable ideas, and forcing national to either agree to chase the centre, and really turn off their core support, or come out and attack Morgan and start alienating their urban liberal centre.
Pretty much everything the Toppers have come up with is going to go down like a cup of cold sick in the milking shed, UBI, capital taxes, resource levies and whatever to come, but it’s another voice getting alternative, sustainable ideas out there and reaching a different audience to the Greens. I see it as complementing the Greens rather than competing with them.
Me too. Why would an existing Green voter shift their vote from an established party with highly competent MPs already in parliament to a new party of most unknowns and who’s policies are already being done by the Greens?
I’ll be interested to see what their policy in other areas looks like.
he’s coming up with ideas i’ve heard nowhere else , tradable pollution rights with a lowering bar , charges on all commercial water use. these are real world solutions to operating in a capitalist country. It fits with my thinking that capitalism is fine as long as it is heavily regulated.
the bit about the green votes was just my clunky click grabbing
Not posted in “power down” cause its just too depressing….
“In short, not a single one of the scientists polled thought the 2C target likely to be met. Bill McGuire, professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at University College London, is most emphatic. “My personal view,” he says, “is that there is not a cat in hell’s chance.””
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/19/cat-in-hells-chance-why-losing-battle-keep-global-warming-2c-climate-change
“I think we actively chose to forgo the carbon budgets for a likely chance of 2C many years ago,” says Kevin Anderson, currently professor of climate change at Uppsala University in Sweden. “Judging that rate at which our emissions would need to be reduced was too politically challenging to contemplate.”
A detailed account of how Democrat supporters in a number of rustbelt heavy steel counties turned to Trump and to the Republicans; buckle in for a hard read:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/17/donald-trump-america-great-again-northampton-county-pennsylvania
and then…..
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/19/donald-trumps-mission-to-keep-the-us-in-the-fossil-age
US Establishment is moving to shut down independent media, by disseminating scare stories about Russian hackers.
You are relying on an RT report to make claims the US is attempting to shut down independent media. Oh the irony…
Here’s a disturbing piece with some philosophical insight… the below is just my selected highlights, but the whole thing is worth reading