“22% increase in profits with declining consumption is in need of investigation!”
Our family and community understand this as we are involved in the
controversial rollout of “Smart meters” the new electronic transmitting meters that are known to cause health problems especially with those who have “electromagnetic sensitivities” ES or EMS sensitivities to electromagnetic fields being created by these meters.
Doing our research we have found that the tariff charges for power is now being changed (as these meter tariffs are unregulated by Gov’t)
The method is called TOU or (Time of use,) in which minutes are separated and recorded by the computer inside the Smart meter as to the time of use is and that are setting a tariff that is much higher than when the EA/Gov’t has previously set for power charges during the day or night.
Now the time of use parcels of time say hypothetically cold be in 20 minute intervals would be higher by 300% during peak time of day than 9pm at night.
So people who use more power during the day will now be desperately trying to turn off their Heat pumps freezers and other high use appliances during the day to lower their monthly bills.
It is another Key Government ploy to extract the maximum profit from the least investment.
Hope this helps. We need an investigation into this criminal fleecing of consumers. who must see the real issues here,
I joined Grey Power Power via Pulse and was able to request the successful removal of the smart meter installed here at my house. No charge was applied to me either.
Don’t think others will do it. I was a Powershop customer until I moved here, but they couldn’t ( or wouldn’t ? ) do it. A Powershop rep told me to call Grey Power Power .. and here I am, a happy customer freed from 24 hour a day microwaves on the wide of my house next to my bedroom.
I also objected on the grounds it did one more person out of their job as a meter reader.
I sell pure mechanical Analogue meters if anyone needs them.
Most Power companies contactors cant supply them but we can,.
Some will refuse to use them but we have forced them to accept them now, as our right to own our own meters, so don’t’ take their crap that they are mandatory that is a lie, this is going on under this Government.
Time mind time of day/peak charging but it must be communicated before hand so that people know that it’s happening and they must also know also know how much they’re being charged. The present smart meters don’t do that.
GCHQ in the UK has the ability to manipulate political landscape !
The GSCB has the same ability here!
Key has already shown he is not above using any means to disrupt democracy!
srylands is one of the GSCB’s plants its so obvious!
Key has more to answer!
So how did Slater find out about politicians visiting Dotcom.
Key has denied Gscb and SIS but no one asked him if the police passed on info!
If it was PI’s who paid them!
He has to stand by them – he has always maintained that Dirty Politics is untrue and is a beat-up from the left. If he didn’t stand by them then he is admitting the book is correct.
He has a problem.
But don’t forget; Key lies (he just can’t help it).
You will notice that everytime he says NZers care about policy he walks away? Funny that. No real policy Mr key, just upgrading schools and building new schools which any govt has to do over the next few years. Calling it policy. Bah
John Key all of a sudden wants to discuss policy.
Here’s one to discuss then.
How does he plan to tackle systematic poverty in the country?
A letter to the Dominion Post yesterday.
“Child poverty within New Zealand remains a national shame. Low-incomes see New Zealand families always on the brink, one setback away from financial disaster.
Often these families find themselves resorting to third tier borrowing which traps them in a downward, never-ending cycle of indebtedness, powerlessness and increased poverty.
The gap between incomes and affordable housing has grown – housing affordability deteriorated by 7.6 per cent in the 12 months ending May 2014.”
…suggesting they “made bad decisions” also isn’t the answer. How the hell does a new born child make a “lifestyle choice” to live in poverty. How the hell do they consciously extricate themselves from the influence of their environment and culture. No question marks required on those statements.
Your topic, Mr.Key, is everything you ignore, your time starts now…
Paul, Dave + Crocc, Child & mother’s care in Key’s world.
I have in Daughter who lives away from our area, and works to keep her son in Playschool but he got a bug two days ago from Playschool and it is contagious so She (mother had to stay at home and care for his fever and cough.
Since she hasn’t been there at the job for six months yet, she wont get paid, and now she has contracted the virus off the son so she was forced to drop him at playschool today dosed up the panadol and her with the same and due to financial reasons forced herself to go back to work so she has to pass it o to others and her son too?
This illustrates the mindless Key government that can’t see the consequences of their actions.
She cannot get WINS help either so she is sick with a son and forced to work, = Key’s plan for us all.
Classic example of how mindless sanctions against the poorer parts of society can end up harming the wealthy. A more benign regime would reward behaviour which reduces the spread of disease.
Susie Ferguson – another disgraceful interview by a supposed public broadcaster.
Is she able to work beyond smears?
Waiting to hear her discuss the issues of housing, employment, inequality, the environment,
Just obsessed about polls and alliances.
What about informing your audience about the party’s policies and asking difficult questions about that?!
Rnz aside from the odd spot of professionalism like espinner yesterday is part of the nact pr machine. Theyve had many morning report combos since griffin was installed to get the mix right.
That is amusing since many consider RNZ to be a hotbed of left wingers. Reminds me of when I worked for TVNZ News and we were happy when both sides attacked us becuase obviously we were walking down the centre, hard as that is, but of course that was twenty five years ago … today I subscribe first sentance unfortunately.
Seeing Key and co. self destruct is a historic spectacle, especially with MSM players who are slowly realising that they have been complicit in the entire criminal John Key enterprise.
However none of this makes for a winning strategy for the Left. The election remains on a knife edge. (I don’t count having to cobble together a multi-multi party coalition simply to put together a sliver 2-3 seat majority as a win). We have a few more days of revelling in Key’s political demise – but it doesn’t mean that he won’t be PM again come Sept 20 – or that National won’t be in again come 2017.
This country’s politics is undergoing a major crisis which is almost constitutional in nature. Now is the moment – the opportunity – for major proposals and reforms to be put forward, by the Left to clean things up.
Regulations on lobbyists and unofficial spokespeople. On corporate money and campaign financing. On journalistic standards and public broadcasting. On democractic accountability – including within the security services. On cpmprehensive whistleblower, leaker and journalistic protections.
It’s clear we need broad, brave new measures to safeguard our democracy and to stop US style political rot taking hold in NZ.
Let’s see some gutsy proposals from the progressive parties to detoxify our politics.
They may well have some for all we know, the media isn’t focusing on policies and hasnt for a while. Is it a coincidence that only the Left have really been releasing any?
The Right Wing learnt the lesson a century ago via Freud, Bernays etc that through mass media, people are swayed far more by their emotions and their prejudices, than by rational fact and discussion. And they’ve put this understanding into action ever since. At the same time the left has continuously driven down increasingly narrow intellectual over rationalising cul de sacs and become less and less able to connect to and give moral voice to the people really suffering in our society.
Have you read Jaques Ellul : Formation of Men’s Attitudes (about Propaganda)? If you haven’t mind I be so bold as to recommend you do. I think you would “enjoy” it. He wrote during the Cold war, but he could have been talking about now.
The Left may call them policies but to me they sound more like bribes …. the one policy which would make a huge difference has been ignored for decades and I have no faith that either side will address the matter … ample State Housing for all who need it.
A warm dry roof over one’s head is the most important aspect of living in an inclement climate.
My top ones would be around end to end whistleblower/leaker/journalistic protections in any case where the public interest or democratic interest was at stake.
Also transparency of not just the funding of political entities but where that money is spent in terms of media advice and media buys.
Improvement of journalistic/news standards + public broadcasting.
Increased sanctions for the politicisation of the civil service/intelligence services.
given the militarisation of the USA and its decline in press freedom (now 40th in the world) we don’t want to follow their example… but do journos have some kind of constitutional protection in NZ already?
This country’s politics is undergoing a major crisis which is almost constitutional in nature.
Not ‘almost’, it is constitutional. What Hager reveals in Dirty politics is an outright undermining of our democracy and we need to have the tools to do something about despicable actions like these when they’re discovered.
They are fiddling the system, that’s what people who succeed in markets the best do. They call it finding loopholes BUT they also manipulate ( in the book there is a bit about manipulating ipredict) and lie and break rules. They rationalise and justify. BUT anyone who thinks that Key made it as far as he did in his chosen business without similar tactics is mad, or as slylands likes to say needs to stop being stupid all their life. And he clearly hasnt set aside those strategies since becoming PM.
The market failed the people, and now the market has disenfranchised the people.
I agree, it is constitutional. And who is final refuge for us ? The Governor General. And let’s recall, Jerry Mateparae was removed as head of GCSB to be replaced by Key’s ‘can’t-remember-him’ buddy Fletcher. His ‘reward’ was to become GG. And it remains to be seen if Key and his $$ masters own him. Be an interesting struggle I think, as Mateparae has previously seemed to be a man of great personal integrity.
Having watched all those years ago as Watergate unravelled from a single loose stitch at the bottom to the very top of the Republican knitting, maybe a major constitutional crisis is brewing here.
We’ve been considering the actions that the GG might take too, yeshe! What would it take for him to act, is he impartial, many, many things to ponder at the moment – The information is coming so thick and fast, it’s hard to know which murky pond to gaze upon next! What kind of creatures will we see emerging, who are their National party buddies and what nefarious enterprizes have they been involved in? Been wondering too, how good old Queen Lillibet is feeling these days? Think there will be any more invitations to Balmoral?
That is my fear: That just as Douglas radically changed the basis of the NZ economy, so Key is dismantling the constraints associated with political office, and turning the PM role into something more akin to a branch manager. He is one of the “leaders from central casting” that began to pop up in the Western world in the mid 2000’s.
Ad says, on the “Will the real National Party Please Stand up” thread, Nicky is merely holding a small mirror to New Zealand society on the morality of the Washington Consensus. By and large New Zealand voters chose this over several decades with their Faustian eyes wide open.
There are four main elements of concern that come up in the book, quite apart from the malignancy the main players: (1) The misuse of privileged information, (2) The theft of opposition information, with a view to giving them grief, (3) The use of this malignant group as a sort of news filter, so that anyone who wanted to meet deadlines,etc, had to pass through WO’s slanted interpretations, and (4) The group’s making use of any information they could get their hands on to bend others to their will.
I would like to be able to fathom how much of this is a deliberate attempt to irrevocably shift the political compass, and how much of it is simply rogue elements, living in a fantasy world, enjoying unbridled license under a PM who is “not a politician.”
I would like to be able to fathom how much of this is a deliberate attempt to irrevocably shift the political compass, and how much of it is simply rogue elements, living in a fantasy world, enjoying unbridled license under a PM who is “not a politician.”
Well, it seems to me to be a bit of both. The hackers refer to it as a “network”. By definition that is a complex of inter-relationships, rather than a centrally organised conspiracy. networks are also more flexible, less clearly defined, and rely a lot on personal connections and associations, albeit that they also link into associations with organisations and institutions.
I have done a few posts on Key’s “networks of influence” – these include a range of contacts and associations he nurtures – ones that Key can draw on when and as situations arise. My posts focused on the networks of powerful corporate and political players. In my nativity, I failed to included the kinds of underground networks that Slater et al play with and draw on: prostitutes, etc.
Suddenly, I have an idea for a future “networks of influence” post.
Yes, those underground networks are important, because they are able to do great damage to people. I think you are probably right about “the bit of both.” What is important is that the rogue elements are not working against the preferred direction, but are in general seen to be helping to achieve it, if indirectly.
NZ is a young country, and I think its population by and large have a limited conception of what a civic society is, just a vague sense of “decent people like me meeting my standards of decency.” If they vote Key in again, after all that has been revealed, I will be very frightened for this country.
I take it you mean the “two track system” that Hager has spoken of and written about in his book – where the PM remains aloof and lets thugs do his dirty work for him. If you are right, the book ought by rights to put pressure on that plan, but it remains to be seen how much influence it will have on voting patterns. The relaxed, untarnished image Key has cultivated is now seriously compromised, whether or not he ends up getting a third term.
+++10 Colonial Viper, true.
“This country’s politics is undergoing a major crisis which is almost constitutional in nature. Now is the moment – the opportunity – for major proposals and reforms to be put forward, by the Left to clean things up”
Cut out the corrupt political cancer.
This recapturing of honest open political policy must be aggressively perused by the opposition prior to the election as a major platform otherwise the cancer will infect any future Government also.
We really need something like the Australian corruption commissions. As things stand, Ede should have been arrested, there should be a warrant for Slug Boy, Collins should have been stood down, and Key should have been dismissed. All we seem to have is the GG, and he’s just a Tory who used to be in uniform. Something like a BOR tribunal would also be good, to ensure legislation and activities didn’t violate the Bill of Rights. It would need teeth. Both would need to be constituted as democratically as possible, rather than becoming one party’s toys via appointments.
If we don’t get something like this, the Tories are just going to get worse.
Whaledumper has done what the left wing parties have failed to do in the past 6 years. He/she has shown up the parties in a spectacular way.
I hope Whaledumper does not overegg it though. We are getting very close to the point where absolutely everyone agrees that Key, Collins at al are scum. Once we reach that point, more vile from the mouth and emails of Slater will not add anything to the issue and will run the risk of public exhaustion.
My strategy would be leak for a few more days. Then just let the media hammer Key until election day.
Ah, you haven’t read the book. Yup Mr Slater whom Mr Key wont distance himself from used a former prostitute to trawl brothels to try to catch politicians and people Slater doesn’t like “at it”.
Mr Bhatnagar seemed to revel in Slater’s gutter dwelling, and didn’t Ms Collins give him a job???
‘Hager’s Dirty Politics: what the book ultimately reveals is abuse of power’
By Martyn Bradbury / August 19, 2014
“Slater & Co are not bloggers, they are political sadists…Nicky’s book is now doing what I suspected it would do, create a shockwave of revulsion. Andrew Geddis over at Pundit Blog sums up this attitude best, and it’s reverberations build with every single new person who reads the book.
This is the outrage and the uproar caused by a mere 10 000 print run, what level of crescendo do you think we’ll hit when it becomes 20 000? 30 000? 40 000? What the headlines miss is the stinging hatred that shines through all the messages of those involved and that spite is shocking people. Politics can be angry, politics can be loud – but hateful? Hate politics has no place in a modern democracy….
“The Left may call them policies but to me they sound more like bribes …. the one policy which would make a huge difference has been ignored for decades and I have no faith that either side will address the matter … ample State Housing for all who need it.”
If you chopped all these transfer payments and used the money for a boost to the state housing stock and income related rents, you could achieve the same outcome in a much cleaner way.
Yes lots of ways to simplify and overhaul what has become a very convoluted system.
Our current political left has not a single radical bone in its body though, preferring to tinker with a machine which is increasingly broken and not fit for purpose – the care of NZ citizens from cradle to grave.
When did ANYTHING John Key said, actually MEAN anything? The Shallow Man doesn’t think deeply enough for anything he says to MEAN anything, but he does do an expert spin, better than a whirling dervish!!
“No one’s asked us to discuss whether the emails are real. Since this has not happened, there is doubt over whether or not they are made up. We are too big and powerful to offer to pre-empt the question. Power does not bow to open dialogue. I can be asked if I am willing to be asked to discuss the emails, but not on Mondays and not while I’m in the office or during interviews. Please make an appointment when I’m not in the office, at such time I will then be unwilling to discuss the emails.”
or a more literal translation,
“We have never argued that the emails are real, I don’t think anyone’s made that point. I have not come out and openly said they are. How can you accuse us of things we did if we don’t agree that we did them?*”
refer to general traits of psychopathic personality.
If I can borrow a boxing analogy, Bob Jones didn’t see it coming. His piece in the Herald must have been written early last week, because it looks terribly dated now:
Just got off the phone with the Ministry of Justice about sorting out a traffic fine I had.
I was going to do a payment arrangement, at $10 or $20 per week but apparently if you want to make a payment arrangement you have to provide a budget of income and expenses.
Seeing as I wasnt really keen on having to submit my personal affairs to justice system so they decide that I was worthy enough to be allowed to pay it off in the method I think best (I wasnt trying to get out of paying it, I just wanted to pay the damn thing off over time) out came the credit card.
Personally I reckon that is bullshit, and penalises the poor more than anyone else, just getting them further and further into debt, they shouldnt have to submit a budget because they cannot shit out $121 on the spot.
It seems that Courts Minister Chester Burrows has made it a mission bankrupt people through the fine system.
Right, that’s you done for. Expect your name to be passed on by judith to cam for outing her ministries sh!t systems and prepare for the attack on your character to commence. That’s how it works these days, isn’t it?
Interesting comment, Millsy. We had the same argument with ACC – but we just went ahead and
started paying off the ACC debt by $20 a fortnight instead of the amount they wanted – much more – and haven’t heard a word since. We have another few months to go before the debt is fully paid up.
I don’t see why how much we earn is any of their business. Nor is what we spend our money on. This could be something that Mana would look at. I doubt if Labour care.
Latest National Party policy regarding the poor was the announcement of a loan deal via one of the Australian banks hiring a woman from one of the payroll lenders whose market interest rate is often around 500%. The Govt is contributing a meagre $250,000 to the plan, not that it’s necessarily a good plan in the first place.
Why is it acceptable for our Prime Minister and his colleagues not to READ THE BOOK, in order that they could then answer each accusation point by point? I don’t understand why people allow this bullshit response. If you are an honest PM and someone accuses those closest to you of corruption, wouldn’t the first thing you’d want to do be to read the accusations so you can then investigate them? More needs to be made of the fact that Key refuses to do so. In my book that’s an admission of guilt in itself – and this needs to be slammed home.
Emphasis mine but very, very true. Key knows how deep the corruption goes and he’s trying to hide it.
So who will win the upcoming nat party leadership election contest?
Obviously judith, despite her arrogance probably disagreeing, is now out of the running and joyce, with his creepy and slimy dirty politics defence is looking somewhat lame, so with both pre race favourites falling at the starting gate, who’s left?
At a guess, English is happiest of the party stablemates right now.
Paula could be cake and sticked into making an attempt at a run.
And a longshot is Simple Simon from Tauranga, just as long as he doesn’t have to think and elucidate on the campaign trail.
Part of the Crosby Textor strategy is to dissuade people from voting at all, which was what happened last time.
That idea was explained in Dirty Politics by Simon Lusk.
“There are a few basic propositions with negative campaigning that are worth knowing about. It lowers turnout, favours right more than left as the right continues to turn out, and drives away the independents.’ In short, many people stop participating in politics. If politicians cannot be trusted, if politics looks like a petty or ugly game, and if no one seems to be talking about the things that matter, then what’s the point of bothering to participate? Just leave them to it.”
When you vote take 2 people with you and get them to take 2 people etc.etc.
Simon Lusk overstates the effect of negative campaigning. It may stop people participating in organised mainstream politics, but it also encourages stronger community links and unofficial groups. People don’t just throw up their hands and think, “oh well boss man is just too big for me. Best I just stand by and let my family die …”. Happens all over the world, throughout history, and while not entirely a constructive example it’s already happened here too: The Mongrel Mob.
I wonder why Colin Craig has been so quiet since publication of Dirty Politics ?
And then there is this … I guess if you want to defile a hoarding for any reason, it’s good to have some creative talent ! And yes, as is commented, it is an improvement of the Splendour In The Grass images …
Now John Key is using RNZAF A109’s to get himself around the country and campaign. What an appalling man and not very sound judgement. I know he occupies the highest office in the land, but there has to be a stage where public servants can say GTFO we can’t do that for you PM.
A couple of years back people said Key didn’t look like he wanted the job, and tories were outraged.
Then it turned out that yeah, he was seriously considering quitting the job.
Does this look like someone who wants to stay PM? I don’t think so – he’ll be off after the election, however it turns out. Joyce, Blinglish and Collins will be fighting over the succession: who gets to be PM if they win, and who doesn’t have to be caretaker leader of the opposition if they lose.
Well if people were as interested in Nicky Hager and dirty politics as the left were hoping then Campbells ratings would have been up yet his ratings were poo so I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusion as to why his ratings are in the toilet
Treasury says the economy is “growing strongly” and expected to continue to do so, with recent falls in dairy prices not outside forecasts.
This year the books are forecast to return to surplus; wafer-thin at $297 million. It nevertheless fulfils a major political promise which if missed could have hurt Finance Minister Bill English’s credibility.
Beyond 2014/15 the surpluses will not grow at nearly the rate that Treasury had forecast, owing to a cut in the level of expected revenue from tax, especially GST.
This means debt will be higher for longer, now peaking higher and later at $67.9b in 2017/18.
Unemployment is forecast to drop to 4.5 per cent by 2018, down from 5.6 per cent at the end of June
New Zealand First MP Andrew Williams is set to be dumped to an unelectable position on the party list, with former MP Ron Mark set to rejoin the party.
Stuff understands a draft copy of the NZ First list, determined by the party’s selection committee on the weekend, has Williams ranked at 13, and Mark ranked at 9.
A draft copy eh, can anyone confirm with Nicky Hager if Cameron Slater was involved? But seriously this is good for NZFirsts survival beyond Winston
well maybe an online petition /letter of concern could be started….I certainly would be willing to sign….she certainly does not do the legal fraternity any favours … in fact she brings them into disrepute
I really would like to know what is Labours Policy on Broadcasting/Media.
Nothing on the website but if they are serious about cleaning up NZ they need a strong Broadcasting Policy
‘cept that’s the Arts policy, and Ron was asking about the Broadcasting/Media policy, which it’s fair to say isn’t yet articulated on the Labour website.
Kris Faafoi seems to have been largely AWOL since the corporate box affair…
oh, ok, arts culture and heritage doesn’t involve media.
I guess if it hasn’t been released yet we must assume that it does not exist and everyone in caucus is a neoliberal rogernome. Seems reasonable.
‘Panic setting in for National as they realise what’s about to happen’
By Martyn Bradbury / August 19, 2014
“Whaledump has the potential to reveal the full picture and the full picture is just so much more disgusting and damaging than what is currently out in front of the public, that’s why those within National and the Right who are being informed just how vile that picture is are putting as much distance between themselves and Slater as they humanly can….
Radio LIVE Daily Poll
Thank You for Participating
1. Have you found it a struggle to pay your power bill this winter?
Yes 59 of votes 59%
No 41 of votes 41%
….what is his profile?
…who is he married/partnered to? ( anyone famous?)
….what is his CV background? ( Harvard? Cambridge?)
…where are the photos? ( golfing body shots are not clear enough)
…what exactly is his relationship with John Key?
… thus far Ede seems to have swum under the radar….but maybe he is pivotal?
Ok, so there’s this poster on a completely different forum which I used to be a memeber of who says he went to school with Ede. The poster is a fleewee, lives in London but likes to comment favourably toward the right when talking about NZ even though he’s not contributed to this country for some years now. I’ll post some of his musings on this…
One thing that is interesting is that apart from an obscured photo of Ede firing a golf ball into the ocean there are no known photographs of him. This is very clever on his part. He must have spent years keeping a lid on that, especially difficult in today’s age of selfies and camera phones. So there is no bullseye visible target for the media to focus on. They can’t seem to even doorstep him or track his movements.
He is a tremendously cunning f**k.
Unlike the Damian McBride incident in the UK, which is a close parallel, they can’t seem to take aim at the lead character. He refuses to speak to anyone too. This means that the connection to the Beehive remains a bit hazy. If one of the lead characters is essentially invisible, the plot is not as interesting and it may have less legs.
I guess we’ll have to see if they can smoke him out.
I recall Alistair Campbell saying these things have a shelf-life of three days. But if it goes on for longer than three days then you have a real problem, and the fire is out of control. With the weekend coming up you would think the National Party are hoping for it to die out then. If it’s still around Monday, then trouble ahead.
and
I went to school with ede and was fairly good mates with him. What I thought was funny at the time was that he made a unilateral decision in 7th form to stop wearing school uniform. A few old school teachers pulled him up on it but just sneered and ignored them. It was quite funny. He didn’t go to university. Went straight to radio and developed an ultra cynical methodology immediately. He has no philosophy. Amazing how long he’s been in the shadows.
well thanks for that …but still the faceless man of mystery….seems like a pivot man in the whole scheme of things ….even a junior Mr. Smiley ( but then i am just a nosey Chook with too much imagination)
…but maybe things will clarify…i look forward to a special Post on him on the Standard
i remember a book i used to read to the kids ….’Where is Wally?’
Yes, I know as much as anyone on Ede. The first I remember his name being mentioned was the photos of the aftermath of the press party sent straight to the hate speech merchant, Cameron Slater.
Yes, I have looked for stuff on Ede before and found very little via google. I thought I saw a link to a newspaper article back in about 2005 or so – maybe earlier, maybe later. I thought it was a newspaper article that was written by Jason Ede, about John key.
I just had another look tonight.
I found this mention from a couple of days ago on NZ Herald, with a bit about Ede being a former journalist and Don Brash’s press secretary.
I found this, which is total heresay, and as far as I know, could just be someone’s fantasy – although, he does have a bit of contextual detail – elaborate fantasy, if it is one.
‘Can someone in the media please ask the PM of NZ to categorically deny any National Party staff worked with Cam Slater in the smearing of Tania Billingsley? ‘
Prime Minister says he reads the standard and John – I can watch this again and again and again he goes on to say that hagers book only has pejorative things to say about about him personally. ?.not that hes read the book…wtf?
Has anyone posted a comment about the item tonight on Campbell Live which is that EQC is very short of money to complete their commitments. The reason is that the Government wants to hide the debt because if it was counted, then the “surplus” heralded by the Government does not exist. If proven this would suggest that the Govt is lying. Surely not.
Disturbed outlined what’s happening power companies are paying bigger surpluses to shareholders basically a cartel no competition .The previous price rises were for upgrades of infrastructure now the spend on infrastructure is declining rapidly instead of competing for customers with lower prices shareholders are taking windfall profits and tuning time for govt intervention!
I see that @whaledump has this evening tweeted “This is not all about party politics. Be patient. You’ll see.”
Pure speculation, but I wonder if Mssrs. Mallard and/or Cosgrove are about to take a tumble. Mallard has been unusually silent on social media re: #dirtypolitics.
Assuming those two are the primary ABC sources for the likes of Garner and Gower, it doesn’t seem beyond the question they’ve been in communication with Slater.
Surely anything about Labour would still be “party politics” as well. The simplest way to read “not all about party politics” is that there are leaks involving individuals or institutions that are not commonly associated with particular parties in the public eye.
There is a striking “bulge” in National’s electoral support in the 50 to 64 age bracket, and the profile is very different from 2011 :
Percentage of population by age bracket supporting National December 2011
18 to 24 – 38.4%
25 to 34 – 36.2%
35 to 49 – 46.7%
50 to 64 – 38.9%
65 plus – 44.4%
Percentage of population by age bracket supporting National July 2014
18 to 24 – 25.8%
25 to 34 – 32.9%
35 to 49 – 42.2%
50 to 64 – 51.2%
65 over – 44.6%
Two remarks
1) that’s a large constituency of people of roughly JK’s age who are fairly apolitical and identify with him (nice guy, winner)
2) They are National’s “soft underbelly”… (sorry, couldn’t resist)
Hello all. Judith here to talk about how National are going to take the election in September. The National Party prides itself its unity and cohesion. We are working together to deliver for New Zealanders. First of all, ee are a strong team. We are a very strong team. Our ...
Parliament has just begun the adjournment debate, signalling the effective end of this Parliament. So it seems like an appropriate time to assess Labour's term in office. Unfortunately, its a pretty dismal assessment. Labour campaigned on one thing: change. Not just a change in who got the top jobs and ...
Our climate change policies are insufficient to achieve our goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, according to independent assessor Climate Action Tracker: New Zealand won’t be carbon neutral by 2050 without much stronger policies, says an independent analysis by Climate Action Tracker. The non-profit highlighted a lack of active ...
That was clearly a huge explosion. Just after the explosion, we see a cloud of ‘fog’ moving outwards at high speed. This is a shockwave, rather similar to that which causes a sonic boom. The ‘fog’ is caused by water condensing from the atmosphere in areas of intense low pressure ...
Can we postpone this year’s election? Quite frankly, the political parties don’t seem ready for it, and aren’t about to offer voters the necessary policy choices for the unprecedented times we’re in. We’ve ended up with a campaign focused on scandal, personality and leadership, with a policy void that’s worse ...
It is the last sitting day of Parliament, and the last question time before the House is dissolved. So, are there any questions about the damning findings of the Hit and Run inquiry, and how the government plans to bring the military back under democratic control? Of course not. ...
Property speculator - John KeyThe National Party must be in dire straits to have to rely on John Key to campaign on their behalf. Not only has the former PM been in the news claiming the recently released unemployment figures aren’t accurate, the fool has also been promoting the opening ...
Nothing Too Drastic: Few would dispute that the Left, today, are few in number. Is their failure to make the public aware of and act upon the manifest failures of the present system attributable to their lack of active energy and intelligence? Or, is it simply because the Left’s ideas ...
by Don Franks This talk was given to the Wellington Anti Capitalist Alliance, fifteen years ago. The ultimate weapons of mass destruction so far seen on this planet have been used just twice, 60 years ago this month. August 6 and August 9 1945 witnessed the US atomic bombing ...
After I noticed that my name had been taken yet again in vain by my friendly antagonist Tom Hunter over at No Minister, I went over to see what the fuss was about. Nothing much, but then I discovered a post about the Operation Burnham Inquiry by Psycho Milt. I ...
The COVID-19 Public Health Response Act 2020 was extended today, until December 1st or the tenth sitting day following the resumption of Parliament after the election. It seems like a necessary extension. While we currently have eradicated the virus in New Zealand, it is still banging at the door, and ...
One of the government's key policies - extracted by NZ First as part of its coalition agreement - is the "Provincial Growth Fund": $1 billion a year spent on creating jobs in rural New Zealand. Yesterday the Auditor-General issued a report on the fund, finding that it lacks transparency, and ...
The Warehouse, one of New Zealand's biggest retailers, has decided to stop selling coal. Good. Coal is a dirty, polluting fossil fuel, and the less of it we have out there, the better. Retailers choosing not to sell it sends a clear message that this is not a fuel we ...
The labour market statistics have been released, and they show that unemployment actually dropped last quarter. All told, there are 111,000 unemployed - 15,000 fewer than when the government took office. But before anyone thinks that the pandemic hasn't put people out of work, remember that this is for ...
Judy KavanaghI’m OK with wearing a CovidCard. But are you? There’s no point me doing it alone.The author modelling a (fake) CovidCard. I didn’t know much about the CovidCard proposal until I read Dave’s latest blog post. You would wear the card visibly on your person. It ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzWhy can’t I use the battery from my electric car ...
As many good things come in threes (as the saying goes), we are happy to announce a third partnership between Skeptical Science and other websites. Fakebook.eco in Brazil is joining Klimafakten.de in Germany and Nauka o Klimacie in Poland to leverage translated rebuttal material and to make the information readily available in other ...
This interview on RNZ with Ross Tucker, the scientist who headed a review of transgender athletes playing in women’s rugby, discusses the findings of the review and what it means for women in sports. The review that World Rugby undertook had a broad range of independent experts and included a ...
Siouxsie WilesThe restrictions in place for metropolitan Melbourne now are in some ways stricter than those that were in force during New Zealand’s COVID-19 lockdown. A curfew is in place and most people have to wear masks when they leave their home – neither of which happened in New ...
On Friday the Hit and Run inquiry delivered a devastating report which found that NZDF had systematically misled Ministers over civilian deaths. The report called into question civilian control of the military (and indeed, military control of the military), a fundamental principle of our democracy. So you'd expect our politicians ...
Let's Do This Again: What else can Jacinda do in a political environment so bereft of imagination and courage but seek a continuance? If she trades upon the extraordinary personal qualities that she has, miraculously, carried with her into the office of Prime Minister, then I, for one, will offer ...
How corrupt are the New Zealand Police? This corrupt: On 10 February 2019, Police attended a family harm incident. The suspect attempted to run the attending officers over in a driveway with his car, narrowly missing them, before fleeing the scene. A short pursuit followed, ending when the suspect stopped ...
Parliament's triennial Review of Standing Orders was released today, and it contains a number of welcome, if minor, improvements. The ones that caught my are: A move to encourage "pre-legislative engagement" - the government consulting widely on legislation before it is introduced - by promising easier passage (e.g. with ...
Lauren Vargo, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of WellingtonGlaciers around the world are melting — and for the first time, we can now directly attribute annual ice loss to climate change. We analysed two years in which glaciers in New Zealand melted the most in at least four ...
Caroline Shaw, Anja MizdrakE-bikes are everywhere. Sales are booming and predicted to overtake sales of new cars in a few years. There were three times as many e-bikes and e-scooters imported into NZ in 2019 alone as there are e-cars in the entire country. You can’t go out in ...
New Zealand First is facing a difficult struggle to get re-elected, but Josh Van Veen, who was once a researcher for Winston Peters, argues that there is still a very significant section of cultural conservatives who oppose mass immigration and political correctness and might yet be won back over to ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk Many Americans these days seem unable to avoid controversy on practically any topic, so why not embrace the discord and wade into the especially volatile arena of nuclear energy? Advocates claim it’s the only way to meet global climate goals, ...
Can we trust New Zealand’s military? There must now be serious doubt, given the landmark report released on Friday concluding the investigation into allegations made in the book Hit and Run by Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson about a 2010 SAS killing raid in Afghanistan. The most recent Colmar Brunton ...
In New Zealand, we've just had the report of the Hit and Run inquiry, which found that a New Zealand led raid had accidentally killed civilians, including a child. meanwhile, around the same time, the British SAS was conducting its own raids in Afghanistan, and theirs were a hell of ...
In addition to establishing a process for setting emissions reductions plans, the Zero Carbon Act established a process for managing the risks of climate change. The first part of this is the preparation of regular risk assessments, looking at the risks to our economy, society, environment, and ecology. The first ...
Over on The spinoff, Amnesty International's Meg de Ronde has a response to Friday's release of the Hit and Run report. And in response to Attorney-General David Parker's claim that the government was being "transparent" by releasing the report, its titled "we shouldn’t have to work this hard to get ...
Story of the Week... Opinion of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Rising Seas Could Menace Millions Beyond Shorelines, Study FindsAs climate change raises sea levels, storm surges and high tides will ...
There's an election next month, so you'd be expecting political parties to be telling us what they stand for and what they'd do if they'd win. But while the Greens have given us a detailed policy platform, and National has talked about roads and austerity, Labour, currently leading the polls ...
"Who's youse accusin' of innference?" Without the timely intervention of a team of top American political consultants and campaign experts, Boris Yeltsin would never have won his second term as President of the Russian Federation. The Russians waited 20 years to return the favour.WHEN IT COMES to the disinformation game, ...
As polling day in the American presidential election draws closer, things are looking bad for Donald Trump. The polls show that he is tracking well behind his Democrat rival. Most people assume that the President will be striving might and main to avoid what looks increasingly likely to be a ...
Our health professionals do an amazing job. Image credit: Wikipedia – Cardiac surgery. Finally, I have got back to these rankings. A long period in hospital and computer problems meant the June 2020 rankings were abandoned. Now, with a new personal defibrillator implanted in my chest and a new hard ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, July 26 through Sat, Aug 1, 2020Editor's ChoiceThe four types of climate denier, and why you should ignore them allThe shill, the grifter, the egomaniac and the ideological ...
Over the last few days, reports have emerged of people travelling from New Zealand and testing positive for Covid-19 upon arrival at their destination. First in South Korea and now in Australia. What might these positive tests mean?They’re false-positives As Toby Morris and I have explained before, there are ...
Former National Minister - Wayne MappYou could tell that the Hit and Run book by investigative journalists Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson was right on the money by the way former National Party Minister of Defence, Wayne Mapp, reacted to its now largely vindicated claims.Even though the recent inquiry into ...
So, the Hit and Run inquiry has reported back, and found some appalling shit at NZDF and NZSIS. And while they quibble a few of the details - the name of a dead child - they basicly uphold Hager and Stephenson's version of events. The SAS went to those villages. ...
We are failing to think though the interdependencies in an economy. We miss economist Bryan Philpott (1921-2000). I miss him personally – we used to have such great discussions – but this column is about how the nation misses his economic experience and wisdom. We tend to ...
Michelle Boag - LeakerThe Heron report (PDF) was released yesterday, and it was a bit disappointing to say the least. It correctly found that former National Party president Michelle Boag and National Party MP Hamish Walker were politically motivated in leaking peoples private medical information, but didn’t look further into ...
Adam Smith, Massey UniversityA recent global assessment of shark populations at 371 coral reefs in 58 countries found no sharks at almost 20% of reefs and alarmingly low numbers at many others. The study, which involved over 100 scientists under the Global FinPrint project, gave New Zealand a good ...
On different trajectories and from different ends of the political spectrum, last night’s One News/Colmar Brunton poll has the Green Party and ACT converging around the five percent mark. And, as odd as it may sound, they head into the election campaign with a lot in common.Putting the Greens and ...
Janet Stephenson, University of OtagoA proposed multibillion-dollar project to build a pumped hydro storage plant could make New Zealand’s electricity grid 100% renewable, but expensive new infrastructure may not be the best way to achieve this. New Zealand’s electricity generation is already around 80% renewable, with just over half ...
Truth In Advertising: Labour, it would seem, is the party that knows nothing about running the economy right up until the moment that it does. HOW DID LABOUR acquire its reputation for being a poor economic manager? As with most things political and historical, it’s a long story.In the beginning, the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Government rulemakers looking to decide how much money to spend to avoid adding more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere need a good estimate of what a warming climate will cost in social damages, for example through more extreme weather events. That point makes ...
Fact Check: New Zealand’s own relationship with China might, however, be salvageable if our own Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade was willing to equip its minister, Winston Peters, with a few facts. Legislating for the protection of national security – the very action our Foreign Minister is decrying – ...
I hope we can all agree that charging only certain returning expats for isolation costs is the right call. Instead of a blanket fee, which may have resulted in a small number of Kiwis deciding not to return home because of financial reasons, the Government has chosen to implement a ...
Back at the beginning of this government, the Greens made a foolish decision to support the Electoral Integrity Act - demanded by Winston Peters to keep his own backbench in line as part of his coalition deal with Labour - as an act of good faith within the coalition. It ...
SATURDAY AUGUST 1Artefact (Prime, 7.30pm). The series presented by Dame Anne Salmond screened on Māori Television, but is totally worth revisiting if you saw it the first time. Dame Anne tells the stories of taonga that highlight the history of Aotearoa. Further reading: this 2013 interview with Dame Anne by the lovely ...
Have unions and the Government sold workers short with their attempt at fixing the so-called “Hobbit Law”? Unionist Ian Powell argues that the union movement has been outmanoeuvered, and the Government has agreed to a new piece of anti-worker legislation that retains the principles of the previous National Government’s hated ...
Most of the claims made by anti-fluoride propagandists are simply wrong. Image source:Fluoridation and the ‘sciency’ facts of critics Anti-fluoride propagandists continually cite studies from areas of endemic fluorosis in their arguments against ...
An article in the EETimes suggests that advances in autonomous vehicles are not moving as quickly as expected because those working on them have confused complicated problems with complex ones. Engineering can only take you so far in complex worlds. Complicated systems tend to have fairly predictable inputs, processes and outputs. Complex systems (like ...
Last week, after Judith Collins announced that National would be cruel and vicious to kiwis caught overseas by the pandemic, and rob them at the border if they returned home, Labour looked like it was falling all over itself to cry "me too". But now, it looks like kindness has ...
If entry into New Zealand from abroad is safe, it should be allowed. People arriving from places that are Covid-free, or no more risky than New Zealand, and who get here on flights that do not intersect with risky places, should return to normal travel arrangements. Currently, the Cook ...
Liz SlootenScientists from the University of Otago, working with colleagues from around the world, have found that New Zealand right whales are doing much better than right whales in other parts of the world. The research was published as the feature article in the journal Marine Ecology Progress ...
Back in 2019, the government asked for a comprehensive, independent review of the Resource Management Act and associated legislation. That review has now reported back and recommended a complete repeal and re-enactment. Despite the headlines, this is not a "scrapping" - we're still going to have a resource management law, ...
By Associate Professor Mik Black, Department of Biochemistry, University of OtagoThe increased availability of complex biological data sets means that analysis and computation are becoming critically important skills for New Zealand’s future scientists. Because of this, we need to be doing everything we can to help our students develop ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzIs humanity doomed? If in 2030 we have not reduced ...
Britain's spy agencies are supposedly overseen by various watchdogs, including the investigatory powers tribunal. But it turns out that MI6 at least has contempt for those watchdogs, and attempted to interfere with the operations of the tribunal by concealing evidence from its judges: MI6 has been accused of “inappropriate interference” ...
Daphna Whitmore So far this year over 7.4 million people have died from preventable communicable diseases. There were 4.3 million children who died under the age of five. Nearly one million people have died of HIV/AIDS in the past six months. A similar number of people have died from malaria ...
Four weeks ago I wrote about the last time a sizable asteroid hit our planet – the ‘Tunguska Event’ of 1908, when an object about 50 metres across exploded above the Siberian taiga – but smaller cosmic rocks shoot close by Earth fairly frequently. In the past 42 hours ...
Last month, China imposed a new "national security law" on Hong Kong. The law imposes a penalty of life imprisonment for secession, subversion, and "colluding with foreign forces" - which basicly means peacefully advocating for democracy or independence. It has been used to crush peaceful protests and interpreted by the ...
Powerful Connection: Neoliberalism is the antithesis of everything that has traditionally been associated with the feminine aspects of human nature. Kindness and compassion, nurturance and inclusiveness: such qualities have no place in the neoliberal order. When Jacinda proclaimed her determination to practice the “politics of kindness”, she was, wittingly or ...
The bad news: Jacinda Ardern still wants to bill exiled kiwis for returning home. The good news: it would require a law change, which the Greens won't back, so she'll need to go grovelling to National. The other good news: she's running out of time to do it. This ...
. . For the mainstream media, today (22 July) was even a better day than yesterday. More Sex. More Politics. More Sex AND Politics. Yesterday, the msm dealt with Andrew Falloon. The obscure backbench MP had been found to have sent pornographic images to at least four women. The woman’s ...
If you want to understand what is happening in this year’s election campaign, it’s worth looking to the past for guidance. Colin James delves into recent contests and finds some interesting parallels. July 28 is 53 days before the 2020 election. Just 53 days before the 2017 election ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters Wildfires burned much less acreage in the U.S. than average during the first half of the year, but with hot and dry conditions expected over much of the nation in the coming months, fire activity is likely to ramp up. ...
Today a full bench of the High Court is hearing Andrew Borrowdale's challenge to the legality of the COVID-19 lockdown. That lockdown ended two months ago, so the point seems moot - but it was never about ending it. Instead, as Andrew Geddis points out, its about a key principle ...
Kia orana and kia ora koutou katoa. It is a privilege to be able to speak in this adjournment debate and to mark and acknowledge the fact that we are now two years and 10 months into the conclusion of a parliamentary term that has been extraordinary in so many ...
On 1 August, we marked the anniversary of Jacinda Ardern becoming the Leader of the Labour Party. On that day in 2017, Leader Andrew Little nominated Jacinda Ardern to succeed him and lead the party to victory.Now, three years on, we look back at some of the key moments ...
With the June 2020 quarter showing underemployment increasing, the Green Party is calling for a Guaranteed Minimum Income and an increase to the abatement threshold to ensure everyone has a dignified income. ...
We went hard and we went early in our health response to COVID-19, and we did everything we could to cushion the economic impact too. In fact, we can fill every letter of the alphabet with the steps we took to fight COVID-19 and ensure we were in a position ...
Investing in our people, backing businesses, and upgrading infrastructure and housing throughout the country - it's been another week of progress for New Zealanders as we deliver our plan to recover and rebuild. ...
July was another busy month, packed with key investments aimed at progressing our economic recovery as we rebuild New Zealand. We extended support for businesses, helped create jobs through local infrastructure projects, and kept working to clean up our waterways so Kiwis can access safe clean water. Check out the ...
The Green Party is calling for the Defence Force Chiefs in place between 2010-2017 to front up and explain how dishonesty, process and policy failures within the Defence Force led to ‘a series of incorrect statements in briefings to ministers and public releases’ regarding alleged breaches of international torture prevention ...
Thanks to our strong health response, New Zealand’s economy is more open than many other countries. But as COVID continues to surge around the world, the economic consequences of the virus will continue to be a challenge, which is why we have a detailed plan to help New Zealand bounce ...
Thanks to our strong health response, New Zealand’s economy is more open than many other countries. But as COVID continues to surge around the world, the economic consequences of the virus will continue to be a challenge, which is why we have a detailed plan to help New Zealand bounce ...
The Green Party are ensuring that New Zealanders who were overseas when COVID-19 hit will not be charged for the cost of isolation or quarantine if they return home to live. ...
It's been another week of creating jobs, supporting local businesses, and investing in infrastructure up and down the country - all of which are helping to keep our economy moving post-COVID-19. ...
Law changes to end tenure review and provide for better management of Crown pastoral lands in the South Island high country were considered by Parliament today with the first reading of the Crown Pastoral Land Reform Bill says Minister for Land Information, Eugenie Sage. ...
The Green Party have secured legislative amendments in a bill expected to pass third reading this week, to ensure better rules for school teachers and staff, so they can de-escalate children with diverse needs and cognitive differences, such as autism, rather than using unnecessary and often traumatising force. ...
New Zealand needs to be more aggressive in pursuing economic opportunities and resist the short-term thinking affecting some of its major industry, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says.Mr Peters told Wellington Chamber of Commerce members this morning that the planned closure of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter will have ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has ridiculed the National Party "circus", with the politician saying it was in "chaos" after the resignation of another MP.Rangitata MP Andrew Falloon announced on Monday he would retire from politics after he allegedly sent inappropriate pornographic images to a young woman. Following a ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters today outlined what he saw as the requirements to re-open New Zealand's borders for tourists and travellers. If New Zealand was dealing solely with an Australian state such as Tasmania, we wouldn't need a vaccine, said Mr Peters, but these moves were complicated by the ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters appears to have prompted last-minute alterations to proposed legislation for commercial landlords and their tenants. Mr Peters told reporters on Wednesday said that he was making sure the proposed bill was in step with what the parties had actually agreed to. He said he ...
Associate Minister for State Owned Enterprise and New Zealand First List MP Shane Jones attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the new NZ Post "super depot" in Wellington. The state-owned postal service, which got $280 million from the Coalition Government last month, is expanding its operations to handle surging parcel volumes. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First CHECK AGAINST DELIVERYIntroduction Good afternoon. Welcome to you all here today and party supporters watching from around the country. We appreciate your hard work keeping New Zealand First strong; thank you for keeping the faith. Sixty-three days out from Election Day, ...
The diversity of conservation boards around Aotearoa is increasing with 47 appointments to 14 of the 15 conservation boards across New Zealand announced today by the Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage. ...
The Green Party is honoured to be remembering former co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons today at a public memorial service in the heart of Wellington at the Cathedral of St. Paul’s. Following her passing in March, this celebration of her life brings together her friends, family and colleagues to honour her life ...
Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage has announced a $2.5 million boost for South Westland to help a regional alliance of local businesses and government agencies provide nature based jobs. ...
Getting low-emission trucks on the road is a step closer with investment in infrastructure to support hydrogen vehicles, the Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods has announced. The Infrastructure Reference Group has provisionally approved $20 million for New Plymouth company Hiringa Energy to establish a nationwide network of hydrogen-fuelling stations. ...
A new trades training centre to upskill the local workforce will be built in the South Waikato town of Tokoroa through funding from the Government’s COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund, Education Minister Chris Hipkins and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones have announced. The Government will contribute $10.84 million from ...
The Government has agreed to repeal part of the Oranga Tamariki Act subsequent children provisions, Minister for Children Tracey Martin announced today. “There are times when children need to go into care for their safety – the safety and care of children must always be paramount,” Minister Martin said. “But ...
A $1.5 million boost to grow primary mental health and addiction services for Pacific peoples in Auckland, Hamilton and Canterbury will lead to better outcomes for Pacific communities, Associate Health Minister Jenny Salesa says. Pasifika Futures has received funding to expand services through The Fono, Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest by ...
Twenty-two projects to boost the sustainability and climate resilience of New Zealand’s food and fibres sector have been announced today by Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. The $18m funding will deliver practical knowledge to help farmers and growers use their land more sustainably, meet environmental targets, remain prosperous, and better understand ...
Employment Minister Willie Jackson welcomes an initiative that assists employers to get mature workers into New Zealand small businesses. The disadvantages that older people face in the workplace was highlighted in the whole of Government Employment Strategy. In order to address this, a Mature Workers Toolkit has been developed and ...
New Zealand and Australia reaffirmed today the need for the closest possible collaboration as they tackle a global environment shaped by COVID-19, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said. “In these challenging times, our close collaboration with Australia is more vital than ever,” said Mr Peters. Mr Peters and his Australian ...
The recovery and forensic examination of the loader driven by survivor Russell Smith means the underground team are now moving into an area of the Pike River Mine that has not been seen since the explosion, Minister Responsible for Pike River Re-entry Andrew Little said. “The fifth and last robot ...
The Government has confirmed a community-wide trial of CovidCard technology as it explores options for COVID-19 contact tracing. “Effective contact tracing is a vital part of the COVID-19 response,” Minister of Health Chris Hipkins said. “While manual processes remain the critical component for contact tracing, we know digital solutions can ...
The government is proposing changes to aquaculture legislation to improve the process for allocating and transferring aquaculture assets to iwi. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash has introduced the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement Amendment Bill to Parliament. It proposes a limited new discretionary power for Te Ohu Kaimoana Trustee Limited (ToKM). ...
The Minister of Justice has today introduced the Family Court (Supporting Children in Court) Legislation Bill – the next step in the ongoing programme of work to fix the failed 2014 Family Court reforms led by then Justice Minister Judith Collins. The Bill arises from the report of the Independent ...
A new Department of Conservation (DOC) action plan tackles the impacts of climate change on New Zealand’s biodiversity and DOC managed infrastructure including tracks, huts and cultural heritage. Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage says extreme weather events around the country have really brought home our vulnerability to changing weather patterns. ...
A heavily scaled back international Antarctic season will commence this week, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods have confirmed. “Antarctica is the only continent that is COVID-19 free,” Mr Peters said. “Throughout the global pandemic, essential operations and long-term science have continued at ...
The Government is providing up to $30 million to help fund the NZ Campus of Innovation and Sport in Upper Hutt - an investment that will create 244 jobs. “The sports hub is designed to be a world-leading shared service for a range of sports, offering the level of facilities ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today transport projects currently in construction will continue at pace due to extra Government support for transport projects to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. To keep the $16.9 billion 2018-21 National Land Transport Programme going the Government has allocated funding from the COVID Response and ...
$50 million for further rural broadband digital connectivity has been allocated from the $3 billion infrastructure fund in the COVID Response and Recovery Fund has been announced by Shane Jones, Minister for Infrastructure and Kris Faafoi, Minister for Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media. The investment will go to boosting broadband ...
The Minister for Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media has congratulated the Ultra-fast Broadband (UFB) programme on its major milestone of connecting more than 1 million New Zealand households and businesses to UFB. “This milestone has been 10 years in the making and demonstrates the popularity of the UFB network. “Uptake ...
Landmark legislation passed today puts New Zealand on track to saving thousands of lives and having a smokefree generation sooner rather than later, Associate Health Minister, Jenny Salesa says. The Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Bill regulates vaping products and heated tobacco devices. “There has long been concern ...
A discriminatory law that has been a symbol of frustration for many people needing and providing care and support, has been scrapped by the Government. “Part 4A of the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Amendment Bill (No 2) was introduced under urgency in 2013 by a National Government,” Associate ...
Kiwi motorists are set to reap the benefits of a more competitive fuel market following the passing of the Fuel Industry Bill tonight, Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods says. “This Act is where the rubber meets the road in terms of our response to the recommendations made in the ...
The Government has delivered on its promise to New Zealanders to modernise tenancy laws with the passing of the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill 2020 today, says Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing), Kris Faafoi. “The Residential Tenancies Act 1986 was out-dated and the reforms in the RTA modernise our ...
New rules to protect and restore New Zealand’s freshwater passed into law today. Environment Minister David Parker and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor welcomed the gazetting of the new national direction on freshwater management. “These regulations deliver on the Government’s commitment to stop further degradation, show material improvements within five years and ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced the appointment of Jeremy Clarke-Watson as New Zealand’s new Consul-General in Los Angeles. “New Zealand and the United States share a close and dynamic partnership, based on a long history of shared values and democratic traditions,” Mr Peters said. “Mr Clarke-Watson is a ...
Victims of family violence can end a tenancy with two days’ notice Landlords can terminate tenancies with 14 days’ notice if tenants assault them Timeframe brought forward for limiting rent increases to once every 12 months Extension of time Tenancy Tribunal can hear cases via phone/video conference Reform of New ...
Two employment schemes – one new and one expanded – going live today will help tens of thousands of people continue training on the job and support thousands more into work, the Government has announced. Apprenticeship Boost, a subsidy of up to $12,000 per annum for first year apprentices and ...
The Government is funding a significant infrastructure package at Omokoroa which will create 150 new jobs and help transform the Western Bay of Plenty peninsula, Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford announced today. Phil Twyford says the Government is investing $14 million towards the $28 million roading and water package. This ...
The Bill allowing the Government to recover some costs for managed isolation and quarantine passed its third reading today, with charges coming into force as soon as regulations are finalised. Putting regulations into force is the next step. “The COVID-19 Public Health Response Amendment Bill and its supporting regulations will ...
Today’s unemployment data shows the Government’s plan to protect jobs and cushion the blow for businesses and households against the economic impact of COVID-19 was the right decision, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. Stats NZ said today that New Zealand’s unemployment rate in the June quarter – which includes the ...
A new role of New Zealand Reading Ambassador for children and young people is being established, Prime Minister and Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Internal Affairs and for Children, Tracey Martin announced today. The Reading Ambassador, announced at a Celebration of Reading event at ...
Community Law Centres will receive a funding boost to meet the increased need for free legal services due to COVID-19, Justice Minister Andrew Little said. The $3.5m funding is for the next three financial years and is additional to the almost $8 million for Community Law Centres announced in Budget ...
New Zealand has joined Canada and Chile in a new trade initiative aimed at increasing women’s participation in global trade. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker, together with Canada’s Minister for Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade Mary Ng, Chile’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrés Allamand, and Chile’s Vice ...
Building owners around New Zealand have benefited from the latest round of Heritage EQUIP funding with grants totalling $2,230,166. “The Heritage EQUIP grants for seismic strengthening assist private building owners to get the professional advice they need to go ahead with their projects or support them to carry out the ...
• New paediatric facilities, including a Special Baby Care Unit • Up to 50 extra inpatient beds • New lab facilities Northland babies and their whānau will soon have access to improved hospital care when they need it with Health Minister Chris Hipkins today confirming new paediatric facilities and more ...
People walking and cycling between Featherston and Greytown, or along Wellington’s Eastern Bays will soon have a safe shared path, as part of a $220 million shovel-ready cycleways package announced by Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter. “During lockdown we saw many more families and kids out on their bikes, ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today extended New Zealand’s condolences following the death of Vanuatu’s High Commissioner to New Zealand, Johnson Naviti, who passed away yesterday afternoon in Wellington. “Our thoughts are with the High Commissioner’s family and colleagues during this difficult time. This is a terrible loss both to ...
The Government has today set out the regional allocations of the $761 million Three Waters stimulus and reform funding for councils announced by Prime Minister Hon Jacinda Ardern this month. "I want to thank Councils around the country for engaging with the Central Local Government Steering Group who have been ...
Students with high and complex learning needs, as well as their teachers and parents, will benefit from a substantial increase to Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS) funding, Associate Education Minister Martin announced today. “Nearly $160 million will go towards helping these students by lifting their base support over the next four ...
Funding for innovative projects to connect Kiwis with affordable, safe and wholesome food, reduce food waste, and help our food producers recover from COVID-19 has been announced today by Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. “COVID-19 has seen an increasing number of families facing unprecedented financial pressure. Foodbanks and community food service ...
Eight shovel-ready projects within Kāinga Ora large-scale developments, and the Unitec residential development in Auckland have been given the go-ahead, Minister for Housing Dr Megan Woods announced today. Megan Woods says these significant infrastructure upgrades will ensure that the provision of homes in Auckland can continue apace. “The funding announced ...
The Government is funding a new separated walking and cycleway path along Napier’s Chambers and Ellison streets to provide safer access for local students and residents across Marine Parade and State Highway 51, Transport Minister Phil Twyford and Police Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Funding of $2.7 million has been ...
We seek the indulgence of readers of a delicate disposition to bear with us for a moment as we dip into what some call crude soldiery and examine some important aspects revealed in the Arnold-Palmer report into Operation Burnham. We know this concerned the NZ Special Air Service in actions ...
At an event at the controversial Cloud Ocean bottling plant in Christchurch today, The Opportunities Party said governance of water could not be any worse than how it is now. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Odette Best, Professor, Nursing, University of Southern Queensland Recently announced Closing the Gap targets aim to improve the health and well-being of Indigenous people. But if that’s to happen, we need to provide health advice suitable for First Nations Australians. That includes ...
The Ombudsman's report to Parliament on the children's ministry's taking of babies is scathing of its misuse of the law and treatment of families caught in its routine use of 'uplifts'. Tim Murphy reports. The latest damning inquiry into Oranga Tamariki finds that in 100 percent of cases investigated by the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liz Giuffre, Senior Lecturer in Communication, University of Technology Sydney Review: Paul Kelly: The Man, the Music and Life in Between (Hatchette) Stuart Coupe’s new biography of Paul Kelly takes many known elements of Kelly’s story and rouses them again. Paul Kelly: ...
This was the last week of Parliament before the election and departing politicians had the opportunity to offer final thoughts in their valedictory speech. The stark contrast between the careers and speeches of two Labour ex-Ministers, Hon Ruth Dyson ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Money as an Unfortunate Metaphor for CostKeith Rankin. Especially but not only in election years, when any new policy is proposed by a major party, a ubiquitous refrain follows: “what will it cost?”; “where will the money come from?”. The context is that cost ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Can we postpone this year’s election? Quite frankly, the political parties don’t seem ready for it, and aren’t about to offer voters the necessary policy choices for the unprecedented times we’re in. We’ve ended up with a campaign focused ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philip Gibbons, Professor, Australian National University Most people probably associate the Australian Alps with skiing and snow. Others might think of the Man from Snowy River legend or the engineering feats of the Snowy Hydro-Electric Scheme. But few people know the region’s ...
The Serious Fraud Office has welcomed a court decision confirming the confidentiality of material that was inadvertently disclosed by the agency to the defendants in the National Party donations case. The material was disclosed recently during the course ...
The Cancer Society is pleased to see the new vaping legislation passed with general cross-party support as it will help protect people from the harms of e-cigarettes and nicotine addiction while also supporting those who use vaping to quit smoking. ...
Imperial Brands says it is excited that a new law will allow it to sell vapes but is disappointed that the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Bill has made vapes harder to get than cigarettes. Imperial Brands spokesperson Kirsten ...
A loader driven by former miner Russell Smith at the time of the Pike River Mine explosion has now been recovered from 1581m up the 2.3km drift access tunnel. The recovery of the loader went smoothly and to plan. Pike River families were able to ...
The removal of a 20 tonne loader that has blocked the Pike River drift since the day the mine exploded marks the start of the forensic recovery of a crime scene that has been locked away for ten years. Russell Smith was driving the loader when the ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Mitchell Pham, founder of Augen Software Group.If the last century was the American ...
At this year's general election, the public will also be asked to cast a referendum vote on the End of Life Choice Act 2019. Here is an explainer on the Act, who is eligible and how we got here. ...
Ngāti Tūwharetoa has just become the first iwi to be approved under the Resource Management Act to take over certain council duties. Here’s why that matters.In 1991, the Resource Management Act (RMA) allowed councils to transfer any of their functions to local iwi. Now, almost 30 years after that act ...
The Public Service Association strongly opposes allowing privately-run quarantine facilities to open for international travelers, and the union says it would put all New Zealanders in danger. PSA members work in the government agencies spearheading ...
Catherine Woulfe reviews Upstream on the Mataura, a memoir by Gore flyfisherman Dougal Rillstone chronicling his journey along the Southland river.Dougal Rillstone is some guy you’ve never heard of, who grew up in Gore and is in love with a river. He also loves to fish for trout. He’s in ...
Oranga Tamariki-Ministry for Children has been using its powers to remove newborn pēpi from their parents under a without notice Court order more by routine than exception, says Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier. Mr Boshier today released He Take ...
A hairdressers casual approach to conversation allows for a story to be told in an authentic fashion. This approach allows Political Cutz to create unique discussions with the intent of communicating important subjects. We have been producing pop up ...
Oranga Tamariki-Ministry for Children has been using its powers to remove newborn pēpi from their parents under a without notice Court order more by routine than exception, says Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier. Mr Boshier today released He Take ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Gray, Associate professor, Jumbunna Insitute for Indigenous Education and Research, University of Technology Sydney The Conversation is running a series of explainers on key figures in Australian political history, looking at the way they changed the nature of debate, its impact ...
This Town is being billed as 2020’s feel good Kiwi comedy movie, but Amanda Thompson finds it a gentle romcom with a heart of surprisingly confronting darkness.Movies about rural New Zealand are going to be funny, either intentionally or unintentionally. It’s a funny place and we’re funny people, and New ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicholas Aroney, Professor of Constitutional Law, The University of Queensland There is a theory that despite all the commotion, religious freedom faces no significant threat in Western democracies like Australia. Therefore, the argument goes, we do not need a federal Religious Discrimination ...
The Government has announced it will test run the CovidCard contact tracing system in Rotorua, Marc Daalder reports The plan to give every New Zealander a Bluetooth-enabled CovidCard for contact tracing is one step closer to fruition. On Thursday, Health Minister Chris Hipkins and Government Digital Services Minister Kris Faafoi ...
The joint campaign to push the Government to commit to safer staffing levels in aged care continues around the country with two North Island actions. E tū members and delegates will be holding two photo opportunities in Gisborne on Thursday to ...
6 August 2020: We have written to the chief executives of public organisations with 30 June balance dates about the extended reporting time frames for 2020. Kia ora koutou katoa As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the amount of work that will be ...
On the Rag meets two women advocating for the legalisation of cannabis to hear why they’re voting yes in this year’s referendum.The prevailing image of weed users in the media might be Seth Rogen and men who look like Seth Rogen ripping epic bong hits in front of a Bob ...
The Motor Trade Association says the Government has failed independent service station operators and missed the opportunity to create to truly competitive fuel market. “Sadly for New Zealand motorists, the Bill passed last night is not going to make ...
Evening Report Live: This week in A View from Afar with Paul G. Buchanan and Selwyn Manning, we examine the Beirut explosion and what is going on behind the headlines. We also debate how leaders around the world are using authoritarianism as a mask to cover their weak handling of ...
Though the COVID-19 pandemic has been the death knell of New Zealand immigration as we know it, it also presents a much-needed opportunity for improvement. What might the new immigration system look like? Aaron Martin , principal lawyer at New Zealand ...
When they weren’t distributing money to an array of projects and programmes that met with their approval, our ministers were busy braying about the new laws they have promoted to improve – we hope – our wellbeing. Megan Woods was chuffed about two news laws passed into law on her ...
Over lockdown, mental health hotlines saw a massive spike in calls and texts from distressed New Zealanders. Their numbers still haven’t returned to normal, and growing research suggests demand won’t be going away anytime soon. In April and May, Lifeline experienced a 25% increase in calls and texts from people in ...
The Smokefree Environments (Vaping) Amendment Bill passed into law last night will help keep people smoking cigarettes, and caves into big tobacco interests, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . Union spokesman Jordan Williams says, “The vaping ...
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk A medical authority has warned that the spike in covid-19 cases in Papua New Guinea is to be expected and could reach thousands between September and December, reports The National today. Professor Glen Mola had predicted early last month, when the number of cases of infection ...
The government’s new freshwater laws, signed off this week, have the potential to create significant unnecessary costs for ratepayers, farmers and entire communities, Federated Farmers says. "We all want good water quality, that’s why farmers ...
Roughly 11,000 people lost their jobs from Covid-19, and 10,000 of them were women. But as Leonie Morris from Auckland’s Womens Centre writes, this shows the need to address industrial patriarchy and create opportunities for women where they’re needed most.Just as predicted, Covid-19 has affected unemployment and under-employment rates for ...
The Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner says the government needs to do more to ensure women aren't left behind after employment figures showed they were disproportionately affected. ...
Political heavyweights took the immediate headlines, but Auckland's economic summit was broad and deep with business and community leaders predicting the return of good things from some time between late 2021 and 2024. Tim Murphy reports The call that 'we need to have a conversation' about almost anything in public ...
Disabled people and their families have been returned the right to complain to the Human Rights Commission or seek redress through the Courts about discriminatory family funding policies they may face. Disability Rights Commissioner Paula Tesoriero said ...
Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk The Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom (AJF) has called on the Malaysian government to desist its current investigation of Al Jazeera English as the current methods of investigation are an attack on free, independent journalism. If the Malaysian government takes issue with Al Jazeera’s work – or ...
Whānau and families will sleep better at night knowing their homes can’t be taken away from them without good reason thanks to the new residential tenancies law, says the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG). "Worry about keeping a roof over their ...
The Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Bill introduces a range of regulations that will be phased in over the next two years. ...
The Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill is now law. Mark Todd, long-time landlord and founder of Ockham Residential, welcomes the new legislation – and says hysterical critics need to get a grip.Hell hath no fury like the landlord lobby trying to thwart some fairly innocuous legislation that’ll help tenants feel a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Huaiyu Yuan, Senior Research Fellow, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Macquarie University Far beneath the city of Dongshen in northern China, we have discovered what may be the 2 billion-year-old birthmarks of Earth’s first supercontinent. An ancient dipping structure in the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liam Smith, Director, BehaviourWorks, Monash Sustainable Development Institute, Monash University With new rules restricting Victorians’ activities and movements to try and stem the second wave of coronavirus cases comes the question of whether people will actually stick to them. There are at ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elin Charles-Edwards, Senior Lecturer in Population Geography, The University of Queensland In the early stages of COVID-19, much of the focus of demographers – who study populations – has understandably been on mortality and morbidity. But as the pandemic rolls on, attention ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claire Breen, Professor of Law, University of Waikato With COVID-19 vaccine developers reporting promising results, it is probable we will one day face a major public health question: can the government compel New Zealanders to be vaccinated? Just as inevitably, some people ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Erin Smith, Associate Professor in Disaster and Emergency Response, School of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University Melburnians have now been wearing mandatory face coverings in public for two weeks. Yet Premier Daniel Andrews yesterday announced another grim milestone in Victoria’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Russell McGregor, Adjunct Professor of History, James Cook University Under the first coronavirus lockdowns, birdwatching increased tenfold in Australia, with much of it done in and near the watchers’ own backyards. And as Melbourne settles into stage 4 restrictions, we’ll likely see ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Garcia, Lecturer in Student Learning and Communication Development, University of Sydney University life comes with its share of challenges. One of these is writing longer assignments that require higher information, communication and critical thinking skills than what you might have been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Theodore Connell-Variy, Lecturer, School of Property, RMIT University We’ve heard a lot about what the present crisis will do to homeprices, less about what it will do to commercial property prices. Commercial properties include office buildings, shopping centres, hotels and warehouses. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dawn LaValle Norman, Research Fellow, Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry, Australian Catholic University Phil: What would you do if you were stuck in one place, and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered? Stage ...
Welcome to Election Live for August 6, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other breaking news. For key dates in the election season click here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Policy launching soon. Get in touch ...
Brooke van Velden – newly-minted Deputy Leader of the Act Party – spoke at a community event last Monday night in Epsom, Auckland, which was attended by several Euthanasia-Free NZ supporters. Unfortunately Ms van Velden’s presentation was heavy ...
“Labour’s plan is to win the election at all costs by politicising the border and keeping New Zealanders in a state of fear,” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “It’s putting politics above people by locking the border and wrecking the economy ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Many stories told by latest unemployment figures, Bloomfield says return of community transmission almost inevitable, and major tenancy reform package passes.First of all, it’s pretty clear that the top-line unemployment figure going down is a misleading picture of the state ...
Annaleese Jochems and Paul Little review new fiction by New Zealand authors David Coventry and Carl NixonAnnaleese Jochems on Dance Prone: David Coventry’s second novel Dance Prone is the story of a post-hardcore band touring through the American Southwest – a roadie novel. Initially its chief pleasures are similar ...
New Zealand needs to review its handling of Covid-19 'to do better next time' as global diseases are going to keep coming, warns Helen Clark. Former Prime Minister Helen Clark wants a full review into New Zealand's preparedness and handling of the Covid-19 pandemic - and is calling for the next government ...
It's time to lay extreme partisanship aside and for parties to prove their ingredients are worthy - not just that their packaging makes us feel good, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell Extreme partisanship has always perplexed me. I’m not judging but perhaps, as an opinion writer, I’ve come to hold my own opinions ...
On the campaign trail, Judith Collins is fully embracing every 'you're only about roads' barb people throw at her National Party leader Judith Collins couldn't have picked a more on-brand venue. The building was blue. The audience was blue. And the parking was free. Collins continued her roll-out of tunnelling announcements ...
Kiwi Winter Olympian and mountain explorer, Janina Kuzma, has become a film-maker, shining a light on gutsy female freeskiers. Sometime about now, Janina Kuzma would have been skiing down the shrinking faces of the world’s last tropical glaciers in Papua, Indonesia. The two-time Winter Olympian should have been filming the third movie in ...
Open mike 19/08/2014 
Open mike is your post.
Hello all. Judith here to talk about how National are going to take the election in September. The National Party prides itself its unity and cohesion. We are working together to deliver for New Zealanders. First of all, ee are a strong team. We are a very strong team. Our ...43 mins ago
Parliament has just begun the adjournment debate, signalling the effective end of this Parliament. So it seems like an appropriate time to assess Labour's term in office. Unfortunately, its a pretty dismal assessment. Labour campaigned on one thing: change. Not just a change in who got the top jobs and ...3 hours ago
That was clearly a huge explosion. Just after the explosion, we see a cloud of ‘fog’ moving outwards at high speed. This is a shockwave, rather similar to that which causes a sonic boom. The ‘fog’ is caused by water condensing from the atmosphere in areas of intense low pressure ...5 hours ago
Can we postpone this year’s election? Quite frankly, the political parties don’t seem ready for it, and aren’t about to offer voters the necessary policy choices for the unprecedented times we’re in. We’ve ended up with a campaign focused on scandal, personality and leadership, with a policy void that’s worse ...6 hours ago
7 hours ago
8 hours ago
by Don Franks This talk was given to the Wellington Anti Capitalist Alliance, fifteen years ago. The ultimate weapons of mass destruction so far seen on this planet have been used just twice, 60 years ago this month. August 6 and August 9 1945 witnessed the US atomic bombing ...13 hours ago
100 Articles Physical science of global warming & effects Analyzing the Arctic Feedback Mechanism between Sea Ice and Low-Level Clouds Using 34 Years of Satellite Observations Observations of global warming & effects Sea‐Level Rise Driving Increasingly Predictable Coastal Inundation in Sydney, Australia (open access) The recent state and variability ...15 hours ago
After I noticed that my name had been taken yet again in vain by my friendly antagonist Tom Hunter over at No Minister, I went over to see what the fuss was about. Nothing much, but then I discovered a post about the Operation Burnham Inquiry by Psycho Milt. I ...1 day ago
As polling day in the American presidential election draws closer, things are looking bad for Donald Trump. The polls show that he is tracking well behind his Democrat rival. Most people assume that the President will be striving might and main to avoid what looks increasingly likely to be a ...3 days ago
Our health professionals do an amazing job. Image credit: Wikipedia – Cardiac surgery. Finally, I have got back to these rankings. A long period in hospital and computer problems meant the June 2020 rankings were abandoned. Now, with a new personal defibrillator implanted in my chest and a new hard ...4 days ago
We are failing to think though the interdependencies in an economy. We miss economist Bryan Philpott (1921-2000). I miss him personally – we used to have such great discussions – but this column is about how the nation misses his economic experience and wisdom. We tend to ...6 days ago
TUESDAY AUGUST 4Grand Designs UK (Three, 7.30pm). ...1 week ago
Most of the claims made by anti-fluoride propagandists are simply wrong. Image source: Fluoridation and the ‘sciency’ facts of critics Anti-fluoride propagandists continually cite studies from areas of endemic fluorosis in their arguments against ... 1 week ago
. . For the mainstream media, today (22 July) was even a better day than yesterday. More Sex. More Politics. More Sex AND Politics. Yesterday, the msm dealt with Andrew Falloon. The obscure backbench MP had been found to have sent pornographic images to at least four women. The woman’s ...1 week ago
Kia orana and kia ora koutou katoa. It is a privilege to be able to speak in this adjournment debate and to mark and acknowledge the fact that we are now two years and 10 months into the conclusion of a parliamentary term that has been extraordinary in so many ...2 hours ago
The Green Party is celebrating the passing of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill, calling it a win for people who rent. ...23 hours ago
New Zealand needs to be more aggressive in pursuing economic opportunities and resist the short-term thinking affecting some of its major industry, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says. Mr Peters told Wellington Chamber of Commerce members this morning that the planned closure of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter will have ...2 weeks ago
Getting low-emission trucks on the road is a step closer with investment in infrastructure to support hydrogen vehicles, the Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods has announced. The Infrastructure Reference Group has provisionally approved $20 million for New Plymouth company Hiringa Energy to establish a nationwide network of hydrogen-fuelling stations. ...1 hour ago
We seek the indulgence of readers of a delicate disposition to bear with us for a moment as we dip into what some call crude soldiery and examine some important aspects revealed in the Arnold-Palmer report into Operation Burnham. We know this concerned the NZ Special Air Service in actions ...21 mins ago
At an event at the controversial Cloud Ocean bottling plant in Christchurch today, The Opportunities Party said governance of water could not be any worse than how it is now. ...30 mins ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Walker, Adjunct Professor, School of Communications, La Trobe University Lebanon did not need one of the world’s most horrific accidental detonations to remind people it is a state teetering on the edge of collapse. However, the destructive power of 2,750 metric ...40 mins ago
The Ombudsman's report to Parliament on the children's ministry's taking of babies is scathing of its misuse of the law and treatment of families caught in its routine use of 'uplifts'. Tim Murphy reports. The latest damning inquiry into Oranga Tamariki finds that in 100 percent of cases investigated by the ...1 hour ago
This was the last week of Parliament before the election and departing politicians had the opportunity to offer final thoughts in their valedictory speech. The stark contrast between the careers and speeches of two Labour ex-Ministers, Hon Ruth Dyson ...1 hour ago
Ngāti Tūwharetoa has just become the first iwi to be approved under the Resource Management Act to take over certain council duties. Here’s why that matters.In 1991, the Resource Management Act (RMA) allowed councils to transfer any of their functions to local iwi. Now, almost 30 years after that act ...4 hours ago
The Government has announced it will test run the CovidCard contact tracing system in Rotorua, Marc Daalder reports The plan to give every New Zealander a Bluetooth-enabled CovidCard for contact tracing is one step closer to fruition. On Thursday, Health Minister Chris Hipkins and Government Digital Services Minister Kris Faafoi ...6 hours ago
Political heavyweights took the immediate headlines, but Auckland's economic summit was broad and deep with business and community leaders predicting the return of good things from some time between late 2021 and 2024. Tim Murphy reports The call that 'we need to have a conversation' about almost anything in public ...8 hours ago
Annaleese Jochems and Paul Little review new fiction by New Zealand authors David Coventry and Carl Nixon Annaleese Jochems on Dance Prone: David Coventry’s second novel Dance Prone is the story of a post-hardcore band touring through the American Southwest – a roadie novel. Initially its chief pleasures are similar ...12 hours ago
New Zealand needs to review its handling of Covid-19 'to do better next time' as global diseases are going to keep coming, warns Helen Clark. Former Prime Minister Helen Clark wants a full review into New Zealand's preparedness and handling of the Covid-19 pandemic - and is calling for the next government ...13 hours ago
Stringent guidelines for goods with potential military uses in countries like China are on the way. ...13 hours ago
It's time to lay extreme partisanship aside and for parties to prove their ingredients are worthy - not just that their packaging makes us feel good, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell Extreme partisanship has always perplexed me. I’m not judging but perhaps, as an opinion writer, I’ve come to hold my own opinions ...13 hours ago
On the campaign trail, Judith Collins is fully embracing every 'you're only about roads' barb people throw at her National Party leader Judith Collins couldn't have picked a more on-brand venue. The building was blue. The audience was blue. And the parking was free. Collins continued her roll-out of tunnelling announcements ...13 hours ago
Kiwi Winter Olympian and mountain explorer, Janina Kuzma, has become a film-maker, shining a light on gutsy female freeskiers. Sometime about now, Janina Kuzma would have been skiing down the shrinking faces of the world’s last tropical glaciers in Papua, Indonesia. The two-time Winter Olympian should have been filming the third movie in ...13 hours ago
Private Energy companies don’t serve the people.
They serve wealthy overseas shareholders.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11310769
22% increase in profits with declining consumption is in need of investigation!
Thanks for mentioning this Trickledrown,
“22% increase in profits with declining consumption is in need of investigation!”
Our family and community understand this as we are involved in the
controversial rollout of “Smart meters” the new electronic transmitting meters that are known to cause health problems especially with those who have “electromagnetic sensitivities” ES or EMS sensitivities to electromagnetic fields being created by these meters.
http://www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz/
Doing our research we have found that the tariff charges for power is now being changed (as these meter tariffs are unregulated by Gov’t)
The method is called TOU or (Time of use,) in which minutes are separated and recorded by the computer inside the Smart meter as to the time of use is and that are setting a tariff that is much higher than when the EA/Gov’t has previously set for power charges during the day or night.
Now the time of use parcels of time say hypothetically cold be in 20 minute intervals would be higher by 300% during peak time of day than 9pm at night.
So people who use more power during the day will now be desperately trying to turn off their Heat pumps freezers and other high use appliances during the day to lower their monthly bills.
It is another Key Government ploy to extract the maximum profit from the least investment.
Hope this helps. We need an investigation into this criminal fleecing of consumers. who must see the real issues here,
I joined Grey Power Power via Pulse and was able to request the successful removal of the smart meter installed here at my house. No charge was applied to me either.
Don’t think others will do it. I was a Powershop customer until I moved here, but they couldn’t ( or wouldn’t ? ) do it. A Powershop rep told me to call Grey Power Power .. and here I am, a happy customer freed from 24 hour a day microwaves on the wide of my house next to my bedroom.
I also objected on the grounds it did one more person out of their job as a meter reader.
I sell pure mechanical Analogue meters if anyone needs them.
Most Power companies contactors cant supply them but we can,.
Some will refuse to use them but we have forced them to accept them now, as our right to own our own meters, so don’t’ take their crap that they are mandatory that is a lie, this is going on under this Government.
xlnt .. thx
Time mind time of day/peak charging but it must be communicated before hand so that people know that it’s happening and they must also know also know how much they’re being charged. The present smart meters don’t do that.
Yep, ripped off – as everybody knew we would be.
Time to impose a super tax on these power companies, as an interim measure.
+100 CV
‘
Rod Oram spells it out: http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20146212
The government will, of course, exclaim that the higher profits is a result of better management and not that we’re being ripped off.
GCHQ in the UK has the ability to manipulate political landscape !
The GSCB has the same ability here!
Key has already shown he is not above using any means to disrupt democracy!
srylands is one of the GSCB’s plants its so obvious!
Key has more to answer!
So how did Slater find out about politicians visiting Dotcom.
Key has denied Gscb and SIS but no one asked him if the police passed on info!
If it was PI’s who paid them!
John Key all of a sudden wants to discuss policy.
Here’s one to discuss then.
How is he going to solve Christchurch’s housing problems?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/business/your-property/10358544/Christchurch-housing-reaches-new-record
Clue :Calling them scum, Mr Key isn’t the answer….
As long as Key stands by Slater and Ede, he is calling earthquake victims “scum” , not to mention calling Pike River victims “sluts” and “ferals”.
And for some reason, it seems he does have to stand by them.
Whatever they have on Key, it must be something that would make him look worse than having Slater and Ede as mates.
+1
He has to stand by them – he has always maintained that Dirty Politics is untrue and is a beat-up from the left. If he didn’t stand by them then he is admitting the book is correct.
He has a problem.
But don’t forget; Key lies (he just can’t help it).
he doesn’t have a problem with his behaviour. Joyce made it very clear from his first utterance post book release. They think dirty politics is ok.
++10 Now Key is re-inventing McCarthyism.
We are now all left wing —-next terrorists ? —–Communists?
The criminal behaviour here should send a chill to anyone wondering what key has in mind now do to the truth unveiled in the Dirty Politics book.
You will notice that everytime he says NZers care about policy he walks away? Funny that. No real policy Mr key, just upgrading schools and building new schools which any govt has to do over the next few years. Calling it policy. Bah
Yeah he said NZers care. Never said he does though.
John Key all of a sudden wants to discuss policy.
Here’s one to discuss then.
How does he plan to tackle systematic poverty in the country?
A letter to the Dominion Post yesterday.
“Child poverty within New Zealand remains a national shame. Low-incomes see New Zealand families always on the brink, one setback away from financial disaster.
Often these families find themselves resorting to third tier borrowing which traps them in a downward, never-ending cycle of indebtedness, powerlessness and increased poverty.
The gap between incomes and affordable housing has grown – housing affordability deteriorated by 7.6 per cent in the 12 months ending May 2014.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/letters-to-the-editor/10390390/Child-poverty-a-national-shame
Clue :Calling them losers, Mr Key, isn’t the answer….
…suggesting they “made bad decisions” also isn’t the answer. How the hell does a new born child make a “lifestyle choice” to live in poverty. How the hell do they consciously extricate themselves from the influence of their environment and culture. No question marks required on those statements.
Your topic, Mr.Key, is everything you ignore, your time starts now…
Paul, Dave + Crocc, Child & mother’s care in Key’s world.
I have in Daughter who lives away from our area, and works to keep her son in Playschool but he got a bug two days ago from Playschool and it is contagious so She (mother had to stay at home and care for his fever and cough.
Since she hasn’t been there at the job for six months yet, she wont get paid, and now she has contracted the virus off the son so she was forced to drop him at playschool today dosed up the panadol and her with the same and due to financial reasons forced herself to go back to work so she has to pass it o to others and her son too?
This illustrates the mindless Key government that can’t see the consequences of their actions.
She cannot get WINS help either so she is sick with a son and forced to work, = Key’s plan for us all.
Classic example of how mindless sanctions against the poorer parts of society can end up harming the wealthy. A more benign regime would reward behaviour which reduces the spread of disease.
national/slater have destroyer themselves
Susie Ferguson – another disgraceful interview by a supposed public broadcaster.
Is she able to work beyond smears?
Waiting to hear her discuss the issues of housing, employment, inequality, the environment,
Just obsessed about polls and alliances.
What about informing your audience about the party’s policies and asking difficult questions about that?!
Rnz aside from the odd spot of professionalism like espinner yesterday is part of the nact pr machine. Theyve had many morning report combos since griffin was installed to get the mix right.
That is amusing since many consider RNZ to be a hotbed of left wingers. Reminds me of when I worked for TVNZ News and we were happy when both sides attacked us becuase obviously we were walking down the centre, hard as that is, but of course that was twenty five years ago … today I subscribe first sentance unfortunately.
Seeing Key and co. self destruct is a historic spectacle, especially with MSM players who are slowly realising that they have been complicit in the entire criminal John Key enterprise.
However none of this makes for a winning strategy for the Left. The election remains on a knife edge. (I don’t count having to cobble together a multi-multi party coalition simply to put together a sliver 2-3 seat majority as a win). We have a few more days of revelling in Key’s political demise – but it doesn’t mean that he won’t be PM again come Sept 20 – or that National won’t be in again come 2017.
This country’s politics is undergoing a major crisis which is almost constitutional in nature. Now is the moment – the opportunity – for major proposals and reforms to be put forward, by the Left to clean things up.
Regulations on lobbyists and unofficial spokespeople. On corporate money and campaign financing. On journalistic standards and public broadcasting. On democractic accountability – including within the security services. On cpmprehensive whistleblower, leaker and journalistic protections.
It’s clear we need broad, brave new measures to safeguard our democracy and to stop US style political rot taking hold in NZ.
Let’s see some gutsy proposals from the progressive parties to detoxify our politics.
Well said.
They may well have some for all we know, the media isn’t focusing on policies and hasnt for a while. Is it a coincidence that only the Left have really been releasing any?
The Right Wing learnt the lesson a century ago via Freud, Bernays etc that through mass media, people are swayed far more by their emotions and their prejudices, than by rational fact and discussion. And they’ve put this understanding into action ever since. At the same time the left has continuously driven down increasingly narrow intellectual over rationalising cul de sacs and become less and less able to connect to and give moral voice to the people really suffering in our society.
agreed.
Have you read Jaques Ellul : Formation of Men’s Attitudes (about Propaganda)? If you haven’t mind I be so bold as to recommend you do. I think you would “enjoy” it. He wrote during the Cold war, but he could have been talking about now.
Ahhh very nice thanks I will follow up.
The Left may call them policies but to me they sound more like bribes …. the one policy which would make a huge difference has been ignored for decades and I have no faith that either side will address the matter … ample State Housing for all who need it.
A warm dry roof over one’s head is the most important aspect of living in an inclement climate.
I see your perspective and it makes some sense 🙂
Government should be about the interests of the people and the fact that narrative has been lost makes everything look like a “bribe”
Agree.
Any thoughts on what those proposals might be?
My suggestion would be that anyone caught acting as described in Dirty Politics never be allowed near government again – ever.
I suggested a few areas of interest above.
My top ones would be around end to end whistleblower/leaker/journalistic protections in any case where the public interest or democratic interest was at stake.
Also transparency of not just the funding of political entities but where that money is spent in terms of media advice and media buys.
Improvement of journalistic/news standards + public broadcasting.
Increased sanctions for the politicisation of the civil service/intelligence services.
given the militarisation of the USA and its decline in press freedom (now 40th in the world) we don’t want to follow their example… but do journos have some kind of constitutional protection in NZ already?
I don’t think so, although the proof for libel is quite high and difficult to reach.
I would also suggest a transparent lobbyist register/audit.
Also, I would contract in Wikileaks to help build and run a Crown whistleblower site.
+1
Not ‘almost’, it is constitutional. What Hager reveals in Dirty politics is an outright undermining of our democracy and we need to have the tools to do something about despicable actions like these when they’re discovered.
They are fiddling the system, that’s what people who succeed in markets the best do. They call it finding loopholes BUT they also manipulate ( in the book there is a bit about manipulating ipredict) and lie and break rules. They rationalise and justify. BUT anyone who thinks that Key made it as far as he did in his chosen business without similar tactics is mad, or as slylands likes to say needs to stop being stupid all their life. And he clearly hasnt set aside those strategies since becoming PM.
The market failed the people, and now the market has disenfranchised the people.
I agree, it is constitutional. And who is final refuge for us ? The Governor General. And let’s recall, Jerry Mateparae was removed as head of GCSB to be replaced by Key’s ‘can’t-remember-him’ buddy Fletcher. His ‘reward’ was to become GG. And it remains to be seen if Key and his $$ masters own him. Be an interesting struggle I think, as Mateparae has previously seemed to be a man of great personal integrity.
Having watched all those years ago as Watergate unravelled from a single loose stitch at the bottom to the very top of the Republican knitting, maybe a major constitutional crisis is brewing here.
We will be counting on you Jerry. Can we ?
We’ve been considering the actions that the GG might take too, yeshe! What would it take for him to act, is he impartial, many, many things to ponder at the moment – The information is coming so thick and fast, it’s hard to know which murky pond to gaze upon next! What kind of creatures will we see emerging, who are their National party buddies and what nefarious enterprizes have they been involved in? Been wondering too, how good old Queen Lillibet is feeling these days? Think there will be any more invitations to Balmoral?
That is my fear: That just as Douglas radically changed the basis of the NZ economy, so Key is dismantling the constraints associated with political office, and turning the PM role into something more akin to a branch manager. He is one of the “leaders from central casting” that began to pop up in the Western world in the mid 2000’s.
Ad says, on the “Will the real National Party Please Stand up” thread, Nicky is merely holding a small mirror to New Zealand society on the morality of the Washington Consensus. By and large New Zealand voters chose this over several decades with their Faustian eyes wide open.
There are four main elements of concern that come up in the book, quite apart from the malignancy the main players: (1) The misuse of privileged information, (2) The theft of opposition information, with a view to giving them grief, (3) The use of this malignant group as a sort of news filter, so that anyone who wanted to meet deadlines,etc, had to pass through WO’s slanted interpretations, and (4) The group’s making use of any information they could get their hands on to bend others to their will.
I would like to be able to fathom how much of this is a deliberate attempt to irrevocably shift the political compass, and how much of it is simply rogue elements, living in a fantasy world, enjoying unbridled license under a PM who is “not a politician.”
I would like to be able to fathom how much of this is a deliberate attempt to irrevocably shift the political compass, and how much of it is simply rogue elements, living in a fantasy world, enjoying unbridled license under a PM who is “not a politician.”
Well, it seems to me to be a bit of both. The hackers refer to it as a “network”. By definition that is a complex of inter-relationships, rather than a centrally organised conspiracy. networks are also more flexible, less clearly defined, and rely a lot on personal connections and associations, albeit that they also link into associations with organisations and institutions.
I have done a few posts on Key’s “networks of influence” – these include a range of contacts and associations he nurtures – ones that Key can draw on when and as situations arise. My posts focused on the networks of powerful corporate and political players. In my nativity, I failed to included the kinds of underground networks that Slater et al play with and draw on: prostitutes, etc.
Suddenly, I have an idea for a future “networks of influence” post.
Yes, those underground networks are important, because they are able to do great damage to people. I think you are probably right about “the bit of both.” What is important is that the rogue elements are not working against the preferred direction, but are in general seen to be helping to achieve it, if indirectly.
NZ is a young country, and I think its population by and large have a limited conception of what a civic society is, just a vague sense of “decent people like me meeting my standards of decency.” If they vote Key in again, after all that has been revealed, I will be very frightened for this country.
Olwyn
Yes Key wanted to clear all moderate politician’s out as you saw post dissolving of parliament last month.
He is running a campaign as you quote is similar to Hitler’s grip on power in 1933 till the war.
We are very disturbed.
I take it you mean the “two track system” that Hager has spoken of and written about in his book – where the PM remains aloof and lets thugs do his dirty work for him. If you are right, the book ought by rights to put pressure on that plan, but it remains to be seen how much influence it will have on voting patterns. The relaxed, untarnished image Key has cultivated is now seriously compromised, whether or not he ends up getting a third term.
+++10 Colonial Viper, true.
“This country’s politics is undergoing a major crisis which is almost constitutional in nature. Now is the moment – the opportunity – for major proposals and reforms to be put forward, by the Left to clean things up”
Cut out the corrupt political cancer.
This recapturing of honest open political policy must be aggressively perused by the opposition prior to the election as a major platform otherwise the cancer will infect any future Government also.
We really need something like the Australian corruption commissions. As things stand, Ede should have been arrested, there should be a warrant for Slug Boy, Collins should have been stood down, and Key should have been dismissed. All we seem to have is the GG, and he’s just a Tory who used to be in uniform. Something like a BOR tribunal would also be good, to ensure legislation and activities didn’t violate the Bill of Rights. It would need teeth. Both would need to be constituted as democratically as possible, rather than becoming one party’s toys via appointments.
If we don’t get something like this, the Tories are just going to get worse.
One word. Herald.
Brilliant media management by the Whaledumper. This is going to be fun.
It has been brilliant to date.
Whaledumper has done what the left wing parties have failed to do in the past 6 years. He/she has shown up the parties in a spectacular way.
I hope Whaledumper does not overegg it though. We are getting very close to the point where absolutely everyone agrees that Key, Collins at al are scum. Once we reach that point, more vile from the mouth and emails of Slater will not add anything to the issue and will run the risk of public exhaustion.
My strategy would be leak for a few more days. Then just let the media hammer Key until election day.
Oh, and what the Viper said.
Listened to Harré taking ownership of Plunket. Catch and release before it starts to smell, Laila.
Listened to Key on RNZ admit it’s all true and offer ‘but but but but Lllllaaaabbbboooouuuurr’ as an excuse. Enjoy your retirement, trash.
Prostitutes is it now? The Herald eats its former trusted sources.
Ah, you haven’t read the book. Yup Mr Slater whom Mr Key wont distance himself from used a former prostitute to trawl brothels to try to catch politicians and people Slater doesn’t like “at it”.
Mr Bhatnagar seemed to revel in Slater’s gutter dwelling, and didn’t Ms Collins give him a job???
obviously your power is restored again today Tracey ! +100%
Meanwhile the Govt debt is
NZ$ 84,561,089,428
now
NZ$ 84,561,092,596
now
NZ$ 84,561,095,500
it rose 6000 while i was writing this comment
The Left really needs to quietly mention National’s mismanagement of the economy every chance they get.
this debt creating money system is a nightmare.
As in, if it’s a rock star economy, it is a very dead rock star !
The plastic surgery and groupie worship proved fatal in the end
🙂 @CV
Well, stop writing it then!
/old joke
LOL
I am a slow typist
Now
NZ$ NZ$ 84,561,303,053
Another good day to be left 😀
‘Hager’s Dirty Politics: what the book ultimately reveals is abuse of power’
By Martyn Bradbury / August 19, 2014
“Slater & Co are not bloggers, they are political sadists…Nicky’s book is now doing what I suspected it would do, create a shockwave of revulsion. Andrew Geddis over at Pundit Blog sums up this attitude best, and it’s reverberations build with every single new person who reads the book.
This is the outrage and the uproar caused by a mere 10 000 print run, what level of crescendo do you think we’ll hit when it becomes 20 000? 30 000? 40 000? What the headlines miss is the stinging hatred that shines through all the messages of those involved and that spite is shocking people. Politics can be angry, politics can be loud – but hateful? Hate politics has no place in a modern democracy….
Man, I was head-desking hard listening to Susie Ferguson being unable to grasp a straight forward answer from David Cunliffe.
It’s difficult to understand a point when ones livelihood depends on not understanding it.
She is a Natz patsy
RNZ Headline: “PM sticking to his line…”
There once was a fellow called Key,
Who lied to you and to me.
His lies tripped him up so,
Deceitful a new low,
And everybody can see.
jcuk says:
“The Left may call them policies but to me they sound more like bribes …. the one policy which would make a huge difference has been ignored for decades and I have no faith that either side will address the matter … ample State Housing for all who need it.”
If you chopped all these transfer payments and used the money for a boost to the state housing stock and income related rents, you could achieve the same outcome in a much cleaner way.
Yes lots of ways to simplify and overhaul what has become a very convoluted system.
Our current political left has not a single radical bone in its body though, preferring to tinker with a machine which is increasingly broken and not fit for purpose – the care of NZ citizens from cradle to grave.
In the Herald re TV3 Firstline this morning Key:
Mr Key stood by his stance that the emails were “selective” and an attempt to smear the government.
“We’ve never refuted actually that the emails were real, I don’t think anyone’s made that point.”
What does the last sentence mean?
When did ANYTHING John Key said, actually MEAN anything? The Shallow Man doesn’t think deeply enough for anything he says to MEAN anything, but he does do an expert spin, better than a whirling dervish!!
Either:
“No one’s asked us to discuss whether the emails are real. Since this has not happened, there is doubt over whether or not they are made up. We are too big and powerful to offer to pre-empt the question. Power does not bow to open dialogue. I can be asked if I am willing to be asked to discuss the emails, but not on Mondays and not while I’m in the office or during interviews. Please make an appointment when I’m not in the office, at such time I will then be unwilling to discuss the emails.”
or a more literal translation,
“We have never argued that the emails are real, I don’t think anyone’s made that point. I have not come out and openly said they are. How can you accuse us of things we did if we don’t agree that we did them?*”
another interpretation:
“I’m not saying these things didn’t happen, what I’m saying is that not enough people are saying they didn’t happen.”
If I can borrow a boxing analogy, Bob Jones didn’t see it coming. His piece in the Herald must have been written early last week, because it looks terribly dated now:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11311023
Just got off the phone with the Ministry of Justice about sorting out a traffic fine I had.
I was going to do a payment arrangement, at $10 or $20 per week but apparently if you want to make a payment arrangement you have to provide a budget of income and expenses.
Seeing as I wasnt really keen on having to submit my personal affairs to justice system so they decide that I was worthy enough to be allowed to pay it off in the method I think best (I wasnt trying to get out of paying it, I just wanted to pay the damn thing off over time) out came the credit card.
Personally I reckon that is bullshit, and penalises the poor more than anyone else, just getting them further and further into debt, they shouldnt have to submit a budget because they cannot shit out $121 on the spot.
It seems that Courts Minister Chester Burrows has made it a mission bankrupt people through the fine system.
Right, that’s you done for. Expect your name to be passed on by judith to cam for outing her ministries sh!t systems and prepare for the attack on your character to commence. That’s how it works these days, isn’t it?
Yep right on Planet Key.
Interesting comment, Millsy. We had the same argument with ACC – but we just went ahead and
started paying off the ACC debt by $20 a fortnight instead of the amount they wanted – much more – and haven’t heard a word since. We have another few months to go before the debt is fully paid up.
My budget would have been:
Income $X
Expenses $X-10
I don’t see why how much we earn is any of their business. Nor is what we spend our money on. This could be something that Mana would look at. I doubt if Labour care.
Latest National Party policy regarding the poor was the announcement of a loan deal via one of the Australian banks hiring a woman from one of the payroll lenders whose market interest rate is often around 500%. The Govt is contributing a meagre $250,000 to the plan, not that it’s necessarily a good plan in the first place.
Nicky Hager’s sister has written a very moving piece on her blog about Nicky and “Dirty Politics.”. It’s worth reading.
http://mandyhager.blogspot.fr/p/occasional-political-rant.html
Emphasis mine but very, very true. Key knows how deep the corruption goes and he’s trying to hide it.
This has probably been linked to already:
http://www.3news.co.nz/Key-Left-wing-has-given-up-arguing-policy/tabid/1607/articleID/357418/Default.aspx
Stunning video of Key unraveling on TV3
@geoff-Notice how Key calls him “Cam” not Cameron Slater. Dead giveaway.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10396668/Today-in-politics-Tuesday-August-19
“Labour leader David Cunliffe tried to score a point over John Key yesterday by saying he rarely talks to bloggers, but that seems a stretch. ”
That has to be the understatement of the day
Don’t try and drag Cunliffe into this
Why not? Let’s make the comparison: David Cunliffe has done Q&A sessions right here at The Standard. Something to be ashamed of, not.
Now we know the Prime Minister hires people to post at Whaleoil for him, which begs the question: why can’t he post there under his own name?
Come on Puckish Runt, let’s hear it.
PR
And your point is?
So who will win the upcoming nat party leadership election contest?
Obviously judith, despite her arrogance probably disagreeing, is now out of the running and joyce, with his creepy and slimy dirty politics defence is looking somewhat lame, so with both pre race favourites falling at the starting gate, who’s left?
At a guess, English is happiest of the party stablemates right now.
Paula could be cake and sticked into making an attempt at a run.
And a longshot is Simple Simon from Tauranga, just as long as he doesn’t have to think and elucidate on the campaign trail.
sounds like a script for a horror movie.
A very interesting Blogpost by Giovani tiso…I wondered who might have written the anonymous articles in the Listerner….possibly Jane Clifton.
http://bat-bean-beam.blogspot.co.nz/2014/08/of-journalism-and-monsters.html
Part of the Crosby Textor strategy is to dissuade people from voting at all, which was what happened last time.
That idea was explained in Dirty Politics by Simon Lusk.
“There are a few basic propositions with negative campaigning that are worth knowing about. It lowers turnout, favours right more than left as the right continues to turn out, and drives away the independents.’ In short, many people stop participating in politics. If politicians cannot be trusted, if politics looks like a petty or ugly game, and if no one seems to be talking about the things that matter, then what’s the point of bothering to participate? Just leave them to it.”
When you vote take 2 people with you and get them to take 2 people etc.etc.
Simon Lusk overstates the effect of negative campaigning. It may stop people participating in organised mainstream politics, but it also encourages stronger community links and unofficial groups. People don’t just throw up their hands and think, “oh well boss man is just too big for me. Best I just stand by and let my family die …”. Happens all over the world, throughout history, and while not entirely a constructive example it’s already happened here too: The Mongrel Mob.
I wonder why Colin Craig has been so quiet since publication of Dirty Politics ?
And then there is this … I guess if you want to defile a hoarding for any reason, it’s good to have some creative talent ! And yes, as is commented, it is an improvement of the Splendour In The Grass images …
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11310723
Now John Key is using RNZAF A109’s to get himself around the country and campaign. What an appalling man and not very sound judgement. I know he occupies the highest office in the land, but there has to be a stage where public servants can say GTFO we can’t do that for you PM.
A couple of years back people said Key didn’t look like he wanted the job, and tories were outraged.
Then it turned out that yeah, he was seriously considering quitting the job.
Does this look like someone who wants to stay PM? I don’t think so – he’ll be off after the election, however it turns out. Joyce, Blinglish and Collins will be fighting over the succession: who gets to be PM if they win, and who doesn’t have to be caretaker leader of the opposition if they lose.
Collins to Slater email; Pleasants ph. numbers supplied
https://twitter.com/whaledump/status/501519060782551040
interestingly not from collins’ govt email but her private ‘judithcollinslaw’ which is hugely ironic …
(maybe she is related to coleslaw from banks’ cabbage boat ?)
when ‘last’ doesn’t mean ‘last’ .. another lie from Key .. but at least he has been forced to address it, or so it seems .. Key on Collins …
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11311222
( she is getting another chance because it’s all a left-wing smear campaign ffs !
http://www.throng.co.nz/2014/08/ratings-campbell-live-suffers-worst-week-2014/
What is not as big a deal?
Well if people were as interested in Nicky Hager and dirty politics as the left were hoping then Campbells ratings would have been up yet his ratings were poo so I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusion as to why his ratings are in the toilet
because they flipped over to 7 Sharp that was screen the same thing maybe?
Ok so
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/10396698/Surplus-on-track-Treasury-figures-show
Well done National and John Key
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10399377/Ron-Mark-back-with-NZ-First
New Zealand First MP Andrew Williams is set to be dumped to an unelectable position on the party list, with former MP Ron Mark set to rejoin the party.
Stuff understands a draft copy of the NZ First list, determined by the party’s selection committee on the weekend, has Williams ranked at 13, and Mark ranked at 9.
Christchurch Earthquake
Take that out of the equation and we are in a deep recession.
National has failed on every count
Maybe pr is given them a last last last chance, which seems to be in vogue down nat party lane.
This year the books are forecast to return to surplus
The projected surplus is less then the model error.(and already wrong due to the models finalization in early august)
Whose books? Nicki Hagers?
Just joking, I know how little he’ll make from this.
Bryce Edwards dumped by NZH – Cathy Odgers and Pagani doing columns
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11300033
So, Josie for the centre right, Cathy Odgers for the contract killer vote, who have they got from the left?
lol…i shouldnt laugh because it is very very, serious …..potentially fatal…that horrible Cactus woman should come somewhere under the Crimes Act imo
…i hope someone hauls her arse and those of her co-conspirators /collaborators before the courts
Law Society needs lots of letters.
well maybe an online petition /letter of concern could be started….I certainly would be willing to sign….she certainly does not do the legal fraternity any favours … in fact she brings them into disrepute
Fricking Josie Pagani. Figures. At least she’s good at being a careerist.
I really would like to know what is Labours Policy on Broadcasting/Media.
Nothing on the website but if they are serious about cleaning up NZ they need a strong Broadcasting Policy
Ron +100
Jacinda inadvertently broached this in the Arts debate covered here: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11309897
Revive TVNZ7 or similar public broadcaster, apparently.
I’ll assume there’s quite a bit more substance to it than that, because otherwise it would be utterly pathetic and ineffectual.
fair assumption.
‘cept that’s the Arts policy, and Ron was asking about the Broadcasting/Media policy, which it’s fair to say isn’t yet articulated on the Labour website.
Kris Faafoi seems to have been largely AWOL since the corporate box affair…
oh, ok, arts culture and heritage doesn’t involve media.
I guess if it hasn’t been released yet we must assume that it does not exist and everyone in caucus is a neoliberal rogernome. Seems reasonable.
lol
Farrar on the Panel.
How does he get selected?
What happens if Mora has to interview him about Dirty Politics in Checkpoint.
Not good enough, RNZ.
Jim Mora’s a Nat’s spinner mole, and should go or come clean and give promised unbiased media.
‘Panic setting in for National as they realise what’s about to happen’
By Martyn Bradbury / August 19, 2014
“Whaledump has the potential to reveal the full picture and the full picture is just so much more disgusting and damaging than what is currently out in front of the public, that’s why those within National and the Right who are being informed just how vile that picture is are putting as much distance between themselves and Slater as they humanly can….
.
– See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/08/19/panic-setting-in-for-national-as-they-realise-whats-about-to-happen/#sthash.fWh2KlNN.dpuf
Hi Trickledown, 1.1 at 7.11am
you should see this after you said;
“Why have my power bills gone up so much”.
Todays poll on high power prices.
http://www.radiolive.co.nz/Winston-Peters-A-burglary-that-went-horribly-wrong-for-the-president/tabid/721/articleID/52607/Default.aspx
Don’t forget Nixon on History channel after 8pm tonight.
Radio LIVE Daily Poll
Thank You for Participating
1. Have you found it a struggle to pay your power bill this winter?
Yes 59 of votes 59%
No 41 of votes 41%
Hi Trickledown, 1.1 at 7.11am
you should see this after you said;
“Why have my power bills gone up so much”.
Have a look at the graph how much power costs have risen. Nat’s said all happened under Labour.’
Bloody liars again!!!MMMMMM
http://www.radiolive.co.nz/Duncan-Garner-Power-prices-revealed-Why-you-pay-what-you-do/tabid/674/articleID/52614/Default.aspx
ZB reporting that Slater has called Ede squeamish and gutless for not speaking about his black ops role. Weehee! the right are eating themselves!
Anyone got a link?
Slater calling Ede a gutless —-
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/auckland/news/nbpol/953007518-new–whaledump–info-targets-judith-Collins
7;pm Campbelllive in Rununga west coast talking to folks about the Feral /Slater issue.
8pm on History Nixon – Watergate tonight.
also on Herald site first I think …
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11311070
@ Weepus Beard….Ede really is the dark horse here
Call me a nosey Chook but:
….what is his profile?
…who is he married/partnered to? ( anyone famous?)
….what is his CV background? ( Harvard? Cambridge?)
…where are the photos? ( golfing body shots are not clear enough)
…what exactly is his relationship with John Key?
… thus far Ede seems to have swum under the radar….but maybe he is pivotal?
Ok, so there’s this poster on a completely different forum which I used to be a memeber of who says he went to school with Ede. The poster is a fleewee, lives in London but likes to comment favourably toward the right when talking about NZ even though he’s not contributed to this country for some years now. I’ll post some of his musings on this…
and
– Seneca of the Night
well thanks for that …but still the faceless man of mystery….seems like a pivot man in the whole scheme of things ….even a junior Mr. Smiley ( but then i am just a nosey Chook with too much imagination)
…but maybe things will clarify…i look forward to a special Post on him on the Standard
i remember a book i used to read to the kids ….’Where is Wally?’
….where is Jason?
Yes, I know as much as anyone on Ede. The first I remember his name being mentioned was the photos of the aftermath of the press party sent straight to the hate speech merchant, Cameron Slater.
Well we didn’t have uniforms in the 7th Form.
Has anybody seen Ede then, or is he an alter-ego of someone?
Yes, I have looked for stuff on Ede before and found very little via google. I thought I saw a link to a newspaper article back in about 2005 or so – maybe earlier, maybe later. I thought it was a newspaper article that was written by Jason Ede, about John key.
I just had another look tonight.
I found this mention from a couple of days ago on NZ Herald, with a bit about Ede being a former journalist and Don Brash’s press secretary.
I found this, which is total heresay, and as far as I know, could just be someone’s fantasy – although, he does have a bit of contextual detail – elaborate fantasy, if it is one.
My link to John Key. saying Ede knows where Key’s bodies are buried.
Ede also gets a mention in the Hollow Men. Forwarding and email of story about Brash.
Ede and Kevin Taylor were both Press secretaries for Brash.
Bryce Edwards said way back, that Ede came from TV3.
Why do Brash and Key need two press secretaries for? Kevin seems to do a good enough job. Jason seems invisible.
Slater is calling him gutless.
Interesting that Slater is really pally with Jason but when he needs to ask a press secretary a favour regarding access to Key he asks Kevin.
Do you think Key takes Jason to Hawaii?
‘Can someone in the media please ask the PM of NZ to categorically deny any National Party staff worked with Cam Slater in the smearing of Tania Billingsley? ‘
By Martyn Bradbury / August 19, 2014
“Force him to go on the record!..
From Thursday – so long ago right?
http://www.3news.co.nz/Video-John-Key-talks-Nicky-Hagers-Dirty-Politics/tabid/1607/articleID/356848/Default.aspx
Prime Minister says he reads the standard and John – I can watch this again and again and again he goes on to say that hagers book only has pejorative things to say about about him personally. ?.not that hes read the book…wtf?
Has anyone posted a comment about the item tonight on Campbell Live which is that EQC is very short of money to complete their commitments. The reason is that the Government wants to hide the debt because if it was counted, then the “surplus” heralded by the Government does not exist. If proven this would suggest that the Govt is lying. Surely not.
Amazing what technology can do these days
Facebook to point out satire from news
http://www.3news.co.nz/Facebook-to-point-out-satire-from-news/tabid/412/articleID/357416/Default.aspx
Next they’ll be able to point out all cam slater’s comments and posts are sh!t.
Nixon & Watergate on at 8.30 tonight on History channel
Or 10.20 on maori tv tonight- Russell and Nicky
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BvX9HJECEAAPQW9.jpg
Disturbed outlined what’s happening power companies are paying bigger surpluses to shareholders basically a cartel no competition .The previous price rises were for upgrades of infrastructure now the spend on infrastructure is declining rapidly instead of competing for customers with lower prices shareholders are taking windfall profits and tuning time for govt intervention!
“power companies are paying bigger surpluses to shareholders”.
Quite right too, old boy. Gott’a get something out of the trough before those bally socialists win the election and nationalise it all again.
I see that @whaledump has this evening tweeted “This is not all about party politics. Be patient. You’ll see.”
Pure speculation, but I wonder if Mssrs. Mallard and/or Cosgrove are about to take a tumble. Mallard has been unusually silent on social media re: #dirtypolitics.
Assuming those two are the primary ABC sources for the likes of Garner and Gower, it doesn’t seem beyond the question they’ve been in communication with Slater.
Hope I’m wrong.
Surely anything about Labour would still be “party politics” as well. The simplest way to read “not all about party politics” is that there are leaks involving individuals or institutions that are not commonly associated with particular parties in the public eye.
You’re right, that is the most logical interpretation, which I think is the same point disturbed was making below.
The common factor will be whaleoil, and who he “runs interference” with/for.
Nah more like the Justice or other intel arm has been burnt now.
Did you watch Nixon Watergate tonight on History channel I posted it.
So way out about how far Nixon reached out to control all, so these guys may be in the play too.
Just looking at the Electoral Consortium stuff just put on line :
http://www.electionresults.co.nz/national-loses-youth-gains-middle-aged
There is a striking “bulge” in National’s electoral support in the 50 to 64 age bracket, and the profile is very different from 2011 :
Percentage of population by age bracket supporting National December 2011
18 to 24 – 38.4%
25 to 34 – 36.2%
35 to 49 – 46.7%
50 to 64 – 38.9%
65 plus – 44.4%
Percentage of population by age bracket supporting National July 2014
18 to 24 – 25.8%
25 to 34 – 32.9%
35 to 49 – 42.2%
50 to 64 – 51.2%
65 over – 44.6%
Two remarks
1) that’s a large constituency of people of roughly JK’s age who are fairly apolitical and identify with him (nice guy, winner)
2) They are National’s “soft underbelly”… (sorry, couldn’t resist)