….The Australian Border Force say that there is no mass hunger strike in Western Australia. But our sources inside are adamant that there is. And we’ve heard leaked audio that backs that up.
We’ve also asked for comment from the New Zealand Government. This is of course has been a diplomatic issue between the two countries for several years now. And one that Corrections Minister, Kelvin Davis, has been very vocal about in the past. But there is no word tonight from the New Zealand Government. And many detainees feel they could do more.
Kelvin Davis was “very vocal about this in the past”. That is true. But that of course was during the lead up to the last election, before he was returned to his seat in parliament as the member for Te Tai Tokerau.
Since then Kelvin Davis has been virtually silent on the issue.
“In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies … but the silence of our friends.”─ Martin Luther King
No one with any sense voted for Labour after 84. For the lack of choice , spoiled my ballot in 87.
It is a continuing theme of radical propaganda and back-tracking in power. Can someone suggest a good analysis of Lee’s ‘Simple on a Soapbox’. Definitely Lee had an ego but all the figures of that time appear conservative in his vista without the caucus’s voting. ‘We’ll be the laughing stock of the world’ said MJS about the 30 shilling old age pension.
Do you really expect the New Zealand government to tell Australia how it should run its prisons/detention camps?
The PM has certainly been quiet on the issue when she advocated the whole issue of detainees/illegal immigrants around 12 months ago. The pushback from Turnbull was quite severe. I think the (then new) government got the message loud and clear not to tell the Australians how to run their country.
One would have assumed someone with your experience Wayne would know the difference between telling another country what to do and standing up for your own citizens.
The latter being what one assumes Jenny was implying.
Fist point; The australians do run a first world justice system and expect New Zealand to understand that.
Second point, and really the key one I was making; the New Zealand government very quickly learned not to lecture Australia, and that seems to include Kelvin Davis.
The treatment and conditions resulting from this first world justice system is what is in dispute.
To not be seen standing up for your citizens (or to even bother to comment) will create flak at home. More so, if one was previously immensely vocal before being elected into power.
“The australians do run a first world justice system”
No – they run a two-tier system – a first worldish one for Oz citizens and a different one for everybody else. They do this unashamedly in order to deter backdoor immigration, because Australia is still a place that lots of people want to get to. With 2.5 to 3 degrees of warming it will be a place people are desperate to leave. That will be a grim sort of poetic justice.
“Do you really expect the New Zealand government to tell Australia how it should run its prisons/detention camps”
No – I expect it to kowtow to superior economic and military power. But while doing this, I don’t expect it to utter the sort of dull, grey, turgid, privilege and injustice-defending bromides that would make it sound like Wayne Mapp.
Do you really expect the New Zealand government to tell Australia how it should run its prisons/detention camps? Of course.
Why? So then the likes of those who say Davis is silent would be able to criticise him, accusing him of butting into Australian affairs and how he’s an embarrassment to our country for doing that.
Diplomatic issue? The issue is that Davis has to make a choice between being attacked mercilessly for outwardly putting the boot into the Aussies or for not overtly putting the boot into the Aussies. Attacked by the same people.
He isn’t in the headlines about it so he’s doing nothing. Let’s attack him about that too. And if he is in the headlines saying he’s doing something and there’s an outline of constructive steps towards some constructive resolution, lets attack the media outlet as a mouthpiece for the left.
And if constructive steps get the people put on planes to New Zealand and one of them does something wrong, stupid or bad, let’s blame Davis for getting them into the country and boot him again.
It’s a political issue. That’s when you get someone saying, “Evil triumphs when good men do nothing. The silence of Kelvin Davis.”
Hi Pete, I really can’t understand where you are coming from.
Without any evidence at all you slyly accuse, myself, and presumably others, of criticising Kelvin Davis when he is silent about the plight of the detainees, and also when he speaks up for the detainees, saying, “how he’s an embarrassment to our country for doing that”. This is a complete lying smear. For the record I was very much in support of Kelvin Davis’ early advocacy for the detainees, and would be very pleased to see him take up their cause again..
In future Pete, instead of engaging in broad smears, you need to say exactly who it is you claim is criticising Kelvin for standing up for the detainees, and who also criticise him for not standing up for the detainees. And provide some sort of evidence to back up your claims.
Do you really think the Australian Authorities are going to admit what is going on in their Detention Centres. The Australian Government has not had a good history of dealing nicely with indigeneous races, and come to think of it we have not been super good here in New Zealand as well IMHO ?
we must not forget who and what is waiting in the wings…
… Because we’re all so obsessed with Trump I don’t think we take enough time to reflect on how deeply terrifying Pence is. Trump may be a bigot, but Pence is a zealot – he believes his discriminatory views are justified by a higher power. Trump may not care about morals but Pence has a dangerous view of what morality entails. He refuses to eat alone with any woman who isn’t his wife, for example, because he apparently views women as nothing more than dangerous sexual temptations. And despite his beliefs about moral purity, he has no problem associating himself with Trump, a man who pays off porn stars. Also, he reportedly calls his wife “Mother” – which is just really creepy.
The Pences, of course, should be free to believe whatever they like. What they shouldn’t be free to do, however, is impose their bigoted views on everyone else, which is exactly what they’re doing. It is not entirely improbable that Pence might be president soon. If that happens then it seems clear he’ll do his best to turn the country into a real-life version of The Handmaid’s Tale.
Congratulations to Mariah (Carey) for having the best response to the nauseating #10YearChallenge that is currently everywhere on social media. “I don’t get this 10-year challenge, time is not something I acknowledge,” she tweeted alongside two identical pictures of herself. This will now be my go-to line for my editor every time I file copy late.
America, in a yet another public display of it’s new role as now unashamed authoritarian world bully boys and corporate enforcers which of course leads to it’s complete lack of regard for free press (when it suits them), has detained with out charge Press TV’ s journalist Marzieh Hashemi for over six days so far.
And while we are on the subject of free press, here is a piece well worth reading from Aaron Mate on The Nation dismantling more of the increasingly hysterical and unhinged ‘Russia Gate” conspiracies…
Of course you wouldn’t know that the whole Russia Gate conspiracy just one huge smoke screen reading or listening to msm, and unfortunately many on this site.
So while we have all had to hear endlessly week after week to this conspiracy theory (which is all it is at this point) that always goes nowhere, the Democratic party and Hillary Clinton have had to take exactly zero responsibility for losing to a half brain dead z grade TV game show host, why is that?
If you are a Russia gate believer, maybe this is the question you should start asking yourself…
Well, duh. If it was, Trump would be making a prison cell look even uglier than it already did, and we’d all be contemplating President Pence and thinking you really do need to be careful what you wish for. Most criminal investigations don’t feature a “smoking gun,” that’s why we have juries – and why they take longer than five minutes to reach a verdict. That doesn’t make those criminal investigations “conspiracy theories.”
And that’s an important point. Juries are often advised by the judge to arrive at a decision based on `the balance of probabilities’, aren’t they? Which is just as elegant way of saying `take your best guess, folks’.
So, in practice, courts decide more often on the picture painted by circumstantial evidence than on proof. Which is where Mueller III’s unprecedented breaking of media silence comes in.
“Cohen was sentenced in December to three years in prison for lying to Congress, campaign finance violations and financial crimes. He said he took full responsibility for his crimes, but said he acted out of blind loyalty to Mr. Trump, who he said “led me to choose a path of darkness over light.””
“During his nomination hearing this week to become attorney general, William P. Barr was asked if the president would have committed a crime if he had coached a witness to testify falsely — or not to testify at all. “Yes,” Mr. Barr said. “Under an obstruction statute, yes.”” https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/18/us/politics/buzzfeed-cohen-russia-tower.html
The day before Buzzfeed reported evidence that Trump had committed that crime. Mueller III yesterday denied that was accurate. He obviously felt he had to – because of that bunch of calls for him to act by leading congressmen. Looks like he doesn’t have a basis to act against Trump. He’s been gathering circumstantial evidence to paint the picture for two years. Not enough.
As I presume you know “balance of probabilities” is about civil trials. Anything to do with impeachment/Russia collusion is on the criminal standard of “beyond reasonable doubt.”
Thanks Wayne. No, I’ve never studied legal process. Just have the view of the average layman – a general idea of how the system works picked up from long-term observation. Beyond reasonable doubt sounds like a requirement of proof to me.
Buzzfeed used the agreement of two ex-govt officials as basis for their claim that the proof exists. Mueller III denied that their claim was accurate. Sounds like the evidence is debatable: proof to some, not to others. This discord around evidence has long been a phenomenon in science: evidence can be interpreted as proof, but opinions often differ. Even between experts!
Uhhh, when it comes to impeachment and conviction, it’s whatever at least 218 House Representatives and at least 67 senators agree are impeachable “high crimes and misdemeanours”, to whatever standard of proof they agree on. Impeachment and conviction is not a criminal proceeding, and it’s different to a civil matter as well.
It is literally correct to say that if said numbers of Congresspeople agreed that what Individual-1 does with his ties are impeachable “high crimes and misdemeanours”, he’d be outta there. Article 1 of impeachment could be the way he wears them way too long to point at the wizened Toad lurking in his trousers. Article 2 of Impeachment could be the way he uses sellotape to vainly attempt to hold the two dangly bits together.
John Roberts as the presiding justice over the senate trial could put as much effort as he wanted to into pointing out how fkn ridiculous it was, but in the end, if 67 senators voted to convict. it’s a done deal. The more likely procedural way to protect Individual-1 would be for the Senate Majority Leader, aka Yertle McConnell, to refuse to even bring the matter to the senate floor for consideration.
“An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers to be at a given moment in history; conviction results from whatever offense or offenses two-thirds of the other body considers to be sufficiently serious to require removal of the accused from office.”
Funnily enough the powers that be seem to (so far) be entirely relying on the public believing the “smoking gun” theory.
You seem to not realise that “Smoking gun” refers to the strongest kind of circumstantial evidence, as opposed to direct evidence. ie…
The smoking gun theory is as follows….
“Trumps been to Russia and wanted to build a Russian Trump Tower;
There are Russians on the internet putting up adverts and #fake news supporting Bernie/Trump/Stein and these have been amazingly successful at…
getting disenfranchised whites in the rust belt all rilled up (which makes no sence ‘cos there lives/wages/housing/health and that of their children are getting better and better with each passing year)
and getting African Americans all rilled up and resentful (which also makes no sence ‘cos there lives are sweet as too);
Bernie and Trump did well;
Its simply not possible that the public no longer believe in the Corporate Democrats ability to deliver change and (cough) ‘Hope’, and that the public would willingly vote for the likes of Trump or Bernie or Stein, therefore……Trump is a Russian stooge.”
(The smoking gun theory also involves ignoring how much the Democrats/Hilary spent, because apparently the Russians are way way better at pushing their message than any of the agencies working for Hilary)
Oh it’s a conspiracy theory alright, and why any critical thinking person is still buying into it’s bullshit constructed narrative is for me the strangest part of the whole thing..quite disheartening really.
With that in mind I think we need tolay out the cards here and face the facts, Russia gate conspiracists are willing to accept, defend and support the narrative of Ex Bush FBI head Robert Mueller and his various (seriously) dodgy co conspirators over established truth tellers like Glenn Greenwald, Robert Fisk, John Pilger, etc etc….
Well as the old saying goes, ‘you make the bed you lie in’
But I guess on the bright side you always have the in depth hard hitting reporting of the liberal turned war hawk Racheal Maddow to keep you up to date ha.
Robert Fisk as an established truth teller? Isn’t he the discredited journalist who was found to have made up stories & treated them as investigative journalism? Maybe he now works for Buzzfeed ?
I remember reading in the NZ Herald quite a few years ago how Robert Fisk came in for some heavy criticism from other journalists, who said he always seemed to get a very detailed story, when others said they were always suspicious of him.
The first link is to an apology by Fisk for writing an article in 2011 in which he quoted from a forged document (unknown to Fisk at the time), hardly a reason to discredit a journalist with decades of solid war reporting.
BTW your linked source HonestReporting (Defending Israel from Media Bias) also defends Israeli violence against unarmed civilians..detaining children in prison..etc etc
HonestReporting’s Top 10 Posts of 2018 https://honestreporting.com/honestreportings-top-posts-of-2018/
As far as Idrees Ahmad’s (whom I admire) piece goes, that is more problematic, the Syrian conflict is so complex, that I personally try to stay at some distance from it, so i can’t really comment on that article.
But I can see your position re’ Fisk if that is your view on the Syrian conflict nonetheless.
Not sure about the Syrian conflict, but seems some people are now saying Fisk is a stooge of Assad & the Russians. Have no idea if this is even true & in the end all journalists have to be paid by someone. Truly being independent is maybe a difficult thing for journalists to achieve.
Difficult to know re Fisk, but I do remember a lot of journalists saying that he always seemed to get the perfect story which seemed to be embellished.
Tamati is right – we live in societies still struggling with their colonial past. In Aotearoa it is hard to appreciate that there was once a time when it was considered acceptable to exterminate indigenous people.
In Australia ‘Kriol’ is a relatively new Aboriginal language with upwards of 20,000 speakers in the Northern Territory and the neigbouring Kimberley region of Western Australia. It is a creole language – meaning it is a kind of emergency language with specific origin.
It arose early this century when surviving members of decimated language groups congregated at the Roper River Mission in order to escape killings being carried out by cattle station companies. Many adults were multilingual – but not in the same languages. Children had often not developed full language competence .
In this situation the only form of communication was a pidgin which had entered the Northern Territory a few decades before with the cattle trade.
It is easy to forget this history in urban centres but like an old coral reef it repeatedly resurfaces when conservative parties with a strong rural base hold sway in Canberra.
I notice the self-satisfied expression of the one young white man who stands in front of the American Indian (Nathan Philips of the Omaha Nation). His tight smile says you can’t make me move, and you can’t touch me.
I keep seeing the left criticize Trump for stating MAGA. Claiming he wants to bring back racism, slavery and segregation. What a bunch of cucks.
Let’s set the record straight. We are going back to a Great America.
An America where the people trust the government.
An America where we are proud of the USA.
An America where we don’t fear terrorist, but terrorist fear us.
An America where getting a job and livable wage is easy.
An America where we create wealth and prosperity.
An America with a tax surplus and not a multi-trillion dollar deficit.
An America where anyone can afford to go to the hospital.
An America where everyone can go to college.
An America where people aren’t afraid of police.
An America with more schools than prisons.
An America that upholds the bill of rights.
An America that spends money to fix itself before “fixing” the world.
An America where “Made in USA” is cheaper than “Made in China”.
An America that doesn’t have one way tarrifs.
An America that doesn’t allow threats of war from other nations. Looking at you North Korea.
An America that stands for Freedom and Democracy.
That’s the America we are going back to. That is the future. No more free rides for fake allies. No more fake diplomacy while Americans die to terrorist. No more corrupt secret deals. No more profit at the expense of American lives.
MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!!
FUCK YOU CLINTON, CTR, DEMOCRATS, AND ANY OTHER FREEDOM HATING TRAITORS!
Those thick youth look like cardboard cutouts compared to the native elders. Those young adults are nothing, not even dust, gone, evaporated back to their nothingness.
“The students, many of whom were wearing “Make America Great Again” caps, from private, all-male Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills were in Washington for an anti-abortion rally on Friday when they were filmed surrounding Nathan Phillips and mocking the Native American’s singing and drumming.”
Frankie the Pope has a message for the little shits.
Pope Francis on Friday addressed a video message to the world’s young indigenous people holding their World Indigenous Youth Gathering in Soloy, Diocese of David, Panama, from January 17 to 21. The young people will then move on to Panama city to join the World Youth Day (WYD) 2019, January 22-27, which the Pope is joining on January 23.
Speaking in Spanish, the Pope is encouraging the indigenous young people to hold on to their cultures and roots by fighting marginalization, exclusion, waste and impoverishment that is threatening them and build another world that is possible and that is more just and human.
[…]
Return to native cultures. Take care of the roots, because from the roots comes the strength that will make you grow, prosper and bear fruit. It must also be a way of showing the indigenous face of our Church in the context of WYD and of affirming our commitment to protect the Common House and to collaborate in building another possible world, that is more just and more human.
“But lesser known are the (Monty Python) troupe’s other feature-length films, including 1983’s “The Meaning of Life.” Amidst a dinner party with Death and a machine that goes “ping!”, audiences are treated to one of the weirdest, most catchy astronomy tunes out there: The Galaxy Song…
… just how accurate is the science? Let’s take a look!
[What’s going on, cobber? Your last few comments look like you’ve walked away from the laptop and your pet hamster has tap danced on the keyboard. If you want to put a link up, please add a short explanation of its relevance. Don’t want to waste people’s time, ae? TRP]
Anyone watch Go South on Prime last night? Really awesome piece of TV. Hopefully this will manage to get on TV networks all round the world. Do more to promote NZ than anything else.
A predictable opinion piece in today’s Herald website by Lawrence Yule National MP for Tukituki and spokesperson for horticulture. Nowt, zip, yadda, nil, nothing about the orchidists paying their workforce a decent wage – but he reckons the Government has a role to play to help them out. Poor petals. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12193308
A leaked poll commissioned by the pro-EU Best for Britain campaign suggests that voters would be less likely to back Labour if the party was committed to stopping Brexit.
According to the poll, passed to the Guardian, almost a third of respondents said they would be less likely to vote Labour, a similar number to those who said it would not make a difference. Twenty-five per cent said it would make them more likely to back Labour, with the rest saying they did not know.
it is not cake and eating it too, rather it is combining representative democracy and direct democracy.
So with that in mind in this case: An election is held that combines the Tory platform with the favored brexit approach of it’s support base (which is looking for the maximum separations with the EU) & the Labour combines it’s platform with the favored brexit approach of it’s support base (which is looking for a continuation of partnership with the EU as much as possible).
Then the representatives of the election result, negotiate their balances to the differences and trade offs with the EU and their supoort base platform, so it remains a winning process for the electorate’s involvement in the process. And either way the election goes, there remains strong bargaining power for the British side.
And i believe, at heart, it is probably that simple in how to complete the process started with the referendum in a way that is diplomatic to all concerned.
Like everyone I’d always believed that the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were Conquest, War, Famine, and Death. And then I read this:
The Black Horse
When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come and see!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!” (Revelation 6:5-6)
And realised that the The Black Horse wasn’t famine at all.
Good riddance to New Zealand’s Biggest Bogans
by E. KERR McROVI, The N.Z. Gerald, Sunday 20 January 2019
You would have to wonder what this country’s Biggest Bogans were doing when they chose the New Zealand taxpayer to fund their calumny from 2008 until we gave them the arse in 2017.
Did they think we were complete saps, willing to roll over and accept their appalling anti-social and criminal behaviour? That we were too primitive and unsophisticated to galvanise ourselves into a posse of right-thinking community policemen and women? A little bit of homework would have shown that we have spectacularly good form in bringing down even highly trained criminals, far less amateurs.
But just to recap … That bunch of foul mouthed, bribe-taking, snitching, backstabbing, housing expenses-rorting, cigar smoke-blowing, hairpulling louts made headlines on a daily – nay, hourly – basis. Since award-winning journalist Nicky Hager exposed to the nation in 2014 that their leader had allowed his office to be the command centre for an illegal, secret campaign of character assassination and vilification run by the infamous and disgusting Cameron FailAll Slater, assisted incompetently and pathetically by his stumble-tongued slave Jordan Williams, this gang of reprobates ran our country’s reputation into the ground with the same lack of concern as their dirty dairy friends foul the water the rest of us used to drink and swim in.
The gang of thugs parked up at the Beehive for nine terrible years quickly drew the attention of Kiwis thanks to their filthy language and their filthy behaviour. [1] When a local woman suffering from asthma asked one of them to stop smoking a cigar in their enclosed box at a football match, the feral fellow turned particularly nasty. Instead of ceasing to smoke, he walked up to the woman and blew smoke in her face. This led to the woman’s husband nearly knocking Coleman’s brains out. [2] And thus it began.
As a result of the publicity over the cigar fracas, a number of people approached the Herald with their own horror stories of encountering the nation’s Biggest Bogans.
A man who had the great misfortune to share a flight with one of these appalling humans recounted his bad behaviour at Christchurch Airport in 2014. It was hours of misery for everyone involved, when the fattest and most unpleasant of all the Bogans bumptiously bypassed security to board a domestic flight. He was fined $2,000 for that bit of idiocy. [3]
Next, a young waitress from Parnell came forward to complain about the leader of the Unruly Gang. She recognised the lout from his many appearances in the media and told how he and his people had come to her cafe and repeatedly pulled her hair while his wife just watched. [4]
Another of these antisocial and repulsive pests was caught by one of our leading artists in the act of befouling our waterways, along with his horrid dirty dairying amigos. [5]
This Unruly, Unholy Mob had no idea just how effective New Zealanders can be at monitoring aberrant behaviour. Those of us who are honest will remember that the gangsters who ran that vicious and secret campaign of character assassination from Wonky John’s office were exposed not by this country’s counter espionage agents or even our investigative police officers. The hapless bumbling tossers in charge of the operation were exposed thanks to a concerned computer expert (“Rawshark”) who had clocked a number of odd incidents and reported them to the renowned journalist Nicky Hager.
So this group of professional louts never had a chance of slipping under the radar. The reaction to these no-hopers was an excellent example of what can happen when we work together.
Spoke to my m8 yesterday who’s grandfather played for Liverpool, about the Liverpudlian gypsies touring New Zealand he reckons they are Northern Ireland protestants one of the worst breed of people on the planet.
‘ That bunch of foul mouthed, bribe-taking, snitching, backstabbing, housing expenses-rorting, cigar smoke-blowing, hairpulling louts made headlines on a daily – nay, hourly – basis. Since award-winning journalist Nicky Hager exposed to the nation in 2014 that their leader had allowed his office to be the command centre for an illegal, secret campaign of character assassination and vilification run by the infamous and disgusting Cameron FailAll Slater, assisted incompetently and pathetically by his stumble-tongued slave Jordan Williams, this gang of reprobates ran our country’s reputation into the ground with the same lack of concern as their dirty dairy friends foul the water the rest of us used to drink and swim in.’
M8’s name is Murphy not sure what his grandfather’s name was but I will ask him the next time I talk to him and let you know, probably feeding me B/S, never thought to ask.
So. My US trip has been a civil rights pilgrimage. There are people in NZ who are actively seeking to emulate the US, to use the same tactics and the same themes to divide our society, poison our discourse, and to use our values against us.
Kia ora the am show There you go duncan kicking the poor vulnerable people.
Its a lollie scramble in the house building boom in Taungara that’s the capitalist way charge what ever one can get from the buyer.???????????????????????????????.
simon you way of running the country into the ground look at what has happened hundreds of people under the bridge and you spout about they way shonky run the country. national sold half of the power companys and in just 5 years the money raised buy the sales of those crown jewels has been losted in capital gain’s and dividend’s a gift to their wealthy share market m8 of 5 billion tipcal national kick the poor vulnerable people.
Alcohol related death’s in NZ IS 600 to 1000 how many die from weed can not find any from consumeing it enough said.
Jason its quite hot in Australia at the minute can cook a egg on the bonnet of a car and your prime minister wants to build more coal power plants that burns heaps of carbon and use heaps of WATER.
I say Michael Mosley diet will be good .Drop the sugar and have porridge in the morning is a good way to to stop the hunger pangs and lose weight it makes the body work to digets it to .
The biggest hitts the tax system’s get is fraud that comes from the white collar crime there was a figure of $1 billion in the media .Goverments and council’s fraud. I say that figure is the tip of the Iceburg.
Global warming it the biggest threat enough said Ka kite ano P.S Mahi ki hoariri
Unequal income distribution is what causes a lot of our society problems health crime slow economy low education levels also Unequal income affects Wahine the people whom raise our tamariki the most .
How unequal is New Zealand?
In New Zealand, income (and probably wealth) was being shared out more and more evenly from the 1950s up until the 1980s – but for the next two decades we had the developed world’s biggest increase in income inequality.
As the graph (at left) shows, in that time, the average income of someone in the richest 1% has doubled, from just under $200,000 to nearly $400,000 (adjusting for inflation). In contrast, the average disposable income for someone in the poorest 10% is only slightly higher than it was in the 1980s. (More details and the source of this graph can be found in Wealth and New Zealand, published by BWB.) That means many New Zealanders struggle to pay their bills and lead a decent life.
Another way to put it is that someone in the richest 10% used to earn five times as much as someone in the poorest 10%; now they earn eight times as much.
Wealth is also very largely in the hands of a few. As the graph (below) shows, in New Zealand the wealthiest tenth own nearly a fifth of the country’s net worth, while the poorest half of the country has less than 5 per cent. That leaves many people in poverty, lacking the resources they need to participate in society and follow their dreams. (Again, further details are available in Wealth and New Zealand.)
What is the connection with poverty?
Inequality connects both ends of the spectrum, wealth and poverty, and argues that they have to be looked at together. The fundamental issue is distribution: how are the economy and society structured, and where do they deliver their rewards?
In other words, poverty doesn’t exist in isolation: people are poor, in part, because the economy directs much of the country’s resources to those who are already doing well. For instance, within a company, pay for ordinary staff can be low because so much of the company’s income goes to senior management and shareholders.
Wealth and poverty can’t be separated.Polling shows New Zealanders have consistently rated inequality as the single biggest issue facing the country since 2014. Over 80 per cent of the country say they are concerned or very concerned about income and wealth imbalances. Internationally, all the world’s major economic bodies – including the IMF, the OECD and the World Bank – have argued for some time that inequality is a major problem and must be addressed. Ka kite ano links below
Here you go the goverments don’t mesure the % of income that the people pay and in the poor peoples case with gst at 15 % we the poor pay the higest % of taxs to income ratio. And the rulers wonder why MAORI are so upset with OUR lot this system is dishing us up Ana to kai
Do the rich really pay the most in tax?
The rich don’t really pay that much in tax – and to the extent that they do, it’s because they get the biggest chunk of the income
The government likes to say that the richest 15% of households (those earning over $150,000) pay three-quarters of all the “net tax” .
The problem with this measure is that it isn’t really about tax. It does start with the amount of income tax paid by different groups – but it then does complicated calculations about how much those groups received in benefit payments, the accommodation supplement, paid parental leave and Working for Families. Those figures are subtracted from the amount of tax paid by each group, to arrive at a strange sort of “net financial contribution to the government’s books” measure.
More useful figures about income tax are in the graph below, which shows how much of our national income goes to each of the country’s ten income groups – and what proportion of the total tax take they contribute
None of these figures, of course, includes capital gains (income made from selling assets such as houses and shares), because we don’t for the most part either tax or record those capital gains.
If we did, since those capital gains will go largely to the richest tenth, the truth about tax in New Zealand is that the rich almost certainly pay less of their income in tax than the poor do. ka kite ano links below
You see people 4 % is what drips off the wealthy’s plates for maori to fight over and some still have the gaul to moan about what Maori/minority cultures get from the system . TIMES ARE GOING TO CHANGE.
Eco Maori say mandatory voting is what is need to get a fair representation for all Kiwis at the minute the pollies are to scared to tackle the big issues that will upset the retired babyboomers whom 98% vote . If everyone votes the politicians will listen to the poor people more.
Kia ora Newshub Some of those Wai falls around Auckland has some old Maori history.
House prices are expensive in Aotearoa at the minute all part of shonkys plan.
I saw that video of that old Native American that was being taunted by that boy so disrespectful those young people are Alot of people are disrespectful these days the old fella was a War veteran to. Public expenses in Aotearoa was one of the lowest in the world so was our grocery prices low as compared to the rest of the World 10 years ago.
If the trees are dangerous ie fall over in bad weather they should be felled but one would think the council would follow dew process after all they set the examples.
That was lucky that no one was hurt in that bombing in Ireland I smell something.
The Orca video under the artic ice is really cool see those Orca have smaller dorsal fins than the ones around NZ. I did not see much publicity on the marine sanctuary being set up around the Ross Sea??????????.
Ka kite ano.
Kia ora Newshub it’s good for our farmers that Jacinda has got a export deal with Britain I still say Britain should stay with the European Union. As for the Air forces Gropper its the same as the roast busters the state white coller people bending the laws to protect there m8. That’s why there is a status of limitations LAW to protect government people from getting held accountable for all the cheating they did while in power.A new government find there dirty deeds cannot litigate against the cheats. The man made drug problem the pills what ever man made drug problem is here and now because the state spent all its resources farcicaly fighting weed that is practically harmless when compared factual with other forms of drugs and ignore these other drugs that has killed many people shonkys the ring leader is the ring leader. duncan your a alt right red neck who thinks a Wahine place is behind a MAN your views change like your underwear. Like I have said the world’s laws are made to protect the ruling classes and hammer the poor people that’s a fact. I have all read put a post up about the gropper ropper CASE.
I won’t wait for shonky who should be hiding under a rock after the Big mess he has made of Atoearoa. Ka kite ano P.S to busy with our Mokopunas
Yea wealth is OK so long as shonky doesn’t have control of it and give it to the few while the many have to struggle to survive its OK if wealth is shared it is well documented that a equal society is much happier and healthier when your share the lollipops I get it wealthy people get a logical block from their $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. Quite a common phenomenon around Papatuanukue that has caused all the ills of Papatuanukue don’t worry common people money is going to be a thing of the past we will have a currency that has a consciousness connection to it any cheating people will go broke. Ana to kai Ka kite ano
There you go shonky is a alt right trump supporter trump is ripping of the poor common people like shonky did and giving it to his rich m8 bullshiting about trumps popularity in America Ana to kai Ka kite ano
Kia ora Newshub It’s cool Jamie Lee Ross is OK more drama for national I see one of their biggest spin doctors is not in good shape.
A tree falling on people picnicking at the shot over river condolences to the people who were involved in the incident Tawhirirmate is a powerful force.
Jacinda is determined to keep Aotearoa exporters to Britain in the good tradition trading partners Ka pai.
Aotearoa is a haven but trying to sail hear in over loaded unsafe boat is a risk to great to make we get some big seas here in the Pacific.
national flogging the same horse weed benefit bashing sorry they won’t get anyone attention but there 25 %core voters 65 % of kiwis support weed laws reforms only fools and horses /bridges.
We seen The Marama /Moon last night at the Farm she was showing off her beauty.
That was awesome that lady Lee had her treasure returned to that were stolen she looked wrapped she was lucky the boys who found them found her Ka kite ano
National MP - Michael WoodhouseUnbelievable! Michelle Boag also sent National’s Michael Woodhouse confidential emails about COVD-19 patients, and he continued to publicly attack the Government over these very same breaches of privacy.This is the biggest political self-own since the Act Party’s David Garrett admitted in Parliament that he used a ...
Transcript: National Party policy announcement on roads – 8 July, 2020 Muller: Good afternoon everybody. Thank you for coming. Reporter 1: Is Hamish Walker a racist? Muller: Hang on… you haven’t even said good afternoon to me yet. Reporter 1: Good afternoon Mr Muller. Is Hamish Walker a racist? ...
Back in April, I wrote about trials in Iran of a fixed-dose combination of two existing anti-viral drugs used to treat hepatitis C – sofosbuvir and daclatasvir – that could point to an effective treatment for Covid-19 symptoms.At the time, data from those trials was not available outside the hospitals ...
Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Anja Mizdrak, Dr Jennifer Summers, Prof Michael BakerThe pandemic-related lockdown is possibly the most dramatic public health intervention in NZ history. It helped achieve the elimination of community transmission of the COVID-19 virus in NZ. But it was also associated with 548 fewer total ...
Reprehensible: There is much that could be said about Michael Woodhouse, but what would be the point? Any man who willingly involves himself in a situation as reprehensible as the one depicted in the above photograph has already vouchsafed all that decent people need to know about his character. That there have ...
As the debate over assisted dying rages in the run-up to the referendum at the election on September 19, a persistent problem continues to dog the discussions. That is to say, a prominent spokesperson for a particular group takes a strong public stand in opposition without acknowledging that they don’t ...
No Other Suspects? The mainstream news media was willing to print and broadcast harsh Opposition criticism of the Government, even though they knew that the source of the leaked information was a National Party MP. Even though, by pushing the story up towards the top of every news bulletin they were ...
Sacrificial Lamb: If the stories about Mr Taogaga and the unauthorised release of confidential medical data had been deliberately orchestrated by Labour’s political opponents, their deflection of the news media’s attention away from the Prime Minister’s address to the Labour Party Congress could hardly have been more successful.THE LABOUR PARTY ...
The East is Rent: The consequences of unleashing the young against the old; of elevating ideological rigor above reasoned debate; and of setting the present against the past; was a decade of unprecedented social stress and tension, interspersed with explosions of murderous mob violence and tragic material destruction. More than ...
The Green Party of Aotearoa-New Zealand could go from helping Jacinda Ardern run the country, to being turfed out of Parliament altogether in ten weeks. And that could see the end of Labour in government. Without them, Labour would likely have to do what no party has done since the ...
Remember the government's tyrannicalTerrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill? Remember how it was rammed through Parliament, with a four-day submission period and a select committee process that was a democratic fraud? At the time, the government gave the impression that there was an urgent need for this legislation, that a ...
Attack journalist - Tova O'BrienWe all know that much of the mainstream media in New Zealand is terribly biased. They are in effect another branch of the National Party, and can often be even more prejudiced than their right wing bosses.In fact many right wing politicians moonlight as journalists and ...
Former National Party President - Michelle BoagAfter the complete botch job Hamish Walker made of leaking the private details of COVID-19 patients to the mainstream media last week, the best-case scenario for Todd Muller and the National Party would be if the news cycle went quiet about their involvement.But unfortunately ...
One of the challenges of working on illegal wildlife markets, is you don’t really have scope to talk about your research into illegal wildlife markets. There is some stuff though that willbe coming out on Asiatic black bears in China, and before Covid19, I was delving more into rhinos. Which ...
Some are surprised at this sudden brain implosion on the part of both Michelle Boag, former National Party President, and the National Party in general, in exposing the private, confidential details of COVID patients. Others…? Let’s be blunt: not so much. Too many of that Party have long operated with ...
Michelle Boag - Former National Party PresidentWhen Todd Muller decided not to discipline Hamish Walker for his horribly racist press release last week, you had to wonder if his lack of proper leadership had something to do with a shared belief system? After all, the whiteness of the blue “team” ...
On Twitter today, lawyer Felix Geiringer asked a good question: why are MP's exempt from the Privacy Act? The Act imposes its obligations on "agencies", and s8 of the 2020 Act states that this term does not include... a member of Parliament in their official capacity The 1993 Act, ...
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.nzWhat was the climate and sea level like at times ...
So now we know, beyond all doubt. The National party has no interest in joining the “team of five million” in our fight against the pandemic but its priority is to take every opportunity it can to damage the government. The cynicism is breathtaking. It was prepared to leak the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters The massive dust storm that formed over the Sahara Desert in mid-June invaded the southeastern U.S. June 25-28, bringing dangerous levels of air pollution, low visibility, and colorful sunsets. The air pollution event over parts of Texas and the Gulf ...
In 1987, as a British Labour MP, I was elected to the Shadow Cabinet by my colleagues and was asked by the party leader to direct Labour’s campaign in the general election of that year. The election was to take place at the height of Mrs Thatcher’s dominance and we ...
National MP Nicola WillisHousing, which I would argue is a fundamental human right, has long been a problem in New Zealand. Not only do we have some of the most overpriced houses in the entire world, much of the housing stock is substandard and therefore affects not just people’s health ...
If the government has not lined up behind a "Yes" vote in this year's cannabis referendum the way some reformers would have liked, one entirely laudable thing it did do was commission some science around the public's choice.That science landed today, in the form of the report from an expert ...
Associate Professor Sara WaltonAt the heart of the discussion on opening up our borders is the dichotomy of health and the economy – both of which are actually intertwined, like many things with our economy, as this epidemic has shown.If we think about our country as a system, ...
This is a re-post from Carbon Brief by Josh Gabbatiss This year will see the largest ever drop globally in both investment and consumer spending on energy as the coronavirus pandemic hits every major sector, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The crisis is accelerating the shutdown of older fossil-fuelled ...
A short opinion piece – Friday 26th June 2020 Whilst our Government has treated many financial victims of the current Covid-19 virus with appropriate generosity, the same cannot be said for those of the two earlier “epidemics” in NZ. The “Covid-84” virus (also called “Rogernomics”) spread systemic greed, with the ...
Everyone deserves a a decent life. We know this is possible with a fairer approach to income support and tax Read the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand’s Poverty Action Plan here ...
After a long break, the government is back inserting secrecy clauses in legislation. This time its the Overseas Investment Amendment Bill (No 3), which in its clause allowing Ministers to exempt purchasers of farm land from the usual rules also allows them to exempt an exemption from the publication requirement: ...
Over the past two years the government has repeatedly delayed a scheme to put cameras on boats to monitor Mew Zealand's pervasively criminal fishing industry. But it turns out that the industry actually wants cameras: Three of the country's biggest seafood companies have broken ranks with the rest of the ...
Louise Delany (public health lawyer)Health and emergency laws have played a critical role in this country’s successful elimination of community transmission of the COVID-19 pandemic. This blog details key aspects of the legislation and comments on issues around testing, payments by incoming travellers for quarantine costs, and mask use. ...
I like Andrew Curry’s succinct and insightful futures blog The Next Wave. His most recent post is about social change. In particular, the decadal-long periods usually required for changes in values. He highlights a 2016 paper by Inglehart and Norris, who examined whether economic insecurity or a “cultural backlash” ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Stop making sense: why it's time to get emotional about climate changeThe science has been settled to the highest degree, so now ...
MONDAY JULY 6Washington (History, Sky 073, 7.30pm). The brilliant Doris Kearns Goodwin is the executive producer of this six-part series about America's first president. It combines interviews with live action and is narrated by Jeff Daniels. It's engaging, said Salon.TUESDAY JULY 7The ABC Murders (Prime, 8.30pm). Sarah Phelps has done incredible things with ...
I think we can all agree that the mainstream media in New Zealand has a very different set of rules for the right wing compared to the left. While Labour and Green Party politicians don’t seem to be able to fart without it becoming a sackable offence, National and Act ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, June 28 through Sat, July 4, 2020Editor's Choice'2040': A funny, entertaining, upbeat climate documentaryA timely Australian documentary takes a 'solutions' approach, with the filmmaker inspired by visions of ...
Racist National MP Hamish WalkerEven before Todd Muller's coup ousted Simon Bridges by a single vote, it was patently obvious that the National Party promotes and stands for white privilege. In fact they’ve always worked to ensure the discriminatory status quo in New Zealand doesn’t change.So it’s no surprise that ...
Dave HeatleyZero community transmission. Just a handful of active cases, all in quarantine. New Zealand is in an attractive situation, at least compared to much of the world. The situation could be robust and enduring – or it might be fragile, just one border incursion away from a “second ...
Is the consequence of the Simpson Report proposals for restructuring the health system poorer accountability to people? When in doubt, centralise‘ has been a persistent theme in New Zealand public policy throughout our history. The current government is no exception. Here are some examples. - The regional polytechs have been ...
I wrote earlier in the week about the Scientology front organisations Drug Free World and Drug Free Ambassadors and their quite prominent role in anti-cannabis reform "coalition" assembled by Family First and a newloca branch of the American prohibitionist organisation SAM.It turns out Family First aren't the only ones helping ...
Nik GreenMuch of the public debate about the response to the COVID-19 pandemic has focused on the extent to which government regulations have restricted personal and business activity.Oxford University Blavatnik School of Government Here in New Zealand, the question of when to change Alert Levels dominated the ...
James Higham, University of OtagoUnprecedented border closures and the domestic lockdown have paralysed New Zealand’s $40.9 billion a year tourism industry. In the process, the vulnerability of the sector to external shocks and the tenuous nature of tourism employment have been exposed. While New Zealand’s handling of the pandemic ...
Raising The Bar: Would that the Prime Minister and her colleagues would listen as intently to what the people – as opposed to the power elites – are saying as the Greens. Were they so disposed, the popular clamour for a transformational post-Covid reset would be loud in their ears. ...
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.nzDo you think the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown will slow or ...
A bit like a letter home. I have now been full-time at the University of Melbourne since 2019. Before that, I was 20 years at the University of Otago, Wellington. Indeed, I set up this very Public Health Expert Blog with Nick Wilson ten years ago. Now I am your ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections House Democrats have released a comprehensive report showing how – if they control the White House and both the Senate and the House of Representatives – they might move forward on climate change. Their “Climate Crisis Action Plan,” released June 30 by the ...
A ballot for three Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Electoral (Integrity Repeal) Amendment Bill (David Carter) Harmful Digital Communications (Unauthorised Posting of Intimate Visual Recording) Amendment Bill (Louisa wall) Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Bill (Judith ...
Not Ready: Todd Muller’s lack-lustre and self-contradictory performances offer conclusive proof that a political leader cannot be managed into competence. National’s new boss has Janet Wilson handling his media and Matthew Hooton writing his speeches. Both are highly professional political and public relations specialists, and Muller is lucky to have ...
Unfortunately, due to a medical emergency, I have landed in hospital so am not able to do a current update on the NZ blog statistics. Let’s hope I can get back to this in good time. ...
It started as a family story, about a step-father who went out one night to break into an embassy in Wadestown, Wellington. John Daniell wanted to understand what his family had been part of when his mother and then step-father work for New Zealand’s Security Intelligence. He wanted to know ...
The Greens have shaken up the election campaign with the announcement of their radical poverty and action plan to reform welfare provision and introduce a new wealth tax for millionaires. It’s a big-thinking, controversial policy and has generated a lot of disagreement over how radical it is, whether it could ...
My house is currently supplied electricity by Meridian. As soon as I can change I will because Meridian spilled water to hike electricity prices. They got consumers to spend an extra $80 million on power unnecessarily. Clever them. The Electricity Authority has called their behaviour an “undesirable trading situation”, or ...
When Jacinda Ardern unexpectedly became the Labour Party leader shortly before the 2017 general election, she promised to lead a government of transformation. After nearly three years occupying the Treasury benches, health professionals working in public hospitals have been keenly waiting for transformational progress, including in the capacity and quality ...
Last night, One News ran a follow-up story to its Colmar Brunton poll results on the cannabis referendum, headed here as Government accuses big American anti-cannabis group of interfering in NZ politics.In truth it wasn't just the government: Justice minister Andrew Little, National's Shane Reti and the Greens' Chloe Swarbrick ...
When the government refused to put cameras on fishing boats to ensure fishers obeyed the law, Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash claimed that coalition partner NZ First (which has received large donations from the fishing industry) was not responsible for the decision. He has repeated that claim repeatedly since then. But ...
Heroic Evasions: Labour needs to be unequivocal in its communications with the electorate. Either it has a plan to prevent their fellow New Zealanders from falling off the economic cliff, or it doesn’t. Either it has a fiscal policy equal to the task of funding that plan, or it hasn’t. ...
Prof John Potter*Elimination has been an effective strategy for New Zealand in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic virus (SARS-CoV-2). Most other countries have not pursued this goal and are ignoring the opportunity even now. SARS-CoV-2 is not manageable by the influenza playbook; its longer incubation period makes tracing ...
This is a re-post from Weather Underground by Bob HensonAbove: This rainbow appears unusually low in the sky because it has formed early in the afternoon, rather than toward sunset. For a rainbow to form, water droplets must be present in the air in front of an observer ...
On Monday, Todd Muller gave an important speech to the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, He spoke firmly about his belief in the need for foreign investment, for the public sector to partner with the private sector rather than boss it around and, crucially, demanded the government deliver a clear strategy ...
Todd Muller's first act on become party leader was to appoint an all-white front bench. This understandably raised eyebrows, so he is now apparently reconsidering caucus and list rankings. Which is obviously necessary, but there's still the underlying problem: National doesn't have a lot of Māori MP's. And the reason ...
Mark Patterson MP, Spokesperson for Primary Industry New Zealand First is supporting calls by hunters and the New Zealand Tahr Foundation (NZTF) to halt a large scale cull of Himalayan Tahr by the Department of Conservation in National Parks. The calls are supported by a 40,000 strong petition and the ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First leader Winston Peters today scoffed at suggestions that a team of six political operatives have been dispatched to New Zealand to assist his campaign. ‘As President Ronald Reagan once said, ‘there they go again.’ ‘The clickbait journos can’t ...
New Zealand First is pleased to announce Jenny Marcroft as the party’s election 2020 candidate for the Auckland Central electorate. Jenny spent years working in Auckland Central, having spent a vast proportion of her broadcasting career there. She says she, "knows the place and knows the people." Ms Marcroft says ...
New Zealanders deserve healthy rivers and lakes that are safe to swim in - but they have been getting worse for decades. That's why, with our latest announcement, we're investing in projects that will help clean up our rivers and lakes and restore them to health, within a generation. ...
This week we moved into the second half of 2020 - and our Government delivered another week of big changes and major progress for New Zealanders. Read below for a wrap of the key things moments from the week - from extending paid parental leave, to making major investments in ...
The Green Party has opposed the COVID-19 Recovery Fast-track Consenting Bill which shortcuts normal consenting processes under the Resource Management Act (RMA), reduces public participation and narrows environmental considerations. ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister of Regional Economic Development A regional freight hub for the lower North Island will be built just northeast of Palmerston North, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The Government is investing $40 million through the Provincial Growth Fund to designate and buy land and design ...
Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson is calling for the introduction of a Guaranteed Minimum Income to lift hundreds of thousands of people out of poverty and prevent more families entering into further debt with the Ministry of Social Development. ...
There has been renewed focus on New Zealand First acting as a handbrake on the Government after our decision to not support Auckland light rail. We are a handbrake for bad ideas, that istrue, but our track record since 2017 has seen New Zealand First constructively also serve as an ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP New Zealand First’s Fair Residency for Superannuation Bill passed its First Reading in Parliament today. The Bill makes a significant change to NZ Super by raising the minimum residency requirement from 10 to 20 years, after age 20. “Currently, a migrant of ...
Darroch Ball MP, Spokesperson for Law and Order A New Zealand First member’s bill in the name of Darroch Ball introducing a six-month minimum prison sentence for assaults on first responders has passed its second reading in Parliament. The new offence of "injuring a first responder or corrections officer with ...
Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Deputy Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First welcomes the launch of the new Criminal Cases Review Commission, gifted with the name from Waikato-Tainui - Te Kāhui Tātari Ture, announced in Hamilton today by Justice Minister Andrew Little. “New Zealand First has long believed in and ...
The Green Party is celebrating over $800m in new funding for green projects, which will get people into jobs while solving New Zealand’s long-term challenges. ...
Mark Patterson MP, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First is appalled that Meridian seems to have been unnecessarily spilling water from its dams to drive up its profits."While New Zealanders have been coming together in some of our darkest hours, we don’t expect power gentailers to waste water and ...
We wrapped up the first half of 2020 with a busy month, taking additional steps to support New Zealanders as we continue with our economic recovery. We rolled out targeted packages to support key industries like tourism and construction, helped create jobs in the environmental and agriculture sectors, and set ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Infrastructure Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has welcomed the appointment of Maurice Davis and his deep infrastructure and construction experience to the board of the Infrastructure Commission. Mr Davis (Ngāti Maniapoto), is the seventh and final appointment to the board led by former Reserve Bank Governor ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand’s click bait journalism is taking a turn for the worse, with yet another example of sensationalist, wilful-misrepresentation of the facts. “New Zealand First has worked constructively with its Coalition partner on hundreds of pieces of legislation and policy, and ...
The Green Party is today unveiling its Poverty Action Plan, which includes a Guaranteed Minimum Income to ensure people have enough to live with dignity. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Rotorua Museum redevelopment and Whakarewarewa and Tokorangi Forest projects will be accelerated thanks to a $2.09 million Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) boost, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher ...
This week, we rolled out the next steps of our recovery plan, with new infrastructure investment, extra support for tourism operators, and a new programme to get Kiwis into agriculture careers. The global economic consequences of COVID-19 will continue to be a challenge, but we have a detailed plan to ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First welcomes the passage of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill through its final reading in Parliament today fulfilling a coalition agreement commitment. “This is an important step in saving the lives of New Zealanders and delivers a key coalition commitment ...
Whakatāne has been given a $2.5 million boost to speed up previously funded projects and create more than 450 jobs in the next decade. Of those, the equivalent of 160 full-time jobs could be delivered in the next six weeks. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters is in town to make ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $2.5 million to accelerate three infrastructure projects in Whakatāne, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “This package is about ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones is throwing his weight behind a bid by the Auckland Council to fast-track the more than doubling of the city's water allowance from the Waikato River. And he's coming out strongly against anyone who plans on getting in the way of this campaign. "It is my ...
The Green Party is thrilled to see changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that mean consents for large projects can be declined if they will have significant climate change implications that are inconsistent with the Zero Carbon Act and Aotearoa New Zealand’s Paris Agreement obligations. ...
Hon Ron Mark, Minister of Defence The Royal New Zealand Navy’s new ship, Aotearoa, set sail for New Zealand on 10 June from the Republic of Korea, and is due to arrive in Auckland tomorrow, announced Minister of Defence Ron Mark. “Aotearoa is the Royal New Zealand Navy’s new fleet ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Racing Racing Minister Winston Peters has today welcomed the Racing Industry Bill passing its third reading, creating the legislative framework for revitalising the racing industry while limiting the need for future government intervention. “For too long our domestic racing industry has ...
The Green Party has today put forward an amendment to the Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Bill to ensure all people in prisons can vote in general elections. ...
The Green Party welcomes the decision to not proceed with Public Public Investment (PPI) delivery of Auckland’s light rail project and to instead run the process through the public service. ...
Hon Ron Mark, New Zealand First List MP based in the Wairarapa New Zealand First List MP Hon Ron Mark welcomes the announcement of Provincial Growth Funding investment of $1.4 million to help secure the Wairarapa’s water supply. The funding boost will allow the Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC), and ...
New Zealand First list MP Mark Patterson has been selected to represent the party in the newly formed Taieri electorate at the upcoming election. Mr Patterson, his wife Jude and two daughters farm sheep and beef at Lawrence and Waitahuna. He previously stood in the Clutha-Southland electorate however boundary changes ...
Hon Shane Jones, Associate Minister for State Owned Enterprises A new ‘super depot’ to be built for NZ Post in Wellington will create around 350 jobs during construction, Associate Minister for State Owned Enterprises Shane Jones says. Shane Jones today attended a ground-breaking and blessing ceremony for the parcel-processing depot ...
Our strong economic management prior to COVID-19 - with surpluses, low debt and near-record-low unemployment - put us in a good position to weather the impact of the virus and start to rebuild our economy much earlier than many other countries.Now we're putting our plan to recover and rebuild ...
Darroch Ball MP, New Zealand First Spokesperson for Law and Order Recently released Police fleeing driver statistics have shown yet another increase in incidents with another record-high in the latest quarter. “This new quarterly record-high is the latest in a string of record-high numbers since 2014. The data shows incidents ...
The Minister of Police says a major operation against the Mongrel Mob in Waikato will make a big dent in drug harm and violent offending linked to organised crime networks. “Senior leadership of the Waikato Mongrel Mob has been taken out as a result of Operation Kingsville, which resulted in ...
The Government is extending the border exception criteria to enable some offshore victims and support people of the Christchurch mosque attacks to attend the sentencing of the accused beginning on 24 August2020, says Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway. “We want to support our valued Muslim brothers and sisters who were directly ...
A project to support volunteer efforts to look after streams and rivers is getting a boost thanks to support from DOC’s Community Conservation Fund announced Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage today. “The government is backing efforts to look after waterways with $199,400 for the Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust from ...
Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter today announced that funding for the COVID-19 Community Fund for women and girls will be doubled, as the first successful funding applications for the initial $1million were revealed. “Women and girls across the country have suffered because of the effects of COVID-19, and I ...
The Government’s books were better than forecast with a higher GST take as the economy got moving again after lockdown, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Crown Accounts for the 11 months to the end of May indicate the year end results for tax revenue will be stronger than forecast. ...
A plan to revitalise New Zealand’s strong wool sector and set it on a new, more sustainable and profitable path was unveiled today by Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. The newly-released report - Vision and Action for New Zealand’s Wool Sector - was developed by the Wool Industry Project Action Group ...
Community efforts to create a Predator Free Whangārei will receive a $6 million boost, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage announced today. The new funding, through Government company Predator Free 2050 Ltd, will create around 12 jobs while enabling the complete removal of possums over ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced that the New Zealand Government is reviewing the settings of its relationship with Hong Kong. “China’s decision to pass a new national security law for Hong Kong has fundamentally changed the environment for international engagement there,” Mr Peters said. “New Zealand remains deeply ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced details of a multimillion-dollar investment in Whangārei for infrastructure projects that will help it recover from the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 200 jobs are expected to be created through the $26 million investment from the Government’s rejuvenation package ...
Following a second incident in which a person escaped from a managed isolation facility, security is being enhanced, including more police presence onsite, Minister Megan Woods said. “The actions of some individuals who choose to break the very clear rules to stay within the facilities means that more resourcing is ...
Waste reduction and recycling programmes in Kaipara are set to get a boost with Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage today announcing a $361,447 grant from the Ministry for the Environment’s Waste Minimisation Fund (WMF) Sustainable Kaipara. “The new funding will allow Sustainable Kaipara to partner with local schools, kura, community ...
The Government will support the Southland economy in the wake of multinational mining company Rio Tinto’s decision to follow through with its long signalled closure of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter. “This day has unfortunately been on the cards for some time now, but nevertheless the final decision is a ...
New tools being developed to help boost Aotearoa’s Predator Free 2050 effort were unveiled today by Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage and Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau. A new rat poison, a camera with predator recognition software to detect and report predators, a new predator lure and a ...
The Coalition Government has approved the purchase of a fleet of Bushmaster vehicles to replace the New Zealand Army’s armoured Pinzgauers, Defence Minister Ron Mark has announced today. The new fleet of 43 Australian-designed and built Bushmaster NZ5.5 will provide better protection for personnel and improved carrying capacity. “The age ...
The Government’s three prevention frameworks to reduce family violence in Aotearoa were launched this week by Associate Minister for Social Development Poto Williams. The frameworks were developed in partnership with communities around New Zealand, and build on the work the Government has already begun with its new family violence prevention ...
The Government is pleased to confirm funding for improvements to radiology and surgical services at Hawke's Bay DHB, Health Minister Chris Hipkins says. "The Minister of Finance the Hon Grant Robertson and former Health Minister Dr David Clark approved funding for Hawke's Bay DHB’s redevelopment of their radiology facilities ...
• New funding for four beds at Napier’s Springhill Residential Addiction Centre • A new managed withdrawal home and community service, and peer support before and after residential care at Tairāwhiti DHB • A co-ordinated network of withdrawal management services throughout the South Island • Peer support in Rotorua and ...
Introduction, seafarers and POAL Good morning everyone, I am delighted to be online with you all today. Before I begin, I have to acknowledge that COVID-19 has disrupted the maritime sector on an unprecedented scale. The work of seafarers and the maritime industry is keeping many economies around the world ...
A $13 million investment from Government will create jobs and improve the resilience of the rail connection between Christchurch and the West Coast, Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones and Regional Economic Development Under-Secretary Fletcher Tabuteau say. The funding comes from the tagged contingency set aside in Budget 2020 for infrastructure projects ...
The Government is investing $761 million to assist local government upgrade under-pressure water services across the country, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced today. The announcement was made at the site of the water bore that was found to be the source of the fatal ...
Recognised Seasonal Employers and migrant seasonal workers stranded in New Zealand will be able to continue working and supporting themselves with more flexible hours and roles, says Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway. The time-limited visa changes are: Stranded RSE workers will be able to work part-time (a minimum of 15 hours ...
The Government is making immediate short-term changes to visa settings to support temporary migrants already onshore in New Zealand and their employers, while also ensuring New Zealanders needing work are prioritised, Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. We are: Extending temporary work visas due to expire by the end of 2020 ...
Professor Peter Skelton CNZM has been appointed as Chief Freshwater Commissioner and Alternate Environment Court Judge Craig James Thompson as Deputy Chief Freshwater Commissioner for the newly established Freshwater Planning Process (FPP). Environment Minister David Parker today also announced the appointment of Chief Environment Court Judge Laurie Newhook as the ...
Auckland Queen’s Counsel Neil Campbell has been appointed a Judge of the High Court, Attorney‑General David Parker announced today. Justice Campbell graduated with a BCom and LLB (Hons) from the University of Auckland in 1992. He spent two years with Bell Gully Buddle Weir in Auckland before travelling to the United ...
The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Poto Williams, is seeking feedback on a proposal to better enable the development and operation of commercial film and video facilities in Christchurch. The Proposal, developed by Regenerate Christchurch in response to a request from Christchurch City Council, asks that powers under section ...
The Government has launched a bold plan to boost primary sector export earnings by $44 billion over the next decade, while protecting the environment and growing jobs. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today released Fit for a Better World – Accelerating our Economic Potential, a 10-year roadmap to unlock greater value ...
A new approach to prevent family harm that encourages greater collaboration across government and community groups is being celebrated at the opening of a new facility in Auckland. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today opened the Multi-Disciplinary Family Harm Prevention Hub Te Taanga Manawa in Lambie Road in Manukau. The facility ...
The Government has released a major new report on the options for relocating the Port of Auckland’s freight operations while deferring any decision on the issue. “That decision needs to be informed by policy analysis that is still to be completed. As a result it will be up to a ...
The history of Rāpaki is being restored through the inclusion of te reo in thirteen official place names on Te Pātaka-o-Rākaihautū / Banks Peninsula and around Lyttelton Harbour/Whakaraupō, the Minister for Land Information, Eugenie Sage, announced today. “I am pleased to approve the proposals from Te Hapū o Ngāti ...
Bookings for seats on Air New Zealand flights into New Zealand will be managed in the short term to ensure the Government is able to safely place New Zealanders arriving home into a managed isolation or quarantine facility, says Housing Minister Megan Woods. “Last week Air Commodore Darryn Webb and I ...
Grant Robertson has today announced the first major release of funding from the $265 million Sport Recovery Package announced at Budget 2020. “Today we’re setting out how $80 million will be invested, with $54 million of that over the 2020/2021 financial year for organisations from community level through to elite ...
The Government is maintaining current levy rates for the next 2 years, as part of a set of changes to help ease the financial pressures of COVID-19 providing certainty for businesses and New Zealanders, ACC Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. “New Zealanders and businesses are facing unprecedented financial pressures as a ...
Small businesses are getting greater certainty about access to finance with an extension to the interest-free cashflow loan scheme to the end of the year. The Small Business Cashflow Loan Scheme has already been extended once, to 24 July. Revenue and Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says it will be ...
A package of 23 projects across the country will clean up waterways and deliver over 2000 jobs Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Environment Minister David Parker announced today. The $162 million dollar package will see 22 water clean-up projects put forward by local councils receiving $62 million and the Kaipara ...
Tena koutou katoa Nga tangata whenua o tenei rohe o Pōneke, tena koutou Nau mai, haere mai ki te hui a tau mo te roopu reipa Ko tatou! Ko to tatou mana! Ko to tatou kaupapa kei te kokiri whakamua Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena tatou katoa Welcome. I ...
The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $1.5 million to ensure QE Health in Rotorua can proceed with its world class health service and save 75 existing jobs, Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development, Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. The PGF funding announced today is in addition to the $8 million ...
A new programme, which sets a firm course for the Building and Construction sector to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, has been announced by the Minister for Building and Construction Jenny Salesa. “A significant amount of New Zealand’s carbon emissions come from the building and construction sector. If we’re serious ...
The Provincial Growth Fund is investing more than $7.5 million in Northland ventures to combat the economic impact of the COVID-19 virus, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones have announced. The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) investment is going to the Northern Adventure Experience and ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Education Minister Chris Hipkins today announced significant funding for Auckland’s Northcote College as part of the first wave of a new nationwide school redevelopment programme to upgrade schools over the next 10 years. The $48.5 million project brings the total investment in Northcote College to ...
The Government has opened an urgent response fund to support schools and early learning services to get children and young people back on track after the Covid-19 lockdown. “While we are seeing improvements in attendance under Alert Level 1 Ministry of Education data shows that attendance rates in our schools ...
SAFE CEO Debra Ashton says "The NZDIA has done the right thing, and we’re glad to see Bertram has been held to account over his actions. He should take this as an opportunity to right his wrongs and show that he takes animal welfare seriously." ...
Takuta Ferris, Te Tai Tonga candidate for the Māori Party, is urging government to place whānau first in the wake of announcements around Tiwai Point. “The declaration that one of the region's major employers the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter is closing ...
Dietary Requirements is The Spinoff’s monthly podcast in which we eat, drink and talk about it too, with special thanks to Freedom Farms. This month, we’re joined by The Spinoff’s managing editor, mall rat and self-confessed food philistine Duncan Greive.On this month’s Dietary Requirements, the gang’s back in the studio, and ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Chart 1: United States and Australia rising. Chart by Keith Rankin. These charts look at Covid19 incidence in China (the most important first-wave country, with a limited second wave), Italy (the lead second-wave country), and USA and Australia (second-wave countries – drawing their caseload from Europe ...
The Government must listen to the Muslim community to rectify its failure to act in the past, says the Human Rights Commission. The Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand (IWCNZ) submission to the Royal Commission of Inquiry was released this week. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, President, Australian Association for Professional & Applied Ethics. Senior Research Fellow, Moral philosophy, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Law Futures Centre., Griffith University Earlier this week, 150 high-profile authors, commentators and scholars signed an open letter in Harper’s magazine ...
You can’t keep a good woman down and Helen Clark is no exception. Her new appointment, as co-chair of a review of how the World Health Organisation handled the coronavirus pandemic, will test her formidable political skills. Sitting with her is Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former Liberian president, who handled the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Connor, Lecturer, James Cook University While many people may enjoy a game of backyard cricket, only a few go on to become elite professional batsmen in Australia. Cricket batting is example of what human skills can achieve. The fastest bowling delivery ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lee Baumgartner, Professor of Fisheries and River Management, Institute for Land, Water, and Society, Charles Sturt University This article is a preview of Flora, Fauna, Fire, a multimedia project launching on Monday July 13. The project tracks the recovery of Australia’s native ...
CEAC review of pre-election National’s “outline plan” just sent to us by Todd Muller 9/7/20 was actually his speech about his plan and was described as ‘an outline’. So in our review of National Party response to A Greener, Smarter Future; climate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Podger, Honorary Professor of Public Policy, Australian National University In Hidden Hand, China scholars Clive Hamilton and Marieke Ohlberg examine the Chinese Communist Party’s influence in Europe and North America in a similar way to how Hamilton dissected the CCP’s influence ...
“I can see why people are fed up, many are wondering how to clothe and feed their kids, or how they are going to pay their rent next week and still others are wondering what has happened to our beautiful Kiwi Way of Life. Well no party in parliament ...
Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk Sixty press freedom groups and civil society organisations, journalism institutions, filmmakers, and other supporters have formed a coalition in support of Maria Ressa and independent media in the Philippines, united around the call to #HoldTheLine. Today the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the International Center for ...
National MP Michael Woodhouse also received Covid-19 patient emails from Michelle Boag, and deleted them when he realised she was implicated in a separate email scandal. National Party leader Todd Muller says no further MPs in his party received confidential information from Michelle Boag, after revelations today that Michael Woodhouse also ...
The government is extending border exceptions to allow overseas victims of the Christchurch mosque attacks and their support people to attend the shooter's sentencing. ...
Ever wanted to be Iron Man? Sam Brooks prefers Pepper Potts, but he had a great time stepping into the iron suit anyway.The first few moments of Iron Man VR are where it plays its hand, confidently and assuredly. You hold your palms out in front of you, and Iron ...
SAP has released to the public a policy paper, “Helping Kiwis get back to work: How data and technology can drive a bigger, better, faster economic recovery.” ...
A new poem by Jordan Hamel.Mermaids When you lose grip and start to drift.The first thing you’re supposed to do issteer into it or steer away? Not all mermaids are royaltysomeone needs to audit the oceanprovide cashflow projectionssome mermaids are actuallymiddle-aged accountants named Stephendreaming of a land-view holiday home. I saw a ...
Want to work for The Spinoff? We’re looking for someone to fill an exciting new role based in our Auckland office. We’re looking for a video and podcast content manager: an experienced writer or sub-editor with a strong understanding of social media to manage our video and podcast content across various channels. ...
National Party leader Todd Muller says no further MPs in his party received confidential information from Michelle Boag, after revelations today that Michael Woodhouse also received four unsolicited emails. ...
By RNZ News Opposition National list MP Dr Jian Yang has announced his retirement from New Zealand politics and says he will not stand in the 2020 general election after three terms in the party caucus. He said politics was “demanding” and he wanted to spend more time with his ...
Bayer-Monsanto's June 24 announcement of a US$10.9 billion pay out (1) to people who have been harmed by Glyphosate, is effectively an admission of guilt. Spokesperson for The People’s Inquiry 2020 Asha Andersen says, “The Ministry of Health, The ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has filed a complaint with the Electoral Commission and the Parliamentary Speaker’s Office over Lawrence Yule’s new taxpayer funded billboards promoting Mr Yule as the ‘Voice in Tukituki’. Union spokesman, Louis Houlbrooke ...
Ten points, two plans. Which points are whose? With an election within spitting distance, Aotearoa’s two biggest political parties are all about the plans. “You don’t have a plan!” says one party to the other. “Yes we have a plan, or certainly a plan to have a plan, or a plan ...
Four months after he announced his re-selection, a National Party MP whose links to Chinese spy agencies attracted the interest of New Zealand’s Security Intelligence Service has announced he will not stand in the next election A three-term National Party MP who studied at an elite Chinese spy school before moving to ...
National list MP Dr Jian Yang announced his retirement from politics and said he would not stand in the 2020 general election after three terms in the party caucus. ...
A new political party, the New Zealand TEA Party, with headquarters in Auckland, has been established. The party aims to contest the queen- or kingmaker position to form a coalition with the largest parliamentary party as part of the general elections ...
A review has determined fish oils are non-hazardous and no longer require oversight by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA). We regulate pesticides, household chemicals and other dangerous goods and substances under the Hazardous Substances ...
New Conservative calls on the government to join with our Five Eyes allies and add New Zealand's signature to a joint statement condemning the continued removal of freedoms in Hong Kong. New Conservative also calls on the government to give safe-haven ...
Latest from the Beehive – Hard on the heels of the government promising help for the Southland economy in the wake of Rio Tinto’s decision to close the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter, it was announcing the delivery of more money to the North, at the other end of the country. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luciano Beheregaray, Professor in Biodiversity Genomics, Flinders University As the global climate shifts, it’s important to know which species have adaptations to survive. Our research published today in PNAS found it largely depends on where they evolved. We looked at the capacity ...
From eggplant emojis and twerking llamas to sweaty anthropomorphic butts, we present some of the most fascinating, hilarious and outrageous complaints dismissed by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) from 2019 to now.Avocadon’t (January 2019)The ad: In this ad from Specsavers, a man gets ready to join a cricket match, but ...
They might sound like the same thing, but light rail is quite different from light metro – the system that transport minister Phil Twyford now favours for Auckland. Katy Wakefield and Jessica Rose of Women in Urbanism explain why the metro option is a poor substitute for LRT. Transport is ...
Why isn't the Government spending $30m to extend Tiwai Point's 2,600 jobs until after the Covid-19 recession, after Manapouri's power can be transmitted elsewhere, and after there's a hydrogen plan for the smelter site, Bernard Hickey asks. The sense of shock and foreboding about the future was clear in Invercargill Mayor ...
An intensive care doctor is outraged health officials are giving helicopter rescue trusts a daily list of Covid-19 patients, saying it's completely unnecessary. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Seth Lazar, Professor, Australian National University In the US, tireless opposition to state use of facial recognition algorithms has recently won some victories. Some progressive cities have banned some uses of the technology. Threetechcompanies have pulled facial recognition products from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rick Sarre, Adjunct Professor of Law and Criminal Justice, University of South Australia Facial recognition technology is increasingly being trialled and deployed around Australia. Queensland and Western Australia are reportedly already using real-time facial recognition through CCTV cameras. 7-Eleven Australia is also ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carol T Kulik, Research Professor of Human Resource Management, University of South Australia The coronavirus pandemic has forced many of us to work from home, often in less than ideal circumstances. Many employees had little choice in the decision, limited time to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katja Hogendoorn, University of Adelaide This article is a preview of Flora, Fauna, Fire, a multimedia project launching on Monday July 13. The project tracks the recovery of Australia’s native plants and animals after last summer’s bushfire tragedy. Sign up to The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By SriPallavi Nadimpalli, PhD Candidate, University of Melbourne Women manage many overlapping responsibilities in both public and private spheres. Their busy routines leave them with just a little time to take a break or a pause in their activity. These pauses are a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Naoise McDonagh, Lecturer in Political Economy, University of Adelaide The pandemic has changed the way we think about supply chains, in particular the chains that feed our need for food, medical supplies, and defence equipment. It has led Prime Minister Scott Morrison ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW As Victoria grapples with a second-wave outbreak of COVID-19, the importance of large-scale testing has again been highlighted. Without its “testing blitz” aiming at 10,000 tests a day, the extent of the outbreak would have been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jean Burgess, Professor and Director, Digital Media Research Centre, Queensland University of Technology Perhaps no single character has been as iconic a symbol of Twitter as the now-ubiquitous hashtag. The syntax of the hashtag has a few simple rules: it consists of ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level one – read about what that means here. For official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is made possible thanks to donations from Spinoff Members. To support this ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Major implications from Tiwai Pt closure, diplomatic rift over Hong Kong deepens, and grim new approach to managed isolation.The story of Rio Tinto pulling out of the Tiwai Point smelter is one that shows the deep connections between regional stories ...
How can Southland cope without its engine and biggest employer, the Tiwai Point smelter? Invercargill's deputy mayor Toni Biddle and Dee St businesswoman Anne Marie Thomas on what happens nowToni Biddle: "We've always known this could potentially happen. So, therefore, there has been a huge amount of work done in the background ...
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by Steve Braunias.NON-FICTION 1 Pull No Punches by Judith Collins (Allen & Unwin, $36.99) Junk. 2 Vegful by Nadia Lim (Nude Food, $55) 3 The Book of Overthinking by Gwendoline ...
Most Kiwis aren't aware that the end of life choice act is not a concept they'll be voting for, but specific, unmovable legislation. And if we make a mistake, death is a heavy penalty, writes Caralise Trayes. A new Colmar Brunton poll revealed last weekend doesn’t do any favours in helping people ...
Talented teenage shooter Khiarna Williams is committed to travelling 18 hours a week - after school - to realise her netball dreams. Three times a week, 17-year-old Khiarna Williams gets picked up from school to make a six-hour round trip, from Whakatāne to Hamilton, to train with the Magic. Her designated driver ...
Dr Michael SW Lee uses an Easter egg hunt analogy to explain wealth distribution and our innate sense of fairness Ten kids are at an Easter egg hunt searching for 100 eggs. Donald was fortunate, he inherited an Easter egg detector. He spends four hours looking and collects 40 eggs. Steve is a ...
In theory, the closure of Tiwai Point aluminium smelter should bring down electricity prices and help get New Zealand closer to its Carbon Zero 2050 goal. In practice, that isn’t so easy. The announcement Tiwai Point aluminium smelter will close by August next year is a massive blow for the ...
Today The Beths release Jump Rope Gazers, the follow-up to their beloved and acclaimed debut album Future Me Hates Me. Back in December, Side Eye cartoonist Toby Morris joined the band in the studio while they recorded ‘Just Shy of Sure’, which you can listen to here: ...
Three big announcements this week heralded our healthy and profitable future. Those standing in the way, argues Rod Oram, are as out of step as the Think Big world from which they hail. ...
Making the capital earthquake resilient involves billions of dollars, a tonne of anxiety and apartment owners who've had enough of the yellow-sticker nightmare. Time is running out for hundreds of apartment owners in Wellington who face big bills to fix their earthquake-risk buildings. About 1000 buildings in the capital ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By David Robie, who sailed on the original Rainbow Warrior to Rongelap and is author of the bookEyes of Fire. Thirty five years ago today the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior was bombed in Auckland’s Waitematā Harbour by French secret agents in a blatant act of state terrorism, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Scott Morrison summoned his self-restraint and resisted temptation. Invited on Thursday to attack the Victorian government over its disastrous decision to use private security guards to monitor people in hotel quarantine, the prime minister was ...
A new EP from an unknown Auckland singer ignited a bidding war before she’d released a single. Today ‘Call You Out’ is released, with eerie parallels to Lorde’s rise. Duncan Greive meets the artist known as Deryk.Madeline Bradley wasn’t expecting a lot. She’d been to dozens of these meetings over ...
Editorial by Selwyn Manning. Selwyn Manning, editor of EveningReport.nz. New National Party leader Todd Muller has presented his party’s vision for New Zealand as it grapples with the economic cost of the Covid-19 pandemic. But Muller’s vision was unsurprisingly National while surprisingly short on economic detail. And, after a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Former Liberal Minister Christopher Pyne attracted critics for his political front. But he always had plenty of friends and networks, enabling him often to be a player, if not always a “fixer”. After his election ...
Power Play - It's only been three weeks since Minister Megan Woods and Air Commodore Darryn Webb brought fresh eyes to the country's isolation and quarantine facilities, yet cracks in operating procedures are already being conceded. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alex Reilly, Professor, University of Adelaide Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced new visa arrangements to help Hong Kong passport holders stay in Australia. This has the potential to impact thousands of Hong Kong visa holders, either already in Australia or overseas. ...
Power Play - It's only been three weeks since Minister Megan Woods and Air Commodore Darryn Webb brought fresh eyes to the country's isolation and quarantine facilities, yet the blinkers are already coming on. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hannah Dahlen, Professor of Midwifery, Associate Dean Research and HDR, Midwifery Discipline Leader, Western Sydney University The pandemic is prompting some Australian pregnant women to give birth at home without a midwife or registered health provider, according to a survey out this ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Louise Stone, General practitioner; Clinical Associate Professor, ANU Medical School, Australian National University Metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire are beginning another six weeks of lockdown due to a spike in COVID-19 cases. While this second round of lockdown may bring the case ...
Open Mike 20/01/2019 
National MP - Michael WoodhouseUnbelievable! Michelle Boag also sent National’s Michael Woodhouse confidential emails about COVD-19 patients, and he continued to publicly attack the Government over these very same breaches of privacy.This is the biggest political self-own since the Act Party’s David Garrett admitted in Parliament that he used a ...6 hours ago
Everyone is paying attention today to the Supreme Court ruling that the President is not above the law and that Trump's tax returns can be given to a New York grand jury investigating him. But the Supreme Court decided another, far more important case yesterday, and effectively restored Native American ...6 hours ago
Transcript: National Party policy announcement on roads – 8 July, 2020 Muller: Good afternoon everybody. Thank you for coming. Reporter 1: Is Hamish Walker a racist? Muller: Hang on… you haven’t even said good afternoon to me yet. Reporter 1: Good afternoon Mr Muller. Is Hamish Walker a racist? ...8 hours ago
Back in April, I wrote about trials in Iran of a fixed-dose combination of two existing anti-viral drugs used to treat hepatitis C – sofosbuvir and daclatasvir – that could point to an effective treatment for Covid-19 symptoms.At the time, data from those trials was not available outside the hospitals ...8 hours ago
Today’s content Tiwai Point to close Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Government subsidising practically everything plays hardball with Rio Tinto (paywalled) Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Sudden closure of aluminium smelter worst outcome for jobs, consumers and the environment Brian Fallow (Herald): Tiwai closure sad news – and an opportunity for the environment (paywalled) Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Rio ...9 hours ago
Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Anja Mizdrak, Dr Jennifer Summers, Prof Michael Baker The pandemic-related lockdown is possibly the most dramatic public health intervention in NZ history. It helped achieve the elimination of community transmission of the COVID-19 virus in NZ. But it was also associated with 548 fewer total ...9 hours ago
Reprehensible: There is much that could be said about Michael Woodhouse, but what would be the point? Any man who willingly involves himself in a situation as reprehensible as the one depicted in the above photograph has already vouchsafed all that decent people need to know about his character. That there have ...11 hours ago
79 Articles Observations & observational methods of global warming & effects Six hundred years of South American tree rings reveal an increase in severe hydroclimatic events since mid-20th century (open access) Late summer temperature variability for the Southern Rocky Mountains (USA) since 1735 CE: applying blue light intensity to low-latitude ...2 days ago
Some are surprised at this sudden brain implosion on the part of both Michelle Boag, former National Party President, and the National Party in general, in exposing the private, confidential details of COVID patients. Others…? Let’s be blunt: not so much. Too many of that Party have long operated with ...2 days ago
So now we know, beyond all doubt. The National party has no interest in joining the “team of five million” in our fight against the pandemic but its priority is to take every opportunity it can to damage the government. The cynicism is breathtaking. It was prepared to leak the ...2 days ago
...4 days ago
Is the consequence of the Simpson Report proposals for restructuring the health system poorer accountability to people? When in doubt, centralise‘ has been a persistent theme in New Zealand public policy throughout our history. The current government is no exception. Here are some examples. - The regional polytechs have been ...7 days ago
Unfortunately, due to a medical emergency, I have landed in hospital so am not able to do a current update on the NZ blog statistics. Let’s hope I can get back to this in good time. ...1 week ago
Mark Patterson MP, Spokesperson for Primary Industry New Zealand First is supporting calls by hunters and the New Zealand Tahr Foundation (NZTF) to halt a large scale cull of Himalayan Tahr by the Department of Conservation in National Parks. The calls are supported by a 40,000 strong petition and the ...3 days ago
New Zealanders deserve healthy rivers and lakes that are safe to swim in - but they have been getting worse for decades. That's why, with our latest announcement, we're investing in projects that will help clean up our rivers and lakes and restore them to health, within a generation. ...5 days ago
The Green Party has opposed the COVID-19 Recovery Fast-track Consenting Bill which shortcuts normal consenting processes under the Resource Management Act (RMA), reduces public participation and narrows environmental considerations. ...1 week ago
The Minister of Police says a major operation against the Mongrel Mob in Waikato will make a big dent in drug harm and violent offending linked to organised crime networks. “Senior leadership of the Waikato Mongrel Mob has been taken out as a result of Operation Kingsville, which resulted in ...4 hours ago
SAFE CEO Debra Ashton says "The NZDIA has done the right thing, and we’re glad to see Bertram has been held to account over his actions. He should take this as an opportunity to right his wrongs and show that he takes animal welfare seriously." ...18 mins ago
Analysis by Keith Rankin.
You can’t keep a good woman down and Helen Clark is no exception. Her new appointment, as co-chair of a review of how the World Health Organisation handled the coronavirus pandemic, will test her formidable political skills. Sitting with her is Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former Liberian president, who handled the ...2 hours ago
National MP Michael Woodhouse also received Covid-19 patient emails from Michelle Boag, and deleted them when he realised she was implicated in a separate email scandal. National Party leader Todd Muller says no further MPs in his party received confidential information from Michelle Boag, after revelations today that Michael Woodhouse also ...4 hours ago
The government is extending border exceptions to allow overseas victims of the Christchurch mosque attacks and their support people to attend the shooter's sentencing. ...4 hours ago
Ever wanted to be Iron Man? Sam Brooks prefers Pepper Potts, but he had a great time stepping into the iron suit anyway.The first few moments of Iron Man VR are where it plays its hand, confidently and assuredly. You hold your palms out in front of you, and Iron ...4 hours ago
Alan Brent looks at how NZ's solar resources can be used more effectively to address energy demand in our transitioning economy. ...7 hours ago
Four months after he announced his re-selection, a National Party MP whose links to Chinese spy agencies attracted the interest of New Zealand’s Security Intelligence Service has announced he will not stand in the next election A three-term National Party MP who studied at an elite Chinese spy school before moving to ...7 hours ago
Latest from the Beehive – Hard on the heels of the government promising help for the Southland economy in the wake of Rio Tinto’s decision to close the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter, it was announcing the delivery of more money to the North, at the other end of the country. ...8 hours ago
Why isn't the Government spending $30m to extend Tiwai Point's 2,600 jobs until after the Covid-19 recession, after Manapouri's power can be transmitted elsewhere, and after there's a hydrogen plan for the smelter site, Bernard Hickey asks. The sense of shock and foreboding about the future was clear in Invercargill Mayor ...9 hours ago
Tiwai Point closure decision hammers Meridian, Contact and Genesis shares on fears wholesale power prices could drop ...11 hours ago
Experts say ECE staff ratios are not fit for purpose, and the ministry has no record of how they were set in the first place. ...11 hours ago
How can Southland cope without its engine and biggest employer, the Tiwai Point smelter? Invercargill's deputy mayor Toni Biddle and Dee St businesswoman Anne Marie Thomas on what happens now Toni Biddle: "We've always known this could potentially happen. So, therefore, there has been a huge amount of work done in the background ...12 hours ago
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by Steve Braunias. NON-FICTION 1 Pull No Punches by Judith Collins (Allen & Unwin, $36.99) Junk. 2 Vegful by Nadia Lim (Nude Food, $55) 3 The Book of Overthinking by Gwendoline ...13 hours ago
Most Kiwis aren't aware that the end of life choice act is not a concept they'll be voting for, but specific, unmovable legislation. And if we make a mistake, death is a heavy penalty, writes Caralise Trayes. A new Colmar Brunton poll revealed last weekend doesn’t do any favours in helping people ...13 hours ago
Talented teenage shooter Khiarna Williams is committed to travelling 18 hours a week - after school - to realise her netball dreams. Three times a week, 17-year-old Khiarna Williams gets picked up from school to make a six-hour round trip, from Whakatāne to Hamilton, to train with the Magic. Her designated driver ...13 hours ago
Dr Michael SW Lee uses an Easter egg hunt analogy to explain wealth distribution and our innate sense of fairness Ten kids are at an Easter egg hunt searching for 100 eggs. Donald was fortunate, he inherited an Easter egg detector. He spends four hours looking and collects 40 eggs. Steve is a ...13 hours ago
In theory, the closure of Tiwai Point aluminium smelter should bring down electricity prices and help get New Zealand closer to its Carbon Zero 2050 goal. In practice, that isn’t so easy. The announcement Tiwai Point aluminium smelter will close by August next year is a massive blow for the ...13 hours ago
Three big announcements this week heralded our healthy and profitable future. Those standing in the way, argues Rod Oram, are as out of step as the Think Big world from which they hail. ...13 hours ago
Making the capital earthquake resilient involves billions of dollars, a tonne of anxiety and apartment owners who've had enough of the yellow-sticker nightmare. Time is running out for hundreds of apartment owners in Wellington who face big bills to fix their earthquake-risk buildings. About 1000 buildings in the capital ...13 hours ago
Evil triumphs when good men do nothing.
The silence of Kelvin Davis.
Australian commentary begins at 3:00 minutes
Kelvin Davis was “very vocal about this in the past”. That is true. But that of course was during the lead up to the last election, before he was returned to his seat in parliament as the member for Te Tai Tokerau.
Since then Kelvin Davis has been virtually silent on the issue.
“In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies … but the silence of our friends.”─ Martin Luther King
Labour, the party the left can count on to let them down.
No one with any sense voted for Labour after 84. For the lack of choice , spoiled my ballot in 87.
It is a continuing theme of radical propaganda and back-tracking in power. Can someone suggest a good analysis of Lee’s ‘Simple on a Soapbox’. Definitely Lee had an ego but all the figures of that time appear conservative in his vista without the caucus’s voting. ‘We’ll be the laughing stock of the world’ said MJS about the 30 shilling old age pension.
Do you really expect the New Zealand government to tell Australia how it should run its prisons/detention camps?
The PM has certainly been quiet on the issue when she advocated the whole issue of detainees/illegal immigrants around 12 months ago. The pushback from Turnbull was quite severe. I think the (then new) government got the message loud and clear not to tell the Australians how to run their country.
One would have assumed someone with your experience Wayne would know the difference between telling another country what to do and standing up for your own citizens.
The latter being what one assumes Jenny was implying.
Fist point; The australians do run a first world justice system and expect New Zealand to understand that.
Second point, and really the key one I was making; the New Zealand government very quickly learned not to lecture Australia, and that seems to include Kelvin Davis.
The treatment and conditions resulting from this first world justice system is what is in dispute.
To not be seen standing up for your citizens (or to even bother to comment) will create flak at home. More so, if one was previously immensely vocal before being elected into power.
“The australians do run a first world justice system”
No – they run a two-tier system – a first worldish one for Oz citizens and a different one for everybody else. They do this unashamedly in order to deter backdoor immigration, because Australia is still a place that lots of people want to get to. With 2.5 to 3 degrees of warming it will be a place people are desperate to leave. That will be a grim sort of poetic justice.
“Do you really expect the New Zealand government to tell Australia how it should run its prisons/detention camps”
No – I expect it to kowtow to superior economic and military power. But while doing this, I don’t expect it to utter the sort of dull, grey, turgid, privilege and injustice-defending bromides that would make it sound like Wayne Mapp.
Do you really expect the New Zealand government to tell Australia how it should run its prisons/detention camps? Of course.
Why? So then the likes of those who say Davis is silent would be able to criticise him, accusing him of butting into Australian affairs and how he’s an embarrassment to our country for doing that.
The flaw in your logic is it’s not just an Australian affair.
With so many Kiwis affected, it has become a diplomatic issue between the two countries. Hence, a NZ Government response is largely expected.
Diplomatic issue? The issue is that Davis has to make a choice between being attacked mercilessly for outwardly putting the boot into the Aussies or for not overtly putting the boot into the Aussies. Attacked by the same people.
He isn’t in the headlines about it so he’s doing nothing. Let’s attack him about that too. And if he is in the headlines saying he’s doing something and there’s an outline of constructive steps towards some constructive resolution, lets attack the media outlet as a mouthpiece for the left.
And if constructive steps get the people put on planes to New Zealand and one of them does something wrong, stupid or bad, let’s blame Davis for getting them into the country and boot him again.
It’s a political issue. That’s when you get someone saying, “Evil triumphs when good men do nothing. The silence of Kelvin Davis.”
Hi Pete, I really can’t understand where you are coming from.
Without any evidence at all you slyly accuse, myself, and presumably others, of criticising Kelvin Davis when he is silent about the plight of the detainees, and also when he speaks up for the detainees, saying, “how he’s an embarrassment to our country for doing that”. This is a complete lying smear. For the record I was very much in support of Kelvin Davis’ early advocacy for the detainees, and would be very pleased to see him take up their cause again..
In future Pete, instead of engaging in broad smears, you need to say exactly who it is you claim is criticising Kelvin for standing up for the detainees, and who also criticise him for not standing up for the detainees. And provide some sort of evidence to back up your claims.
Do you really think the Australian Authorities are going to admit what is going on in their Detention Centres. The Australian Government has not had a good history of dealing nicely with indigeneous races, and come to think of it we have not been super good here in New Zealand as well IMHO ?
we must not forget who and what is waiting in the wings…
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/19/president-pence-women-week-in-patriarchy
and some lightness from that article
Sometimes the worst that can happen is what is required to nudge people back onto the right path.
America, in a yet another public display of it’s new role as now unashamed authoritarian world bully boys and corporate enforcers which of course leads to it’s complete lack of regard for free press (when it suits them), has detained with out charge Press TV’ s journalist Marzieh Hashemi for over six days so far.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/01/american-journalist-iran-press-tv-jailed-190117085325166.html
And while we are on the subject of free press, here is a piece well worth reading from Aaron Mate on The Nation dismantling more of the increasingly hysterical and unhinged ‘Russia Gate” conspiracies…
The Manafort Revelation Is Not a Smoking Gun
Proponents of the Trump-Russia collusion theory wildly overstate their case, again.
https://www.thenation.com/article/manafort-no-smoking-gun-collusion/
Of course you wouldn’t know that the whole Russia Gate conspiracy just one huge smoke screen reading or listening to msm, and unfortunately many on this site.
So while we have all had to hear endlessly week after week to this conspiracy theory (which is all it is at this point) that always goes nowhere, the Democratic party and Hillary Clinton have had to take exactly zero responsibility for losing to a half brain dead z grade TV game show host, why is that?
If you are a Russia gate believer, maybe this is the question you should start asking yourself…
The Manafort Revelation Is Not a Smoking Gun
Well, duh. If it was, Trump would be making a prison cell look even uglier than it already did, and we’d all be contemplating President Pence and thinking you really do need to be careful what you wish for. Most criminal investigations don’t feature a “smoking gun,” that’s why we have juries – and why they take longer than five minutes to reach a verdict. That doesn’t make those criminal investigations “conspiracy theories.”
And that’s an important point. Juries are often advised by the judge to arrive at a decision based on `the balance of probabilities’, aren’t they? Which is just as elegant way of saying `take your best guess, folks’.
So, in practice, courts decide more often on the picture painted by circumstantial evidence than on proof. Which is where Mueller III’s unprecedented breaking of media silence comes in.
“Cohen was sentenced in December to three years in prison for lying to Congress, campaign finance violations and financial crimes. He said he took full responsibility for his crimes, but said he acted out of blind loyalty to Mr. Trump, who he said “led me to choose a path of darkness over light.””
“During his nomination hearing this week to become attorney general, William P. Barr was asked if the president would have committed a crime if he had coached a witness to testify falsely — or not to testify at all. “Yes,” Mr. Barr said. “Under an obstruction statute, yes.”” https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/18/us/politics/buzzfeed-cohen-russia-tower.html
The day before Buzzfeed reported evidence that Trump had committed that crime. Mueller III yesterday denied that was accurate. He obviously felt he had to – because of that bunch of calls for him to act by leading congressmen. Looks like he doesn’t have a basis to act against Trump. He’s been gathering circumstantial evidence to paint the picture for two years. Not enough.
As I presume you know “balance of probabilities” is about civil trials. Anything to do with impeachment/Russia collusion is on the criminal standard of “beyond reasonable doubt.”
Thanks Wayne. No, I’ve never studied legal process. Just have the view of the average layman – a general idea of how the system works picked up from long-term observation. Beyond reasonable doubt sounds like a requirement of proof to me.
Buzzfeed used the agreement of two ex-govt officials as basis for their claim that the proof exists. Mueller III denied that their claim was accurate. Sounds like the evidence is debatable: proof to some, not to others. This discord around evidence has long been a phenomenon in science: evidence can be interpreted as proof, but opinions often differ. Even between experts!
Thank you, Wayne. I was about to ‘blast’ Dennis for that …. LOL.
Very best wishes and positive thoughts for your health battle.
Uhhh, when it comes to impeachment and conviction, it’s whatever at least 218 House Representatives and at least 67 senators agree are impeachable “high crimes and misdemeanours”, to whatever standard of proof they agree on. Impeachment and conviction is not a criminal proceeding, and it’s different to a civil matter as well.
It is literally correct to say that if said numbers of Congresspeople agreed that what Individual-1 does with his ties are impeachable “high crimes and misdemeanours”, he’d be outta there. Article 1 of impeachment could be the way he wears them way too long to point at the wizened Toad lurking in his trousers. Article 2 of Impeachment could be the way he uses sellotape to vainly attempt to hold the two dangly bits together.
John Roberts as the presiding justice over the senate trial could put as much effort as he wanted to into pointing out how fkn ridiculous it was, but in the end, if 67 senators voted to convict. it’s a done deal. The more likely procedural way to protect Individual-1 would be for the Senate Majority Leader, aka Yertle McConnell, to refuse to even bring the matter to the senate floor for consideration.
Or as Gerald Ford put it much more succinctly,
“An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers to be at a given moment in history; conviction results from whatever offense or offenses two-thirds of the other body considers to be sufficiently serious to require removal of the accused from office.”
Funnily enough the powers that be seem to (so far) be entirely relying on the public believing the “smoking gun” theory.
You seem to not realise that “Smoking gun” refers to the strongest kind of circumstantial evidence, as opposed to direct evidence. ie…
The smoking gun theory is as follows….
“Trumps been to Russia and wanted to build a Russian Trump Tower;
There are Russians on the internet putting up adverts and #fake news supporting Bernie/Trump/Stein and these have been amazingly successful at…
getting disenfranchised whites in the rust belt all rilled up (which makes no sence ‘cos there lives/wages/housing/health and that of their children are getting better and better with each passing year)
and getting African Americans all rilled up and resentful (which also makes no sence ‘cos there lives are sweet as too);
Bernie and Trump did well;
Its simply not possible that the public no longer believe in the Corporate Democrats ability to deliver change and (cough) ‘Hope’, and that the public would willingly vote for the likes of Trump or Bernie or Stein, therefore……Trump is a Russian stooge.”
(The smoking gun theory also involves ignoring how much the Democrats/Hilary spent, because apparently the Russians are way way better at pushing their message than any of the agencies working for Hilary)
…the powers that be seem to (so far) be entirely relying on the public believing the “smoking gun” theory.
Now, there’s a conspiracy theory. Who are these “powers that be,” and on what evidence do you make this claim about them?
Oh it’s a conspiracy theory alright, and why any critical thinking person is still buying into it’s bullshit constructed narrative is for me the strangest part of the whole thing..quite disheartening really.
With that in mind I think we need tolay out the cards here and face the facts, Russia gate conspiracists are willing to accept, defend and support the narrative of Ex Bush FBI head Robert Mueller and his various (seriously) dodgy co conspirators over established truth tellers like Glenn Greenwald, Robert Fisk, John Pilger, etc etc….
Well as the old saying goes, ‘you make the bed you lie in’
But I guess on the bright side you always have the in depth hard hitting reporting of the liberal turned war hawk Racheal Maddow to keep you up to date ha.
“People whose opinions I share” != “established truth tellers.”
Robert Fisk as an established truth teller? Isn’t he the discredited journalist who was found to have made up stories & treated them as investigative journalism? Maybe he now works for Buzzfeed ?
@Bazza64
Would you care to put up a link or links to support your claims re; Fisk please.
@Bazza64
Oh you must mean this discredited journalist…
Robert Fisk
27 December 2018
Trump vs Mattis: Watch out when men of war come to the rescue
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/jim-mattis-donald-trump-mad-syria-israel-egypt-arafat-sharon-a8700276.html
10 January 2019
The US media has lost one of its sanest voices on military matters – so let’s hope William Arkin’s absence is brief
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/william-arkin-nbc-donald-trump-military-war-pundits-israel-media-a8719956.html
January 17, 2019
Lessons from the Armenian Genocide for Saudi Arabia in Yemen
https://mirrorspectator.com/2019/01/17/lessons-from-the-armenian-genocide-for-saudi-arabia-in-yemen/
3 January 2019
Judge Richard Goldstone suffered for turning his back on Gaza – but not as much as the Palestinians he betrayed
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/israel-gaza-war-judge-richard-goldstone-palestinian-conflict-a8709211.html
I remember reading in the NZ Herald quite a few years ago how Robert Fisk came in for some heavy criticism from other journalists, who said he always seemed to get a very detailed story, when others said they were always suspicious of him.
Googled a couple of things:
https://honestreporting.com/independent-admits-robert-fisk-story-was-false/
https://pulsemedia.org/2016/12/03/robert-fisks-crimes-against-journalism/
Definitely not an expert on Mr Fisk, but when I see his name I always remember this.
The first link is to an apology by Fisk for writing an article in 2011 in which he quoted from a forged document (unknown to Fisk at the time), hardly a reason to discredit a journalist with decades of solid war reporting.
BTW your linked source HonestReporting (Defending Israel from Media Bias) also defends Israeli violence against unarmed civilians..detaining children in prison..etc etc
HonestReporting’s Top 10 Posts of 2018
https://honestreporting.com/honestreportings-top-posts-of-2018/
As far as Idrees Ahmad’s (whom I admire) piece goes, that is more problematic, the Syrian conflict is so complex, that I personally try to stay at some distance from it, so i can’t really comment on that article.
But I can see your position re’ Fisk if that is your view on the Syrian conflict nonetheless.
Not sure about the Syrian conflict, but seems some people are now saying Fisk is a stooge of Assad & the Russians. Have no idea if this is even true & in the end all journalists have to be paid by someone. Truly being independent is maybe a difficult thing for journalists to achieve.
Difficult to know re Fisk, but I do remember a lot of journalists saying that he always seemed to get the perfect story which seemed to be embellished.
Thanks
What a breath of fresh air, thank you Adrian.
Tamati is right – we live in societies still struggling with their colonial past. In Aotearoa it is hard to appreciate that there was once a time when it was considered acceptable to exterminate indigenous people.
In Australia ‘Kriol’ is a relatively new Aboriginal language with upwards of 20,000 speakers in the Northern Territory and the neigbouring Kimberley region of Western Australia. It is a creole language – meaning it is a kind of emergency language with specific origin.
It arose early this century when surviving members of decimated language groups congregated at the Roper River Mission in order to escape killings being carried out by cattle station companies. Many adults were multilingual – but not in the same languages. Children had often not developed full language competence .
In this situation the only form of communication was a pidgin which had entered the Northern Territory a few decades before with the cattle trade.
It is easy to forget this history in urban centres but like an old coral reef it repeatedly resurfaces when conservative parties with a strong rural base hold sway in Canberra.
[Adapted from Balzer et. al., “Pidgin”, 2nd ed., page 149, Lonely Planet, 1999]
“Murica, where a group of vile, MAGA capped racists gleefully harass a Native American elder at an Indigenous Peoples March.
https://twitter.com/UncededClothing/status/1086677183458934784
I notice the self-satisfied expression of the one young white man who stands in front of the American Indian (Nathan Philips of the Omaha Nation). His tight smile says you can’t make me move, and you can’t touch me.
MAGA means – according to a Reddit? post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Donald/comments/5b6a7x/what_does_maga_mean/
The_Donald Rules.
This list is a wonder to behold for the USA.
What does MAGA mean?
I keep seeing the left criticize Trump for stating MAGA. Claiming he wants to bring back racism, slavery and segregation. What a bunch of cucks.
Let’s set the record straight. We are going back to a Great America.
An America where the people trust the government.
An America where we are proud of the USA.
An America where we don’t fear terrorist, but terrorist fear us.
An America where getting a job and livable wage is easy.
An America where we create wealth and prosperity.
An America with a tax surplus and not a multi-trillion dollar deficit.
An America where anyone can afford to go to the hospital.
An America where everyone can go to college.
An America where people aren’t afraid of police.
An America with more schools than prisons.
An America that upholds the bill of rights.
An America that spends money to fix itself before “fixing” the world.
An America where “Made in USA” is cheaper than “Made in China”.
An America that doesn’t have one way tarrifs.
An America that doesn’t allow threats of war from other nations. Looking at you North Korea.
An America that stands for Freedom and Democracy.
That’s the America we are going back to. That is the future. No more free rides for fake allies. No more fake diplomacy while Americans die to terrorist. No more corrupt secret deals. No more profit at the expense of American lives.
MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!!
FUCK YOU CLINTON, CTR, DEMOCRATS, AND ANY OTHER FREEDOM HATING TRAITORS!
No end of potential nominees for the Supreme Court there, by the look of it.
Those thick youth look like cardboard cutouts compared to the native elders. Those young adults are nothing, not even dust, gone, evaporated back to their nothingness.
“The students, many of whom were wearing “Make America Great Again” caps, from private, all-male Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills were in Washington for an anti-abortion rally on Friday when they were filmed surrounding Nathan Phillips and mocking the Native American’s singing and drumming.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jan/20/outcry-after-kentucky-students-in-maga-hats-mock-native-american-veteran
Christians sadly were participants in many colonisations where they tried to exterminate indigenous people.
Frankie the Pope has a message for the little shits.
Pope Francis on Friday addressed a video message to the world’s young indigenous people holding their World Indigenous Youth Gathering in Soloy, Diocese of David, Panama, from January 17 to 21. The young people will then move on to Panama city to join the World Youth Day (WYD) 2019, January 22-27, which the Pope is joining on January 23.
Speaking in Spanish, the Pope is encouraging the indigenous young people to hold on to their cultures and roots by fighting marginalization, exclusion, waste and impoverishment that is threatening them and build another world that is possible and that is more just and human.
[…]
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2019-01/pope-francis-video-message-world-indigenous-youth-panama.html
…were in Washington for an anti-abortion rally on Friday…
Farkinell, it’s the trifecta…
Look’s like a nice kid ?
Guess he would be a Republican Trump Supporter no doubt ?
Bye bye Good Friday agreement?.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/police-in-northern-ireland-report-suspected-car-bomb-in-derry-1.3764233
Bit more about the Russian girl and how she got there.
https://www.andrew-drummond.com/2019/01/19/so-who-did-the-dirty-on-oligarchs-girl-nastya-rybka/
Fun and learning. Puts it ALL into perspective.
http://www.astronomy.com/news/2018/08/fact-checking-the-galaxy-song
Manawatu river at Foxton
http://www.horizons.govt.nz/HRC/media/Data/WebCam/Foxton_latest_photo.jpg?ext=.jpg
[What’s going on, cobber? Your last few comments look like you’ve walked away from the laptop and your pet hamster has tap danced on the keyboard. If you want to put a link up, please add a short explanation of its relevance. Don’t want to waste people’s time, ae? TRP]
Anyone watch Go South on Prime last night? Really awesome piece of TV. Hopefully this will manage to get on TV networks all round the world. Do more to promote NZ than anything else.
of course.
https://www.google.com/search?q=askew&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b
You know, Ed got banished for that type of shit.
Where is Ed ?
Commiserating with Paul somewhere.
A predictable opinion piece in today’s Herald website by Lawrence Yule National MP for Tukituki and spokesperson for horticulture. Nowt, zip, yadda, nil, nothing about the orchidists paying their workforce a decent wage – but he reckons the Government has a role to play to help them out. Poor petals.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12193308
Essentially a copying and pasting of previous talking points.
Not exactly in full hiring mode only small producers who do not contract out.
https://www.trademe.co.nz/browse/categoryattributesearchresults.aspx?140=5&154=5015&144=-1&144=200000&search=1&sidebar=1&cid=5000&rptpath=5000-
Voters less likely to back Labour with ‘stop Brexit’ policy, leaked poll suggests
Can’t have your cake and eat it too.
it is not cake and eating it too, rather it is combining representative democracy and direct democracy.
So with that in mind in this case: An election is held that combines the Tory platform with the favored brexit approach of it’s support base (which is looking for the maximum separations with the EU) & the Labour combines it’s platform with the favored brexit approach of it’s support base (which is looking for a continuation of partnership with the EU as much as possible).
Then the representatives of the election result, negotiate their balances to the differences and trade offs with the EU and their supoort base platform, so it remains a winning process for the electorate’s involvement in the process. And either way the election goes, there remains strong bargaining power for the British side.
And i believe, at heart, it is probably that simple in how to complete the process started with the referendum in a way that is diplomatic to all concerned.
Like everyone I’d always believed that the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were Conquest, War, Famine, and Death. And then I read this:
And realised that the The Black Horse wasn’t famine at all.
It’s free-market capitalism.
I am not a Christian and don’t believe in the bible or sin so… nice symbolism though.
Neither am I.
But look at all the people who are.
Good riddance to New Zealand’s Biggest Bogans
by E. KERR McROVI, The N.Z. Gerald, Sunday 20 January 2019
You would have to wonder what this country’s Biggest Bogans were doing when they chose the New Zealand taxpayer to fund their calumny from 2008 until we gave them the arse in 2017.
Did they think we were complete saps, willing to roll over and accept their appalling anti-social and criminal behaviour? That we were too primitive and unsophisticated to galvanise ourselves into a posse of right-thinking community policemen and women? A little bit of homework would have shown that we have spectacularly good form in bringing down even highly trained criminals, far less amateurs.
But just to recap … That bunch of foul mouthed, bribe-taking, snitching, backstabbing, housing expenses-rorting, cigar smoke-blowing, hairpulling louts made headlines on a daily – nay, hourly – basis. Since award-winning journalist Nicky Hager exposed to the nation in 2014 that their leader had allowed his office to be the command centre for an illegal, secret campaign of character assassination and vilification run by the infamous and disgusting Cameron FailAll Slater, assisted incompetently and pathetically by his stumble-tongued slave Jordan Williams, this gang of reprobates ran our country’s reputation into the ground with the same lack of concern as their dirty dairy friends foul the water the rest of us used to drink and swim in.
The gang of thugs parked up at the Beehive for nine terrible years quickly drew the attention of Kiwis thanks to their filthy language and their filthy behaviour. [1] When a local woman suffering from asthma asked one of them to stop smoking a cigar in their enclosed box at a football match, the feral fellow turned particularly nasty. Instead of ceasing to smoke, he walked up to the woman and blew smoke in her face. This led to the woman’s husband nearly knocking Coleman’s brains out. [2] And thus it began.
As a result of the publicity over the cigar fracas, a number of people approached the Herald with their own horror stories of encountering the nation’s Biggest Bogans.
A man who had the great misfortune to share a flight with one of these appalling humans recounted his bad behaviour at Christchurch Airport in 2014. It was hours of misery for everyone involved, when the fattest and most unpleasant of all the Bogans bumptiously bypassed security to board a domestic flight. He was fined $2,000 for that bit of idiocy. [3]
Next, a young waitress from Parnell came forward to complain about the leader of the Unruly Gang. She recognised the lout from his many appearances in the media and told how he and his people had come to her cafe and repeatedly pulled her hair while his wife just watched. [4]
Another of these antisocial and repulsive pests was caught by one of our leading artists in the act of befouling our waterways, along with his horrid dirty dairying amigos. [5]
This Unruly, Unholy Mob had no idea just how effective New Zealanders can be at monitoring aberrant behaviour. Those of us who are honest will remember that the gangsters who ran that vicious and secret campaign of character assassination from Wonky John’s office were exposed not by this country’s counter espionage agents or even our investigative police officers. The hapless bumbling tossers in charge of the operation were exposed thanks to a concerned computer expert (“Rawshark”) who had clocked a number of odd incidents and reported them to the renowned journalist Nicky Hager.
So this group of professional louts never had a chance of slipping under the radar. The reaction to these no-hopers was an excellent example of what can happen when we work together.
[1] https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/l/f/i/z/s/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.1240×700.1lfi0o.png/1504501119377.jpg
[2] https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10413574
[3] https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/63297518/null
[4] https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/67949918/null
[5] https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/l/f/i/z/s/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.1240×700.1lfi0o.png/1504501119377.jpg
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12192586
Spoke to my m8 yesterday who’s grandfather played for Liverpool, about the Liverpudlian gypsies touring New Zealand he reckons they are Northern Ireland protestants one of the worst breed of people on the planet.
Who’s your mate’s grandfather, Tamati?
just wonderful..Morrissey.’👌
‘ That bunch of foul mouthed, bribe-taking, snitching, backstabbing, housing expenses-rorting, cigar smoke-blowing, hairpulling louts made headlines on a daily – nay, hourly – basis. Since award-winning journalist Nicky Hager exposed to the nation in 2014 that their leader had allowed his office to be the command centre for an illegal, secret campaign of character assassination and vilification run by the infamous and disgusting Cameron FailAll Slater, assisted incompetently and pathetically by his stumble-tongued slave Jordan Williams, this gang of reprobates ran our country’s reputation into the ground with the same lack of concern as their dirty dairy friends foul the water the rest of us used to drink and swim in.’
Wow that’s a mouth full but 100% correct.
Worse than the “Unruly Tourists” are these Yobs taunting them in Hamilton
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12191765
M8’s name is Murphy not sure what his grandfather’s name was but I will ask him the next time I talk to him and let you know, probably feeding me B/S, never thought to ask.
Thanks Tamati. Let us know!
Thread.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1086759055127924739.html
Kia ora the am show There you go duncan kicking the poor vulnerable people.
Its a lollie scramble in the house building boom in Taungara that’s the capitalist way charge what ever one can get from the buyer.???????????????????????????????.
simon you way of running the country into the ground look at what has happened hundreds of people under the bridge and you spout about they way shonky run the country. national sold half of the power companys and in just 5 years the money raised buy the sales of those crown jewels has been losted in capital gain’s and dividend’s a gift to their wealthy share market m8 of 5 billion tipcal national kick the poor vulnerable people.
Alcohol related death’s in NZ IS 600 to 1000 how many die from weed can not find any from consumeing it enough said.
Jason its quite hot in Australia at the minute can cook a egg on the bonnet of a car and your prime minister wants to build more coal power plants that burns heaps of carbon and use heaps of WATER.
I say Michael Mosley diet will be good .Drop the sugar and have porridge in the morning is a good way to to stop the hunger pangs and lose weight it makes the body work to digets it to .
The biggest hitts the tax system’s get is fraud that comes from the white collar crime there was a figure of $1 billion in the media .Goverments and council’s fraud. I say that figure is the tip of the Iceburg.
Global warming it the biggest threat enough said Ka kite ano P.S Mahi ki hoariri
Unequal income distribution is what causes a lot of our society problems health crime slow economy low education levels also Unequal income affects Wahine the people whom raise our tamariki the most .
How unequal is New Zealand?
In New Zealand, income (and probably wealth) was being shared out more and more evenly from the 1950s up until the 1980s – but for the next two decades we had the developed world’s biggest increase in income inequality.
As the graph (at left) shows, in that time, the average income of someone in the richest 1% has doubled, from just under $200,000 to nearly $400,000 (adjusting for inflation). In contrast, the average disposable income for someone in the poorest 10% is only slightly higher than it was in the 1980s. (More details and the source of this graph can be found in Wealth and New Zealand, published by BWB.) That means many New Zealanders struggle to pay their bills and lead a decent life.
Another way to put it is that someone in the richest 10% used to earn five times as much as someone in the poorest 10%; now they earn eight times as much.
Wealth is also very largely in the hands of a few. As the graph (below) shows, in New Zealand the wealthiest tenth own nearly a fifth of the country’s net worth, while the poorest half of the country has less than 5 per cent. That leaves many people in poverty, lacking the resources they need to participate in society and follow their dreams. (Again, further details are available in Wealth and New Zealand.)
What is the connection with poverty?
Inequality connects both ends of the spectrum, wealth and poverty, and argues that they have to be looked at together. The fundamental issue is distribution: how are the economy and society structured, and where do they deliver their rewards?
In other words, poverty doesn’t exist in isolation: people are poor, in part, because the economy directs much of the country’s resources to those who are already doing well. For instance, within a company, pay for ordinary staff can be low because so much of the company’s income goes to senior management and shareholders.
Wealth and poverty can’t be separated.Polling shows New Zealanders have consistently rated inequality as the single biggest issue facing the country since 2014. Over 80 per cent of the country say they are concerned or very concerned about income and wealth imbalances. Internationally, all the world’s major economic bodies – including the IMF, the OECD and the World Bank – have argued for some time that inequality is a major problem and must be addressed. Ka kite ano links below
http://www.inequality.org.nz/understand/
Here you go the goverments don’t mesure the % of income that the people pay and in the poor peoples case with gst at 15 % we the poor pay the higest % of taxs to income ratio. And the rulers wonder why MAORI are so upset with OUR lot this system is dishing us up Ana to kai
Do the rich really pay the most in tax?
The rich don’t really pay that much in tax – and to the extent that they do, it’s because they get the biggest chunk of the income
The government likes to say that the richest 15% of households (those earning over $150,000) pay three-quarters of all the “net tax” .
The problem with this measure is that it isn’t really about tax. It does start with the amount of income tax paid by different groups – but it then does complicated calculations about how much those groups received in benefit payments, the accommodation supplement, paid parental leave and Working for Families. Those figures are subtracted from the amount of tax paid by each group, to arrive at a strange sort of “net financial contribution to the government’s books” measure.
More useful figures about income tax are in the graph below, which shows how much of our national income goes to each of the country’s ten income groups – and what proportion of the total tax take they contribute
None of these figures, of course, includes capital gains (income made from selling assets such as houses and shares), because we don’t for the most part either tax or record those capital gains.
If we did, since those capital gains will go largely to the richest tenth, the truth about tax in New Zealand is that the rich almost certainly pay less of their income in tax than the poor do. ka kite ano links below
http://www.inequality.org.nz/understand/rich-really-pay-tax/
You see people 4 % is what drips off the wealthy’s plates for maori to fight over and some still have the gaul to moan about what Maori/minority cultures get from the system . TIMES ARE GOING TO CHANGE.
Eco Maori say mandatory voting is what is need to get a fair representation for all Kiwis at the minute the pollies are to scared to tackle the big issues that will upset the retired babyboomers whom 98% vote . If everyone votes the politicians will listen to the poor people more.
Why do you need mandatory voting? Can’t you convince people to vote just be explaining how it benefits them?
Kia ora Newshub Some of those Wai falls around Auckland has some old Maori history.
House prices are expensive in Aotearoa at the minute all part of shonkys plan.
I saw that video of that old Native American that was being taunted by that boy so disrespectful those young people are Alot of people are disrespectful these days the old fella was a War veteran to. Public expenses in Aotearoa was one of the lowest in the world so was our grocery prices low as compared to the rest of the World 10 years ago.
If the trees are dangerous ie fall over in bad weather they should be felled but one would think the council would follow dew process after all they set the examples.
That was lucky that no one was hurt in that bombing in Ireland I smell something.
The Orca video under the artic ice is really cool see those Orca have smaller dorsal fins than the ones around NZ. I did not see much publicity on the marine sanctuary being set up around the Ross Sea??????????.
Ka kite ano.
Kia ora Newshub it’s good for our farmers that Jacinda has got a export deal with Britain I still say Britain should stay with the European Union. As for the Air forces Gropper its the same as the roast busters the state white coller people bending the laws to protect there m8. That’s why there is a status of limitations LAW to protect government people from getting held accountable for all the cheating they did while in power.A new government find there dirty deeds cannot litigate against the cheats. The man made drug problem the pills what ever man made drug problem is here and now because the state spent all its resources farcicaly fighting weed that is practically harmless when compared factual with other forms of drugs and ignore these other drugs that has killed many people shonkys the ring leader is the ring leader. duncan your a alt right red neck who thinks a Wahine place is behind a MAN your views change like your underwear. Like I have said the world’s laws are made to protect the ruling classes and hammer the poor people that’s a fact. I have all read put a post up about the gropper ropper CASE.
I won’t wait for shonky who should be hiding under a rock after the Big mess he has made of Atoearoa. Ka kite ano P.S to busy with our Mokopunas
Yea wealth is OK so long as shonky doesn’t have control of it and give it to the few while the many have to struggle to survive its OK if wealth is shared it is well documented that a equal society is much happier and healthier when your share the lollipops I get it wealthy people get a logical block from their $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. Quite a common phenomenon around Papatuanukue that has caused all the ills of Papatuanukue don’t worry common people money is going to be a thing of the past we will have a currency that has a consciousness connection to it any cheating people will go broke. Ana to kai Ka kite ano
There you go shonky is a alt right trump supporter trump is ripping of the poor common people like shonky did and giving it to his rich m8 bullshiting about trumps popularity in America Ana to kai Ka kite ano
Kia ora Newshub It’s cool Jamie Lee Ross is OK more drama for national I see one of their biggest spin doctors is not in good shape.
A tree falling on people picnicking at the shot over river condolences to the people who were involved in the incident Tawhirirmate is a powerful force.
Jacinda is determined to keep Aotearoa exporters to Britain in the good tradition trading partners Ka pai.
Aotearoa is a haven but trying to sail hear in over loaded unsafe boat is a risk to great to make we get some big seas here in the Pacific.
national flogging the same horse weed benefit bashing sorry they won’t get anyone attention but there 25 %core voters 65 % of kiwis support weed laws reforms only fools and horses /bridges.
We seen The Marama /Moon last night at the Farm she was showing off her beauty.
That was awesome that lady Lee had her treasure returned to that were stolen she looked wrapped she was lucky the boys who found them found her Ka kite ano