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6:00 am, May 20th, 2021 - 52 comments
Categories: open mike -
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It's budget day. Should be interesting though Grant cant please everyone.
He only has one person to please, himself. The rest will have to do with what ever they get.
I doubt that dear Grant gives a dime about pleasing 'us' the people.
Good point , theres never any pleasing you
I like quality over quantity, but then others are pleased about everything and nothing at the same time.
Sabine
Apparently benefits are on the way up. Not too sure by how much though.
I guess we will see.
57 NZD over the next three years for those on the Unemployment Benefit.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/05/carmel-sepuloni-promises-massive-boost-to-jobseeker-benefit-but-won-t-say-when.html
btw, that ‘target’ was an increase demanded by the Welfare Expert Advisory Group set in 2019 and as a full immediate increase.
So they are already two years behind, and per this announcement think it will take three years to roll out. But i guess it passes at doing something at some stage.
and last, if this increase is on the main benefit, pretty much any other fringe benefit will go down and some people will probably be worse off. Details, Details.
Gee, reading your posts , it seems your not a very grateful person?
R u comfortable where u are in life?
[your approved user name is Bob, so please use this if you want your comments to go through]
I don't have to be grateful. I am not on a benefit. 🙂
and as i said, better late then never
Mike Hockskin is leaving. Yay!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/mike-hosking-progressive-politics-in-new-zealand-is-on-borrowed-time/O54WFNDQ3EIH522RFCQ3XQJRYA/
Haere ra Mike!
Mikes leaving for Oz. What did Muldoon say about raising the IQ of both nations.
if mike does leave it will one of Labours greatest achievements.
They will love him over there. He might even get his own show in Sky News Australia
His right-wing narcissist precursor Paul Henry didn't do so well over there I recall. Aussies' superior mental toughness means they have no time for vain puffballs with an unconcealed agenda.
You mean like Alan Jones?
Or Andrew Bolt?
Posturing…probably his contract negotiations are coming up and as a 53 yr old trying to pretend hes 33 doesnt have a lot bargaining chips left
And they have a new hire for the Wellington ZB breakfast show and christchurch cant be far behind
I wouldn't say he "doesn't have a lot of bargaining chips left?".
If the statistics are correct, love him or hate him, I think he has the highest rating breakfast show in NZ.
Highest rating commercial breakfast radio show. Whether most listeners tune in for him, would be happy with some other generic dickhead, or are primarily interested in the actual news is also an interesting question.
Paul Henry found that one out the hard way.
Here is a voice rarely heard in western media…an Hamas official from the legally elected representatives of the Palestinian people the Hamas party…. Dr. Basem Naim who heads of the Council on International Relations in Gaza for Hamas, and former head of Gaza's Health Ministry.
No wait you forget, Biden/Harris are the lesser of two evils…oh that's right I forgot, that is a position we can only take from our safe living rooms, because USA is not an active terrorist in their relationship with our country as they are with so many countries all round this world of ours..including of course the terrorized Palestinian people…….and then just two days ago, this big fuck you with the middle finger well and truly waving in the worlds face to peace in the Middle East by way of the lesser of two evils Democratic Party this outrage…..
Biden administration approved $735 million arms sale to Israel
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/biden-administration-approved-735-million-arms-sale-israel-sources-2021-05-17/
….and most of the worlds western governments/media have the fucking gall to target Hamas as a terrorist organization!!!
Yup agree selling precision guided munitions to Israel at this time is about as tone deaf as it gets.
In this great contest between caring about people and caring about profit the winner is…..PROFIT (of all sorts not just money, power etc.) It just makes sense – money and profit are the measures that chop clean-edged through all other agitations to a clear decision. /sarc
I have heard Hamas officials say this many times.
I recall one Hamas official saying, "We don't care what you call the country, Israel or Palestine, or whatever. We just want equal rights, including the right of return for all those Palestinians expelled by Israel in 1948 and since.
And we will never give up this demand.
Because of this principled stand by Hamas, Israeli officials have accused Hamas of wanting the destruction of Israel as a Jewish state and so therefore a terrorist organisation.
From that blinkered point of view, Hamas demand for the right of return, (A right by the way enjoyed by any person of the Jewish faith), would of course mean the end of the state of Israel as an ethno-religious apartheid state with separate laws that discrimate on race and religion.
(Under pressure from Israel and the US, the P.A., Palestinian Authority, which rules in the West Bank has officially dropped the demand for the right of return.
As reward for turning their backs on the millions of Palestinian refugees, the PA which is the inheritor of the PLO, was taken off the US terrorist list, and given limited autonomy in the West Bank, in part collaboration with the Isreli occupier)
It might also might be worth mentioning here that Hamas as well as being the democatically elected government of Gaza, also carried the democratic vote in the Westbank, but the result was overturned by the PA
When Biden says he is having discussions with both sides. He means Israel and the PA.
Hama as a designated ‘terrorist organisation’ is not included.
This bad faith bargaining is no recipe for de-escalation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Palestinian_legislative_election
Love to know who convinced Cabinet against expert advice to vaccinate the highest-risk ethnic groups younger. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/covid-19-coronavirus-govt-rejected-expert-advice-to-vaccinate-160000-maori-and-pasifika-earlier/56FWQAES2P5W4LNN2X66FPCXMU/
I guess we only have so many doses in t he country currently and its Triage time.
Did anyone else hear the lady who commutes regularly on the new Hamilton-Auckland train being interviewed on Jesse Mulligan's show (RNZ) just before 2pm yesterday?
She loved the service and said it was much more relaxing than driving. She also said it was running at 80% plus capacity. Ye of little faith in these columns.
Given this success the next move is obviously more Hamilton-Auckland train services and a better/faster section into central Auckland.
(apologies if somebody posted similar yesterday)
Good to hear. A lot of people can't cope with anything that doesn't solve 95% of problems in one application. Perhaps delivered by cleanser Handy Andy, et al (I don't have a particular al in mind).
I guess you are talki ng about this one? Frances Cook?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018796114/te-huia-train-service-on-track
Any train is better then a car. That does not mean people can't voice their objections or fears considering how public transport is treated in NZ.
And considering that public transport is often set up to fail or to be run on a minimum, i think it is ok for people to be apprehensive of this in the long term to be again to little too late and not enough after that.
So lets see next year.
and there is reason to be 'apprehensive' :
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/ldr/441720/doubt-raised-about-sustainable-house-scheme-in-waikato
Yes that is the one Sabine-thanks.
I don't think this service has been set up to fail-it is an excellent first step; may there be many more.
I hope that you are correct. I would love trains to go everywhere. I love them. But i can see rates not being a good way to finance – even part finance – a public utility.
And i can see rates increases for that to be a point of contention in the future.
When you get tired of political double-speak here is someone who goes on and on about things we might like to know, unlike pollies.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnR5k8Kdxls
This is Who are the hoi polloi which is announced with – Google makes us all seem clever. As he rambles on with general facts and informed comment on them, it is very restful even quite funny. It is good for a mind break, and a switch from listening to people who are always trying to impress us with, they know best, while we try to get our poor minds to understand the latest panacea.
Who dat?
Gordon Campbell on Scoop has a piece on the times of the future Governor-General and how that will encompass the change to the UK throne from Queen Elizabeth to the reign of her deeply uncharismatic son.
I don't think he is at all. Naturally different because of his age. He seems a pleasant man who has an interest in organics and managing his estate well. And has a settled life with his wife after big trauma. Gordon says he is 'deeply' uncharismatic. Could it be that Gordon is still in allegiance to the past beautiful woman?
but but William!!!!!! 🙂
Let Charles have a go first I think.
i think he would not be bad, to be honest.
In a rare moment of weakness, I watched the 6pm news.
There was an item about the sanctions beneficiaries face if they do not turn up at court. It featured footage of Ardern getting stuck in to Bennett about the injustice.
Best part of 1 and a half terms later no change in this punitive stance. Sepuloni had a sound bite along the lines of when in power, there are lots of things to do…
it's so hard to understand this from Labour.
The only thing I find difficult to understand is that so many on the left seem to be surprised. Did they really expect anything different?
Lol, that didn’t age well
My assumption would be it would be unlawful to provide funds,that would enable a miscreant with a warrant for arrest(for not attending court) to evade capture.
Far better for some miscreant to have a few extra crumbs than a provider go without because of sone legitimate reason for not attending.
The point was well made that it is children that beat the brunt of this heartless, indiscriminate policy.
Especially after seeing the footage of an impassioned Ardern 'giving' it to Bennett in the (largely empty) House.
Why? Honestly Weka?
Hopefully its removal is part of this work "Continuing to remove ineffective sanctions that negatively impact individuals and families. We have already started this by removing the harmful section 192 sanction which punished women for not naming the other parent of their child, and we will remove the subsequent child policy in 2021 to ensure parents are not penalised for having an additional child while on a benefit"
https://drive.google.com/file/d/13uhcVrn8HUXEoWoPQgkJYjHX_d_Za-O0/view
Oh blah. Have to run it past roly-poly genial Robertson first I suppose.
And this failure – to adjust tax rates. People tend to forget most of us pay 15% on most things we trade in or services, as well as income tax, (also beneficiaries pay some income tax on their benefits). I note that the IRD is calling the winter heating payments, a wage or some word, that sounds as if they want to tax it though the official gummint has said it's not taxable.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018795948/shaking-up-the-tax-system-in-this-year-s-budget
Average income earners are paying more tax than 12 years ago because thresholds have not been adjusted, a tax specialist says.
Terry Baucher has just written a piece for The Spinoff arguing that our tax system is "broken".
The tax thresholds were last set in October 2008, Baucher told Jesse Mulligan.
Good on Terry if he has written a full informative piece. I haven't time to read it – have forms to fill out for some services with personal information that could end up on the web through some hacker. The web is soooo efficient, we mere mortals in authority can't be bothered to even speak to us and we don't speak to our friends, too busy looking at our hand-held portals to the world.
oh boy.
when technology so runs your world that you can't even pay your staff without it.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/125190923/waikato-dhb-staff-members-go-unpaid-as-cyber-attack-woes-continue
OK, gonna spoil a joke for all the freeze peach advocates here who reckon there's no right to protection from being offended by speech.
The racist who was filmed being racist in a store during the Christmas break? Cops cranked the wheel of justice slowly, but she's made a court appearance.
(my emphasis).
Section 4 of the summary Offenses Act was last amended in 1998, to adjust the value of the fine. Another subsecton includes the word "offence".
Looks like causing offence and insulting people in public has been illegal for decades, with no inexorable slide into woke dictatorship.
Great to see that anti-worker a-hole CEO Gibson resigning from Ports of Auckland.
No idea why Michael Barnett is so butthurt, unless it's just reflexive class loyalty.