Do you not think perhaps we might have the (failed) system we do because everyone is so negative about new approaches?
The author has spent time in the system, she’s observed and identified what she thought were many of the problems with our penal and justice system and she’s offered a possible solution. Her views were expressed in the timing & context of a new Goverment claiming a desire to reform the penal system.
You immediately leap to knock it down without even trying to critique it.
Though this isn’t a new approach, many kiwis believe prisoners are already helped into work and are provided with a support network during time in prison. The fact that outside organisations are left to do this work should be telling us something.
I have no doubt this org does great work, but there is no mention that prison might not be the best place to start a rehabilitation program. Women are currently housed in men’s prisons because the system is overloaded and they are separated from their families too, and those are just a couple of issues that spring to mind…
Let’s catch Mike Hosking out in a lazy lie, shall we?
Right wing lie: “…. As a kid who grew up in the 1970s and had holidays (note the plural – Sanc) stalled because of the pre-determined Cook Strait ferry action, it was part of the social landscape of my formative years…”
Now some facts:
According to the NZ History website:
“…Between 1986 to 1991 only 378 out of 21,654 sailings were cancelled because of industrial action. ..”
How many of those 76 sailings were during a holiday period? Is the more imporatant percentage. For strike action to be effective it generally has to be disruptive.
“Several times between 1971 and 1983 the government launched ‘Operation Pluto’, using state domestic airline and air force planes to fly passengers and cars between Wellington and Blenheim during prolonged industrial disputes.”
Some kid had his holiday in the ’70s disrupted and he turns out to have the mindset/outlook of Hosking in 2018. Now there’s scope for some deep psychological research.
They did have a habit of timing their strikes for holiday periods. Those cancelled sailings might seem few but IIRC they were often at the most inconvenient times for people. They weren’t very popular.
As with today’s employers mindset, stall, stall, stall, delay, deflect and lie until the employee’s and their representatives have no other option but to take action. And quite often the employers got very bolshy right about holiday time to inflict the worst impact on the general public so as to shine negatively on workers (bit like the holidaying folks themselves) standing up for their rights.
While i don’t want to be seen to be defending Hosking, how does this catch him out in a lie? He said “as a kid who grew up in the 1970s” so your figures starting in 1986, when he was 21, are meaningless.
I’m only a couple of years younger and i can remember that ferry strikes were a regular thing at holiday times. The site you link to states:
Either way, industrial relations between management and unions were not always good, especially in the 1970s. … Several times between 1971 and 1983 the government launched ‘Operation Pluto’, using state domestic airline and air force planes to fly passengers and cars between Wellington and Blenheim during prolonged industrial disputes.
That really is a bullshit site, saying that the 70s were worst but then quoting figures for the 80s only.
Re Mike Hoskings missing out on holidays in the 70’s……………cry me a river………boo hoo not. He needs to go and visit families living in cars or mouldy houses and then he would have some genuine grievance (on their behalf) and of course one of the strands in the rope that has led us to our current situation re housing and poverty is the barbaric labour relations laws and the fact that we pay such a useless waste of space (Hoskings) so much money while others get so little.
“In 1923, jockey Frank Hayes won a race at Belmont Park in New York despite being dead — he suffered a heart attack mid-race, but his body stayed in the saddle until his horse crossed the line for a 20–1 outsider victory.”
and that is just about as relevant as the facts you are quoting trying to catch Hosking out in a lie.
Leave Sanctuary alone.
He has realised he screwed up with his yarn and has returned to this site and made a most fulsome apology to both Hosking and the readers of this blog.
He has completely accepted that he was wrong.
Well, I’m sure he means to do it when he has a bit of time.
Or not.
The potential exists, but not the discipline to realise it.
The Korean government makes PPPs reasonably frequently. Private companies that don’t meet spec get restructured. If they’re lucky.
Consider the lax treatment of P testing fraudsters. These people made a lucrative business from pretending to expertise they did not possess. Other fraudsters face more substantial punishment.
A minor party could honestly say, “If we were the dominant party, we’d…” as it is, the smaller players can’t really claim much at all, other than to say they’d stay as true to their principles and claims as possible.
As possible.
That’s why I like The Greens.
Although there is some truth to that, we on the left are less tolerant of liars in general.
If Labour cannot make a credible show of trying to keep their promises, they won’t just lose the election, they’ll be out for three or more terms, till conspicuous liars retire.
What’s more, the Key Kleptocracy went much further in normalizing dishonesty in power than has been conventional in NZ.
There are promises that circumstances force politicians to break – and there is flagrant and unrepentant bullshit with no basis in reality – like everything the Gnats ever did.
1. The private sector has higher financing costs
2. The private sector seeks to extract profits from it
3. The number of people employed must be the same at the same rate
4. A government MoW can buy in far greater bulk and thus get far better economies of scale
Getting the private sector to do government services costs more and we get less. Privatisation was nothing more than a way to increase the bludging capability of the rich on the poor.
The problem with something like the railways was that, as a monopoly, well lets just say that they didn’t have a reputation for customer service or proper handling of good and that the MOW (and others) became dumping grounds and were used to hide true unemployment figures
Having said that the social costs may actually be greater than the monetary costs (thanks Labour) so as i said previously I wouldn’t mind seeing a limited return of the MOW, maybe to handle large scale works
The problem with something like the railways was that, as a monopoly, well lets just say that they didn’t have a reputation for customer service or proper handling of good and that the MOW (and others) became dumping grounds and were used to hide true unemployment figures
Which is just the BS that the privatisers told everyone.
I’m not saying that the system was perfect but the accusations were based solely upon anecdote. One person in the right place and the right job and suddenly everyone who works for the government is tarred as being scum in the MSM.
And a large part of the reason why I say that out telecommunications are ten years behind where they should be is because of the thousands of people made redundant from Telecom after the sale. Those thousands of people represent the work that hasn’t been done.
To get one installed would take a couple of days to a few weeks depending upon where you were and the work that needed to be done. To connect a phone required sending someone around to the exchange to connect it and sending someone out to the house to connect it there as well which would take a few days as the labour got organised. If you were somewhere which didn’t have a phone line at all (and there were still many such places) then it would take weeks as we organised running several kilometres of line.
Part of the problem here was that the MSM would ring up the PO and ask how long to get a phone connected. The PO would then call the local PO communications branch (The two were actually separate entities) and get the standard reply of one month to six weeks. This, of course, had a built in fudge factor due to the high labour intensity and the fact that shit happpens.
I also worked for Telecom in the 2000s where I learned that in some places it would take months or longer to get ADSL connected. This despite the fact that we started running fibre out to the cabinet in the 1980s. That latter bit got stopped when Telecom got sold.
So, after decades of experience in the Real World I can assure you that things have actually got worse since the sale of Telecom. We get less and it costs more.
No it’s not. Why would you even want to own a phone?
A few weeks to get a phone line installed whereas now you can get any electrician to do the job
There’s more to installing a phone than just the house wiring. You can’t get the electrician to run the cable from the exchange and if you don’t have that then it could take weeks, months or even not happen at all as rural farmers are now finding out.
Things have gotten better as now if you don’t want Telecom you can go elsewhere
?
And that choice cost you more without any added benefits.
“No it’s not. Why would you even want to own a phone?”
– Handy if the mobile network goes down plus for a lot of people of the last 30 odd years its been their main form of communication
“You can’t get the electrician to run the cable from the exchange and if you don’t have that then it could take weeks, months or even not happen at all as rural farmers are now finding out.”
– Unfortunately that’s, to me, of part of the deal in living rurally
“And that choice cost you more without any added benefits.”
– Personally speaking I pay less money for more services then i ever have
Handy if the mobile network goes down plus for a lot of people of the last 30 odd years its been their main form of communication
If the mobile network goes down then the phone still isn’t going to work even if you own it.
Unfortunately that’s, to me, of part of the deal in living rurally
But it wouldn’t be if telecommunications were still a state service.
Personally speaking I pay less money for more services then i ever have
I doubt that you’re doing a proper comparison or even have the slightest idea as to how privatisation has made things more expensive for you. Take that owning the phone that you’re so concerned about.
My present mobile phone is a couple of years old but it was actually released back in 2014. It’s updated to Android 7.1.1 but it’s never going to update Android 8. This means to say that it’s going to become a security threat to the entire network in the near future if it isn’t already one. To counter this threat a state phone service simply send me a new one in the mail but as I own it it means that I have to buy a new one. The phone is actually quite a good one and will last me several more years – years of being a security threat which is going to add more costs to maintaining the network and those added costs get placed on to you.
Then there’s the profit of course. Profit costs a huge amount in work that’s delayed or simply not done so that the bludging shareholders can have more for nothing.
And added competition costs more too. More bureaucracy to pay for, more network infrastructure that’s simply not needed and, of course, more bank interest and profits to pay for as well.
It all adds up and costs you far more than what you should be paying.
I appreciate the effort but you’ll never convince me that communism is the answer, unless the question is what is a form of government should we never try
I had several phones in under the old system – same day was the rule, the next day was the longest. And one of those was on Stewart Is. Telecom did not improve service in any way shape or form – the only reason it was the only successful privatization was technology developed elsewhere grew the market, and incompetent governments failed to break up their monopoly so they screwed consumers.
But business customers in particular wanted more sophisticated telephone services which were available internationally, and households were often frustrated by the time it took to get a telephone.
Toll prices came down by 60% between 1987 and 1992. After 1987 anyone in New Zealand could wire up, repair or sell telecommunications equipment, though Telecom New Zealand maintained firm control over access to the network.
But business customers in particular wanted more sophisticated telephone services which were available internationally, and households were often frustrated by the time it took to get a telephone.
Which is actually a load of bollocks.
To get those more sophisticated telephone services required newer exchanges. We were putting them in as fast as possible but doing takes time and money – both of which was in short supply. And by the 1980s most phones were installed in a short time. The cables an exchanges could handle it.
Toll prices came down by 60% between 1987 and 1992. After 1987 anyone in New Zealand could wire up, repair or sell telecommunications equipment, though Telecom New Zealand maintained firm control over access to the network.
I’m always surprised by people who declaim the benefits of the market then complain about the market operating as expected. This leads me to think that these morons don’t actually know what the pricing system is for.
The pricing system in the market is to restrict use of limited resources.
If there’s only 50 lines going between Auckland and Wellington then you don’t actually want 51 people making calls and you can’t tell people don’t make calls and so you make the price high it so that people only make calls if they really, really need to.
With the fibre roll out in the 1980s those sorts of restrictions declined and so toll prices dropped. Simple market action.
Yep, it was technology that dropped prices – not the commercialisation and privatisation of Telecom.
I also remember going round to one of those houses that the electrician wired up – and cutting them off and blacklisting them. The idiot electrician had run the phone wires with the electrical wires and there was 75 volts of induced power in the house wiring which was causing havoc in the exchange. Would be interesting to know how much that idiot ended up costing his customers before he got it right.
“to buy a phone”
You must be much younger than I am. When it was the New Zealand Post office that supplied the services you certainly weren’t allowed to connect your own phone to their lines. You had to use the phone they supplied. Mostly they were great big black clunkers.
It cost you more to rent a phone in a different colour.
Those were the days.
When I was first married and trying to get a phone in Wellington it took me about 5 months to get the phone connected. Even then I only got it after being screwed around for that long because I complained to the Minister about his departments stuff-ups.
Privatisation made the service much, much better.
When I was first married and trying to get a phone in Wellington it took me about 5 months to get the phone connected. Even then I only got it after being screwed around for that long because I complained to the Minister about his departments stuff-ups.
Probably didn’t have cables running past you place or they were already at capacity. In other words, you’re complaining about physical reality and the time it takes to physically run several kilometres of cable to your place.
“Oh, come on – the type 100 s weren’t that bad.”
They were just a dream for the future.
I was talking about 1968 when they were rotary dialling. The ones you illustrate were something out of Science Fiction.
It was even older than this one. This illustration is much smaller than the one I was supplied with. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New_Zealand_Rotary_Telephone.jpg
Actually this link confirms my memory that it wasn’t until Telecom was started that you could use your own phone.
There were cables available and they weren’t at capacity.
The bloody Post Office kept losing track of the paperwork. The claimed, twice, that I hadn’t paid the deposit and that the time to get connected would have to restart from the date I proved that I really had paid them and I had a receipt. After the second case of this, when they told me it would now be a further 3 months, I wrote a letter of complaint to the Minister, and sent a copy to the Post Office Director General.
They would have got the letters on a Monday. I came home on Tuesday to find that the PO had turned up to install the phone and on Wednesday the phone went in. Then on the Thursday I received a letter from the Cabinet Minister saying he had instructed the Department to sort it out. I thought that really deserved a thank you and sent him one. From 3 months down to a couple of days.
I think Fibre’s even worse. I’ve been waiting since November for an install advertised as “in a couple of days”. Current promise is now sometime in July. Chorus – a screaming joke of a company only surviving through want of competition.
The article challenges narratives of the success of UK rail privatisation using accounting data from Network Rail and private train operating companies.
Large government subsidies channelled through Network Rail have radically changed the appearance of railway finances.
Lower track access charges levied by Network Rail have artificially inflated train operator profits, generating returns for the taxpayer and the illusion of financial self-sufficiency.
This accounting fix has bolstered claims that rail privatisation has been a financial success.
Abstract
This article accounts for the British experiment with rail privatisation and how it has worked out economically and politically. The focus is not simply on profitability and public subsidy, but on the appearances which accounting arrangements create. The article scrutinises the Network Rail subsidy regime, which enables train operators to achieve fictitious profitability without increased direct state support. This enables supporters of privatisation to claim train operators produce a net gain for the British taxpayer. The claim forms the heart of a trade narrative which is employed by the industry and their political backers to deflect criticism and stymy reform.
Railways was of course not a PPP – it was a government organisation. I suspect that the featherbedding has been overstated – certainly there were some fficienciess that were overdue, but many changes were only possible through changes in the external environment – possible more widely available and reliable telephone communications for example.
As given in Draco’s post above PPPs cost more and deliver less – and experience since 2009 when one of those was written has only emphasised that. Some PPPs are “dressed up” with lower visible costs but with the expense of long terms “maintenance” contracts that delibver ongoing p[rofits to the private company.
I was disappointed to hear that the current governmetj are using a PPP to build the new prison – the reason is however given in the 15 June Stuff article:
“During Question Time on Thursday, Associate Finance Minister David Clark said: “there is clear evidence around the Government’s prior experimentation with PPPs that they did not work. There are a number of perverse outcomes, and this Government has steered clear thus far of any such foolishness.”
When challenged on the Government’s decision to use a PPP for Waikeria, he said the decision was made because corrections – under the previous government – had already signed a $34 million PPP contract.”
If a PPP appears to make the government accounts look better, you can be fairly certain that the fault lies with the accounting system.
Exactly Draco, PPP’s a just an accountancy and corporate welfare web that delivers at least 30%+ higher a price than if the government does it themselves. Why would you use something that you know will cost 30% more, unless you are a Moran or on the take??????
“UK PFI debt now stands at over £300bn for projects with an original capital cost of £55bn”
“Conservatively estimated, the trusts appear to be paying a risk premium of about 30% of the total construction costs, just to get the hospitals built on time and to budget, a sum that considerably exceeds the evidence about past cost overruns.”
found that PPP “contracts are considerably more expensive than the cost of conventional procurement”, resulting in higher returns for the companies running the PPP’s compared to their industry peers.
While hard to compare because of the opaque nature of many contracts and large amounts of subcontracting out, it looked like the actual cost of capital of the PPP’s was 11% compared to Treasure borrowing of 4.5% i.e. 6.5% higher. This is supposed to represent the cost of risk transfer but in practice there was no risk transfer so it’s money for nothing.
“In conclusion, the road projects appear to be costing more than expected as reflected in net present costs that are higher than those identified by the Highways Agency (Haynes and Roden 1999), owing to rising traffic and contract changes. It is, however, impossible to know at this point whether or not VFM (value for money) has been or is indeed likely to be achieved because the expensive element of the service contract relates to maintenance that generally will not be required for many years.”
Overall, for both roads and hospitals they concluded there was no risk transfer and not value for money.
“The net result of all this is that while risk transfer is the central element in justifying VFM and thus PFI, our analysis shows that risk does not appear to have been transferred to the party best able to manage it. Indeed, rather than transferring risk to the private sector, in the case of roads DBFO has created additional costs and risks to the public agency, and to the public sector as a whole, through tax concessions that must increase costs to the taxpayer and/or reduce service provision. In the case of hospitals, PFI has generated extra costs to hospital users, both staff and patients, and to the Treasury through the leakage of the capital charge element in the NHS budget. In both roads and hospitals these costs and risks are neither transparent nor quantifiable. This means that it is impossible to demonstrate whether or not VFM has been, or indeed can be, achieved in these or any other projects.
While the Government’s case rests upon value for money, including the cost of transferring risk, our research suggests that PFI may lead to a loss of benefits in kind and a redistribution of income, from the public to the corporate sector. It has boosted the construction industry, many of whose PFI subsidiaries are now the most profitable parts of their enterprises, and led to a significant expansion of the facilities management sector. But the main beneficiaries are likely to be the financial institutions whose loans are effectively underwritten by the taxpayers, as evidenced by the renegotiation of the Royal Armouries PFI (NAO 2001a).”
Inspiration struck me while i was in the shower, lathering myself up and thinking of Jude
Inspiration in the form of song…I think its pretty good, I call it:
She’s like the wind
She’s like the wind through my tree
She rides the night next to me
She leads me through moonlight
Only to burn me with the sun
She’s taken my heart
But she doesn’t know what she’s done
Feel her breath on my face
Her body close to me
Can’t look in her eyes
She’s out of my league
Just a fool to believe
I have anything she needs
She’s like the wind
I look in the mirror and all I see
Is a young old man with only a dream
Am I just fooling myself
That she’ll stop the pain
Living without her
I’d go insane
Feel her breath on my face
Her body close to me
Can’t look in her eyes
She’s out of my league
Just a fool to believe
I have anything she needs
She’s like the wind
Feel your breath in my face
Your body close to me
Can’t look in your eyes
You’re out of my league
Just a fool to believe
(Just a fool to believe) she’s like the wind
Just a fool to believe (just a fool to believe)
She’s like the wind (just a fool to believe)
Just a fool to believe (just a fool to believe)
She’s like the wind
Just a fool to believe (just a fool to believe)
She’s like the wind
Just a fool
She’s like the wind
She’s like the wind
Just a fool
She’s like the wind, just a fool
She’s like the wind through my tree
She rides the night next to me
She leads me through moonlight
Only to burn me with the sun
She’s taken my heart
But she doesn’t know what she’s done
Feel her breath on my face
Her body close to me
Can’t look in her eyes
She’s out of my league
Just a fool to believe
I have anything she needs
She’s like the wind
I look in the mirror and all I see
Is a young old man with only a dream
Am I just fooling myself
That she’ll stop the pain
Living without her
I’d go insane
Feel her breath on my face
Her body close to me
Can’t look in her eyes
She’s out of my league
Just a fool to believe
I have anything she needs
She’s like the wind
Feel your breath in my face
Your body close to me
Can’t look in your eyes
You’re out of my league
Just a fool to believe (just a fool to believe)
She’s like the wind (just a fool to believe)
Just a fool to believe (just a fool to believe)
She’s like the wind
Just a fool to believe (just a fool to believe)
She’s like the wind
Just a fool
She’s like the wind
She’s like the wind
Just a fool
She’s like the wind, just a fool
The lawsuit is sub judice so I can’t talk about it specifically but just to let you know I’ve had enough of every other person taking credit for my work and it ends here
And I heard from a reliable source that “Three Blind Mice” is also on the list.
The inspiration, it is said, came from the Three Wise Monkeys. Alas Zoology seems not to be his strong suit, and his interpretation of the proverb is just a wee bit askew.
“The Volga Boatmen”. I wrote a song once, to that tune, which told the history of the Russian revolution in three verses.
“When Serge and I were young we went to live in Omsk
Where we spent our time, manufacturing bombsk.
Bombsk! Bombsk! Bombsk! Bombsk! Manufacturing bombs!
When Serge and I grew up, we went to live on Murmansk
Where we spent our time, hatching revolutionary plansk.
Plansk! Plansk! Plansk! Plansk! Hatching revolutionary plansk!
When Serge and I grew old, we went to live in Ototsk
Where we spent our time foiling counter-revolutionary plotsk.
Plotsk! Plotsk! Plotsk! Plotsk! Foiling counter-revolutionary plotsk!”
Good God.
I thought that Puckish Rogue had taken some relatively normal poem and then turned it into a parody.
Now you publish the original and I would have to say that he had actually improved it. How do these poems get written and who on earth publishes them? Or reads them for that matter?
I think we should go back to the poetry of more normal times. Bring back the poems of my days at primary school.
Quinquireme of Nineveh from distant Ophir,
Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine,
With a cargo of ivory,
And apes and peacocks,
Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine.
Stately Spanish galleon coming from the Isthmus,
Dipping through the Tropics by the palm-green shores,
With a cargo of diamonds,
Emeralds, amythysts,
Topazes, and cinnamon, and gold moidores.
Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack,
Butting through the Channel in the mad March days,
With a cargo of Tyne coal,
Road-rails, pig-lead,
Firewood, iron-ware, and cheap tin trays.
Wasn’t that better. As anything else would be better than Swayze.
Or, as Mary Hopkins would have it a bit later on
“Those were the days my friend”
A MoW should do all the engineering that the government needs done. This is actually the point – the government has the scale to maintain such an entity full time.
The biggest part of the MOW’s work was in their Power Division.. Primarily they were building all the Hydro Power Stations. They wouldn’t be allowed to do that these days. The Luddites in the Green Party would oppose any new stations on the grounds that it might affect whatever stream they had just labelled “The greatest wild river in the world”.
Personally I think the South Island landscapes were greatly improved by the Hydro lakes. The Waikato River is also enhanced by the various dams that gave the scenic, and recreational lakes.
But Red Russel and his mates would be out demonstrating about any development at all. I suppose James Shaw would also arrive in his Crown Limo and his bright shiny Red Band gumboots and indulge in a bit of tut-tutting.
But they would oppose any work being done to supply people with renewable power.
The biggest part of the MOW’s work was in their Power Division.. Primarily they were building all the Hydro Power Stations. They wouldn’t be allowed to do that these days. The Luddites in the Green Party would oppose any new stations on the grounds that it might affect whatever stream they had just labelled “The greatest wild river in the world”.
The Greens would have the MoW building wind power instead (I’m personally in favour of offshore wind-farms) and installing solar (PV and water heating) on roofs around the country. Probably even a couple of geothermal stations.
But they would oppose any work being done to supply people with renewable power.
Require energy retailers to buy or generate a proportion of their sales from renewable resources.
Help district and regional councils plan for wind farm sites.
Support a programme to install solar water heating panels on government and private buildings.
Investigate the potential of woody biomass, biofuels, and energy from waves, tides and currents.
I read right through that list and failed to see, anywhere, a mention of hydro-electric power.
Just what do you have against it?
At least you, although not the Green Party apparently would allow Geothermal power.
Hydro-electric and geothermal were the things that the MOW were good at, and therefore, it seems, the things the Greens are against.
I assume that the party never put their investments into such industries. I know they invested in a New Zealand wind energy firm. That didn’t work out too well did it, in spite of them pushing its cause?
Geothermal development for industrial process heat and electricity can be sustainable under some circumstances. It must be developed with care to ensure that natural thermal features are not disrupted, and that fluids are re-injected to deep wells so that heat and fluid are not depleted. Iwi and hapū connected to the resource, and their values, must be respected. The Green Party will:
1. Support sustainable development and use of geothermal energy.
2. Facilitate iwi and hapū involvement in the development and use of geothermal energy.
F. Hydroelectricity
Hydro provides the backbone of our current electricity generation system. The Green Party does not favour further large hydro plants because:
• Our system is vulnerable to dry winters already and we need to diversify away from hydro, and
• Rivers are important habitats for wildlife and highly valued for recreation such as fishing and kayaking. We need to protect wild rivers from further development.
The Green Party supports:
1. Small hydro developments being considered on their merits, where they can be built without significant damage to ecology or public values.
2.Iwi and hapū involvement in the planning of small hydro projects, where these projects involve water resources within the rohe of the iwi or hapū.
No I didn’t. I read the piece Draco quoted.
On the other hand, after reading the section you quote I am not going to change my opinion.
There are so many qualifications in here that no development will ever take place.
“We need to protect wild rivers from further development.”
ie. No more development allowed because you simply class every river as a “wild” one, don’t you.
By the way. Just how many people really go kayaking on these “wild rivers”? I see quite a lot in Wellington Harbour but damn all on the Hutt River and I can’t remember seeing any on the Orongorongo river.
PR not quite correct there, from days gone by when working with another contractor that is well known in NZ !!! the sub contractors tender prices are incorporated pre tender calculation before being submitted to the client. No contractor would implement the process you are proposing, as the principal would be exposed to both the ability to a sub contractor to commit and the price that they would charge.
In many contracts I have been privy to, sub contractors are also included as part of the tender, so the client can weigh up different tenders and their ability to deliver.
The ability for a govt to replicate MoW is well past. The time to gear up both with a work force and gear would be too prohibitive. I will say many of those skilled construction workers working with heavy equipment, developed their trade from MoW days e.g. Grader driver, tunnelling certificate holders etc. i.e where practical tradies learnt their trades.
You comment with limited industry knowledge. pity otherwise you could add some value to the topic !!
The private sector Downer EDI Works – was MoW. Other large construction coys have had 20+ years to build up resources, equipment as the sector has grown. Where would a new MoW obtain staff from ?? More immigrants, and if so ANOTHER broken promise from our current govt. Cannibalise from existing coys.
Buy equipment ? If experienced coys as Fletchers are finding it difficult how would the govt ?
Also how would a active MoW operate under our Free Trade Agreements ?? That is why I commented that the time had past for this Min. to be replicated again. Pity as commented before, this was a great entity that gave work experience to so many and built so much of our current infrastructure. Oh to go back to 1996 and reverse that decision 🙁 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_of_Works_and_Development
so mike hoskins Born: 24 January 1965 (age 53 years)
i would guess he starts having proper memories of holidays and going away sort of around 1973 ish, give or take a year or two.
so i googled for strikes between 1974 – 1979 just for giggles and came to this
Quote: ” Either way, industrial relations between management and unions were not always good, especially in the 1970s. Railways sometimes seemed more interested in moving its own rail wagons than people.
In 1988, angered by cancelled sailings, passengers took matters into their own hands. After sleeping in the tatty old terminal and watching ferries come and go full of rail wagons while being told that there was no room for people, passengers blocked the railway line until promised higher priority for people and cars.”
snip (this is the bit posted above that does not have the correct time frame for the purists)
Several times between 1971 and 1983 the government launched ‘Operation Pluto’, using state domestic airline and air force planes to fly passengers and cars between Wellington and Blenheim during prolonged industrial disputes.
snip – to finish
Quote: Although there has not been a major strike since 1994, the editor of New Zealand Marine News chuckled at public reaction to a brief dispute in September 2003. ‘Despite this ten-year strike-free period, passengers interviewed on television complained vociferously as if such disputes were still frequent and recent.’Quote
Now did Mr. Hoskins complain about the ferries that loaded their ship with rail cars to the point were they could not take passengers up? Oh noes, that would be his paymasters. ……
Desperate attempt to get Sanctuary out of a massive hole fails.
We are undoubtedly seeing a new era of industrial problems beginning, with unions emboldened by a weak government who stoked expectations and now merrily destroys business confidence.
So what? Are you serious? Businesses employ people. They provide capital which produces profits on which taxes are paid to fund government spending. You do know that, right? You do know that governments only survive because of private enterprise? That government services, welfare systems, hospitals, schools, only exists because businesses employ people, make money and pay taxes?
The signs are already there that this government is stuffing the economy, while also managing to be incompetent in too many other areas to count.
Fifth, money would no longer siphon wealth from the working to the wealthy. As already pointed out, the kinds of individuals who gain great wealth and power in our present system are not distinguished by great intelligence, sagacity or skill, so much as by a common lack of concern for the results of their activities. The great tragedy of our civilisation, pointed out again and again by commentators of many different persuasions, is that the moral element is no longer influential. A restoration of morality in our economic and political dealings would be transformative.
‘Democracy’ was traditionally understood to be rule by the not-so-well-off, because the not-so-well-off are always in the majority. But today’s ‘democracies’ are dominated by the rich. There are some reasons for this discrepancy. First, what we like to call democracy – electoral representation – is in truth not very democratic.[65] Second, most voters are in the dark about laws and practices that favour wealth.
One of the aspects of Sovereign Money would be that rich people would become superfluous. We could, as a nation, decide where our resources are going to be used rather than leaving it to a small clique of self-aggrandising arseholes.
yeah right, try reducing business levels by say 20% in NZ and see how much the Government has available to pay nurses and teachers then.
Fine for you to expound your wonk theory but the rest of us live in the real world – if business is not producing the cake then government has nothing to slice, it is that simple.
Your Utopian communist model has never worked anywhere Draco
“According to the World Bank, more than 500 million people were lifted out of extreme poverty as China’s poverty rate fell from 88 percent in 1981 to 6.5 percent in 2012, as measured by the percentage of people living on the equivalent of US$1.90 or less per day in 2011 purchasing price parity terms”
“Since 2008, too, the proportion of people in extreme poverty population has fallen steadily, from 17.8% to just 10.8% of the global population. In 2013 alone, 114 million people were lifted out of extreme poverty.”
Addressing business leaders, he said: ‘I’m late to realising that it’s you guys, it’s the private sector, it’s commerce that’s going to take the majority of people out of extreme poverty. And, as an activist, I almost found that hard to say.’
While I can’t locate the exact link I feel reasonably secure in suggesting that industry is just as dirty, if not more so, under communism
I’d also suggest that as wealth continues to grow in a country that country will then produce more of an educated, middle class which in turn leads to greater benefits for that country
For example when western countries entered the industrial age the countryside suffered, the poor suffered, nature suffered but (a bit too slowly sure) as education has increased as has the social conscience grown with it so now more effort, and money, is spent on welfare, on conservation, on education
Same thing will happen in China, India etc etc, in fact it might even happen sooner
“Just as dirty” – well that’s okay then. I personally, am not championing Communism. I was asking you to nominate a properly implemented Capitalist model, then my aim was to show how unsuitable your best model was, in real terms (that is, not ruining the place).
I don’t think capitalism or communism has been properly implemented but if you look at the difference in NZ at the start of industrialisation to now you’ll see a massive difference, some good some bad but overall better
Same with older European countries and the same with countries like Canada or even the USA
You look at countries that are communist and its only the countries that are taking on more capitalism, like China, that’re improving the lot of their people
Sure its not scientific but when it comes down it Capitalism is the best of the current lot of choices we have or the lest worst, whatever way you want to look at it
Capitalism, far from ideal; Communism, far from ideal. I’m not especially enamoured of any of the systems on display right now, Pucky. How about a discussion that doesn’t call on those labels but instead looks at the parts of human society that do work, regardless of their table, and see if we can stitch something together that’s better than anything going?
“Generally better off”, perhaps, but still doomed (just differently). In any case, I’m betting Communism is as responsible for many of the ills that loom over us now. And almost every other ism. Some models out there though, aren’t causing these problems, I reckon.
yeah right, try reducing business levels by say 20% in NZ and see how much the Government has available to pay nurses and teachers then.
As much as it chooses. That’s one of the benefits to the government creating the nations money and spending it into the economy. It would benefit private business as well – no more interest to pay.
Fine for you to expound your wonk theory but the rest of us live in the real world – if business is not producing the cake then government has nothing to slice, it is that simple.
That is actually a lie and always has been. It’s not private that makes the wealth of a nation.
Your Utopian communist model has never worked anywhere Draco
It’s never been tried. Capitalism, on the other hand, has been and it’s always resulted in the collapse of society and now it’s pushing us to the 6th Great Extinction that may result in us being extinct.
Personal responsibility is not meant to be ME ME ME. It’s about being a responsible member of society and community as well as responsible for yourself. Corporatism shuns both society and community for profits. Legally obliged to profit and protected by law, corporate entities take more than they give by their very structure. And they will bury competition if they can. It’s the ‘free market’.
I have no problem with people acquiring wealth, especially when they work for it. But some wanker on several million per year who rides roughshod over environmental and social structures in order to profit is a fucking scumbag, not a leader.
A leader of shits, perhaps. That part that makes your bowels squirm, the sweat rises, nothing is comfortable and will no longer possibly feel ok till the situation is resolved. Scum in high places upset the whole damn works.
Anyone behind the scenes directing such antisocial activities is an abhorrent asshole, not even fronting for their own shit. The willfully ignorant who enable such activity and promote their spin are also culpable, Hosking et al fit this description.
Honest money for honest effort. Or really, fuck right off.
We don’t need to dismantle capitalism, we need to dismantle the old boys clubs.
Banks are public institutions masquerading as private businesses.
“We will be told we must lift the cap on salaries and bring back bonuses to attract the “best people”. We should reply that we’ve had the best people and we’d rather have just good ones. We will be told that huge salaries and bonuses will show the banks are getting back to normal.
We should reply that this is exactly what we’re afraid of.”
Quoting “Why we can’t afford the rich” by Andrew Sayer, Richard Wilkinson
CEOs’ pay: because they can
You have to realise: if I had been paid 50 per cent more, I would not have done it better. If I had been paid 50 per cent less, then I would not have done it worse. (Jeroen van der Veer, former Chief Executive, Royal Dutch Shell)89
OK. If I am being honest with you then yes, let’s whisper it, but the truth of the matter is that all of us are overpaid. There is nothing magical about what we do. Anybody can do it. (Allen Wheat, Chief Executive of the giant investment bank Credit Suisse First Boston, 1998)90
If you’ve made a lot of money, it’s really just a matter of keeping score. (H.L. Hunt, Texan oil millionaire)91
Our banksters don’t get the pay that they deserve but the pay that they want. A choice that normal employees don’t have.
And then there’s this:
Martin Wolf, again at the Financial Times, summarised the situation thus:
Financial systems are important servants of the economy, but poor masters. A large part of the activity of the financial sector seems to be a machine to transfer income and wealth from outsiders to insiders, while increasing the fragility of the economy as a whole.… Banks are rent-extractors – and uncompetitive ones at that.114
Wolf also asked: ‘Can we afford our financial system?’ His response was unequivocal: ‘The answer is no.’ I agree. Its wealth is not only mostly parasitic but achieved at the cost of destabilising whole economies. It’s both unjust and dysfunctional.
A curiosity is that high pay actually reduces effort.
Motivation is a complex interaction and simplistic mechanisms like CEO pay have less to do with that than with ability to coopt the value streams that properly belong to the owners.
Deci, E. L., Koestner, R., & Ryan, R. M. (1999). A Meta-Analytic Review of Experiments Examining the Effect of Extrinsic Rewards on Intrinsic Motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 125(6), 627-668.
Re Mike Hoskings missing out on holidays in the 70’s……………cry me a river………boo hoo not. He needs to go and visit families living in cars or mouldy houses and then he would have some genuine grievance (on their behalf) and of course one of the strands in the rope that has led us to our current situation re housing and poverty is the barbaric labour relations laws and the fact that we pay such a useless waste of space (Hoskings) so much money while others get so little.
HOPE SPRINGS, AR—The holy and sacrosanct miracle of birth, long revered by human civilization as the most mysterious and magical of all phenomena, took place for what experts are estimating “must be at least the 83 billionth time”
That reads, Pucky, given that the miracle is on its way, Jacinda will be comfortably in for a second term. Now, if she plays her cards right, the third will be a cinch!
And yet you’re convinced Judith has what it takes to be PM!!!
That’d be a miracle, that; Judith, feet under the PM’s desk.
(Ever read Roald Dahl’s, “The Witches”, Pucky? Always check the feet.)
“Evangelical leader Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham and a prominent Trump supporter, told the Christian Broadcasting Network last week that the practice was “disgraceful, and it’s terrible to see families ripped apart and I don’t support that one bit.”
Days later, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops condemned the practice on anti-abortion grounds.
“This decision negates decades of precedents that have provided protection to women fleeing domestic violence,” conference President Daniel Cardinal DiNardo wrote June 13. “Unless overturned, the decision will erode the capacity of asylum to save lives.””
tronald dump will be feeling the heat now – slowly rising towards him and what’s that fucken brimstone smell???
Good morning The AM Show All the best to Jacinda and Clarke with the start of the birth of their first moko. trump has buckle under the pressure of te tangata of Papatuanukue to change the policy’s on America boarders Ka pai ECO MAORI will wait and see exactly what he does before I give him credit for the changes to this unhumane policy of taking mokos from there parents.
Many thanks to the AM Show for advocating responsibilities drinking of That killer drug Alcohol. I propose that there are adverts that show te Mokopunas that there are many consequences to drinking to much alcohol one mite die end up in the hinaki / jail most people have done dumb shit while drinking alcohol get the stuff out of OUR supermarkets have bottle stores close at 9 pm many ideas to make axcess to alcohol harder.
It looks like dancing with the stars is just a show that is used to premote the political act party the last time the show ran it promoted rodney hide he’s retired from politics now and this show its all about david seenothing /seymour that’s what I see.
Duncan you have seen for yourself what happened when people put bullshit spinning out about you.
Ka kite ano
Here you go this is the attitude /racial discrimination some have for tangata whenua of Atoearoa. The word BRO discription in the oxford nz dictionary its shocking and Maori culture tangata deserve a apologie over this other forum of suppression of Maori. I get pissed off when some people use the word BRO as a joke they manly white people think Maori people are to dumb to pick up there smart ass put down of you as if they are the only ones blessed with intelligence MUPPETS heres the link below
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“Today and every day we stand in solidarity with George Floyd’s family, friends and community who feel pain and fear about his untimely death at the hands of Minneapolis police”, said Green Party Co-leader and Māori Development spokesperson Marama Davidson. ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Hon Eugenie Sage, Minister of Conservation The West Coast forests of Mount Te Kinga at Kotuku Whakaoho/Lake Brunner are the latest predator free project to receive Government funding, announced Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage and Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher ...
The Green Party says major freshwater reforms announced today provide the strongest ever protections of our waterways, to help ensure the next generation can swim in the rivers of Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party has begun the process for a Select Committee inquiry into student accommodation, which has been exposed during COVID-19 as an under-regulated sector that straddles students with unfair debt. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hon Megan Woods, Minister of Research, Science and Innovation Hon Dr David Clark, Minister of Health Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters, Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods, and Health Minister David Clark today announced a COVID-19 vaccine strategy, ...
Budget 2020 is about rebuilding together, supporting jobs, getting business moving and the books back into the black. It’s an integral part of our COVID-19 economic response, and our plan to grow our economy and get New Zealand moving again.Here’s a quick look at the five top things you ...
The Green Party is pleased to reveal its candidate list for the upcoming election. With a mix of familiar faces and fresh new talent, this exceptional group of candidates are ready to lead the Greens back into Government. ...
The Coalition Government has approved $206 million in essential upgrades at Ōhakea Air Base. Defence Minister Ron Mark said the money would be spent on improving old infrastructure. He said safety issues would be addressed, as well as upgrades to taxiways, accommodation and fresh, storm and waste water systems. "This ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First “I am not persisting with this case just for myself, but for all people who have had their privacy breached. Privacy of information is a cornerstone of our country’s democracy. Without it our society truly faces a bleak future. We now ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones has introduced a Bill to Parliament that he says will "force more transparency, integrity and respect" for the domestic wood-processing sector through the registration of log traders and practice standards. The Forests (Regulation of Log Traders and Forestry Advisers) Amendment Bill had its first reading in ...
Green MP Golriz Ghahraman is joining over 300 lawmakers from around the world in calling on the big banks and the IMF to forgive the debt of developing countries, in the wake of the COVID crisis. ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones says concerns that carbon foresters are planting pine trees that will never be harvested are the result of "misinformation". "The billion tree strategy is an excellent idea, unfortunately from time to time it's tainted by misinformation spread by the National Party or their grandees, hiding in scattered ...
The Green Party welcomes funding in the budget to reunite more refugees with their families, ensuring they have the best chance at a new life in Aotearoa New Zealand. ...
A new-look Police graduation ceremony to take account of COVID19 health rules has marked the completion of training for 57 new constables. Police Minister Stuart Nash attended this afternoon's ceremony, where officers of Recruit Wing 337 were formally sworn in at the Royal New Zealand Police College without the normal support of ...
Mobile traders and truck shops must adhere to responsible lending requirements Interest rate cap on high-cost loans Lenders prohibited from offering further credit to an applicant who has taken two high-cost loans in the past 90 days The Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Kris Faafoi, has signalled an end ...
94% of firms say wage subsidy had positive impact on cashflow 62% of firms say support helped to manage non-wage costs like rent A survey of business that have received the Government’s wage subsidy show it has played a significant role in saving jobs, and freed up cash flow to ...
New legislation introduced to Parliament today will support growth and assist businesses on the road to economic recovery, said Revenue Minister Stuart Nash. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2020-21, Feasibility Expenditure, and Remedial Matters) Bill proposes that businesses can get tax deductions for ‘feasibility expenditure’ on new investments,” said Mr ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson has welcomed the first release of funds from the $265 million Sport Recovery Package announced as part of Budget 2020. Sport NZ has announced that $4.6 million in funding will go to the Wellington Phoenix, NZ Warriors, Super Rugby teams and the ANZ Premiership ...
An iconic New Zealand tourism attraction and the country’s 31 Regional Tourism Organisations are the first recipients of support from the $400 million Tourism Sector Recovery Plan, to help position the sector for recovery from COVID-19, Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. The plan includes a Strategic Tourism Assets Protection ...
The Government will legislate to ensure businesses that suffered as a result of the COVID-19 response will get help to resolve disputes over commercial rent issues, Justice Minister Andrew Little announced today. A temporary amendment to the Property Law Act will insert a clause in commercial leases requiring a fair ...
The Minister for Small Business says new data from Xero highlights the urgency of prompt payment practices to small and medium enterprises as we move into economic recovery. Last month Government ministers wrote to significant private enterprises and the banking industry to request they join efforts by government agencies to ...
Young people in Waikato will be the first to have free access to period products in schools in another step to support children and young people in poverty,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. During term 3, the Ministry of Education will begin providing free period products to schools following the ...
The Minister of Police Stuart Nash has issued the following statement in response to charges filed against three Police officers this morning in the New Plymouth District Court. “Any incident involving a loss of life in Police custody is taken very seriously. The charges today reflect the gravity of the ...
$196 million for Crown Research Institutes $150 million for R&D loan scheme $33 million for Māori research and development opportunities $12 million for the Nationally Significant Collections and Databases $10 million to help maintain in-house capability at Callaghan Innovation New Zealand’s entrepreneurs, innovators and crown researchers will benefit from a ...
Further temporary changes to NCEA and University Entrance (UE) will support senior secondary school students whose teaching and learning have been disrupted by COVID-19. “The wellbeing of students and teachers is a priority. As we are all aware, COVID-19 has created massive disruption to the school system, and the Government ...
Minister for Racing Winston Peters today announced that the terms for the directors of the Racing Industry Transition Agency (RITA) have been extended to 30 June 2021. Due to the COVID-19 crisis the transition period has been extended to ensure that the Racing Industry Bill can complete its progress through ...
The deadline for landlords to include detailed information in their tenancy agreements about how their property meets the Healthy Homes Standards, so tenants can see the home they are renting is compliant, has been extended from 1 July 2020 to 1 December 2020. The Healthy Homes Standards became law on 1 July 2019. The Standards are ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little today announced details of further appointments to the Criminal Cases Review Commission. “I am pleased to announce Paula Rose QSO OStJ as Deputy Chief Commissioner for a term of five years commencing on 15 June 2020,” said Andrew Little. “I am also pleased to announce the ...
The Targeted Training and Apprenticeships Fund (TTAF) will pay costs of learners of all ages to undertake vocational education and training The fund will target support for areas of study and training that will give learners better employment prospects as New Zealand recovers from COVID-19 Apprentices working in all industries ...
The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will finally start to cut New Zealand’s greenhouse gas pollution as it was originally intended to, because of changes announced today by the Minister for Climate Change, James Shaw. The changes include a limit on the total emissions allowed within the ETS, rules to ensure ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the Queen’s Birthday 2020 Honours List provides an abundance of examples that Pacific people’s leadership capability is unquestionable in Aotearoa. “The work and the individuals we acknowledge this year highlights the kind of visionary examples and dedicated community leadership that we need ...
The Government is backing a new $27 million project aimed at boosting sustainable horticulture production and New Zealand’s COVID-19 recovery efforts, says Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. “Our horticulture sector has long been one of New Zealand’s export star performers, contributing around $6 billion a year to our economy. During and ...
Applications have opened for 2021 Ngā Karahipi Uru Rākau – Forestry Scholarships, which will support more Māori and women to pursue careers in forestry science, says Forestry Minister Shane Jones. “I’m delighted Te Uru Rākau is offering Ngā Karahipi Uru Rākau – Forestry Scholarships for the third year running. These ...
The Queen’s Birthday 2020 Honours List once again highlights the dedication by many to looking after our native plants and wildlife, including incredible work to restore the populations of critically endangered birds says Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage. Anne Richardson of Hororata has been made an Officer of the New ...
The Government will invest $10 million from the One Billion Trees Fund for large-scale planting to provide jobs in communities and improve the environment, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor and Forestry Minister Shane Jones have announced. New, more flexible funding criteria for applications will help up to 10 catchment groups plant ...
Organisations that support women are invited to apply to a new $1,000,000 fund as part of the Government’s COVID-19 response. “We know women, and organisations that support women, have been affected by COVID-19. This new money will ensure funding for groups that support women and women’s rights,” said Minister for ...
Healthier waterways are front and centre in a new project involving more than 300 King Country sheep, beef and dairy farmers. The Government is investing $844,000 in King Country River Care, a group that helps farmers to lift freshwater quality and farming practice, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor announced today. “Yesterday ...
A major funding package for libraries will allow them to play a far greater role in supporting their communities and people seeking jobs as part of the economic recovery from COVID-19. “Budget 2020 contains over $60 million of funding to protect library services and to protect jobs,” says Internal Affairs ...
A jobseekers programme for the creative sector and four new funds have been set up by the Government to help our arts and music industry recover from the blow of COVID-19. Thousands of jobs will be supported through today’s $175 million package in a crucial economic boost to support the ...
Minister for Veterans Ron Mark has welcomed the First Reading of a Bill that will make legislative changes to further improve the veterans’ support system. The Veterans’ Support Amendment Bill No 2, which will amend the Veterans’ Support Act 2014, passed First Reading today. The bill addresses a number of ...
Views sought on Order in Council to help fast track the reinstatement of the Christ Church Cathedral The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Hon Poto Williams, will be seeking public written comment, following Cabinet approving the drafting of an Order in Council aimed at fast-tracking the reinstatement of the ...
The law setting out New Zealanders’ basic civil and human rights is today one step towards being strengthened following the first reading of a Bill that requires Parliament to take action if a court says a statute undermines those rights. At present, a senior court can issue a ‘declaration of ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today reiterated the deep concern of the New Zealand Government following confirmation by China’s National People’s Congress of national security legislation relating to Hong Kong. “New Zealand shares the international community’s significant and long-standing stake in Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability,” Mr Peters said. “New Zealand ...
Thousands of artists and creatives at hundreds of cultural and heritage organisations have been given much-needed support to recover from the impact of COVID-19, Prime Minister and Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Jacinda Ardern announced today. “The cultural sector was amongst the worst hit by the global pandemic,” Jacinda ...
Key New Zealand assets will be better protected from being sold to overseas owners in a way contrary to the national interest, with the passage of the Overseas Investment (Urgent Measures) Bill. The Bill, which passed its third reading in Parliament today, also cuts unnecessary red tape to help attract ...
Setting higher health standards at swimming spots Requiring urban waterways to be cleaned up and new protections for urban streams Putting controls on higher-risk farm practices such as winter grazing and feed lots Setting stricter controls on nitrogen pollution and new bottom lines on other measures of waterway health Ensuring ...
The Government is on the verge of reaching its target of state sector boards and committees made up of at least 50 percent women, says Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter and Minister for Ethnic Communities Jenny Salesa. For the first time, the Government stocktake measures the number of Māori, ...
The Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister and Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Minister, Kris Faafoi, has today announced the appointment of Tristan Gilbertson as the new Telecommunications Commissioner and member of the Commerce Commission. “Mr Gilbertson has considerable experience in the telecommunications industry and a strong reputation amongst his peers,” ...
The Ministry of Education and NZEI Te Riu Roa have agreed to settle the pay equity claim for teacher aides, Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. This will see more than 22,000 teacher aides, mostly women, being valued and paid fairly for the work they do. “Teacher aides are frontline ...
Subcontractors will have greater certainty, more cashflow support and job security with new changes to retention payments under the Construction Contracts Act says Minister for Building and Construction, Jenny Salesa. A recent review of the retentions money regime showed that most of the building and construction sector is complying with ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong have marked the first anniversary of the New Zealand-Singapore Enhanced Partnership with a virtual Leaders’ Meeting today. The Enhanced Partnership, signed on 17 May 2019, provides the framework for cooperation across the four main areas of trade, defence and ...
On 17 May 2019, New Zealand and Singapore established an Enhanced Partnership to elevate our relations. The Enhanced Partnership – based on the four pillars of trade and economics, security and defence, science, technology and innovation, and people-to-people links – has seen the long-standing relationship between our countries strengthen over the ...
State-Owned Enterprises Minister Winston Peters has welcomed KiwiRail’s announcement that it is seeking a preferred shipyard to build two new rail-enabled ferries for the Cook Strait crossing. “This Government is committed to restoring rail to its rightful place in New Zealand. Bigger, better ships, with new technology are yet another ...
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 two – read The Spinoff’s giant explainer 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. ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Millions of dollars divvied up by Sport NZ, MSD’s problem with wrongly denied payments grows, and internal coalition battles emerge in time for election.It’s Friday, and there hasn’t been a lot of it recently, so we’re going to start with ...
The Government picks Waitomo caves as 'strategic tourism asset' and grants $4m to Tourism Holdings, boosting shares another 7.8 percent. Facebook staff and alumni revolt over Zuckerberg's inaction on Trump ...
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan NZ bestseller list and described by ReadingRoom literary editor Steve Braunias.NON-FICTION 1 Vegful by Nadia Lim (Nude Food, $55) 2 Stop Surviving Start Fighting by Jazz Thornton (Penguin Random House, $38) 3 So Delish! by Simone Anderson ...
Systemic white violence against black Americans is alive and well, and it's white violence that sustains white supremacy Current scenes from the United States are both familiar and shocking. George Floyd’s life being brutally snuffed out by Minneapolis police, followed by peaceful protests of Floyd’s murder as well as legitimate ...
The US isn't the only country with a broken criminal justice system that works to criminalise and destroy the lives of black and brown families. Dylan Asafo puts forward two ways NZ could lead in dismantling systems of white supremacy. If you were to imagine a society without racial oppression, ...
Anomalies in the policy for superannuitants with overseas pensions are an indictment on the justice process in New Zealand, write Susan St John and Dr Claire Dale Along with many others, the Retirement Policy and Research Centre has worked assiduously for more than a decade to alert the public, policy-makers ...
A new study indicates native plants, despite their tendency to grow more slowly than exotic species like Pinus Radiata, are better at storing carbon in the soil for longer periods of time. ...
The British Tribe Next Door attracted over 60 complaints of racist themes from viewers when it first aired in the UK. Now TVNZ is streaming it on its OnDemand service attracting concerns from members of Aotearoa’s African community and a letter from race relations commissioner Meng Foon.When The British Tribe ...
When approached by The Spinoff Jeanette Wilson denied having told participants in an online session that the product ‘lined the lungs’, despite clear evidence to the contrary.The Covid-19 crisis has sparked misinformation in every corner of the world. In New Zealand, a “psychic healer” whose fixations read like a conspiracy ...
The union movement launched a push earlier this week to double the legal minimum of sick leave from five days a year to 10. Is a change likely?What’s all this then?In light of the recent global pandemic putting the focus on health in the workplace, unions have called for changes ...
An African American pastor from George Floyd's community gives The Detail a special insight into what's happening there - and gives us hope for the future. “Nobody in America wants to be a racist.” David Hill is a pastor in the Third Ward neighbourhood of Houston where George Floyd grew ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra When Ken Wyatt, the Minister for Indigenous Australians, last week effectively pronounced dead the prospect of a referendum on indigenous recognition being put to the people this parliamentary term, the demise of his hoped-for timetable ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Morrison government will significantly strengthen its scrutiny of foreign investment to protect sensitive national security technology and information and further ring fence the nation’s critical infrastructure. It will insert a new “national security test” ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards. Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Does National have any chance of winning the election in September? It’s looking very unlikely, especially after National’s change of leadership hasn’t exactly produced Mullermania in the first two weeks. Quite the opposite, in fact, as I summarised in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Denis Muller, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Advancing Journalism, University of Melbourne When a newspaper with the authority of The New York Times chooses to publish a party-political essay calculated to further inflame the violence wracking cities across America, serious questions arise. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Plank, Professor in Mathematics, University of Canterbury There is now a 95% chance COVID-19 has been eliminated in New Zealand, according to our modelling, based on official Ministry of Health data. As of June 4, New Zealand has had 20 consecutive ...
In 2014, Duncan Greive was invited to interview Dan Carter on the back of the All Black’s spokesmodelling gig for Jockey underwear – a meeting that would eventually lead to Greive co-writing Carter’s autobiography, My Story. To celebrate today’s big Dan Carter news, we republish that original Metro story here.In ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Coates, Program Director, Household Finances, Grattan Institute Scott Morrison’s new housing stimulus package is straight-out retail politics. HomeBuilder offers homeowners (including first home buyers) a grant of A$25,000 to build a new home worth less than $750,000 or to spend between ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Rachel Taulelei, CEO of Kono.Demand for New Zealand produce overseas is currently up. ...
By Moch. Fiqih Prawira Adjie in Jakarta A panel of judges at the Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN) has granted a lawsuit filed by civil society groups against the Indonesian government’s decision to impose an internet blackout during weeks of protests in Papua and West Papua provinces last year, declaring ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Mitchell, Professor of Nursing, University of Newcastle With coronavirus restrictions gradually lifting across the country, we’re now able to resume many of our regular activities. A lot of us might have been particularly keen to get back to the gym, which ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Perhaps at no point in Australia’s history has the demand for real-time figures been stronger than during the coronavirus crisis. The Australian Bureau of Statistics has stepped up its efforts to get data fast, to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bree Hurst, Senior Lecturer, QUT Business School, Queensland University of Technology If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jolynna Sinanan, Research Fellow in Digital Media and Ethnography, University of Sydney Earlier this week, you might have seen your social media taken over by a stream of posts showing simple images of a black square. These posts, often tagged with #BlackoutTuesday, ...
A strong vote for sustainability would make the resulting Labour-Greens government a confident and ambitious reformer, having shed its NZ First handbrake ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick White, PhD Candidate in History and Politics, James Cook University Australia’s local governments breathed new life into embattled regional communities after the second world war. Today, this history reminds us of the role local councils and communities should play in plans ...
This bill proposes to provide for enhanced information disclosure requirements for the gas market and to ensure that settings around enforcement and penalties are suitably robust. The Gas (Information Disclosure and Penalties) Amendment Bill would do this ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mick Broderick, Associate Professor of Media Analysis, Murdoch University Over successive Sunday nights, the ABC has premiered two important television programs recounting the history of nuclear testing in Australia – the documentary Maralinga Tjuratja and a six-drama series Operation Buffalo. Both explore ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marisa Paterson, Centre for Social Research and Methods, Australian National University When the COVID-19 restrictions came into force more than two months ago, it meant lights out for the country’s 200,000 poker machines. Now, the pokies are slowly turning on again across ...
With roughly 97% of New Zealand enterprises categorised as small businesses – that is, 20 or fewer employees – accounting software platform Xero’s newly released analysis provides a stark picture of the severe impact of Covid-19 throughout the sector.What exactly does the data show?Essentially, the data shows that year-on-year revenue ...
This week, on 1 June 2020, an interest rate cap on high-cost loans (over 50% interest per annum) was finally introduced in New Zealand. The introduction of an interest rate cap will help borrowers, like Sarah Newham, who presented to Select Committee ...
After hammering out a deal over commercial rents with Labour, New Zealand First is now publicly criticising some of the measures its coalition partner had been pushing for. ...
After hammering out a deal over commercial rents with Labour, New Zealand First is now publicly criticising some of the measures its coalition partner had been pushing for. ...
After hammering out a deal over commercial rents with Labour, New Zealand First is now publicly criticising some of the measures its coalition partner had been pushing for. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lee, Associate Professor of History , UNSW The Conversation is running a series of explainers on key figures in Australian political history, looking at the way they changed the nature of debate, its impact then, and it relevance to politics today. ...
Labour-hire workers are falling between the cracks because neither the agencies they are employed by nor the host companies they work for want to take responsibility for them, FIRST Union said today. Dozens of agency workers have been contacting the ...
CEAC annual review of National Party climate change policy, makes miserable reading, and supports Government for elevating clean ‘Rail Transport’ over truck transport, for moving more freight onto rail, thereby keeping our CO2 ‘climate emissions’ ...
The biggest danger facing New Zealand under level one will the border. Justin Giovannetti looks at what the government is doing to increase border defences and prevent another influx of Covid-19.As the elimination of coronavirus appears imminent in New Zealand, the country’s attention turns to the border and the conflicting ...
The Government’s 5.3% increase in road user charges (RUC) from 1 July is a kick in the guts to the trucking industry that kept the country moving during lockdown and must be cancelled says the National Road Carriers Association. “It is unacceptable,” ...
From the Minister of Tourism came an announcement on the distribution of $400 million. He was outdone by the Minister for Research, Science and Technology, whose announcement involved a sum of $401.3m. Much more bemusing was the announcement from the PM headed Free period products in schools to combat poverty. ...
The charging of three officers of the Central Police District with homicide confirms community fears of police violence. The announcement of the charges comes as the United States of America is crippled by nationwide protests against the murder of ...
The Government’s recently announced Action for Healthy Waterways package includes protections and funding to improve the quality of New Zealand’s rivers, lakes, streams, estuaries, and wetlands. The package introduces new rules and regulations ...
The images of Minnesota policeman Derek Chauvin kneeling on a dying African-American man’s neck have ricocheted around the world. From Auckland to London, Christchurch to cities across the US, tens of thousands have marched in opposition to what is perceived as systemic police violence against one race. Chauvin’s charges have ...
With Rhys Darby returning to our small screens with a travel series documenting his wild travels around Japan, Tara Ward rounds up some more TVNZ shows that will take you from your armchair to locales far and wide. Rhys Darby is world famous for bringing walk socks to New York on ...
Sir Jerry Mateparae is extending his life of service to the NZ community, moving into the role of chair of Chair of the Healthier Lives−He Oranga Hauora National Science Challenge. He says the research being done in preventing some of the country’s worst diseases as fitting neatly with his own ...
E tū is calling for a serious harm investigation into the case of two security guards who were injured when a staff member was attacked at Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital. On 21 May, two security guards were stabbed with a pair of scissors when ...
Kiwi Rail CEO Greg Miller said he will not re-open the Gisborne rail service for freight and passenger services for the region, after eight years of closure even now after a yearlong PGF $600.000 study confirmed to the Government that the rail ...
Universal public compliance has been one of the major reasons why New Zealand has apparently been so successful in curbing the spread of the Covid19 virus. Fundamentally, people complied with the restrictions imposed during Alert Levels 4 and 3 because ...
Greenpeace wants New Zealand to become the first country in the world to ban plastic drinks bottles. Last year, after a huge public outcry, the NZ Government banned single use plastic bags. Now Greenpeace is launching a new campaign to "ban the bottle." ...
Pacific Media Centre A Papua New Guinea provincial governor has defending his actions for speaking up in Parliament yesterday on the government’s mooted proposal to extend the state of emergency (SoE) for two more months. Writing on social media, Governor Allan Bird of East Sepik cited instances of police abuse ...
Grey Power’s stance is that the global Covid-19 pandemic, as it has impinged on New Zealand, has highlighted existing problems within the Aged Care Sector and we suggest that if the promise by the Labour Party to fund an Aged Care Commissioner ...
New Zealanders have been re-discovering the many benefits of growing food at home over the Pandemic lock-down. Sustainable Living’s free learning guides on food growing have been this on-line community education programme’s most popular downloads. ...
From 1846 onwards, various militia came together to form the New Zealand Armed Constabulary Force, to ‘combat Māori hostiles and to keep civil order’. In 1885 they changed uniforms and became the New Zealand Police. We’re still feeling the effects of that whakapapa today, writes Emilie Rākete. America is burning, burning ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Carew, Lecturer, University of Melbourne During the coronavirus pandemic, have your kids been using headphones more than usual? Maybe for remote schooling, video chats with relatives, or for their favourite music and Netflix shows? We have to be careful about both ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling When it comes to coronavirus cases, deaths and tests, Australia is performing better than many other countries with comparable populations and geographies, a new COVID-19 data visualisation reveals. Use the tool below, which uses data drawn ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joelle Gergis, Senior Lecturer in Climate Science, Australian National University As we slowly emerge from lockdown, local adventures are high on people’s wish lists. You may be planning a trip to the ski fields, or even the nearby hills to revel in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lauren Rickards, Associate Professor, Sustainability and Urban Planning, School of Global Urban and Social Studies; Co-leader, Climate Change and Resilience Research Program, Centre for Urban Studies, RMIT University This essay is based on an episode of the UTS podcast series “The New ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marcus Luigi Spiller, Associate Professor (Urban Planning) – honorary , University of Melbourne Melbourne’s global reputation for liveability does not resonate with many Melburnians. Its economy has slipped into per capita recession a couple of times over the past decade. Population growth ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Hamilton, Visiting Fellow, Tax and Transfer Policy Institute, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University With the virus on the back foot, it’s tempting to declare victory. Provided we stay vigilant on the public health front, we do have a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jeff Borland, Professor of Economics, University of Melbourne When it comes to the outlook for employment, there’s good news and bad news. To begin with the good news: with a bit of luck, the next few months will see the fastest expansion ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlin Vincent, Lecturer in Creative Industries, University of Melbourne There’s a long-running adage about working for free in the performing arts. “The problem with working for exposure,” it goes, “is you can die from exposure”. Only partly a joke, the saying is ...
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 two – read The Spinoff’s giant explainer 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. ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Decision coming soon on move to level one, housing market in a weird place, and manslaughter charges laid against officers after custody death. As has been the way with these moves, we got an announcement of what the new alert level ...
Open Mike 20/06/2018 
Does National have any chance of winning the election in September? It’s looking very unlikely, especially after National’s change of leadership hasn’t exactly produced Mullermania in the first two weeks. Quite the opposite, in fact, as I summarised in Tuesday’s Political Roundup column: Todd Muller’s torrid start as National leader. ...15 hours ago
Last year, in the face of public pressure to better regulate New Zealand's pervasively criminal fishing industry, the government finally anounced a bullshit trial scheme for cameras on boats. The trial would apply only to a limited number of boats fishing in Māui's dolphin habitat. But all fishing boats would ...19 hours ago
Another study comparing effect in children from nonendemic areas (Dagang) and endemic fluorosis area (Jinghai) about 80km apart in the Tianjin area of China. Hardly sampling the same population. Anti-fluoride campaigners still use studies from ... 22 hours ago
George Thomson, Nick Wilson, Richard Edwards This blog discusses the passing of the Smoke-free Environments (Prohibiting Smoking in Motor Vehicles Carrying Children) Amendment Act last week. We briefly review some lessons from this legislation’s long journey and explore future smokefree possibilities in Aotearoa / New Zealand. A law ...1 day ago
74 Articles Physical science of global warming & effects Surface-Energy-Balance Closure over Land: A Review (open access) Observations & observational methods of global warming & effects Human influence has intensified extreme precipitation in North America (open access) Observation-derived ice growth curves show patterns and trends in maximum ice thickness and ...1 day ago
Last month I noted that the public policy debate was all about how we deal with covid-19. That’s changing now, and will change more over the next couple of months as the buffering impact of the wage subsidy disappears and we see starkly the economic hole out of which we ...1 day ago
Bernard Hickey is one of New Zealand’s leading financial journalists. His latest article, published by Newsroom, lays bare the cruel treatment of hundreds of thousands of workers stranded since the lockdown. Our Prime Minister is lauded overseas for her compassion, but her Cabinet is refusing to properly support tens of ...2 days ago
For a good part of my adult life I have studied civil-military relations. I have studied authoritarian and democratic variants, and I have studied them across countries and regions. I have also worked in and with several US security agencies and have lectured on the theme at a number of ...2 days ago
by The Spark “The system is broken”—the words of a young black man in Minneapolis watching flames destroy a police precinct demonstrators had torched. Broken? Yes, it is! What else could you say about a system whose police for nine minutes casually knelt on a black man’s neck, watching until ...2 days ago
Minneapolis Police StationIf you’ve been keeping an eye on recent events in the United States, you’ll likely understand why there’s so much anger on the streets at the moment. Not only did police officers murder another black man; it is patently obvious that authorities initially attempted to cover up George ...3 days ago
Like the rest of the world, I have been aghast at what I have seen of, and read and heard about, what is happening currently in the United States. It seems incredible that a once great country should be suffering the worst effects and the highest number of deaths worldwide ...4 days ago
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Here’s a reasonable argument for increasing the prison population….
“Annah Stretton: Women in prison can be given their best chance to change their life”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12064187
It mirrors closely what I thought could be a possible approach for male offenders.
Oh, pleeze. Female prisoners can’t even get enough clothing budget to get a decent bra. Instead they rely on charity for a basic need or its sag city.
I really fucking doubt that money for rehab is going to flood in or that anyone without a high degree of self interest will care.
Why not hold prison up as the next big self help craze? Book yourself in “because its your best chance”. What a load of shit.
Do you not think perhaps we might have the (failed) system we do because everyone is so negative about new approaches?
The author has spent time in the system, she’s observed and identified what she thought were many of the problems with our penal and justice system and she’s offered a possible solution. Her views were expressed in the timing & context of a new Goverment claiming a desire to reform the penal system.
You immediately leap to knock it down without even trying to critique it.
Though this isn’t a new approach, many kiwis believe prisoners are already helped into work and are provided with a support network during time in prison. The fact that outside organisations are left to do this work should be telling us something.
I have no doubt this org does great work, but there is no mention that prison might not be the best place to start a rehabilitation program. Women are currently housed in men’s prisons because the system is overloaded and they are separated from their families too, and those are just a couple of issues that spring to mind…
is Anna Stretton trying to get some cheaper machinists for her overpriced wares?
Let’s catch Mike Hosking out in a lazy lie, shall we?
Right wing lie: “…. As a kid who grew up in the 1970s and had holidays (note the plural – Sanc) stalled because of the pre-determined Cook Strait ferry action, it was part of the social landscape of my formative years…”
Now some facts:
According to the NZ History website:
“…Between 1986 to 1991 only 378 out of 21,654 sailings were cancelled because of industrial action. ..”
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/cook-strait-rail-ferries/strikes-and-strandings
Sure low % but you do realize that is aprox 76 sailings a year cancelled by strike action?
How many of those 76 sailings were during a holiday period? Is the more imporatant percentage. For strike action to be effective it generally has to be disruptive.
From the same page:
“Several times between 1971 and 1983 the government launched ‘Operation Pluto’, using state domestic airline and air force planes to fly passengers and cars between Wellington and Blenheim during prolonged industrial disputes.”
The hidden dangers of industrial action exposed!
Some kid had his holiday in the ’70s disrupted and he turns out to have the mindset/outlook of Hosking in 2018. Now there’s scope for some deep psychological research.
The fact that Sanctuary used data from a different time period than Hosking was referring to makes you both look a bit silly.
They did have a habit of timing their strikes for holiday periods. Those cancelled sailings might seem few but IIRC they were often at the most inconvenient times for people. They weren’t very popular.
As with today’s employers mindset, stall, stall, stall, delay, deflect and lie until the employee’s and their representatives have no other option but to take action. And quite often the employers got very bolshy right about holiday time to inflict the worst impact on the general public so as to shine negatively on workers (bit like the holidaying folks themselves) standing up for their rights.
+111
Is the fact that your data is out by a decade on hoskings musings significant?
While i don’t want to be seen to be defending Hosking, how does this catch him out in a lie? He said “as a kid who grew up in the 1970s” so your figures starting in 1986, when he was 21, are meaningless.
I’m only a couple of years younger and i can remember that ferry strikes were a regular thing at holiday times. The site you link to states:
That really is a bullshit site, saying that the 70s were worst but then quoting figures for the 80s only.
Forgive if this is a stupid question, but how does quoting stats from the mid 80’s disprove someones point about the 70s?
Re Mike Hoskings missing out on holidays in the 70’s……………cry me a river………boo hoo not. He needs to go and visit families living in cars or mouldy houses and then he would have some genuine grievance (on their behalf) and of course one of the strands in the rope that has led us to our current situation re housing and poverty is the barbaric labour relations laws and the fact that we pay such a useless waste of space (Hoskings) so much money while others get so little.
Here are some more facts for you.
“In 1923, jockey Frank Hayes won a race at Belmont Park in New York despite being dead — he suffered a heart attack mid-race, but his body stayed in the saddle until his horse crossed the line for a 20–1 outsider victory.”
and that is just about as relevant as the facts you are quoting trying to catch Hosking out in a lie.
Hosking has been dead in the saddle all these years?
I knew it!
i needed that chuckle.
Hosking has been dead in the saddle all these years?
I knew it!
+ 1000%
Wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If only some people here would realise that you actually have a good sense of humour – even if you are one of ‘them righties’!
He grew up in the 70s and you’re giving figures from the late 80s sanky? What gives?
At the risk of ruining your day, you data is not for the period Hosking was referring to. “Between 1986 to 1991” is not the 1970’s.
Leave Sanctuary alone.
He has realised he screwed up with his yarn and has returned to this site and made a most fulsome apology to both Hosking and the readers of this blog.
He has completely accepted that he was wrong.
Well, I’m sure he means to do it when he has a bit of time.
Or not.
Are you drunk.
That is the worst “fact check” ever.
Or the best 🙂
“Let’s catch Mike Hosking out in a lazy lie, shall we”
That’s an epic fail Sanctuary
https://coub.com/view/tbi2c
“Only”…..
an average of 71 a year. Or one every 5 days on average. At least once a week on average.
Ahhh the good old days right sanc. No admittance to public transport and vital infrastructure in an island nation without your cloth cap on.
Wanker
It is mik hoskin so not worthy of anyone’s time, don’t you think?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/104702124/doublebunking-and-a-ppp-wasnt-what-kelvin-davis-had-in-mind-for-waikeria
Easy to criticise when in opposition but its a different story when in power
ha, maybe we need a sentencing reform and a prison reform.
but is there money to be made? Oh noes!
Yep – and nice that you recognize that. Could be handy as a filter for the doss put out by the gnats.
If PPP can make things better and cheaper then I’m all for it, a view apparently shared by both Labour and National
Can’t see too many options and I don’t like Davis. Inherited problems – bloody gnats.
The potential exists, but not the discipline to realise it.
The Korean government makes PPPs reasonably frequently. Private companies that don’t meet spec get restructured. If they’re lucky.
Consider the lax treatment of P testing fraudsters. These people made a lucrative business from pretending to expertise they did not possess. Other fraudsters face more substantial punishment.
What gets me about politicians in general (both left and right) is the blatant bollix about getting back into power
A party will promise anything even though they know that chances are they won’t be able to implement since they have to negotiate after the election
So now its not breaking election promises its “having to negotiate”
Yeah National will do it as well and the cycle will continue
Well they can’t negotiate a coalition agreement before an election. How would that work?
Couldn’t happen of course but wouldn’t it be nice if parties had to announce who they’d work with, and then announce the policies, before the election
A minor party could honestly say, “If we were the dominant party, we’d…” as it is, the smaller players can’t really claim much at all, other than to say they’d stay as true to their principles and claims as possible.
As possible.
That’s why I like The Greens.
Although there is some truth to that, we on the left are less tolerant of liars in general.
If Labour cannot make a credible show of trying to keep their promises, they won’t just lose the election, they’ll be out for three or more terms, till conspicuous liars retire.
What’s more, the Key Kleptocracy went much further in normalizing dishonesty in power than has been conventional in NZ.
There are promises that circumstances force politicians to break – and there is flagrant and unrepentant bullshit with no basis in reality – like everything the Gnats ever did.
(I’m not disagreeing with you) As I see it if voters “ok” blatant hypocrisy (on both sides) then really the only people to blame are ourselves
They can’t. By logic it must be more expensive:
1. The private sector has higher financing costs
2. The private sector seeks to extract profits from it
3. The number of people employed must be the same at the same rate
4. A government MoW can buy in far greater bulk and thus get far better economies of scale
And then there’s what’s actually happening
https://bankwatch.org/public-private-partnerships
https://www.euractiv.com/section/innovation-industry/news/academic-public-private-partnerships-cost-more-deliver-less/
Getting the private sector to do government services costs more and we get less. Privatisation was nothing more than a way to increase the bludging capability of the rich on the poor.
The problem with something like the railways was that, as a monopoly, well lets just say that they didn’t have a reputation for customer service or proper handling of good and that the MOW (and others) became dumping grounds and were used to hide true unemployment figures
Having said that the social costs may actually be greater than the monetary costs (thanks Labour) so as i said previously I wouldn’t mind seeing a limited return of the MOW, maybe to handle large scale works
Which is just the BS that the privatisers told everyone.
I’m not saying that the system was perfect but the accusations were based solely upon anecdote. One person in the right place and the right job and suddenly everyone who works for the government is tarred as being scum in the MSM.
And a large part of the reason why I say that out telecommunications are ten years behind where they should be is because of the thousands of people made redundant from Telecom after the sale. Those thousands of people represent the work that hasn’t been done.
Then you don’t remember how long it took to buy a phone before Telecom was privatised
Yes I do – I worked for Telecom.
You couldn’t buy a phone – you rented them.
To get one installed would take a couple of days to a few weeks depending upon where you were and the work that needed to be done. To connect a phone required sending someone around to the exchange to connect it and sending someone out to the house to connect it there as well which would take a few days as the labour got organised. If you were somewhere which didn’t have a phone line at all (and there were still many such places) then it would take weeks as we organised running several kilometres of line.
Part of the problem here was that the MSM would ring up the PO and ask how long to get a phone connected. The PO would then call the local PO communications branch (The two were actually separate entities) and get the standard reply of one month to six weeks. This, of course, had a built in fudge factor due to the high labour intensity and the fact that shit happpens.
I also worked for Telecom in the 2000s where I learned that in some places it would take months or longer to get ADSL connected. This despite the fact that we started running fibre out to the cabinet in the 1980s. That latter bit got stopped when Telecom got sold.
So, after decades of experience in the Real World I can assure you that things have actually got worse since the sale of Telecom. We get less and it costs more.
“You couldn’t buy a phone – you rented them.”
– Thats worse than today
“To get one installed would take a couple of days to a few weeks depending upon where you were and the work that needed to be done.”
– A few weeks to get a phone line installed whereas now you can get any electrician to do the job
Things have gotten better as now if you don’t want Telecom you can go elsewhere, you have choice (unless you’re out in the wop wops)
No it’s not. Why would you even want to own a phone?
There’s more to installing a phone than just the house wiring. You can’t get the electrician to run the cable from the exchange and if you don’t have that then it could take weeks, months or even not happen at all as rural farmers are now finding out.
?
And that choice cost you more without any added benefits.
“No it’s not. Why would you even want to own a phone?”
– Handy if the mobile network goes down plus for a lot of people of the last 30 odd years its been their main form of communication
“You can’t get the electrician to run the cable from the exchange and if you don’t have that then it could take weeks, months or even not happen at all as rural farmers are now finding out.”
– Unfortunately that’s, to me, of part of the deal in living rurally
“And that choice cost you more without any added benefits.”
– Personally speaking I pay less money for more services then i ever have
If the mobile network goes down then the phone still isn’t going to work even if you own it.
But it wouldn’t be if telecommunications were still a state service.
I doubt that you’re doing a proper comparison or even have the slightest idea as to how privatisation has made things more expensive for you. Take that owning the phone that you’re so concerned about.
My present mobile phone is a couple of years old but it was actually released back in 2014. It’s updated to Android 7.1.1 but it’s never going to update Android 8. This means to say that it’s going to become a security threat to the entire network in the near future if it isn’t already one. To counter this threat a state phone service simply send me a new one in the mail but as I own it it means that I have to buy a new one. The phone is actually quite a good one and will last me several more years – years of being a security threat which is going to add more costs to maintaining the network and those added costs get placed on to you.
Then there’s the profit of course. Profit costs a huge amount in work that’s delayed or simply not done so that the bludging shareholders can have more for nothing.
And added competition costs more too. More bureaucracy to pay for, more network infrastructure that’s simply not needed and, of course, more bank interest and profits to pay for as well.
It all adds up and costs you far more than what you should be paying.
I appreciate the effort but you’ll never convince me that communism is the answer, unless the question is what is a form of government should we never try
And that’s where your ideology loses touch with reality.
Says the guy championing communism, which has never worked anywhere ever
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_killings_under_Communist_regimes
That’s a crock.
I had several phones in under the old system – same day was the rule, the next day was the longest. And one of those was on Stewart Is. Telecom did not improve service in any way shape or form – the only reason it was the only successful privatization was technology developed elsewhere grew the market, and incompetent governments failed to break up their monopoly so they screwed consumers.
https://teara.govt.nz/mi/telecommunications/print
But business customers in particular wanted more sophisticated telephone services which were available internationally, and households were often frustrated by the time it took to get a telephone.
Toll prices came down by 60% between 1987 and 1992. After 1987 anyone in New Zealand could wire up, repair or sell telecommunications equipment, though Telecom New Zealand maintained firm control over access to the network.
Which is actually a load of bollocks.
To get those more sophisticated telephone services required newer exchanges. We were putting them in as fast as possible but doing takes time and money – both of which was in short supply. And by the 1980s most phones were installed in a short time. The cables an exchanges could handle it.
I’m always surprised by people who declaim the benefits of the market then complain about the market operating as expected. This leads me to think that these morons don’t actually know what the pricing system is for.
The pricing system in the market is to restrict use of limited resources.
If there’s only 50 lines going between Auckland and Wellington then you don’t actually want 51 people making calls and you can’t tell people don’t make calls and so you make the price high it so that people only make calls if they really, really need to.
With the fibre roll out in the 1980s those sorts of restrictions declined and so toll prices dropped. Simple market action.
Yep, it was technology that dropped prices – not the commercialisation and privatisation of Telecom.
I also remember going round to one of those houses that the electrician wired up – and cutting them off and blacklisting them. The idiot electrician had run the phone wires with the electrical wires and there was 75 volts of induced power in the house wiring which was causing havoc in the exchange. Would be interesting to know how much that idiot ended up costing his customers before he got it right.
Telecom deliberately munted attempts to improve internet speed for years to retain earnings from toll calls.
And vicious turd Peter Shitcliffe dared to misappropriate our money to campaign against MMP.
Telecom’s history is odious, so bad they had to change their name
“to buy a phone”
You must be much younger than I am. When it was the New Zealand Post office that supplied the services you certainly weren’t allowed to connect your own phone to their lines. You had to use the phone they supplied. Mostly they were great big black clunkers.
It cost you more to rent a phone in a different colour.
Those were the days.
When I was first married and trying to get a phone in Wellington it took me about 5 months to get the phone connected. Even then I only got it after being screwed around for that long because I complained to the Minister about his departments stuff-ups.
Privatisation made the service much, much better.
Oh, come on – the type 100s weren’t that bad.
Probably didn’t have cables running past you place or they were already at capacity. In other words, you’re complaining about physical reality and the time it takes to physically run several kilometres of cable to your place.
No, it didn’t.
“Oh, come on – the type 100 s weren’t that bad.”
They were just a dream for the future.
I was talking about 1968 when they were rotary dialling. The ones you illustrate were something out of Science Fiction.
It was even older than this one. This illustration is much smaller than the one I was supplied with.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New_Zealand_Rotary_Telephone.jpg
Actually this link confirms my memory that it wasn’t until Telecom was started that you could use your own phone.
There were cables available and they weren’t at capacity.
The bloody Post Office kept losing track of the paperwork. The claimed, twice, that I hadn’t paid the deposit and that the time to get connected would have to restart from the date I proved that I really had paid them and I had a receipt. After the second case of this, when they told me it would now be a further 3 months, I wrote a letter of complaint to the Minister, and sent a copy to the Post Office Director General.
They would have got the letters on a Monday. I came home on Tuesday to find that the PO had turned up to install the phone and on Wednesday the phone went in. Then on the Thursday I received a letter from the Cabinet Minister saying he had instructed the Department to sort it out. I thought that really deserved a thank you and sent him one. From 3 months down to a couple of days.
a bit like fibre installs lol
@McFlock
I think Fibre’s even worse. I’ve been waiting since November for an install advertised as “in a couple of days”. Current promise is now sometime in July. Chorus – a screaming joke of a company only surviving through want of competition.
Draco, your assertions using Telecom as the example, are correct…
There is a reason why nationally owned telecomms providers were first draft fire sales back in the 80/90’s…
It was not for the benefit of the ‘customer’…
Private is not responsible for nor did private nor will private lead to ‘improvements’…
Facade!
Privatisation and PPPs – extractive ‘industries’ that kick real costs “down the line”.
Railways was of course not a PPP – it was a government organisation. I suspect that the featherbedding has been overstated – certainly there were some fficienciess that were overdue, but many changes were only possible through changes in the external environment – possible more widely available and reliable telephone communications for example.
As given in Draco’s post above PPPs cost more and deliver less – and experience since 2009 when one of those was written has only emphasised that. Some PPPs are “dressed up” with lower visible costs but with the expense of long terms “maintenance” contracts that delibver ongoing p[rofits to the private company.
I was disappointed to hear that the current governmetj are using a PPP to build the new prison – the reason is however given in the 15 June Stuff article:
“During Question Time on Thursday, Associate Finance Minister David Clark said: “there is clear evidence around the Government’s prior experimentation with PPPs that they did not work. There are a number of perverse outcomes, and this Government has steered clear thus far of any such foolishness.”
When challenged on the Government’s decision to use a PPP for Waikeria, he said the decision was made because corrections – under the previous government – had already signed a $34 million PPP contract.”
If a PPP appears to make the government accounts look better, you can be fairly certain that the fault lies with the accounting system.
Exactly Draco, PPP’s a just an accountancy and corporate welfare web that delivers at least 30%+ higher a price than if the government does it themselves. Why would you use something that you know will cost 30% more, unless you are a Moran or on the take??????
“UK PFI debt now stands at over £300bn for projects with an original capital cost of £55bn”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/30/pfi-britain-hospital-trust-debt-burden-tax
“Conservatively estimated, the trusts appear to be paying a risk premium of about 30% of the total construction costs, just to get the hospitals built on time and to budget, a sum that considerably exceeds the evidence about past cost overruns.”
For roads:
This report: https://image.guim.co.uk/sys-files/Society/documents/2004/11/24/PFI.pdf
found that PPP “contracts are considerably more expensive than the cost of conventional procurement”, resulting in higher returns for the companies running the PPP’s compared to their industry peers.
While hard to compare because of the opaque nature of many contracts and large amounts of subcontracting out, it looked like the actual cost of capital of the PPP’s was 11% compared to Treasure borrowing of 4.5% i.e. 6.5% higher. This is supposed to represent the cost of risk transfer but in practice there was no risk transfer so it’s money for nothing.
“In conclusion, the road projects appear to be costing more than expected as reflected in net present costs that are higher than those identified by the Highways Agency (Haynes and Roden 1999), owing to rising traffic and contract changes. It is, however, impossible to know at this point whether or not VFM (value for money) has been or is indeed likely to be achieved because the expensive element of the service contract relates to maintenance that generally will not be required for many years.”
Overall, for both roads and hospitals they concluded there was no risk transfer and not value for money.
“The net result of all this is that while risk transfer is the central element in justifying VFM and thus PFI, our analysis shows that risk does not appear to have been transferred to the party best able to manage it. Indeed, rather than transferring risk to the private sector, in the case of roads DBFO has created additional costs and risks to the public agency, and to the public sector as a whole, through tax concessions that must increase costs to the taxpayer and/or reduce service provision. In the case of hospitals, PFI has generated extra costs to hospital users, both staff and patients, and to the Treasury through the leakage of the capital charge element in the NHS budget. In both roads and hospitals these costs and risks are neither transparent nor quantifiable. This means that it is impossible to demonstrate whether or not VFM has been, or indeed can be, achieved in these or any other projects.
While the Government’s case rests upon value for money, including the cost of transferring risk, our research suggests that PFI may lead to a loss of benefits in kind and a redistribution of income, from the public to the corporate sector. It has boosted the construction industry, many of whose PFI subsidiaries are now the most profitable parts of their enterprises, and led to a significant expansion of the facilities management sector. But the main beneficiaries are likely to be the financial institutions whose loans are effectively underwritten by the taxpayers, as evidenced by the renegotiation of the Royal Armouries PFI (NAO 2001a).”
yep draco….i cant believe Labour going with PPP….wtf?
Rhetoric meets reality?
“Easy to criticise when in opposition but its a different story when in power”
As demonstrated by National now.
Yup
Pukish @ 4. your comment “easy to criticise when in opposition” now applies to your great love Judith…………..just saying.
Although I prefer another commenters way of putting it.
Arsonist starts fire,
Then whines at fire fighters for not putting it out sooner and say’s it wasn’t that bigger fire anyway………………………….
Judith is beyond reproach 🙂
LOL Puckish @4.4.1…………………………..I know love is blind
Inspiration struck me while i was in the shower, lathering myself up and thinking of Jude
Inspiration in the form of song…I think its pretty good, I call it:
She’s like the wind
She’s like the wind through my tree
She rides the night next to me
She leads me through moonlight
Only to burn me with the sun
She’s taken my heart
But she doesn’t know what she’s done
Feel her breath on my face
Her body close to me
Can’t look in her eyes
She’s out of my league
Just a fool to believe
I have anything she needs
She’s like the wind
I look in the mirror and all I see
Is a young old man with only a dream
Am I just fooling myself
That she’ll stop the pain
Living without her
I’d go insane
Feel her breath on my face
Her body close to me
Can’t look in her eyes
She’s out of my league
Just a fool to believe
I have anything she needs
She’s like the wind
Feel your breath in my face
Your body close to me
Can’t look in your eyes
You’re out of my league
Just a fool to believe
(Just a fool to believe) she’s like the wind
Just a fool to believe (just a fool to believe)
She’s like the wind (just a fool to believe)
Just a fool to believe (just a fool to believe)
She’s like the wind
Just a fool to believe (just a fool to believe)
She’s like the wind
Just a fool
She’s like the wind
She’s like the wind
Just a fool
She’s like the wind, just a fool
She’s Like the Wind
Patrick Swayze
She’s like the wind through my tree
She rides the night next to me
She leads me through moonlight
Only to burn me with the sun
She’s taken my heart
But she doesn’t know what she’s done
Feel her breath on my face
Her body close to me
Can’t look in her eyes
She’s out of my league
Just a fool to believe
I have anything she needs
She’s like the wind
I look in the mirror and all I see
Is a young old man with only a dream
Am I just fooling myself
That she’ll stop the pain
Living without her
I’d go insane
Feel her breath on my face
Her body close to me
Can’t look in her eyes
She’s out of my league
Just a fool to believe
I have anything she needs
She’s like the wind
Feel your breath in my face
Your body close to me
Can’t look in your eyes
You’re out of my league
Just a fool to believe (just a fool to believe)
She’s like the wind (just a fool to believe)
Just a fool to believe (just a fool to believe)
She’s like the wind
Just a fool to believe (just a fool to believe)
She’s like the wind
Just a fool
She’s like the wind
She’s like the wind
Just a fool
She’s like the wind, just a fool
Songwriters: Patrick Swayze / Stacy Widelitz
Swayze and Wildelitz must been in the shower with Pucky!!
The music industry is so dirty!
I feel for Pucky (but not in the shower!).
The lawsuit is sub judice so I can’t talk about it specifically but just to let you know I’ve had enough of every other person taking credit for my work and it ends here
‘parently “Gaudeamus Igitur” is Pucky’s.
“La Marseillaise” too, and “Happy Birthday”.
He’s not been served well by the industry, poor Puck.
“Yankee Doodle”, “Song of the Volga Boatmen” – the list goes on.
And I heard from a reliable source that “Three Blind Mice” is also on the list.
The inspiration, it is said, came from the Three Wise Monkeys. Alas Zoology seems not to be his strong suit, and his interpretation of the proverb is just a wee bit askew.
Nevermind, he can count to three.
“The Volga Boatmen”. I wrote a song once, to that tune, which told the history of the Russian revolution in three verses.
“When Serge and I were young we went to live in Omsk
Where we spent our time, manufacturing bombsk.
Bombsk! Bombsk! Bombsk! Bombsk! Manufacturing bombs!
When Serge and I grew up, we went to live on Murmansk
Where we spent our time, hatching revolutionary plansk.
Plansk! Plansk! Plansk! Plansk! Hatching revolutionary plansk!
When Serge and I grew old, we went to live in Ototsk
Where we spent our time foiling counter-revolutionary plotsk.
Plotsk! Plotsk! Plotsk! Plotsk! Foiling counter-revolutionary plotsk!”
Balalaikas optional.
Good God.
I thought that Puckish Rogue had taken some relatively normal poem and then turned it into a parody.
Now you publish the original and I would have to say that he had actually improved it. How do these poems get written and who on earth publishes them? Or reads them for that matter?
I think we should go back to the poetry of more normal times. Bring back the poems of my days at primary school.
Quinquireme of Nineveh from distant Ophir,
Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine,
With a cargo of ivory,
And apes and peacocks,
Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine.
Stately Spanish galleon coming from the Isthmus,
Dipping through the Tropics by the palm-green shores,
With a cargo of diamonds,
Emeralds, amythysts,
Topazes, and cinnamon, and gold moidores.
Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack,
Butting through the Channel in the mad March days,
With a cargo of Tyne coal,
Road-rails, pig-lead,
Firewood, iron-ware, and cheap tin trays.
Wasn’t that better. As anything else would be better than Swayze.
Or, as Mary Hopkins would have it a bit later on
“Those were the days my friend”
Love seems indeed, to be blind…and has the memory of a goldfish – “swamp kauri? threatening journalists? What Chinese connection???”
“swamp kauri? threatening journalists? What Chinese connection???”
– Sorry but I don’t understand what you’re saying it all sounds like gibberish to me 🙂
Not gibberish, Pucky, corruption .
Cor-rup-what now? Sorry it just doesn’t seem to compute
https://www.oxforddictionaries.com
Hey puckers that’s what Big Joolee said.
Well beyond puckers.
This government need to get the MoW going again so that we don’t have to the overly costly PPP model.
I hope that the government puts enough hooks into that contract to keep the private profiteers honest.
I could agree to the MOW starting up again but not to the same extent as it was before
However something that would make things a bit fairer, and more efficient, is to change how sub contracting work
For example Fulton Hogan bid for a contract and, once winning the contract, immediately put out a sub contract for a smaller company to do the work
Not sure how you’d do it but sorting that is something that’d get things moving a lot quicker
A MoW should do all the engineering that the government needs done. This is actually the point – the government has the scale to maintain such an entity full time.
Same goes for their IT really.
The biggest part of the MOW’s work was in their Power Division.. Primarily they were building all the Hydro Power Stations. They wouldn’t be allowed to do that these days. The Luddites in the Green Party would oppose any new stations on the grounds that it might affect whatever stream they had just labelled “The greatest wild river in the world”.
Personally I think the South Island landscapes were greatly improved by the Hydro lakes. The Waikato River is also enhanced by the various dams that gave the scenic, and recreational lakes.
But Red Russel and his mates would be out demonstrating about any development at all. I suppose James Shaw would also arrive in his Crown Limo and his bright shiny Red Band gumboots and indulge in a bit of tut-tutting.
But they would oppose any work being done to supply people with renewable power.
The Greens would have the MoW building wind power instead (I’m personally in favour of offshore wind-farms) and installing solar (PV and water heating) on roofs around the country. Probably even a couple of geothermal stations.
No they wouldn’t:
I read right through that list and failed to see, anywhere, a mention of hydro-electric power.
Just what do you have against it?
At least you, although not the Green Party apparently would allow Geothermal power.
Hydro-electric and geothermal were the things that the MOW were good at, and therefore, it seems, the things the Greens are against.
I assume that the party never put their investments into such industries. I know they invested in a New Zealand wind energy firm. That didn’t work out too well did it, in spite of them pushing its cause?
You obviously didn’t bother to click on the “Read the full policy here” tab at the bottom of the page:
E. Geothermal
Geothermal development for industrial process heat and electricity can be sustainable under some circumstances. It must be developed with care to ensure that natural thermal features are not disrupted, and that fluids are re-injected to deep wells so that heat and fluid are not depleted. Iwi and hapū connected to the resource, and their values, must be respected. The Green Party will:
1. Support sustainable development and use of geothermal energy.
2. Facilitate iwi and hapū involvement in the development and use of geothermal energy.
F. Hydroelectricity
Hydro provides the backbone of our current electricity generation system. The Green Party does not favour further large hydro plants because:
• Our system is vulnerable to dry winters already and we need to diversify away from hydro, and
• Rivers are important habitats for wildlife and highly valued for recreation such as fishing and kayaking. We need to protect wild rivers from further development.
The Green Party supports:
1. Small hydro developments being considered on their merits, where they can be built without significant damage to ecology or public values.
2.Iwi and hapū involvement in the planning of small hydro projects, where these projects involve water resources within the rohe of the iwi or hapū.
No I didn’t. I read the piece Draco quoted.
On the other hand, after reading the section you quote I am not going to change my opinion.
There are so many qualifications in here that no development will ever take place.
“We need to protect wild rivers from further development.”
ie. No more development allowed because you simply class every river as a “wild” one, don’t you.
By the way. Just how many people really go kayaking on these “wild rivers”? I see quite a lot in Wellington Harbour but damn all on the Hutt River and I can’t remember seeing any on the Orongorongo river.
How many pathetic dribbly South Island rivers have you seen lately wally?
How many pathetic dribbly comments have you made lately gobby?
You really are a dumb piece of shit aren’t you?
PR not quite correct there, from days gone by when working with another contractor that is well known in NZ !!! the sub contractors tender prices are incorporated pre tender calculation before being submitted to the client. No contractor would implement the process you are proposing, as the principal would be exposed to both the ability to a sub contractor to commit and the price that they would charge.
In many contracts I have been privy to, sub contractors are also included as part of the tender, so the client can weigh up different tenders and their ability to deliver.
The ability for a govt to replicate MoW is well past. The time to gear up both with a work force and gear would be too prohibitive. I will say many of those skilled construction workers working with heavy equipment, developed their trade from MoW days e.g. Grader driver, tunnelling certificate holders etc. i.e where practical tradies learnt their trades.
Food for thought, Herodotus. Thanks for that.
No it’s not.
No it wouldn’t. To gear up the private sector costs as well.
You comment with limited industry knowledge. pity otherwise you could add some value to the topic !!
The private sector Downer EDI Works – was MoW. Other large construction coys have had 20+ years to build up resources, equipment as the sector has grown. Where would a new MoW obtain staff from ?? More immigrants, and if so ANOTHER broken promise from our current govt. Cannibalise from existing coys.
Buy equipment ? If experienced coys as Fletchers are finding it difficult how would the govt ?
Also how would a active MoW operate under our Free Trade Agreements ?? That is why I commented that the time had past for this Min. to be replicated again. Pity as commented before, this was a great entity that gave work experience to so many and built so much of our current infrastructure. Oh to go back to 1996 and reverse that decision 🙁
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_of_Works_and_Development
so mike hoskins Born: 24 January 1965 (age 53 years)
i would guess he starts having proper memories of holidays and going away sort of around 1973 ish, give or take a year or two.
so i googled for strikes between 1974 – 1979 just for giggles and came to this
Quote: ” Either way, industrial relations between management and unions were not always good, especially in the 1970s. Railways sometimes seemed more interested in moving its own rail wagons than people.
In 1988, angered by cancelled sailings, passengers took matters into their own hands. After sleeping in the tatty old terminal and watching ferries come and go full of rail wagons while being told that there was no room for people, passengers blocked the railway line until promised higher priority for people and cars.”
snip (this is the bit posted above that does not have the correct time frame for the purists)
Several times between 1971 and 1983 the government launched ‘Operation Pluto’, using state domestic airline and air force planes to fly passengers and cars between Wellington and Blenheim during prolonged industrial disputes.
snip – to finish
Quote: Although there has not been a major strike since 1994, the editor of New Zealand Marine News chuckled at public reaction to a brief dispute in September 2003. ‘Despite this ten-year strike-free period, passengers interviewed on television complained vociferously as if such disputes were still frequent and recent.’Quote
Now did Mr. Hoskins complain about the ferries that loaded their ship with rail cars to the point were they could not take passengers up? Oh noes, that would be his paymasters. ……
oh and this is from this pimko commie page .govt.nz 🙂 https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/cook-strait-rail-ferries/strikes-and-strandings
Desperate attempt to get Sanctuary out of a massive hole fails.
We are undoubtedly seeing a new era of industrial problems beginning, with unions emboldened by a weak government who stoked expectations and now merrily destroys business confidence.
Business isn’t confident, it’s cocky. Whenever its favoured enablers are out of power, business loses it’s
confidencecockiness.So
what.
So what? Are you serious? Businesses employ people. They provide capital which produces profits on which taxes are paid to fund government spending. You do know that, right? You do know that governments only survive because of private enterprise? That government services, welfare systems, hospitals, schools, only exists because businesses employ people, make money and pay taxes?
The signs are already there that this government is stuffing the economy, while also managing to be incompetent in too many other areas to count.
Which is all a lie.
All the capital, all the resources needed for that business comes from the community. And that community is represented by the government.
Bank Robbery: How would money (and the world) be different after reform?
One of the aspects of Sovereign Money would be that rich people would become superfluous. We could, as a nation, decide where our resources are going to be used rather than leaving it to a small clique of self-aggrandising arseholes.
yeah right, try reducing business levels by say 20% in NZ and see how much the Government has available to pay nurses and teachers then.
Fine for you to expound your wonk theory but the rest of us live in the real world – if business is not producing the cake then government has nothing to slice, it is that simple.
Your Utopian communist model has never worked anywhere Draco
I’ll bet that’s because it just hasn’t been implemented properly anywhere, ever…yet 🙂
The truth hurt does it?
Hey, Pucky! Do you reckon the capitalist model has ever been implemented properly anywhere, ever? If so, where?
Seems to be doing a decent job in China
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_China
“According to the World Bank, more than 500 million people were lifted out of extreme poverty as China’s poverty rate fell from 88 percent in 1981 to 6.5 percent in 2012, as measured by the percentage of people living on the equivalent of US$1.90 or less per day in 2011 purchasing price parity terms”
Still has a way to go of course
https://qz.com/798481/over-a-billion-people-have-been-lifted-out-of-poverty-since-1990-but-the-next-billion-will-be-harder/
“Since 2008, too, the proportion of people in extreme poverty population has fallen steadily, from 17.8% to just 10.8% of the global population. In 2013 alone, 114 million people were lifted out of extreme poverty.”
Even Bono is saying it:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3258264/The-U2-U-turn-years-telling-hand-aid-Bono-admits-trade-eradicate-extreme-poverty.html
Addressing business leaders, he said: ‘I’m late to realising that it’s you guys, it’s the private sector, it’s commerce that’s going to take the majority of people out of extreme poverty. And, as an activist, I almost found that hard to say.’
Yep. I hear the night sky over there’s as clear as a clear and the rivers run the same. Success: smells like renminbi !
While I can’t locate the exact link I feel reasonably secure in suggesting that industry is just as dirty, if not more so, under communism
I’d also suggest that as wealth continues to grow in a country that country will then produce more of an educated, middle class which in turn leads to greater benefits for that country
For example when western countries entered the industrial age the countryside suffered, the poor suffered, nature suffered but (a bit too slowly sure) as education has increased as has the social conscience grown with it so now more effort, and money, is spent on welfare, on conservation, on education
Same thing will happen in China, India etc etc, in fact it might even happen sooner
“Just as dirty” – well that’s okay then. I personally, am not championing Communism. I was asking you to nominate a properly implemented Capitalist model, then my aim was to show how unsuitable your best model was, in real terms (that is, not ruining the place).
I don’t think capitalism or communism has been properly implemented but if you look at the difference in NZ at the start of industrialisation to now you’ll see a massive difference, some good some bad but overall better
Same with older European countries and the same with countries like Canada or even the USA
You look at countries that are communist and its only the countries that are taking on more capitalism, like China, that’re improving the lot of their people
Sure its not scientific but when it comes down it Capitalism is the best of the current lot of choices we have or the lest worst, whatever way you want to look at it
Capitalism, far from ideal; Communism, far from ideal. I’m not especially enamoured of any of the systems on display right now, Pucky. How about a discussion that doesn’t call on those labels but instead looks at the parts of human society that do work, regardless of their table, and see if we can stitch something together that’s better than anything going?
How the hell can things be generally better if we’re on the brink of eradicating all complex life forms thanks to capitalism?
“Generally better off”, perhaps, but still doomed (just differently). In any case, I’m betting Communism is as responsible for many of the ills that loom over us now. And almost every other ism. Some models out there though, aren’t causing these problems, I reckon.
As much as it chooses. That’s one of the benefits to the government creating the nations money and spending it into the economy. It would benefit private business as well – no more interest to pay.
That is actually a lie and always has been. It’s not private that makes the wealth of a nation.
It’s never been tried. Capitalism, on the other hand, has been and it’s always resulted in the collapse of society and now it’s pushing us to the 6th Great Extinction that may result in us being extinct.
Personal responsibility is not meant to be ME ME ME. It’s about being a responsible member of society and community as well as responsible for yourself. Corporatism shuns both society and community for profits. Legally obliged to profit and protected by law, corporate entities take more than they give by their very structure. And they will bury competition if they can. It’s the ‘free market’.
I have no problem with people acquiring wealth, especially when they work for it. But some wanker on several million per year who rides roughshod over environmental and social structures in order to profit is a fucking scumbag, not a leader.
A leader of shits, perhaps. That part that makes your bowels squirm, the sweat rises, nothing is comfortable and will no longer possibly feel ok till the situation is resolved. Scum in high places upset the whole damn works.
Anyone behind the scenes directing such antisocial activities is an abhorrent asshole, not even fronting for their own shit. The willfully ignorant who enable such activity and promote their spin are also culpable, Hosking et al fit this description.
Honest money for honest effort. Or really, fuck right off.
We don’t need to dismantle capitalism, we need to dismantle the old boys clubs.
We need to dismantle capitalism
Or say goodbye to life as we know it on this planet.
Capitalism = The Old Boys Clubs.
Banks are public institutions masquerading as private businesses.
“We will be told we must lift the cap on salaries and bring back bonuses to attract the “best people”. We should reply that we’ve had the best people and we’d rather have just good ones. We will be told that huge salaries and bonuses will show the banks are getting back to normal.
We should reply that this is exactly what we’re afraid of.”
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/fintan-o-toole-banks-are-public-institutions-masquerading-as-private-businesses-1.3534868
It’s behind a paywall, that link.
People should join a co-operative bank or a credit union.
Quoting “Why we can’t afford the rich” by Andrew Sayer, Richard Wilkinson
Our banksters don’t get the pay that they deserve but the pay that they want. A choice that normal employees don’t have.
And then there’s this:
A curiosity is that high pay actually reduces effort.
Motivation is a complex interaction and simplistic mechanisms like CEO pay have less to do with that than with ability to coopt the value streams that properly belong to the owners.
Deci, E. L., Koestner, R., & Ryan, R. M. (1999). A Meta-Analytic Review of Experiments Examining the Effect of Extrinsic Rewards on Intrinsic Motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 125(6), 627-668.
High pay tends to result in worse outcomes:
Horrid. As usual indigenous communities and the environment put at risk for black gold, money and lies.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2018/jun/19/salish-sea-pipeline-indigenous-salish-sea-canada-trans-mountain
Re Mike Hoskings missing out on holidays in the 70’s……………cry me a river………boo hoo not. He needs to go and visit families living in cars or mouldy houses and then he would have some genuine grievance (on their behalf) and of course one of the strands in the rope that has led us to our current situation re housing and poverty is the barbaric labour relations laws and the fact that we pay such a useless waste of space (Hoskings) so much money while others get so little.
He is really quite repulsive.
Selfish.
Entitled.
Narcissistic.
The perfect neo-liberal.
Israel calls for the banning of imports of all petrol and diesel vehicles within 12 years:
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Energy-Minister-calls-for-banning-diesel-gas-based-cars-in-Israel-by-2030-543768
Other countries have been bolder, but it would still be great to see our own government propose such steps.
I would love to see labour come out with that. Although for different reasons than you I would guess.
UPDATE
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/parenting/pregnancy/104857010/no-surprises-that-arderns-baby-missed-the-due-date
https://www.theonion.com/miracle-of-birth-occurs-for-83-billionth-time-1819565067
HOPE SPRINGS, AR—The holy and sacrosanct miracle of birth, long revered by human civilization as the most mysterious and magical of all phenomena, took place for what experts are estimating “must be at least the 83 billionth time”
Seems appropriate 🙂
83 billionth? So Jacinda’s might be the 83billionth-and-one! Even more reason to celebrate wildly! Tell everyone! Tell THE WORLD!!!
(It’s a miracle!)
A miracle is probably the only way the current government will get a second term 🙂
That reads, Pucky, given that the miracle is on its way, Jacinda will be comfortably in for a second term. Now, if she plays her cards right, the third will be a cinch!
And yet you’re convinced Judith has what it takes to be PM!!!
That’d be a miracle, that; Judith, feet under the PM’s desk.
(Ever read Roald Dahl’s, “The Witches”, Pucky?
Always check the feet.)
I’m surprised at you Robert:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/apr/07/cursed-from-circe-to-clinton-why-women-are-cast-as-witches
Just because shes a powerful, intelligent, confident (and alluring) women is no reason to be intimadated by her 🙂
There are some very fine witches out there, Pucky.
Judith’s not one of them.
I think you’ll find she’d fit in pretty well in this movie:
In the picture, is she the thin one with her head on fire?
She’s a great match for you, Pucky!
Thats a good movie 🙂
83, just like 38 was a made up number of cyclists…
Just like the population of Panama is not 3.8m as stated during a WC game yesterday..
More than 100bn is the birth figure…
More than 4m is the population of Panama…
22
Puckish, I have to admit I am starting to find you amusing, which I think is good given we have such different views…………………
Your singing rendition was something else and all I can say is you’ve got it bad (i.e. your crush on Judith)…………
Seriously though, tell me what the appeal is?
Because for me she crossed such a big line over the Orivida saga and her relationship with Cam Slater. I would urge you to read Dirty Politics.
I’ve always been attracted to strong, intelligent, confident women and I assure you it has nothing to with Jude being one of the lefts Bete Noires 🙂
UPDATE
Gayford’s tweet shows PM still waiting.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12074417
Very interesting reading.
Poll result on all-party action on climate change.
Quite a few commentators on this site would appear out of touch with the majority on this one.
https://horizonpoll.co.nz/page/510/majority-support-all-party-action-on-climate-change?gtid=8329406818137LIT
Well, well, well. The Terracotta Turdface has finally managed to upset the evangelicals. But possibly not enough for them to rethink their support.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/19/family-separations-evangelicals-ralph-reed-654094
“Evangelical leader Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham and a prominent Trump supporter, told the Christian Broadcasting Network last week that the practice was “disgraceful, and it’s terrible to see families ripped apart and I don’t support that one bit.”
Days later, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops condemned the practice on anti-abortion grounds.
“This decision negates decades of precedents that have provided protection to women fleeing domestic violence,” conference President Daniel Cardinal DiNardo wrote June 13. “Unless overturned, the decision will erode the capacity of asylum to save lives.””
tronald dump will be feeling the heat now – slowly rising towards him and what’s that fucken brimstone smell???
Good morning The AM Show All the best to Jacinda and Clarke with the start of the birth of their first moko. trump has buckle under the pressure of te tangata of Papatuanukue to change the policy’s on America boarders Ka pai ECO MAORI will wait and see exactly what he does before I give him credit for the changes to this unhumane policy of taking mokos from there parents.
Many thanks to the AM Show for advocating responsibilities drinking of That killer drug Alcohol. I propose that there are adverts that show te Mokopunas that there are many consequences to drinking to much alcohol one mite die end up in the hinaki / jail most people have done dumb shit while drinking alcohol get the stuff out of OUR supermarkets have bottle stores close at 9 pm many ideas to make axcess to alcohol harder.
It looks like dancing with the stars is just a show that is used to premote the political act party the last time the show ran it promoted rodney hide he’s retired from politics now and this show its all about david seenothing /seymour that’s what I see.
Duncan you have seen for yourself what happened when people put bullshit spinning out about you.
Ka kite ano
The sandflys are playing up in Auckland there is a phenomenon that plays out when they do this and it – – – for ECO MAORI. Here some music link
Ka kite ano
Here you go this is the attitude /racial discrimination some have for tangata whenua of Atoearoa. The word BRO discription in the oxford nz dictionary its shocking and Maori culture tangata deserve a apologie over this other forum of suppression of Maori. I get pissed off when some people use the word BRO as a joke they manly white people think Maori people are to dumb to pick up there smart ass put down of you as if they are the only ones blessed with intelligence MUPPETS heres the link below
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/104883252/racist-definition-of-the-word-bro-hurtful-and-untrue-woman-says P.S Te whole of Papatuanukue is starting to use Bro in a positive way now Ana to kai Ka kite ano
Here a link to show the sandflys behaviour link below.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12075313
Ka kite ano