You have to be a real political anorak to give a damn about some emails being released, but the longer Curran refuses to let her Prime Minister off the hook, the worse this is going to get. As Claire Trevett notes:
“The hiring of Handley and then scrapping his appointment before he even began is the messiest mishap of the new Government so far.
The best Labour can hope for is to deal with the fallout efficiently and without being cute about it.
Labour had no doubt hoped the Handley episode would be tidied away with the departure of Curran.
But as long as the contents of those emails remain a secret so too will the suspicion the Prime Minister is somehow involved, or there is something else damaging in there.”
Media should move on. Curren resigned. It’s the media stupid. Take Massay uni, a club wanting to invite Brash, the vc said no.NOt about bRushes freespeach since he got a gig quick smart, and how hilarious, 150 years at still fat in the head old white guy still thinks they are a victim like he has ever had a speach problem.
So M assay did not deny freespeach, just restricted association on their property, the stink would have been Brash meeting said club just outside the campus demanding his right of association, which of course expose how farfetched the whole story was. Farrier turdblossum fails to ignited and blows back on him.
Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN (Prime Minister): Mr Speaker, my office has received a number of Official Information Act (OIA) requests, including from the Opposition, and is working on a response to those. We will release that information in accordance with the provisions of the Act once it has been compiled and once it has been processed.
Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: The text that I received, again, as I said, was in April. I did not directly reply to that text message on that day or engage with him on the CTO role. On the CTO role, I did not engage with Mr Handley via text message.
Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Mr Speaker, as I acknowledged the very moment I was asked this question, I have known Mr Handley for a number of years and have had correspondence with him for a number of years.
Rt Hon JACINDA ARDERN: Mr Speaker, as a consequence of the member’s question, I have had my office check. Mr Handley sent me an unsolicited email to my private email on 7 June, which I did not open and which I did not reply to. I’m advised by my staff that it informed me that he’d submitted an application for the role. But, again, it was not something I opened, saw, or replied to.
Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Acting Minister of State Services): Mr Speaker, as I informed your office, this will be a slightly longer than normal answer. There are three email exchanges. The first: on 11 August, where Derek Handley emails Clare Curran about the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) position and questions about the role of the CTO, including resourcing for the role and potential conflicts of interest. On 14 August, Clare Curran replies to that email, confirming a call to discuss these matters. On 15 August, Derek Handley replies to that, confirming times for the call.
The second exchange: on 19 August, Clare Curran emails Derek Handley regarding logistics around the next step on the process of appointment, including the content of any public statements that might be made, and refers to contract discussions with the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA). On 20 August, Derek Handley responds to that email to Clare Curran about those issues, including the contact he has had with DIA and management of conflicts of interest.
The third exchange: on 21 August, Clare Curran emails Derek Handley regarding issues that would be on the work plan of the CTO and attaches some relevant background documents on those issues. On the same day, Derek Handley responds to Clare Curran, acknowledging the material and referring to the discussions that he is having with DIA.
I have sought and received an assurance from the former Minister that these email exchanges will be made available for release subject to the normal Official Information Act (OIA) processes.
So this saga is going to stretch out for a month or two at least.
or a political journalist who needs to create copy every day and who only has the 120 member unicameral parliament of small uncorrupt, and reasonably well run country to work with.
Seriously, these guys would publish an article on the meaning of a discarded chippies packet in the corridor if they thought they could get away with it.
Well, the corporate media could be addressing issues like child poverty, obesity, suicide, depression, unemployment, employment conditions, pay scales, foreign ownership A LOT MORE.
You know all the problems caused by the imposition of neoliberal capitalism on this country.
But they won’t.
They are paid puppets of the establishment.
That was very clear yesterday when the lamestream rated covering an odious ACT leaders right to speak above talking about our amazing suffrage history.
I’d be quite interested in the meaning of a discarded chippiespacket. Far more do than Currans emails which I am sure will bring the Govt down.Sarc. Would also be interested in an inquiry into Gerry Brownlees bullying phone call to young Accountant. Double standards from Dim SIM.
Big is good? Such fpp thinking is just silly when applied to an MMP coalition. He can’t seem to grasp the parity relation. We have a Labour PM and that’s the sole basis for any valid claim that Labour is leading, a claim that loses plausibility every time she doesn’t lead when necessary.
He makes this interesting point: “there is no doubt that Winston coming into 2020 will play the Māori card. You can put your money on it. The question is what will the Māori members of the Labour Party do?” Depends how he plays it.
He makes much of NZF’s wins in the budget, accuses Winston of dictatorship, and then “If Winston and Shane do not pull their heads in, there has to be a confrontation and Prime Minister Ardern will have to say enough is enough.” I agree, call their bluff when necessary, but she must be aware that Winston may have deliberately provoked her to get an early election. No grounds for this scenario currently!
“Tourism remains the saviour of New Zealand’s external accounts, which in June continued the trend of deterioration started in 2017.
In December 2016, the current account deficit hit a low of 2.2% of GDP. That has now climbed to 3.3% of GDP.
Without the services balance, particularly the tourism returns, the deficit would have climbed to 5.1% in the three months ended June, BNZ head of research Stephen Toplis said.
”The good news is we expect the services balance to remain solidly in surplus for the foreseeable future. The bad news is we do not see it growing significantly from here, particularly as growth in inbound tourism is increasingly capacity-constrained.”
Driving the balance further into the red had been the weakness experienced in New Zealand exports. By his estimate, goods export volumes were only 0.3% higher in the June quarter than they were a year earlier.
In stark contrast, import volumes soared 8.4%.” – BNZ Head of Research Stephen Toplis, quoted in ODT.
Capacity constraints are a welcome kind of challenge for the New Zealand government and for businesses to grapple with. (He also neglected to mention that dairy as a commodity set is unrecoverable).
It was also excellent to hear Otago cheery growers (RNZ this morning) will be doubling their production and don’t know where to get the future staff.
Among Prime Minister Ardern’s string of bon mots about the economy in her speech on the weekend, enhancing wealth while dealing with increasing constraints to whole industries was absent.
There lots of areas in which they are successfully working, but this is a real unaddressed biggie.
Once again @ Muttonbird – agree. Ross Bell is a very sensible chap, though I’m not sure his
“”This has been the biggest scam New Zealand has ever seen,” is exactly true.
Immigration scams leading to exploitation and what is effectively people trafficking are just as evil, and they’ve been the result of ten years of bad policy, its implementation and (lack of) enforcement. It’s only now its GRADUALLY being taken more seriously, although there are some pretty simple things that could be done immediately
Perhaps. Both are evil in any case. Summarily prosecuting, convicting, and sentencing social housing tenants without offering defence or recourse on the one hand, and encouraging a fearful, cheap workforce for the benefit of their business friends on the other.
Amazing that he’s untouchable yet Bridges is baying for the blood of Jan Thomas.
And let’s get this straight: Jan Thomas didn’t want a reactionary crank racist doing an unpaid gig on campus, and McKenzie kicked 800 social housing tenants onto the streets unlawfully.
Yep.
Once again, I was hoping Chris Hipkins review of the public service gets to cover issues such as these. So far I’m not that hopeful.
Sure as shit it ain’t what it used to be (in terms of ethical behaviour, codes of conduct, etc.) Sure – it was never perfect, but there are now so many departments and Munstries that are absolutely dysfunctional – they do not serve a public or a functioning democracy.
I doubt any of them (for example) have had any sanction over the use of Thompson and bloody Clark.
Just out of interest Chris do you feel sad re what the Salvation Army is saying about meth evictions and stat housing tenants? Or have you used up all your sadness on a name change?
I think the way the tenants were treated was disgusting.
The Nats had an excuse to start off with as that is the levels they were given to work with, but as it looked more and more like the levels at which it is dangerous were utter shit, there should have been a “Hang on a sec’. Stoppp!!! put all action on tenants on hold till we work this out”
It’ll be outside the terms. Hager’s lawyer appears to be focussed on uncovering police individuals who acted illegally. That’ll be where it stops – unless one of them tells all…
I seem to remember that Helen Clark once made a remark about the economy which caused a flare up in a similar way to that for which Jacinda was criticised the other day. Funny the things you remember in the middle of the night.
National made mistakes from time to time, including at least one that, while different, was arguably much worse than Ardern’s.
In 2011, shortly after the Christchurch earthquake, John Key told financial news agency Bloomberg that he expected the Reserve Bank would cut interest rates. “We’d certainly welcome it.”
The dollar plunged in a way which suggested financial markets believed Key was making the decision.
“Peters is a team player only if he’s in charge of the team. He might behave himself for a while, but in time his natural belligerence and contrarianism will assert itself.”
Which leads to this happening…
“NZ First has now jammed several sticks into the spokes of Labour and the Greens, to the teeth-grinding frustration of the Left. The Government is looking shambolic and there must be doubts about its ability to run a full term.”
Karl du Fresne has explained the dynamics well, and the reason Winston received his 7% on election night. And why going into coalition with him is like walking through a minefield.
Just more spin against the coalition govt by msm..
Anyway who gives a flying f about who Karl (I chose the wrong ice cream flavour boo hoo) voted for. He needs to be given a wheel barrow and do something useful for a change. Try to help out with the coalitions kiwi build building houses
Presumably this appeared here by accident as it appears to be a repeat of a reply to 11 below. Not a criticism; I was just confused for a moment until I realised the situation so thought I would clarify for others.
Being Karl du Fresne, I was not going to bother to read it as I have read his ‘work’ too many times in the past and he is highly predictable.
But I decided I would read it. I have, and my initial thoughts proved right. This article is predictable as always, several days behind the ace ball, out of date like Fresne, and a complete waste of time.
I did get one good laugh from a very quick look at the comments which were also predictably the usual Stuff comments. But the one that made me laugh said words to the effect that the writer voted for NZF in the hope NZF would get rid of those “part-Maoris”.
The writer should have checked who they were voting for. Of the nine NZF MPs, six (2/3rds) are part-Maoris. LOLs.
And this is the type of people that are coming here. Handley is out of a job (but at lease compensated). So in a country that could be attracting the best and brightest, nope we seem to be selecting for scammers and people who contribute to the scams and people with such low skills in areas like IT that they are not employable under normal measures. (IT is desperate for people with skills at the top end not bottom end, like everything bottom end skills are generally obsolete) .
In my view our future is pretty bleak in NZ for our kids of that continues (Auckland is already 50% migrants and more and more scammers being attracted here) because nobody is interested in stopping our country turning into one full of fucked up scamming parasites.
The really smart migrants go to the US and UK for study, NZ has developed a Rogernomics system to get the educationally challenged students here and their road to residency through Internet cafe style jobs and fake jobs.
The problem is, long term, what the fuck is gonna happen to the smart people who already can’t get a job with the low wages and scams – ummm leave and so whose gonna pay the taxes and support the unemployable in their 20’s?
… cos all these people on those fake Internet cafe jobs qualify for welfare eventually and what happens when the fake job ends and they have residency, but if they couldn’t get a legitimate job before, they clearly can’t after and the kiwis have to support and house yet fake employee whose given tens of thousands to another scammer for their expansion here which our government is completely uninterested in stopping and addressing, presumably because they agree with it.
Note the difference with human trafficking, migration fraud and so forth with no action from government compared to the swamp house owned by Aven Raj that has the council. all media and Phil Twyford rushing over to condemn it as third world….
It seems third world migration frauds don’t get the same headlines or attention…
I just have to say with regard to the argie-bargie currently going on in Parliament between the 2 sides in the House – minutiae!
Led by Bridges, the carefully framed and seriously delivered series of questions from the Nat side are in essence simply niggly and akin to a small dog snapping at the heels of someone it doesn’t like. There is no substance. There is no genuine expression of information required. These people are simply trying to bore holes below the waterline in the fond hope that this will be enough to scupper the coalition (Labour-led, of course).
It was my fond hope that, having been beaten and relegated to the opposition benches, National would hunker down, look for new policy, criticise the coalition for its policies which they don’t believe in and promote their own answers, through policy statements, to generate some support for what THEY would do if they were in power.
But oh no! They have turned into an aggressive little Pomeranian yap-yapping at the government’s heels about minutiae that are, in the grand scheme of things, quite irrelevant to bettering NZ for all its citizens. I know why they are doing it. It’s like the kid who can’t get a break, who has no ideas and resorts to foot-tripping or firing water pistols to get some reaction.
The National Party is devoid of ideas for improving the lives of ordinary NZers. They have a droit de seigneur attitude to governing – it’s their right, they have been cheated, this government should not be there, our 42% is more valid, etc, etc, etc.
Until they grow up, understand MMP, start talking about their own policies, and behave like adults in the House, then they won’t be 42% for much longer. The reason they are getting the traction they are is down to unthinking tribalism in part, and the rest is people who listen with half an ear, think with half a brain and take far too much notice of a slanted MSM that is not serving us a well as it might.
It’s time the government parties started badgering the Nats for the result of the leaking investigation on the grounds that it is in the public’s interest… since they accused Labour of doing the leaking.
Nice as that might be Anne, it would be stooping to their level, and the coalition (Labour-led, of course) is showing fine restraint in not doing so. I really hope they continue to be the adults in the room.
Hey, when the nats report back that they checked each other’s emails and did a proper investigation and found it probably wasn’t one of them, Mallard will have to start it up again.
Chris73 is a infowars viewer, his connection with reality is tenuous at best. Unless he has taken his BrainForcePlus™ nutraceutical supplement (contains Soy) then he can connect 3 improbable thing before breakfast.
Actually we don’t know that, thats the problem. I want to know the details so whoever did it (or helped) can suffer the consequences of their actions
Its similar to the NZ Labour Youth Sex Scandal. We all know the, alleged, perpetrator is linked to Labour possibly through family connections but until the truth comes out we can only speculate
Don’t you want to know who it is so they can be dealt with appropriately?
Court process will deal with offender at Labour Youth summit.
I must admit I have curiousity about which caucus member leaked, but beyond that I neither care, nor need to know. Why I was very skeptical about the mental health claims of the leaker, I rather err on the side of caution.
We don’t need to deal with the labyouth guy. Isn’t the matter before the courts? That is the appropriate course of action.
But as for the nat leaker – either a nat leaked to the media directly, or a nat leaked to someone else who leaked to the media. Between what happened in caucus and the expenses only going to the nats in that format, the root source is almost certainly within the nat caucus.
Yeah but Woodn’t be interesting if the, alleged, perp was related to someone high up because then it wouldn’t be a case of handling it poorly, it’d be a cover up
I’m not sure that “stopping salivating tories from speculating about coverups” is a reasonable or even achievable objective for breaching name suppression of a defendent.
Who do I think leaked nat caucus room secrets and the travel expenses?
Almost certainly a nat.
Beyond that, I don’t care. The knives are out in that room, and soimon shat himself into a corner. Long may it last.
Maybe I’m a bit rare in not being much of a panty-sniffer, poking my nose into random places in the guise of “transparency”. But I just don’t get the thrill. I’ve enough shit on in real life without speculating more into existence.
You don’t know for sure but you think its a Nat and thats why I want more transparency , not less so we can have less idle speculation
It’s not “idle speculation”.
At least one of the leaked pieces of information was privvy only to people in the nat caucus room. All pieces of information that were leaked were available to people in the nat caucus room.
Sure, you’re going for the hail Mary pass that the nats will exonerate themselves and Mallard will discover one of his staffers had done something naughty and repeated gossip to cover their arse. The other one has bells on.
Well said, Doog. Actually I am pleased that the Bridges-led National opposition are showing themselves for what they are – and I am sure that they will be losing voters through taking this approach.
I am also pleased that Ardern et al are not retaliating and instead, basically called their bluff over the last day or so with the Crown Maori agency agreement and announcement, the increased refugee announcement etc.
But just one thing … Last week we had Bridges et Co compared to Bichon Frise (h/t lprent) and this week, Pomeranians!
Please, please leave the dogs out of this – all dogs and their breeds are far, far better and more intelligent!
VV – Leader of the Coalition to Ban the Defamation of Dogs (CBDD) – (or any other animals).
Regionally interested people could catch hold of this tree planting plan and get their region going to have young people trained in horticulture, silviculture and fit and keen and ready to take on jobs in tree planting and care in the future.
A greater proportion of indigenous trees are to be planted in the Minster for Regional Economic Development’s plan, thanks to a $240m funding boost from the Provincial Growth Fund. MPI’s forestry service Te Uru Rākau is talking with industry body NZPPI about helping nurseries respond to the demand.
But NZPPI says while Shane Jones’ ten year programme is an exciting opportunity for native tree nurseries, the challenge will be scaling up.
Robert Guyton has worked as a young man planting on steep slopes and says it is very hard. The speaker in this radionz interview referred to some possible automation to assist in moving the project forward. I am sure it has some place in the chain of activity to getting the trees in the ground and beyond. Perhaps Robert you could give your comments or write a piece about what will have to be largely plantation-type planting for most of it, with steep and erosion prone land to be eternal forest (no cutting), what firebreaks, whether less resinous trees than pine would result in less fire risk etc. We should also be planting trees for harvesting for our own wood needs, utilising species from other lands with special properties (Tasmanian hardwoods I have heard of, stone pine? for pinenuts), mixed tree and crop or grazing paddocks on farms also. This would help conserve water from evaporation, give animals a tree and shadow for refuge from the hot sun (with the trunk protected, and of nontoxic type).
Following up on this ambitious and necessary project could be an ongoing feature for TS so that we apply our minds to both political theatre and the real-world problems we want dealt with at the ‘coalface’. Looking through information available about forestry on the internet there is info about pine and native forestry but to get the best results, a simple dichotomy on species like this would not give outcomes that were optimal.
And a pause to think about the cultural effect of trees on us and how practically our civilisation has been built using trees. Interesting thought, am I right in this?:
Paul Robeson’s beautiful voice –
Very interesting views on trees from Ecologist Suzanne Simard
“Her 30 years of research in Canadian forests have led to an astounding discovery: trees talk, communicating often and over vast distances. Trees are much more like us humans that you may think. They are extremely social and depend on each other for their survival. Communication is vital, and a massive web of hair-like mushroom roots transmit secret messages between trees, triggering them to share nutrients and water with those in need.”
“The body of the petition sets out the case for change. It takes as its starting point the almost incredible fact – one still contested by many supposed experts, although confirmed by detailed studies produced by the Bank of England and other central banks – that around 97% of our money has been created, not by the government, but by the commercial banks, which create the money by simply making a bank entry in the accounts of those to whom they lend money, usually on mortgage.
The banks, of course, charge interest on the money they thereby create ex nihilo (or out of nothing) and it is the interest they charge that produces their huge profits of billions of dollars which they then send back, in most cases, to Australia.
What is really astonishing about this state of affairs is that the money supply – one of the key elements in determining our economic success or otherwise – is almost entirely controlled, not by our government or the Reserve Bank, but by foreign-owned commercial banks which operate entirely for profit and are in no way accountable to the New Zealand public.”
I had a dream where Jacinda Ardern spoke about class issues last night. … I mean I knew it was a dream when someone from Labour was talking about poverty without using the word child before it, in my dream the coalition govt outlined a target, actual policies that were designed to lower inequality and share the wealth and a timeline. In my dream the people of New Zealand celebrated a government that was willing to lead on the issues and fight for the majority rather than a minority and the media reported on this fairly and balanced….
Only in a dream land would labour have transformational policies and the guts to implement them and the media be fair and balanced in their reporting.
Back to reality, virtue signaling, tweaks and vague promises
What policies do you think Labour need to put in to lower inequality and share the wealth, fight for the majority rather than a minority and how to get the media reported on this fairly and balanced?
Looks like is going to recommend a CGT, but will provide some options for how that will work in final report due next feb. Also looks like will recommend better environmental taxes, which is awesome, esp. in regards to getting the cost of using natural eco-systems into the cost of what we do and make. No finacial transactions tax, no sugar tax (unless the govt. really really wants it) and probably tweaks to the lower tax-rates and thresholds.
Seems all sensible stuff, nothing to outrageous and appears to be what most normal thinking NZers want…. a better, fairer tax system, not one designed for the benefit of the few
Pleased to see that the recommendation is that tax on income from realised capital gain should be integrated with normal income tax – no separate CGT at a fixed rate.
The equity argument for this is unassailable. Plus, it means that if we raise income tax rates on those with high incomes (as we should), we effectively raise the tax rate on their income from capital as well.
Excellent start – now if only they would recommend gradually dropping and ultimately eliminating the regressive GST.
So GDP up 1% for the quarter. In Mike Hosking’s language that’s 4% annually which has got to be better than anything John Key achieved.
Forestry bumped up agriculture 4.2% – must be all those trees being planted, eh? Seriously though, Kiwibuild and NZFs focus on reviving forestry in the regions is going to be massive for this sector in the coming years. And trees are nice – nicer than cows.
Mining down 20%. Well, boo hoo.
I see Amy Adams was all doom and gloom though, and Farrar will be avoiding this news like the plague.
And growth constraints might be infrastructure (National’s fault), workers (hordes of them are still falling out of the sky), and maybe the cessation of irrigation projects (boo hoo).
Those GDP numbers must be incorrect. The government must me manipulating the figures, bribing officials or something, because Simon and Amy said GDP would slow and business has no confidence and and……..fuck it, I give up
I’m coming out in nostalgic songs – I don’t know whether it is catching but the tunes and words are. Muttonbird says – Why can’t these people be happy?
I want to be happy – here’s an old version and one we would love to sing if National could only settle to make the country happy and themselves try to be happy too.
We would even dance along with David Seymour (I think) if we could all get into line dancing (for the rural people), tangos (for the city slickers) or even the Gay Gordons for those embedded in the past.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aDJGvFSVOQ
Here is the Gay Gordons which looks a slightly tipsy image but a lot of fun.
Notice how the dancers cope with change and manage to dance with different partners all following the same steps and moving in the same direction. A good pattern for us in our politics I think. (If you go onto the Manchester Pride 2016 version you will enjoy the blokes getting stuck in to the Gay Gordons too. I’m impressed by their chutzpah.)
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEmTLioBpi0
The corrupt and malevolent Judith Collins is on the attack again.
But
Mr Twyford called on Paula Bennett and the ministers responsible for HNZ at the time to apologise, saying Ms Bennett had “gloated” in the media about evicting tenants.
Sorry Phil. I can’t see that evil cow, Paula Bennett, apologising to anyone, ever.
Victims of wrongful eviction from Housing NZ houses are being compensated.
Which brings the expected sort of response from one of life’s true humanitarians.
Judith Collins said that with people on waiting lists it was “not the time to be saying come back and cook up your meth.”
The scummy behaviour of the initial action getting scummy support with scummy comments from a scummy politician.
Now what was that about being weak and distracted?
Clear decision and also showing compassion. Taken in a timely fashion.
Now what could that be contrasted with today?
Stupidity in Parliament from Ms Collins hating on P users and getting a lawyer’s rebuke from Minister Little about onus of proof and being innocent until found guilty – something Mark Mitchell is supporting in the House as a concept concerning military discipline as I write.
The Minister of Housing acknowledging that the previous government and department has got it wrong for years over the science and the consequential wrong treatment of Housing tenants for alleged “P” use, and making the appropriate apology and rectification.
Asinine questioning from the MP for Kaikoura to Minister Little, using that well-known tag to a question “And if not, why not” when asking the Minister whether he had wrongly briefed Cabinet on a contractual issue. Little dropped his jaw in astonishment at the stupidity of the tail to the question.
How to act appropriately, or not. What happens when standards are breached. A salutary day displaying a contrast in propriety and effective leadership.
Decisive = Ardern facing down Whaitiri at the time of the incident (look me in the eyes and tell me what occurred). A few days to a week at most for the decision to be made.
That is the fairness side of her character. C’mon Chuck, you’re usually a fairly reasonable rwnj who knows the difference between what is right and what is wrong.
It is only right she be given a chance to ‘rehabilitate’ herself. Other PMs on both sides of the house have exercised that prerogative over errant ministers. It usually works.
“It is only right she be given a chance to ‘rehabilitate’ herself.”
I may have agreed with you Anne if it was something out of the blue.
However, Whaitri has form…it has been a revolving door for staff at Whaitri office (I think 6 in less than a year). That tells me she has form and either cannot or will not change her personal trait to bully and intimidate.
Time will tell Chuck. I’ve known such people in the past and its true… some of them are sociopaths and can’t or won’t change. But she’s got to be given the chance and if she doesn’t… it’ll be curtains for her parliamentary career.
But but but he’s a man so he can’t be weak and distracted. And anyway we know Gerry didn’t mean it, And he thought he was talking to (sorry, abusing) someone else. And at least he didn’t “show her the stairwell”. And didn’t she know who he is? He’s Gerry the man.
He’s the guy who can breeze through airport security.
At least he’s met his match with the new Speaker, as he found today.
Kia ora The Am Show The Bird’s brand sustainable manufactured Shoes is great and there new product a bird shade to wear to block the light so one can sleep on planes .
They partnered up with Air New Zealand to make and sell there product’s ka pai.
We need more sustainable products when Te Papatuanuku turns to sustainable prouducts OUR products like wool and wood will commanded a hire price .
OUR carbon neutral goal’s will benefit Aotearoa farmer’s $$$$$$$$$.
When you are in another country one should respect there cultures and you will be treated with respect covering tattoos is there culture so be it .
Eco say’s the Japanese will host a awesome Rugby World Cup it’s been a few year’s in the making ka pai. You no that all of te tangata whenua cultures have been treated like dirt when another culture takes over the law of the whenua.
I say spending on a social media campaigne to educate the youth on diarydack and pee should be include in that youth are all on social media and this great idea will work .
I heard that jerry brownly treated some people the same an what there is no one talking about that should he be rolled judith what’s good for a whaine should be the same for te tane.
The tax working group is just resetting the taxs back to a simler mix to what we had before shonky’s I WILL NOT RAISE GST he did just that after he gave tax cut’s that benefited the wealthy the most will we have a happy society with that system NO.
There you go Sir Michael Cullen Grant Robertson and the tax working group are doing there homework to make sure any new tax’s are not going to have a negative effect on Aotearoa.
Mark so you think getting a sweet $1 million dollars a year in captial gain’s is fare mean while that housing shortage denial policy distorted our housing market to make huge gain’s for the wealthy a direct result from shonky’s policy pushed thousands of people under the bridge . Ka kite ano
Eco met this boy the other day he was nervous talking to much he own’s a few house’s he think’s he can fool Eco Maori but know I know that his action’s are being orchestrated by the muppet sandfly’s he is just a puppet of there’s only fooling himself
Ana to kai P.S I don’t shake people’s hand’s when I know they are puppets.
I see story’s like this all the time trying to change peoples reality on our History for one the settler’s wahine would not have liked it that Maori wahine could own land and they could not . That fact would have upset and influenced settler’s wahine in to protesting about the savages being able to own land that’s how the mind’s worked in those day This would have attracted other wahine to Aotearoa to seek the help rise number’s to get the stupid law’s that ban anyone from there right to vote .Tangata Whenua O Aotearoa Mana is growing to strong for the power’s than be .
Ka kite ano P.S When I unite Tangata whenua O Aotearoa & our Pacifica cousin’s into one VOICE we will be unstop able voice in Aotearoa Ana to kai link is below.
Kia ora Newshub Lets hope that the mokopuna’s of the Carterton school all survive that tragedy .
Some times one has to given the cold hard facts to get the reality to sink in.
I don;t put plastic bag in the recycling and we wash the plastic two reason one it smell if you only send it monthly and its easier to be recycled when cleaned .
There you go the way the court systems work in favour of the wealthy the sea bed mining could open another issue as well we must protect all our taonga from the wealthy money men’s greed.
trump need’s to get with reality trying to build wall’s in the year 2018 is not intelligent
he is only pandering to his core supporters and his ego.
Ka kite ano P.S It is not safe dropping poison out of the sky.
Kia ora The Crowd Goes wild Hope the Wahine Warriors have a good game on the weekend.
That was a mean game for the Bay’s Wahine Kia kaha
The keep or cut there hair is a good cause all the best to Brad I use to have wahine brushing my long hair in the fisherman’s refreshments place in Napier after work long time ago.
Kai pai Levi getting your hair cut on TV in support of Brad .
Ka kite ano P,S I keep it cut now
We have DOC & The Anti 1080 at WAR over the issues of 1080 being dropped in our forest . Now any intelligent person know’s that diplomacy and compromising on both side has a much better out come for both side than War as everyone has great losses in a WAR My tipuna new this and always tried to settle there differences with whiriwhiri.
Most of the Wars that Maori fought before the settlers arrived there was minimal loses of LIFE that’s a fact. .
So what Eco Maori would do is I would go back to that Great pukapuka The Art Of War and see what it says .
In this situation Eco say that the state & te tangata should compromise pay a bounty on all the tails in easy access terrain and use 1080 in all the hard place’s to trap right away from te tangata and in this situation they get the public on side the public get to make money and the state get’s its goal of controlling the pest .
I know that the state will never be able to eliminate pest in Aotearoa we all know the rural communities need more money to its clearly visible of this fact .
Eco still backs DOC good work with Papatuanuku and her Creatures Many thanks DOC.
But hay when I see some thing is wrong I will SPEAK up about it . Ka kite ano
craig heatly book no limits Eco Maori says he is just like shonky and they both have
NO LIMIT’s TO THE DIRTY LYING LOW DOWN THIEVING thing’s they will do to rip other people off .
He does not care that’s his M8 shonkys policy’s that were designed to full his hip pocket and push the lower classes in Aotearoa under a bridge people working 3 job’s in Auckland just to stay afloat .
Why is he launching a book to try and lift his m8 national party out of the gutter .
But sorry it won’t work We all know for someone to make a fortune in such a short time one has to be a big crook they make there own luck with back room deal’s that’s easy for Eco Maori to see.
He say’s Jacinda is inexperienced well she has been in politics for 9 YEAR’s .
She has all ready done a better job than shonky but craig find me some one that you think is perfect and Eco Maori will prove that person to be a liar
Ka kite ano P.S W e know that people who made million’s in the 1980 were ripping the state off buying state asset’s cheap as chips and selling the asset’s for huge mark up that’s a fact Michael fay did with our railway’s link is below
David Parker was in Southland having a meeting with Farmer’s about the environmental concerns he makes a statement that the farmer have not had enough correct laws put in place to stop the few ruining it for the many you see Southland Dairy started booming under shonky rule he did not care about the environment the economy is more important than the environment HOW ELSE CAN ONE EXPLAIN HIS ACTIONS
The thing about Southland’s topography is most dairy land there is just a few feet above the water level that cause problem’s there.
Also it’s cold so they have to put more urea on than up North to get there grass growing to feed there cow’s
A big amount of that ends up in OUR waterways that’s why the waterway’s got so bad so fast.
So lower the stocking rate lower the amount of fertliser put on farm’s GO Organic I say.
Fontrra has not delivered to farmer’s the return’s they were promised when it was formed .
It’s common knowledge that the people milking the cow’s make’s less than the person in a nice warm building pushing button’s with no skill’s get more like $30 a hour
$25 would be ok I say .
It would be good to have a pie chart to show how much of fontrra’s money goes into there salaries and management and how much ends up in OUR farmer’s pocket’s .
Fontrra has been turned into a gravy train for the wealthy executive.
6000 earn $100. k 24 earn A cool million there you go. Ana to kai.
Ka kite ano
Kia ora Newshub Cook’s Endeavour might have been found Is cool but now Te Tangata Whenua O Aotearoa Culture is rising up to its rightful Mana after having colonialist suppressing us for 200 years.
That’s a shame that all those people in Tanzania have drowned in that ferry sinking Eco gives his condolence to the people who lost there love ones
Who could be so cruel spraying acid on any thing living a defenseless foul horse its awesome that some people care enough to treat the foul in Britain ka pai.
There you go the cop’s get it wrong all the time 27 years Dickson was locked up and the real killer confessed they still kept him locked up.
It took rich golf people to champion his cause and take his case back to court to get him released that’s the reality of the west justice system’s. The killer was most likely a informant
Wow those fire tornadoes are mean we will have to get use to them if we don’t change our culture and have a culture that thinks about our children’s future over short term profits
The Women in Black look’s like a AUSSE good film I seen a good TV series OffSpring it’s on Net flicks it give Eco A sore face Id give it a 8
Ka kite ano P.S Emma Te Ra was shining bright today
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Wansolwara The news media’s crucial role in climate change and environment journalism was the focus of The University of the South Pacific’s Journalism Programme 2024 World Press Freedom Day celebrations. The European Union Ambassador to the Pacific, Barbara Plinkert, and Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Henry Puna were the chief ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Adams, Professor of Corporate Law & Academic Director of UNE Sydney campus, University of New England Last August, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) launched legal proceedings against Qantas. The consumer watchdog accused the airline of selling thousands of tickets ...
This episode of A View From Afar was recorded LIVE on May 6, 2024 (NZST) which is Sunday evening, May 5, 2024 at 8:30pm (USEST). In an analytical essay titled ‘A moment of friction’ political scientist Dr Paul Buchanan wrote how we are living within a decisive moment ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alison Taylor, Assistant Professor, Bond University Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures At the crux of the critical response to Luca Guadagnino’s new movie Challengers is one word: “sexy”. The film charts a love triangle between three up-and-coming tennis players: Tashi (Zendaya), ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jenny Stewart, Professor of Public Policy, ADFA Canberra, UNSW Sydney For years, First Nations people have been telling governments they want to be listened to. In particular, they want more ownership of the programs and services that are supposed to help them. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Why do trees have bark? Julien, age 6, Melbourne. This is a great question, Julien. We are so familiar with bark on trees, that most of us ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne I covered the May 2 United Kingdom local government elections for The Poll Bludger. The Blackpool South parliamentary byelection was also held, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deanna Grant-Smith, Professor of Management, University of the Sunshine Coast The federal government has announced a “Commonwealth Prac Payment” to support selected groups of students doing mandatory work placements. Those who are studying to be a teacher, nurse, midwife or social ...
We round up everything coming to streaming services this week, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, ThreeNow, Neon and TVNZ+. If you love a dark comedy: Bodkin (Netflix, May 9)An English podcaster, an Irish podcaster and American podcaster walk into a pub and…make a TV show? ...
By Eleisha Foon, RNZ Pacific senior journalist A Pacific regionalism academic has called out New Zealand’s Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS and says the security deal “raises serious questions for the Pacific region”. Auckland University of Technology academic Dr Marco de Jong ...
How worried should we be about the cloud? This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. I currently have a few thousand unread emails languishing in my inbox, mostly old marketing newsletters and piles of unread science journal press releases. I have a similar number ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nuurrianti Jalli, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies College of Arts and Sciences Department of Languages, Literature, and Communication Studies, Northern State University Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Southeast Asian governments not only have to deal with the virus but also with the false ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Murakami Wood, Professor of Critical Surveillance and Securities Studies, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa The skyline of Riyadh, the capital and largest city of the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia.(Shutterstock) There is a long history of planned city building by both governments ...
The LIVE Recording of A View from Afar podcast will begin today at 12:45pm May 6, 2024 (NZST) which is Sunday evening, 8:30pm (USEST). In an analytical essay titled ‘A moment of friction’ political scientist Dr Paul Buchanan wrote how we are living within a decisive moment of ...
The Boil Up’s Lucinda Bennett considers the oyster – from freshness to pearls to the joy of shucking your own. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. In Carmen Maria Machado’s short story ‘Eight Bites’, a woman begins her last supper before bariatric surgery with “a cavalcade ...
Asia Pacific Report A group of 65 Auckland University academics have written an open letter to vice-chancellor Dawn Freshwater criticising the institution’s stance over students protesting in solidarity with Palestine. They have called on her administration to “support” the students who were denied permission to establish an “overnight encampment” by ...
The Student Volunteer Army is on the march, generating approximately 1.6 million hours of volunteering from roughly 35,000 secondary school students in just five years. For Rebekah Brown, the pathway to volunteering started with her singing coach. With a passion for the arts, the suggestion to volunteer at Acting Antics, ...
Keeping up with online communication can be exhausting, so Fran Barclay enlisted the help of Meta’s new ‘intelligent assistant’ to respond to all her messages. Could her mates tell the difference? For centuries, technology has ruled the ways in which we communicate. From the dawn of written language, to the ...
Jamie Arbuckle, a councillor who has become an member of parliament, says he has settled into having two roles so comfortably he's going to keep both pay cheques. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luis Gómez Romero, Senior Lecturer in Human Rights, Constitutional Law and Legal Theory, University of Wollongong Fifty years ago, Australian feminist Anne Summers denounced “the ideology of sexism” governing over so many women’s lives. Unfortunately, sexism is as lethal today as it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jose Antonio Lara-Hernandez, Senior Researcher in Architecture, Auckland University of Technology Getty Images The COVID-19 pandemic and the hybrid work patterns it fostered have changed the way we think about office space, and central business districts in general. While fears ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dale Boccabella, Associate Professor of Taxation Law, UNSW Sydney There’s a good reason your local volunteer-run netball club doesn’t pay tax. In Australia, various nonprofit organisations are exempt from paying income tax, including those that do charitable work, such as churches. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marina Deller, Casual Academic, Creative Writing and English Literature, Flinders University NetflixComedy is opening up spaces for silences to be broken and trauma stories to be told. In 2018, Hannah Gadsby started a revolution with Nanette, asking audiences to rethink ...
The workplace can be a minefield of bad comms and passive aggression. Kinksters can help you navigate it. A friend and colleague recently gave me a compliment I loved. They told me I’d always been good at emotional communication and making people feel comfortable. “But I feel like it’s really ...
Even if some students are now just texting on their laptops. Stewart Sowman-Lund writes in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
Councils from Horowhenua, Kāpiti, Wairarapa, the Hutt Valley, Porirua and Wellington City will meet this Friday to work together on a plan for a Greater Wellington region water deal. ...
Renowned musician, advocate, and proud born and raised daughter of Tauranga, Ria Hall, is announcing her candidacy for Mayor of Tauranga and Pāpāmoa Ward for the upcoming election on July 20th. ...
The new Aotearoa histories curriculum is rich with potential. There’s still work to be done, but the education minister’s criticisms about ‘balance’ miss the mark, argues primary school teacher Jessie Moss. In 2015, Ōtorohanga College students presented to parliament a petition signed by more than 10,000 people calling for a ...
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Late one afternoon in March 1860 a man in a thin green velveteen jacket and a wide-awake hat arrived on foot at a sheep station named Glenmark, about 65 kilometres north of Christchurch. The man was in his mid-fifties but he looked older. Several people who met him that day ...
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Comment: The debate over the future relationship between news and social media is bringing us closer to a long-overdue reckoning. Social media isn’t trying to kill journalism, because social media has never really cared about journalism. Social media is resolutely in the attention business. News propels some attention — perhaps ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Monday 6 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...
For the past 12 years, Georgia-Rose Brown has balanced on the brink of making an Olympic Games – but always landed gracefully on the wrong side. Reaching the Olympics is a dream the gymnast has harboured since she was a six-year-old; a dream that would dwindle every four years, yet ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A new Commonwealth Prac Payment will provide students with $319.50 a week when they are on clinical and professional placements. The payment will be means tested and start from July 1 next year, which ...
Asia Pacific Report About 500 people honoured Palestinian journalists in the heart of the New Zealand city of Auckland today for their brave coverage of Israel’s War on Gaza, now in its seventh month with almost 35,000 people killed, mostly women and children. Marking the annual May 3 World Press ...
The Government Communications Security Bureau denies hosting a foreign spying capability flagged by the watchdog, differentiating it from the system recently criticised. ...
RNZ News A group of academic staff at New Zealand’s largest university have expressed concern at the administration’s move to block a protest encampment that was planned to take place on campus calling for support for the rights of Palestinians. This week, the University of Auckland warned that while it ...
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Political conferences after a party returns to power are usually a chance for some healthy, even unhealthy backslapping. Yet National Party president Sylvia Wood’s address to its mainland representatives on Saturday hardly contained the unalloyed delight that one might have expected following National’s escape from the wilderness of opposition. Yes, ...
Comment: Almost half the world is voting in national elections this year and artificial intelligence is the elephant in the room. There are genuine fears AI-generated or AI-edited deepfakes will potentially manipulate election outcomes not just in the US and UK, but critically in countries such as India. For that ...
Ahead of the reality franchise’s return to New Zealand, allow us to introduce the eight brides and grooms. Chuck on a veil and tie back your man bun, because it’s time to say “I do” to a new season of Married at First Sight NZ. The reality TV “social experiment” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University Every year on June 1, student debt in Australia is indexed to inflation. In 2023, high inflation pushed the indexation rate to 7.1%, the highest since 1990. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Changes in the May 14 budget will cut the student debt of more than three million people, wiping more than $3 billion from what people owe. The government will cap the HELP indexation rate ...
Asia Pacific Report The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the “administration of justice” by the world’s permanent war crimes court. The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A women’s union in New Caledonia has staged a sit-in protest this week to support senior Kanak indigenous journalist Thérèse Waia, who works for public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie la Première, after a smear attack by critics. The peaceful demonstration was held on ...
New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
You have to be a real political anorak to give a damn about some emails being released, but the longer Curran refuses to let her Prime Minister off the hook, the worse this is going to get. As Claire Trevett notes:
“The hiring of Handley and then scrapping his appointment before he even began is the messiest mishap of the new Government so far.
The best Labour can hope for is to deal with the fallout efficiently and without being cute about it.
Labour had no doubt hoped the Handley episode would be tidied away with the departure of Curran.
But as long as the contents of those emails remain a secret so too will the suspicion the Prime Minister is somehow involved, or there is something else damaging in there.”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12128004
C’mon Curran, release the emails; you can’t fall any further.
Most open and transparent government ever.
Sure does look if they have something to hide.
And you don’t have to be a political anorak- people can see how unprofessionaly Cindys government is handling this – it matters.
Media should move on. Curren resigned. It’s the media stupid. Take Massay uni, a club wanting to invite Brash, the vc said no.NOt about bRushes freespeach since he got a gig quick smart, and how hilarious, 150 years at still fat in the head old white guy still thinks they are a victim like he has ever had a speach problem.
So M assay did not deny freespeach, just restricted association on their property, the stink would have been Brash meeting said club just outside the campus demanding his right of association, which of course expose how farfetched the whole story was. Farrier turdblossum fails to ignited and blows back on him.
It’s out of Curran’s hands.
So this saga is going to stretch out for a month or two at least.
The OIA is such a cowardly defence from the Labour team.
Curran is the receiver and author of the emails, so they are fully her gift to provide.
The Archives people have not even determined if they warrant being official information.
Curran needs to lance this pus out today.
You make it sound like Curran’s work-related e-mails are hers and hers only, which is not the case.
Anyway, Curran’s judgement cannot be trusted.
I agree. Release them.
Surely she’d have to get Handley’s permission first.
No she does not.
Most likely needs Winstons permission
Not if they include personal information.
“…You have to be a real political anorak…”
or a political journalist who needs to create copy every day and who only has the 120 member unicameral parliament of small uncorrupt, and reasonably well run country to work with.
Seriously, these guys would publish an article on the meaning of a discarded chippies packet in the corridor if they thought they could get away with it.
Well, the corporate media could be addressing issues like child poverty, obesity, suicide, depression, unemployment, employment conditions, pay scales, foreign ownership A LOT MORE.
You know all the problems caused by the imposition of neoliberal capitalism on this country.
But they won’t.
They are paid puppets of the establishment.
That was very clear yesterday when the lamestream rated covering an odious ACT leaders right to speak above talking about our amazing suffrage history.
I’d be quite interested in the meaning of a discarded chippiespacket. Far more do than Currans emails which I am sure will bring the Govt down.Sarc. Would also be interested in an inquiry into Gerry Brownlees bullying phone call to young Accountant. Double standards from Dim SIM.
“Would also be interested in an inquiry into Gerry Brownlees bullying phone call to young Accountant.”
It was not an accountant, the phone call was to a law firm and one of the lawyers there.
Tamihere reckons the govt is “Labour-led because they have 46 seats compared with New Zealand First’s nine.” https://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=12127921
Big is good? Such fpp thinking is just silly when applied to an MMP coalition. He can’t seem to grasp the parity relation. We have a Labour PM and that’s the sole basis for any valid claim that Labour is leading, a claim that loses plausibility every time she doesn’t lead when necessary.
He makes this interesting point: “there is no doubt that Winston coming into 2020 will play the Māori card. You can put your money on it. The question is what will the Māori members of the Labour Party do?” Depends how he plays it.
He makes much of NZF’s wins in the budget, accuses Winston of dictatorship, and then “If Winston and Shane do not pull their heads in, there has to be a confrontation and Prime Minister Ardern will have to say enough is enough.” I agree, call their bluff when necessary, but she must be aware that Winston may have deliberately provoked her to get an early election. No grounds for this scenario currently!
Ardern has already caved to Winston and started saying “Coalition govt” instead of “Labour lead govt” since his hissy fit.
Sad really
No more Labour government wiki pages
Seems like, at least for a while they will be all “## National government of NZ” or “## Mingle/Jumble government of NZ”
Chris what a sentimental thing you must be if a name change makes you feel sad.
I prefer to save my sadness for things that really impact people such as homelessness……………….but who am I to invalidate what you feel
In time it will be referred to as the Labour-led coalition, or the Labour-NZF coalition.
It has to be called something.
This excellent speech by Dame Anne Salmond should not go unnoticed here on TS!
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/life/107210918/dame-anne-salmond-neoliberal-philosophy-is-toxic-and-a-tragedy-for-women
Thanks incognito, a good read indeed.
“Tourism remains the saviour of New Zealand’s external accounts, which in June continued the trend of deterioration started in 2017.
In December 2016, the current account deficit hit a low of 2.2% of GDP. That has now climbed to 3.3% of GDP.
Without the services balance, particularly the tourism returns, the deficit would have climbed to 5.1% in the three months ended June, BNZ head of research Stephen Toplis said.
”The good news is we expect the services balance to remain solidly in surplus for the foreseeable future. The bad news is we do not see it growing significantly from here, particularly as growth in inbound tourism is increasingly capacity-constrained.”
Driving the balance further into the red had been the weakness experienced in New Zealand exports. By his estimate, goods export volumes were only 0.3% higher in the June quarter than they were a year earlier.
In stark contrast, import volumes soared 8.4%.” – BNZ Head of Research Stephen Toplis, quoted in ODT.
Capacity constraints are a welcome kind of challenge for the New Zealand government and for businesses to grapple with. (He also neglected to mention that dairy as a commodity set is unrecoverable).
It was also excellent to hear Otago cheery growers (RNZ this morning) will be doubling their production and don’t know where to get the future staff.
Among Prime Minister Ardern’s string of bon mots about the economy in her speech on the weekend, enhancing wealth while dealing with increasing constraints to whole industries was absent.
There lots of areas in which they are successfully working, but this is a real unaddressed biggie.
Please add a link when you quote an article like that.
Another great example of how our exchange rate is set incorrectly. With such a massive and ongoing deficit the NZ$ should be dropping.
Wonder where the water’s coming from for that addy. Cherries be thirsty.
More evidence of the pure evil that is the National Party.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/09/dodgy-meth-tests-an-excuse-to-ridicule-state-housing-tenants.html
Once again @ Muttonbird – agree. Ross Bell is a very sensible chap, though I’m not sure his
“”This has been the biggest scam New Zealand has ever seen,” is exactly true.
Immigration scams leading to exploitation and what is effectively people trafficking are just as evil, and they’ve been the result of ten years of bad policy, its implementation and (lack of) enforcement. It’s only now its GRADUALLY being taken more seriously, although there are some pretty simple things that could be done immediately
Perhaps. Both are evil in any case. Summarily prosecuting, convicting, and sentencing social housing tenants without offering defence or recourse on the one hand, and encouraging a fearful, cheap workforce for the benefit of their business friends on the other.
C’mon man, due process is for finance company directors.
I see Andrew McKenzie still has his job too!
Amazing that he’s untouchable yet Bridges is baying for the blood of Jan Thomas.
And let’s get this straight: Jan Thomas didn’t want a reactionary crank racist doing an unpaid gig on campus, and McKenzie kicked 800 social housing tenants onto the streets unlawfully.
Yep.
Once again, I was hoping Chris Hipkins review of the public service gets to cover issues such as these. So far I’m not that hopeful.
Sure as shit it ain’t what it used to be (in terms of ethical behaviour, codes of conduct, etc.) Sure – it was never perfect, but there are now so many departments and Munstries that are absolutely dysfunctional – they do not serve a public or a functioning democracy.
I doubt any of them (for example) have had any sanction over the use of Thompson and bloody Clark.
Let’s not forget kicking people out for having a dog as well.
Andy does have an exceptionally shiny, well covered arse.
Just out of interest Chris do you feel sad re what the Salvation Army is saying about meth evictions and stat housing tenants? Or have you used up all your sadness on a name change?
I think the way the tenants were treated was disgusting.
The Nats had an excuse to start off with as that is the levels they were given to work with, but as it looked more and more like the levels at which it is dangerous were utter shit, there should have been a “Hang on a sec’. Stoppp!!! put all action on tenants on hold till we work this out”
Don’t know why you bothered Muttonbird. Hardly news that National uses dirty tricks to manipulate public opinion. 🙂
But it is something that needs to be shown all the time else people will forget that National are evil.
Interested to know if there was any Political Involvement or Direction given with regards to the search of Nicky Hagar’s house by the NZ Police ?
The IPCA Police Enquiry should uncover whether there was any political involvement in this incident ?
It’ll be outside the terms. Hager’s lawyer appears to be focussed on uncovering police individuals who acted illegally. That’ll be where it stops – unless one of them tells all…
You have an interesting view of the purpose of the IPCA.
I seem to remember that Helen Clark once made a remark about the economy which caused a flare up in a similar way to that for which Jacinda was criticised the other day. Funny the things you remember in the middle of the night.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/107181017/prime-ministers-mixup-could-have-led-to-a-much-more-brutal-economics-lesson
No doubt Key anticipated the drop and bought a few million dollars while awaiting the dollar to rise up again. He was good like that.
“Peters is a team player only if he’s in charge of the team. He might behave himself for a while, but in time his natural belligerence and contrarianism will assert itself.”
Which leads to this happening…
“NZ First has now jammed several sticks into the spokes of Labour and the Greens, to the teeth-grinding frustration of the Left. The Government is looking shambolic and there must be doubts about its ability to run a full term.”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/columnists/107201479/my-shameful-confession-i-voted-for-winston-and-now-i-apologise
Karl du Fresne has explained the dynamics well, and the reason Winston received his 7% on election night. And why going into coalition with him is like walking through a minefield.
Just more spin against the coalition govt by msm..
Anyway who gives a flying f about who Karl (I chose the wrong ice cream flavour boo hoo) voted for. He needs to be given a wheel barrow and do something useful for a change. Try to help out with the coalitions kiwi build building houses
Btw chuck 1055
100% Doug. Trouble is Nats have nothing.
Loved the comment by someone earlier about msm would focus on an empty chip packet
Msm = bunch of villagers + group think = gossip
Presumably this appeared here by accident as it appears to be a repeat of a reply to 11 below. Not a criticism; I was just confused for a moment until I realised the situation so thought I would clarify for others.
Being Karl du Fresne, I was not going to bother to read it as I have read his ‘work’ too many times in the past and he is highly predictable.
But I decided I would read it. I have, and my initial thoughts proved right. This article is predictable as always, several days behind the ace ball, out of date like Fresne, and a complete waste of time.
I did get one good laugh from a very quick look at the comments which were also predictably the usual Stuff comments. But the one that made me laugh said words to the effect that the writer voted for NZF in the hope NZF would get rid of those “part-Maoris”.
The writer should have checked who they were voting for. Of the nine NZF MPs, six (2/3rds) are part-Maoris. LOLs.
Another day another scam being exposed of fake jobs and residency applications.
Indian woman faces deportation after losing more than $30k to ‘parasite’ scammers
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/366859/indian-woman-faces-deportation-after-losing-more-than-30k-to-parasite-scammers
And this is the type of people that are coming here. Handley is out of a job (but at lease compensated). So in a country that could be attracting the best and brightest, nope we seem to be selecting for scammers and people who contribute to the scams and people with such low skills in areas like IT that they are not employable under normal measures. (IT is desperate for people with skills at the top end not bottom end, like everything bottom end skills are generally obsolete) .
In my view our future is pretty bleak in NZ for our kids of that continues (Auckland is already 50% migrants and more and more scammers being attracted here) because nobody is interested in stopping our country turning into one full of fucked up scamming parasites.
The really smart migrants go to the US and UK for study, NZ has developed a Rogernomics system to get the educationally challenged students here and their road to residency through Internet cafe style jobs and fake jobs.
The problem is, long term, what the fuck is gonna happen to the smart people who already can’t get a job with the low wages and scams – ummm leave and so whose gonna pay the taxes and support the unemployable in their 20’s?
… cos all these people on those fake Internet cafe jobs qualify for welfare eventually and what happens when the fake job ends and they have residency, but if they couldn’t get a legitimate job before, they clearly can’t after and the kiwis have to support and house yet fake employee whose given tens of thousands to another scammer for their expansion here which our government is completely uninterested in stopping and addressing, presumably because they agree with it.
Note the difference with human trafficking, migration fraud and so forth with no action from government compared to the swamp house owned by Aven Raj that has the council. all media and Phil Twyford rushing over to condemn it as third world….
It seems third world migration frauds don’t get the same headlines or attention…
I just have to say with regard to the argie-bargie currently going on in Parliament between the 2 sides in the House – minutiae!
Led by Bridges, the carefully framed and seriously delivered series of questions from the Nat side are in essence simply niggly and akin to a small dog snapping at the heels of someone it doesn’t like. There is no substance. There is no genuine expression of information required. These people are simply trying to bore holes below the waterline in the fond hope that this will be enough to scupper the coalition (Labour-led, of course).
It was my fond hope that, having been beaten and relegated to the opposition benches, National would hunker down, look for new policy, criticise the coalition for its policies which they don’t believe in and promote their own answers, through policy statements, to generate some support for what THEY would do if they were in power.
But oh no! They have turned into an aggressive little Pomeranian yap-yapping at the government’s heels about minutiae that are, in the grand scheme of things, quite irrelevant to bettering NZ for all its citizens. I know why they are doing it. It’s like the kid who can’t get a break, who has no ideas and resorts to foot-tripping or firing water pistols to get some reaction.
The National Party is devoid of ideas for improving the lives of ordinary NZers. They have a droit de seigneur attitude to governing – it’s their right, they have been cheated, this government should not be there, our 42% is more valid, etc, etc, etc.
Until they grow up, understand MMP, start talking about their own policies, and behave like adults in the House, then they won’t be 42% for much longer. The reason they are getting the traction they are is down to unthinking tribalism in part, and the rest is people who listen with half an ear, think with half a brain and take far too much notice of a slanted MSM that is not serving us a well as it might.
100% Doug. Trouble is Nats have nothing.
Loved the comment by someone earlier about msm would focus on an empty chip packet
Msm = bunch of villagers + group think = gossip.
It’s time the government parties started badgering the Nats for the result of the leaking investigation on the grounds that it is in the public’s interest… since they accused Labour of doing the leaking.
Give em a dollop of their own medicine.
Nice as that might be Anne, it would be stooping to their level, and the coalition (Labour-led, of course) is showing fine restraint in not doing so. I really hope they continue to be the adults in the room.
Not a good idea considering how much Labours fingers are, potentially, all over the Dirty Politics of the leaking
Chris 73…..Labour’s fingers are potentiallly all over the leaking…………..a party political broadcast from the National Party.
Thanks to T. Mallard we’ll never will we, thanks Trev
Hey, when the nats report back that they checked each other’s emails and did a proper investigation and found it probably wasn’t one of them, Mallard will have to start it up again.
Chris73 is a infowars viewer, his connection with reality is tenuous at best. Unless he has taken his BrainForcePlus™ nutraceutical supplement (contains Soy) then he can connect 3 improbable thing before breakfast.
I’d imagine Ed probably eats a lot of soy but I don’t, I do have a beard though
(Faith Goldie pops up as well 😉 )
You cling to that fantasy. We all know by now that the leak is from inside the Nats.
Actually we don’t know that, thats the problem. I want to know the details so whoever did it (or helped) can suffer the consequences of their actions
Its similar to the NZ Labour Youth Sex Scandal. We all know the, alleged, perpetrator is linked to Labour possibly through family connections but until the truth comes out we can only speculate
Don’t you want to know who it is so they can be dealt with appropriately?
Court process will deal with offender at Labour Youth summit.
I must admit I have curiousity about which caucus member leaked, but beyond that I neither care, nor need to know. Why I was very skeptical about the mental health claims of the leaker, I rather err on the side of caution.
Mental health claims indeed, trying to think of any Curran(t) MPs that’ve had a major meltdown lately…
Pullya seems a bit off her feed chrissy.
Well when you have bariatric surgery and basically bypass your stomach then yeah I’d imagine you would go off your food
Does it make you leaky chrissy? Even more than usual?
“Off her feed”
Very good. Made me giggle like a kid.🤣
I think it’s a pretty good assumption given how quiet Simon’s gone over it.
Well you know what they say about assumptions
We don’t need to deal with the labyouth guy. Isn’t the matter before the courts? That is the appropriate course of action.
But as for the nat leaker – either a nat leaked to the media directly, or a nat leaked to someone else who leaked to the media. Between what happened in caucus and the expenses only going to the nats in that format, the root source is almost certainly within the nat caucus.
Yeah but Woodn’t be interesting if the, alleged, perp was related to someone high up because then it wouldn’t be a case of handling it poorly, it’d be a cover up
I’m not sure that “stopping salivating tories from speculating about coverups” is a reasonable or even achievable objective for breaching name suppression of a defendent.
Thats what happens in the absence of transparency isn’t it
So who do you think the leaker was?
Obama and the Globalists
I’ve never heard of that group, are they any good?
This is a total farce. The police know and so do a lot lot of other people, I imagine, including Bridges.
Bridges’ daft enquiries are nothing but theatre and the longer it goes without a conclusion, the worse he is going to look.
And you can bet that if it were government related he would have said so by now. He’s that desperate.
Got any proof? No? Pure speculation
Pretty sure Paul Joseph Watson and PrisonPlanet.com have supplied the proof.
Who do I think leaked nat caucus room secrets and the travel expenses?
Almost certainly a nat.
Beyond that, I don’t care. The knives are out in that room, and soimon shat himself into a corner. Long may it last.
Maybe I’m a bit rare in not being much of a panty-sniffer, poking my nose into random places in the guise of “transparency”. But I just don’t get the thrill. I’ve enough shit on in real life without speculating more into existence.
“Almost certainly a nat.”
You don’t know for sure but you think its a Nat and thats why I want more transparency , not less so we can have less idle speculation
It’s not “idle speculation”.
At least one of the leaked pieces of information was privvy only to people in the nat caucus room. All pieces of information that were leaked were available to people in the nat caucus room.
Sure, you’re going for the hail Mary pass that the nats will exonerate themselves and Mallard will discover one of his staffers had done something naughty and repeated gossip to cover their arse. The other one has bells on.
Well said, Doog. Actually I am pleased that the Bridges-led National opposition are showing themselves for what they are – and I am sure that they will be losing voters through taking this approach.
I am also pleased that Ardern et al are not retaliating and instead, basically called their bluff over the last day or so with the Crown Maori agency agreement and announcement, the increased refugee announcement etc.
But just one thing … Last week we had Bridges et Co compared to Bichon Frise (h/t lprent) and this week, Pomeranians!
Please, please leave the dogs out of this – all dogs and their breeds are far, far better and more intelligent!
VV – Leader of the Coalition to Ban the Defamation of Dogs (CBDD) – (or any other animals).
Regionally interested people could catch hold of this tree planting plan and get their region going to have young people trained in horticulture, silviculture and fit and keen and ready to take on jobs in tree planting and care in the future.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018663348/native-trees-enough-to-meet-demand
Chief Executive of New Zealand Plant Producers Incorporated Matthew Dolan talks Kathryn Ryan through concerns over supplying enough native seedlings for the One Billion Trees programme.
A greater proportion of indigenous trees are to be planted in the Minster for Regional Economic Development’s plan, thanks to a $240m funding boost from the Provincial Growth Fund. MPI’s forestry service Te Uru Rākau is talking with industry body NZPPI about helping nurseries respond to the demand.
But NZPPI says while Shane Jones’ ten year programme is an exciting opportunity for native tree nurseries, the challenge will be scaling up.
Robert Guyton has worked as a young man planting on steep slopes and says it is very hard. The speaker in this radionz interview referred to some possible automation to assist in moving the project forward. I am sure it has some place in the chain of activity to getting the trees in the ground and beyond. Perhaps Robert you could give your comments or write a piece about what will have to be largely plantation-type planting for most of it, with steep and erosion prone land to be eternal forest (no cutting), what firebreaks, whether less resinous trees than pine would result in less fire risk etc. We should also be planting trees for harvesting for our own wood needs, utilising species from other lands with special properties (Tasmanian hardwoods I have heard of, stone pine? for pinenuts), mixed tree and crop or grazing paddocks on farms also. This would help conserve water from evaporation, give animals a tree and shadow for refuge from the hot sun (with the trunk protected, and of nontoxic type).
Following up on this ambitious and necessary project could be an ongoing feature for TS so that we apply our minds to both political theatre and the real-world problems we want dealt with at the ‘coalface’. Looking through information available about forestry on the internet there is info about pine and native forestry but to get the best results, a simple dichotomy on species like this would not give outcomes that were optimal.
And further on trees:
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/366868/tolaga-bay-forestry-company-s-illegal-logging-history-revealed
And a pause to think about the cultural effect of trees on us and how practically our civilisation has been built using trees. Interesting thought, am I right in this?:
Paul Robeson’s beautiful voice –
And TED talk from dedicated forester Suzanne Simard
18+ mins
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un2yBgIAxYs
Very interesting views on trees from Ecologist Suzanne Simard
“Her 30 years of research in Canadian forests have led to an astounding discovery: trees talk, communicating often and over vast distances. Trees are much more like us humans that you may think. They are extremely social and depend on each other for their survival. Communication is vital, and a massive web of hair-like mushroom roots transmit secret messages between trees, triggering them to share nutrients and water with those in need.”
https://upliftconnect.com/ecologist-says-trees-talk-to-each-other-in-a-language-we-can-learn/
From Bryan Gould… food for thought.
“The body of the petition sets out the case for change. It takes as its starting point the almost incredible fact – one still contested by many supposed experts, although confirmed by detailed studies produced by the Bank of England and other central banks – that around 97% of our money has been created, not by the government, but by the commercial banks, which create the money by simply making a bank entry in the accounts of those to whom they lend money, usually on mortgage.
The banks, of course, charge interest on the money they thereby create ex nihilo (or out of nothing) and it is the interest they charge that produces their huge profits of billions of dollars which they then send back, in most cases, to Australia.
What is really astonishing about this state of affairs is that the money supply – one of the key elements in determining our economic success or otherwise – is almost entirely controlled, not by our government or the Reserve Bank, but by foreign-owned commercial banks which operate entirely for profit and are in no way accountable to the New Zealand public.”
http://www.bryangould.com/a-new-monetary-policy-needed/
I had a dream where Jacinda Ardern spoke about class issues last night. … I mean I knew it was a dream when someone from Labour was talking about poverty without using the word child before it, in my dream the coalition govt outlined a target, actual policies that were designed to lower inequality and share the wealth and a timeline. In my dream the people of New Zealand celebrated a government that was willing to lead on the issues and fight for the majority rather than a minority and the media reported on this fairly and balanced….
Only in a dream land would labour have transformational policies and the guts to implement them and the media be fair and balanced in their reporting.
Back to reality, virtue signaling, tweaks and vague promises
What policies do you think Labour need to put in to lower inequality and share the wealth, fight for the majority rather than a minority and how to get the media reported on this fairly and balanced?
The tax working group interim report is out
https://taxworkinggroup.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2018-09/twg-interim-report-sep18_1.pdf
Looks like is going to recommend a CGT, but will provide some options for how that will work in final report due next feb. Also looks like will recommend better environmental taxes, which is awesome, esp. in regards to getting the cost of using natural eco-systems into the cost of what we do and make. No finacial transactions tax, no sugar tax (unless the govt. really really wants it) and probably tweaks to the lower tax-rates and thresholds.
Seems all sensible stuff, nothing to outrageous and appears to be what most normal thinking NZers want…. a better, fairer tax system, not one designed for the benefit of the few
Pleased to see that the recommendation is that tax on income from realised capital gain should be integrated with normal income tax – no separate CGT at a fixed rate.
The equity argument for this is unassailable. Plus, it means that if we raise income tax rates on those with high incomes (as we should), we effectively raise the tax rate on their income from capital as well.
Excellent start – now if only they would recommend gradually dropping and ultimately eliminating the regressive GST.
“Cullen himself – to the frustration of some ministers I expect – has talked of”
“advantages and disadvantages”, shades of grey, and nothing in tax being a “no brainer”.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/107221853/tax-working-group-may-prove-a-frustration-for-labour
I don’t think the tax working group will be united in there final recommendation/s.
It will come down to how much political capital does Jacinda still have in 2020.
So GDP up 1% for the quarter. In Mike Hosking’s language that’s 4% annually which has got to be better than anything John Key achieved.
Forestry bumped up agriculture 4.2% – must be all those trees being planted, eh? Seriously though, Kiwibuild and NZFs focus on reviving forestry in the regions is going to be massive for this sector in the coming years. And trees are nice – nicer than cows.
Mining down 20%. Well, boo hoo.
I see Amy Adams was all doom and gloom though, and Farrar will be avoiding this news like the plague.
Why can’t these people be happy?
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/09/gdp-up-1-percent-largest-quarterly-rise-in-two-years.html
Oh, and the Reserve Bank channelling the National Party dooms-dayers in being out by 100%.
They’ll complain about growth constraints. As will the Reserve Bank.
Hope we get to 4.0% headline unemployment and push more wage and salary bumps.
Great news for nz and the government.
The Reserve Bank couldn’t hit the side of a barn.
And growth constraints might be infrastructure (National’s fault), workers (hordes of them are still falling out of the sky), and maybe the cessation of irrigation projects (boo hoo).
Looks all good to me.
boo hoo for irrigation projects – Ella Fitzgerald has it all worked out.
Cry me a River
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Gn9A-kdsRo
(Great song – how they work plebeian in – that’s beyond the normal lexicon.)
Those GDP numbers must be incorrect. The government must me manipulating the figures, bribing officials or something, because Simon and Amy said GDP would slow and business has no confidence and and……..fuck it, I give up
I’m coming out in nostalgic songs – I don’t know whether it is catching but the tunes and words are. Muttonbird says – Why can’t these people be happy?
I want to be happy – here’s an old version and one we would love to sing if National could only settle to make the country happy and themselves try to be happy too.
We would even dance along with David Seymour (I think) if we could all get into line dancing (for the rural people), tangos (for the city slickers) or even the Gay Gordons for those embedded in the past.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aDJGvFSVOQ
Here is the Gay Gordons which looks a slightly tipsy image but a lot of fun.
Notice how the dancers cope with change and manage to dance with different partners all following the same steps and moving in the same direction. A good pattern for us in our politics I think. (If you go onto the Manchester Pride 2016 version you will enjoy the blokes getting stuck in to the Gay Gordons too. I’m impressed by their chutzpah.)
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEmTLioBpi0
The corrupt and malevolent Judith Collins is on the attack again.
But
Sorry Phil. I can’t see that evil cow, Paula Bennett, apologising to anyone, ever.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/09/govt-compensating-crooks-national-doubles-down-on-state-house-evictions.html
Victims of wrongful eviction from Housing NZ houses are being compensated.
Which brings the expected sort of response from one of life’s true humanitarians.
Judith Collins said that with people on waiting lists it was “not the time to be saying come back and cook up your meth.”
The scummy behaviour of the initial action getting scummy support with scummy comments from a scummy politician.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/107248175/prime-minister-announces-decision-on-meka-whaitiri-inquiry
I’m impressed, its only Thursday
I get the distinct impression that the former minister followed the Gordon Ramsay/Malcolm Tucker school of staff interaction.
Totally unacceptable behaviour.
Indeed, its funny on TV but not so much in real life
Especially as they put work into new and original uses of the word “fuck” for the TV shows, lol.
Saw a list of Ramsay’s ones recently: “you’ve put so much fucking oil in this that the fucking yanks are going to invade it!” lol
Now what was that about being weak and distracted?
Clear decision and also showing compassion. Taken in a timely fashion.
Now what could that be contrasted with today?
Stupidity in Parliament from Ms Collins hating on P users and getting a lawyer’s rebuke from Minister Little about onus of proof and being innocent until found guilty – something Mark Mitchell is supporting in the House as a concept concerning military discipline as I write.
The Minister of Housing acknowledging that the previous government and department has got it wrong for years over the science and the consequential wrong treatment of Housing tenants for alleged “P” use, and making the appropriate apology and rectification.
Asinine questioning from the MP for Kaikoura to Minister Little, using that well-known tag to a question “And if not, why not” when asking the Minister whether he had wrongly briefed Cabinet on a contractual issue. Little dropped his jaw in astonishment at the stupidity of the tail to the question.
How to act appropriately, or not. What happens when standards are breached. A salutary day displaying a contrast in propriety and effective leadership.
“Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has fired embattled MP Meka Whaitiri as a minister.”
Seems that assaulting a staffer is not that high up in Jacinda’s list of naughty things to do.
Whaitiri should have been properly sacked. Weak and indecisive leadership by Jacinda.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/107248175/prime-minister-announces-decision-on-meka-whaitiri-inquiry
Ah well, she’s only a woman. Eh, Chuck?
Rubbish, Chuck. The PM got the report last night and acted today. The former Minister has already stood her down on August 30 pending the report.
Decisive, proper, timely, creditable, credible action by the PM.
All that mac1 plus due process of enquiry. Justice exemplar from our PM.
And what a gracious calm media meeting. Straight talking in spite of goading from reporters. Online:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12128751
Couldn’t agree more ianmac. In these situations she really shows her mettle.
Talent pool in parliament shown yet again to be a mere muddy puddle.
Allegedly! She is still denying it. Alleged until proven.
The report has served its purpose.
Decisive = Ardern facing down Whaitiri at the time of the incident (look me in the eyes and tell me what occurred). A few days to a week at most for the decision to be made.
Weak = Whaitiri is still a Labour MP.
Weak = Whaitiri is still a Labour MP.
That is the fairness side of her character. C’mon Chuck, you’re usually a fairly reasonable rwnj who knows the difference between what is right and what is wrong.
It is only right she be given a chance to ‘rehabilitate’ herself. Other PMs on both sides of the house have exercised that prerogative over errant ministers. It usually works.
“It is only right she be given a chance to ‘rehabilitate’ herself.”
I may have agreed with you Anne if it was something out of the blue.
However, Whaitri has form…it has been a revolving door for staff at Whaitri office (I think 6 in less than a year). That tells me she has form and either cannot or will not change her personal trait to bully and intimidate.
Time will tell Chuck. I’ve known such people in the past and its true… some of them are sociopaths and can’t or won’t change. But she’s got to be given the chance and if she doesn’t… it’ll be curtains for her parliamentary career.
There’s one in the White House but I don’t see Chuck calling for his resignation.
Hey Chuckie. What do you think about GBs abusive terrorising of a young Staffer over the phone in Accounting firm? That ok? Or alleged?
But but but he’s a man so he can’t be weak and distracted. And anyway we know Gerry didn’t mean it, And he thought he was talking to (sorry, abusing) someone else. And at least he didn’t “show her the stairwell”. And didn’t she know who he is? He’s Gerry the man.
He’s the guy who can breeze through airport security.
At least he’s met his match with the new Speaker, as he found today.
Kia ora The Am Show The Bird’s brand sustainable manufactured Shoes is great and there new product a bird shade to wear to block the light so one can sleep on planes .
They partnered up with Air New Zealand to make and sell there product’s ka pai.
We need more sustainable products when Te Papatuanuku turns to sustainable prouducts OUR products like wool and wood will commanded a hire price .
OUR carbon neutral goal’s will benefit Aotearoa farmer’s $$$$$$$$$.
When you are in another country one should respect there cultures and you will be treated with respect covering tattoos is there culture so be it .
Eco say’s the Japanese will host a awesome Rugby World Cup it’s been a few year’s in the making ka pai. You no that all of te tangata whenua cultures have been treated like dirt when another culture takes over the law of the whenua.
I say spending on a social media campaigne to educate the youth on diarydack and pee should be include in that youth are all on social media and this great idea will work .
I heard that jerry brownly treated some people the same an what there is no one talking about that should he be rolled judith what’s good for a whaine should be the same for te tane.
The tax working group is just resetting the taxs back to a simler mix to what we had before shonky’s I WILL NOT RAISE GST he did just that after he gave tax cut’s that benefited the wealthy the most will we have a happy society with that system NO.
There you go Sir Michael Cullen Grant Robertson and the tax working group are doing there homework to make sure any new tax’s are not going to have a negative effect on Aotearoa.
Mark so you think getting a sweet $1 million dollars a year in captial gain’s is fare mean while that housing shortage denial policy distorted our housing market to make huge gain’s for the wealthy a direct result from shonky’s policy pushed thousands of people under the bridge . Ka kite ano
Eco met this boy the other day he was nervous talking to much he own’s a few house’s he think’s he can fool Eco Maori but know I know that his action’s are being orchestrated by the muppet sandfly’s he is just a puppet of there’s only fooling himself
Ana to kai P.S I don’t shake people’s hand’s when I know they are puppets.
I see story’s like this all the time trying to change peoples reality on our History for one the settler’s wahine would not have liked it that Maori wahine could own land and they could not . That fact would have upset and influenced settler’s wahine in to protesting about the savages being able to own land that’s how the mind’s worked in those day This would have attracted other wahine to Aotearoa to seek the help rise number’s to get the stupid law’s that ban anyone from there right to vote .Tangata Whenua O Aotearoa Mana is growing to strong for the power’s than be .
Ka kite ano P.S When I unite Tangata whenua O Aotearoa & our Pacifica cousin’s into one VOICE we will be unstop able voice in Aotearoa Ana to kai link is below.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/107248007/why-new-zealand-was-the-first-country-where-women-won-the-right-to-vote You see in reality it is the Pacific Island cultures that will be the dominant culture in our near future as Maori are a Pacific culture tangata
I agree with this statement about Britexit link is below ka kite ano
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/09/20/europe/brexit-salzburg-theresa-may-summit-intl/index.html laws have to be made to benefit the many not the few bankers an there M8 like rupert murdoch
Kia ora Newshub Lets hope that the mokopuna’s of the Carterton school all survive that tragedy .
Some times one has to given the cold hard facts to get the reality to sink in.
I don;t put plastic bag in the recycling and we wash the plastic two reason one it smell if you only send it monthly and its easier to be recycled when cleaned .
There you go the way the court systems work in favour of the wealthy the sea bed mining could open another issue as well we must protect all our taonga from the wealthy money men’s greed.
trump need’s to get with reality trying to build wall’s in the year 2018 is not intelligent
he is only pandering to his core supporters and his ego.
Ka kite ano P.S It is not safe dropping poison out of the sky.
Kia ora The Crowd Goes wild Hope the Wahine Warriors have a good game on the weekend.
That was a mean game for the Bay’s Wahine Kia kaha
The keep or cut there hair is a good cause all the best to Brad I use to have wahine brushing my long hair in the fisherman’s refreshments place in Napier after work long time ago.
Kai pai Levi getting your hair cut on TV in support of Brad .
Ka kite ano P,S I keep it cut now
We have DOC & The Anti 1080 at WAR over the issues of 1080 being dropped in our forest . Now any intelligent person know’s that diplomacy and compromising on both side has a much better out come for both side than War as everyone has great losses in a WAR My tipuna new this and always tried to settle there differences with whiriwhiri.
Most of the Wars that Maori fought before the settlers arrived there was minimal loses of LIFE that’s a fact. .
So what Eco Maori would do is I would go back to that Great pukapuka The Art Of War and see what it says .
In this situation Eco say that the state & te tangata should compromise pay a bounty on all the tails in easy access terrain and use 1080 in all the hard place’s to trap right away from te tangata and in this situation they get the public on side the public get to make money and the state get’s its goal of controlling the pest .
I know that the state will never be able to eliminate pest in Aotearoa we all know the rural communities need more money to its clearly visible of this fact .
Eco still backs DOC good work with Papatuanuku and her Creatures Many thanks DOC.
But hay when I see some thing is wrong I will SPEAK up about it . Ka kite ano
I wonder what stupid intimidation game’s the sandfly’s and there puppet’s have planed for ECO MAORI today .
Feel The THUNDER ka kite ano
craig heatly book no limits Eco Maori says he is just like shonky and they both have
NO LIMIT’s TO THE DIRTY LYING LOW DOWN THIEVING thing’s they will do to rip other people off .
He does not care that’s his M8 shonkys policy’s that were designed to full his hip pocket and push the lower classes in Aotearoa under a bridge people working 3 job’s in Auckland just to stay afloat .
Why is he launching a book to try and lift his m8 national party out of the gutter .
But sorry it won’t work We all know for someone to make a fortune in such a short time one has to be a big crook they make there own luck with back room deal’s that’s easy for Eco Maori to see.
He say’s Jacinda is inexperienced well she has been in politics for 9 YEAR’s .
She has all ready done a better job than shonky but craig find me some one that you think is perfect and Eco Maori will prove that person to be a liar
Ka kite ano P.S W e know that people who made million’s in the 1980 were ripping the state off buying state asset’s cheap as chips and selling the asset’s for huge mark up that’s a fact Michael fay did with our railway’s link is below
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/107284044/millionaire-heatley-rates-ardern-at-book-launch-shared-with-key
David Parker was in Southland having a meeting with Farmer’s about the environmental concerns he makes a statement that the farmer have not had enough correct laws put in place to stop the few ruining it for the many you see Southland Dairy started booming under shonky rule he did not care about the environment the economy is more important than the environment HOW ELSE CAN ONE EXPLAIN HIS ACTIONS
The thing about Southland’s topography is most dairy land there is just a few feet above the water level that cause problem’s there.
Also it’s cold so they have to put more urea on than up North to get there grass growing to feed there cow’s
A big amount of that ends up in OUR waterways that’s why the waterway’s got so bad so fast.
So lower the stocking rate lower the amount of fertliser put on farm’s GO Organic I say.
Fontrra has not delivered to farmer’s the return’s they were promised when it was formed .
It’s common knowledge that the people milking the cow’s make’s less than the person in a nice warm building pushing button’s with no skill’s get more like $30 a hour
$25 would be ok I say .
It would be good to have a pie chart to show how much of fontrra’s money goes into there salaries and management and how much ends up in OUR farmer’s pocket’s .
Fontrra has been turned into a gravy train for the wealthy executive.
6000 earn $100. k 24 earn A cool million there you go. Ana to kai.
Ka kite ano
Kia ora Newshub Cook’s Endeavour might have been found Is cool but now Te Tangata Whenua O Aotearoa Culture is rising up to its rightful Mana after having colonialist suppressing us for 200 years.
That’s a shame that all those people in Tanzania have drowned in that ferry sinking Eco gives his condolence to the people who lost there love ones
Who could be so cruel spraying acid on any thing living a defenseless foul horse its awesome that some people care enough to treat the foul in Britain ka pai.
There you go the cop’s get it wrong all the time 27 years Dickson was locked up and the real killer confessed they still kept him locked up.
It took rich golf people to champion his cause and take his case back to court to get him released that’s the reality of the west justice system’s. The killer was most likely a informant
Wow those fire tornadoes are mean we will have to get use to them if we don’t change our culture and have a culture that thinks about our children’s future over short term profits
The Women in Black look’s like a AUSSE good film I seen a good TV series OffSpring it’s on Net flicks it give Eco A sore face Id give it a 8
Ka kite ano P.S Emma Te Ra was shining bright today