Anyway…listening to "The Country" Radio show, with Jamie McKay and Rowena Duncum (again, I kid you not : ). I maybe expected Wailing/Gnashing..but there was a real feeling of National had no chance…so we went with the least harm option. And that was their theory anyway. Ok…I thought, see later and sure enough
Maybe…Its just the Farm Workers…and everyone else that ISN'T a Farmer actually liked Labour?
Edit…Dont know if anyone here remembers sir Key and his “Devil Beast” Analogy from years back. Maybe the rightie Farm types prefer a little less Beast with their Devil?
The red tide of party-vote-Labour in Southland came from the rural towns – the farmer vote is too small to count but the whipped-up hysteria did cause some southern farmers to vote Labour Party on the day! Good strategy, I say and if The Greens turn-down Labour's likely offer of a coalition, their influence will be higher, their long-term prospects brighter and the terror felt by the Federated Farmers of Southland, and regional councillor Eric Roy, greatly heightened. Good thing.
Aye. Fed Farmers…Militant Union.I wonder if the "She's a pretty Communist" feelings had to be Well Repressed. : )
Oh and also Queenstown…etc ; Huge Party Vote Labour. (I used to work as Builders Labour er years ago lol) I remember tryin to talk Workers/NZ Interests at smoko time… "are you a commie?”…Also where I got interested in Green…as some wank was happily talking how he had drill poisoned Trees. "You're not a man of the Trees are ya ?"
Had the election been held on 19 September instead of 17 October the Goldsmith $4b error would not have had such an influence on voters. I think the farming and business community looked at the ability of Robertson and Goldsmith.
Had the election been held on Sept 19 the result would have been worse for National polls were showing Labour at 50% plus.National had the wrong strategy wrong type of leadership Shane Reti would have been better.
National don't have nice people in their party .Dirty politics caught up with them after years of Denials all their chooks came home to roost.Scandal after Scandal showed how low National was prepared to go to gain power.Collins bullying and Bullshitting style went down like a cup of hot sick while she had an initial dead cat bounce,National reverted to simple Soimans perpetual whinging and crying Wolf. National supporters were not impressed with these low life politicians trying Trumpish tactics in the face of the biggest crisis since WW2.
Some random musings on vote-share comparisons between 2002 when the Nats got "Englished" and 2020 when the Nats got "Crushed":
In 2002 to the left of Labour there was also Jim Anderton (vote share 1.70%), and the Alliance (1.27%), as well as the Greens (7.00%)(although in 2002 the Greens flavour was somewhat more green compared the strong social activist flavour of 2020 Greens). This "lefter than Labour" vote share added up to 10% of the vote. In 2020, the "lefter than Labour" vote share is solely represented by the Greens on 7.57% (guess 8% after specials).
In 2002 there were two viable choices for more-or-less centrists that didn't want to choose between Labour and Nats. Winnie First (10.38%), and the Dunnys (6.69%). Between them they drew 17%. In 2020, there were vestigial WinnieFirst (2.7%) and TOP (1.4%) parties, adding up to 4% wasted centrist vote that probably won't vote Labour or Nat under any circumstances. For the sake of argument, let's infer there were 13% (17% – 4%) of centrist voters in 2002 amenable to voting Labour or Nat, but since there were viable centrist alternatives they chose those alternatives, but without those viable alternatives would have split 50/50 Lab/Nat and did so in 2020.
On the left, add up the "lefter than Labour", Labour, and "amenable centrists". In 2002 that came to 10% "ltL", 41.26% Lab, 6.5% "ac", for a total left vote share of 58%. In 2020, call it 8% "ltL" plus 49% Labour plus 0% "ac" for a total left vote share of 57%.
So in overall big picture left vs right terms, 2020 looks pretty similar to 2002 but without the fragmentation on the left.
Maybe there is a sea-change in progress, Eric Watson has been jailed in England for being an arsehole and hiding assets so that he didn't have to pay Owen Glenn for deceiving him on a dodgy deal. The times they are a-changing and arseholery is having it's day of reckoning.
These bloody colonials come from the wrong side of the sheet and don't rate for any ameliorating circumstances – like Eton etc. – the defrauding is just too harrowing.
That scumbag being imprisoned is an occasion for joy, like the equally good news that that filthy water polluter Nick Smith has been fired by the voters of Nelson. The high-minded and decent Adrian, who clearly shares this writer's euphoria, writes that this means "arseholery is having it's [sic] day of reckoning."
Really? In the United Kingdom, exactly what kind of person is running the Conservative Party and the Labour Party? Who are the people running the police and the judiciary?
Sadly, one lowlife shyster getting a small percentage of his just desserts does not mean that "arseholery" is in any danger.
Yeah Dr. Custard pissed me off because he smarmily pretended to be so reasonable and so green, when he was neither. But he was able to fool a lot of people.
At least you know where you are with Crusher (and A-hole Eric Watson).
For anyone vaguely interested in the US preznit election on a state by state basis, but not interested enough to go looking, here's a brief look at the state of current polling averages (reminder, 270 Electoral College votes are needed to win):
Biden is ahead by more than 5% in every state Clinton won (232 EC votes), plus Pennsylvania (20), Michigan (16), Wisconsin (10) and Nebraska 2nd district (1). These add up to 279 EC votes. That's enough more than 270 to survive a few faithless electors, but those three states are slow to count early and mail-in votes so are unlikely to declare a winner on election night. If it comes down to slow counts in those three states, expect mayhem.
Biden is also ahead by 2 to 3%ish in Arizona (11), North Carolina (15) and Florida (29). These states have good systems for counting early and mail-in votes so there's a good chance they will declare winners election night unless the margin is extremely close. Florida plus one other (plus Clinton states) is enough to go over 270. A clear election night victory for Biden in these states will likely deflate Il Douche's inevitable lies he lost because of cheating, so the likelihood of serious mayhem would go down.
Polling averages are within 1.5%ish in Ohio (18), Iowa (6), Georgia (16), Maine 2nd district (1), so call them true toss-ups.
If polling companies have waay over-corrected from their 2016 errors, then Texas (38 EC votes, 3.6% lean to Deranged Dotard) and Alaska (3 EC votes, 6% lean) are within Biden's reach.
There's going to be the inevitable cries of "but the 2016 polls were useless". Pollsters learn and adapt, and will have put a lot of effort into figuring out what they did poorly last time and made changes. Polling errors this time around are just as likely to be against Biden as for him.
This time around the polling averages are remarkably stable over time, with much fewer undecideds and no highly visible third parties. That contrasts with volatile polls in 2016, and Stein and that other guy also pulling variable support. The attempted smear campaigns against Biden are falling flat, rather than gaining traction like the ones against Hillary.
edit: if you find your way to RCPs 2020 vs 2016 comparison, check the full 2016 timeline before you panic:
Right now is equivalent to Hillary’s high point and Tinyfingers Twittertwat’s low point, between the pussygrabbing tape release, and Comey announcing the re-opening of the e-mails investigation.
I too like the 538 snake. Was interested in the lack of quality polls for Texas showing. Unlikely to flip I guess but it's the big haul of electoral votes.
If like me you live in central Auckland you can entertain yourself by going to the Domain and hopping from side to side, so you're crossing between New Zealand's most right-wing electorate and Aotearoa's most left-wing electorate.
Opportunities for domestic tourism here, maybe a drinks cart on the boundary, serving gin and tonics on the Epsom side or carrot juice on the other.
Fairly sure he is in ACT territory ? During lockdown Hoskings was praising MP David Seymour because of his assistance getting his daughter back to Australia to continue studies.
"Apparently, Collins’ concession speech was gracious and tearful, although I couldn’t really hear it because a drunk Leftie was hurling Samoan swear words at the screen. My wife promptly told me to stop swearing and sent me in the kitchen to make some tea."
Wouldn't the american election be so much more interesting if it were bernie up there slugging it out with trump..?..(sigh..!)…instead we have biden campaigning on the fact he isn't trump…it's all seriously underwhelming…
You aren't allowed to say that, because it shows: you don't understand the concept of 'electability', you are at best a useful idiot and at worst a closet Trump supporter, and (worst of all) you are denying 'agency' to all the Democratic primary voters who voted for Biden after having their agency denied by being told to vote for Biden. Even such a simple statement of Biden's self-evident uselessness and inadequacy for the horrendous task he will be faced with, is impermissible. Let's hope he wins though.
The Greek word for idiot, literally translated, means one who does not participate in politics. That sums up my conviction on the subject. Gladys Pyle d.1989 USA politician (and philosopher) http://www.picturequotes.com/
(She would know: Gladys Shields Pyle was an American politician and the first woman elected to the United States Senate without having previously been appointed to her position;
she was also the first female senator to serve as a Republican and the first female senator from South Dakota). Wikipedia
Yeah..nah…eh..?..to yr either/or..u CD b overthinking it…I was bemoaning on an intellectual/entertainment level…as bernie wd eviscerate the orange carbuncle..and I see you playing that 'electability' card…it's looking a bit tired/frayed around the edges..eh..?..that electability-card…as this election is clearly about trump vs the other person…and bernie would have been much more effective in that role than biden..and is yr playing of that tired piece of cardboard/anti-bernie trope an indicator that you could be some sort of neoliberal-incrementalism apologist..?
Something that is apparent to many Americans now, that may not have been during the primaries, is that simple competence in the skills needed for government actually do matter. And that those skills will be desperately needed from the moment the new prez sits down to work, after 4 (or 8) years of the tangerine toddler trashing everything he could get his bleached-white microscale creepy raccoon-paws on.
Biden demonstrably has those skills, in spades. Sanders' unblemished record of zero accomplishments of significance to show from his decades in government strongly suggests he does not possess those skills in governing.
You must be ignoring his record in his state..where he receives wide support…and this in a state that is resolutely republican…what his long record there shows is that he works for all people…and for the good of the whole community he served…it's one of the anomalies of the american political world…that widespread support for a self-avowing democratic socialist in a deeply conservative state….any claims bernie has no record of success ..are falsehoods…his actual record proves just the opposite…and as an aside..I know there are many in labour who are neoliberal-incrementalists..and they really need to realise that bankrupt ideology is past its' use by date…continuing that/those policies will doom us all to environmental self-destruction….it is the time for bold action….not a continuing of what came before…
Yankistanis have a mortal dread of the Socialism and would vote against a socialist if the opponent ran on a platform of beating a child to death in the main street of every town beofore lunch.
They have a mortal dread of the Socialism that benefits the poors.
The USDA has released a projection that net U.S. farm income will reach $102.7 billion this year. This would be a 23% increase from net farm income in 2019 and is the result of record farm subsidy payments that were meant to offset losses from COVID-19 and global trade disputes. Farm subsidies in 2020 are expected to total $37.2 billion, a 66% increase from 2019. The question now is if these payments will continue in 2021 if the commodity market does not fully recover from its current state.
More than a third of U.S. farm income in 2019 will come from the U.S. government in the form of the trade-war bailout, crop-insurance payouts and other federal assistance.
[…]
The U.S. Department of Agriculture projects farm income to be $88 billion. Of that, $19.5 billion will come from direct farm-payment programs and another projected $10.5 billion will come from crop-insurance indemnities. Farmers help pay for federal crop insurance, but the premiums are more than 60% subsidized.
Wouldn't be wonderful if NZ politics has shifted in tone. Could Jacinda's unending kindness and courtesy rub off on other MPs? Is it possible that the people are sick of the aggressive bullying of leaders like Brownlee and Collins? Could cross party cooperation become a standard reality?
And within that new tone still get the job done and even get militant grumpy farmers to further develop positive repairs to our country.
Brilliant idea – NZ has no appetite to elect an extreme left or right government. So perhaps for starters Dr Reti could be given a health portfolio in formation of some grand coalition…
But Ad what do you think about the principle of inviting someone from the Opposition to have an input into a Government proposition? Climate Change for example?
I have had Shane Reti help me first hand . He was very proactive and he has a nice manner. It would be great if someone bringing valuable knowledge into Parliament was utilised for these skills. I really do not think his "politic " leanings would get in the way. I believe he just likes to help more than anything.
If they had unique skills that were not within the existing caucus … maybe.
I can't see the point of a Minister for Climate Change. It just Balkanises the whole issue rather than making it a whole-of-government requirement. Also they already have a Commission for it, and a functioning legislative regime for carbon.
Ministers need to focus on actual climate change consequences, such as rural fire and the insurance and planning issues, or transport and fuel issues, electricity and heat plant issues, water supply and reticulation issues, or home insulation and materials issues.
Generally if it's about everything it achieves nothing. As with poverty measures, Ministers need accountability frameworks that are Specific Measurable Accurate Rational and Timebound.
During the Leaders Debates it just seemed that Jacinda's positivity contrasted so sharply with the harshness of Judiths attempt to appear strong/tough, just might be the future. Of course journalists want/need for MPs to be tough/aggressive so there is something to write about. Maybe a matter of personal perspective but remembering how the Greens developed a reputation for parliamentary courtesy?
Janet We are talking about politics here, not just who has a nice manner when it suits him to be helpful to a patient. You refer to his 'politic' leanings, and believe he wants to help. I am interested in why he wants to get into politics and not stick with the very important medical profession, where he can help more people personally than in politics. It is people with ambition to drive policy in certain ways that enter politics and I wonder in which direction he would like to go?
Maybe REti could set up the border agency or build quarantine centres outside of Auckland, that many arm chair critics pontificated about since March…..
Dr Ayesha Verrall would outshine Dr Shane. Her review of contract tracing in NZ early in the pandemic, has likely saved lives, certainly lock down times…
But Chris H found REti constructive to work with, so it might be good to invite him to be involved.
BTW interesting that that arsehole Woodhouse held the Health Portfolio up until he was caught out receiving patient information…………..Then Dr Shane who was lowly ranked was given the port folio. WTF National?
He could maybe contribute by way of the select committee process couldn't he. Next election he could campaign on behalf of Labour. For Starters. Perhaps.
It is important to have strong informed voices on the opposition benches to ask questions about policy that is the best way for our parliamentary democracy to work.
Dr Komment says it is probably an incipient tumour in their brains, the signs of advancing dementia, or a slow aneurysm. Whatever I don't think they pass their medical and are not fit for purpose.
I've been looking at quotes – have some good ones to throw into the mix FTTT. Here's a goodie to sit under a thread about National.
George Orwell: “In our age there is no such thing as ‘keeping out of politics.’ All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia.”
Ooooh, Gameshow Goering won't be happy. The debate commission changed the rules, so now the other dude's mic is off for the first two minutes of answering a question. The $750 Man also doesn't like the topics. I wonder if that combo will be enough to make the Great White Shart flounce and do his own thing.
He's not wearing a cap though! Seeing him in the brilliant unreality of the image I started to hallucinate.
At first I thought he was holding a skull (but it looks like a hamburger), and I thought of 'Alas poor Yorick I knew him well.' Then I thought of a modern Colossus of Roads. He really is a mythical figure – A legend in his own time. I wonder when that will end, will I last long enough to see the train crash?
Yes I was just echoing His Great Stupidness of muddling everything. And he isn't a patch on the real Colossus which was a wonder of the world. Trump just gets the world wondering…
Fudging the failure of neolib economics and freemarket shittery for decades, government has pulled most of us down the ladder so as to allow room for the fast-movers who are charitable to political parties the room to bypass the ordinary guys.
Now with all the immigration and false bonhomie about our great economy Auckland is stretched to the limit, can't find big enough jeans to fit around its bulging body. Has to limit freedoms to choose schools, is forced to bring in socialist-style planning to all the freedom loving hopeful-socially mobile residents in Auckland. And also to the immigrants working hard to fill gaps with their keen, unswerving determination to make a buck and a good life for themselves. Auckland has grown beyond the resources available to the central or local government – the leaders of the freemarket revolution have stuffed up big time resulting in citizens being worse off on average than if caution had prevailed, and smaller steps taken as needed by our economy.
"Due to large-scale growth in Auckland we need a co-ordinated and accelerated approach to optimising the Auckland school network," the documents said.
"Without the implementation or amendment of enrolment schemes in line with the Auckland growth plan, the demand and need for additional classrooms in Auckland would increase significantly; and the overall cost in additional property provision could run into the tens of millions of dollars.
This is one reason that we need more taxes: to pay for this boon to the government's apparent financial success, this surge of immigrants and businesses to Auckland, the hub of NZ behind which the rest of the country is just a Sancho Panza. But no governments have ever wanted to turn up and do their Don Quixote charge, no they contract that out. It is the sleazy modern way to not be fully physically engaged with your work, and its results, from go to whoa with full payoff.
Given that our Auckland population surge hasn't resulted in any great increase in GDP per head Auckland is simply a drain on the rest of the country. Don't know what it's like now but for decades it was pretty much an internal economy – production & consumption about equal. maybe we need a specific tax for Auckland so they pay for their own population rather than burdening the rest of the country. Plus some serious measures to move business rather more nationwide
Maybe National could re-think and start to divorce into a United Party and a Reform Party again. Or even a Country Party. I mean it hasn't hurt Australia really has it?
The Repugs have always been an uneasy coalition of groups that detest each other only slightly less than they detest Democrats. The Democratic party is exactly the same. FPP almost necessarily forces politics into that kind of two-party configuration.
The best we can hope for is the Repug internecine warfare is prolonged to the maximum and leaves deep scars so the recovery time is measured in generations rather than election cycles.
Here, though, National could easily do it and make it work out just fine for them. MMP, y'know.
Commentators are suggesting that, just as Bill English lead the National Party to a disastrous election in 2002, the Party bounced back to nearly win the next one. In their combined analysis they appear to forget that Brash, in his first year as party leader, delivered his infamous Orewa speech and ran the Iwi/Kiwi campaign and Rob's mob flocked back. Will it take a similar, singular issue again?
The victim’s ordeal included having his naked body burned with a blow torch, threats of castration, cigarettes stubbed out on his eyelids and beatings…
Liam Hourigan and Henry Enoka Kea were sentenced at the High Court in Auckland on Tuesday for their parts in the kidnapping and torture that only ended when the man rolled out of a moving car.
That is horrible. Who would think in NZ. 90% sure that family difficulties would be behind the violent attitudes. We need to have a better NZ that comes about from families having the help and advice they need. How to get them to adopt it – start off with young parents and workshops on what they need to know, tied into a family benefit payment that keeps them involved. Help them over their problems while enabling them to stand tall, be proud, and help to keep them away from the hard drugs, and of course legalise cannabis and treat problems as medical or minor criminal.
Australians are peculiar about NZ? Irrational? NZ has control of its Covid-19 and so entering Melbourne was a risk to NZ not to them. This NZ traveller says that there is anger about them coming though she had checked to ensure that she was following protocols. It does pay to be aware that our countries are different, just united by a common language, and fairly close geographically.
Storm in a beer-glass. Interesting that their local tipples include Victoria Bitter, Melbourne Bitter so they like a bite, though they also have Carlton Draught. The Premier was kind to the breweries after they suffered a big drop in sales at the beginning of the pandemic. Though not to Kiwis. So if you want to protest you could go past theirs and choose a friendly NZ beer.
Tens of thousands of Israelis calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign demonstrated across the country Saturday evening, saying he is unfit to rule while on trial for corruption charges and accusing him of mismanaging the nation’s coronavirus crisis.
Protesters gathered at hundreds of locations across the country due to a nationwide lockdown that has barred them from protesting at the usual site outside Netanyahu’s official residence in Jerusalem. The current lockdown regulations allow people only to gather within one kilometre of their home.
"Fauci, 79, is one of the most respected scientists in the United States and has served under Republican and Democratic presidents. He has been director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984."
But hey, what would he know?
Someone who knows…….SFA
"People are tired of Covid," Trump said. "People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots.
"Fauci is a disaster. If I listened to him, we'd have 500,000 deaths," Trump said.
"It’s been of late a tight run race (Auckland Central) and this time will be no different.The second and much more interesting bit is that Chloe Swarbrick won’t win it."
Hosking this morning after I accidentally bumped into him on radio. On John Key: "One of the great political leaders of the age."
Hosking will be like a pig in muck. There won't have to be muck, he will create it and he will be so happy with three more years for swilling.
Placards and mourners outside the Kilbirnie Mosque following the Christchurch terror attack: MSD has terminated the Kaiwhakaoranga service, which has been used by 415 families since the attacks. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The Government’s pledge to only cut ‘back office’ staff rather than ‘frontline’ services is on increasingly shaky ground, with ...
There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
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 ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
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Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
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. ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
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 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Collins, Laureate Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Newcastle KarolinaGrabowska/Pexels If you didn’t have food allergies as a child, is it possible to develop them as an adult? The short answer is yes. But the reasons why are much ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Moon, Professor of History, Auckland University of Technology Ans Westra, self-portrait, c. 1963. National Library ref AWM-0705-F They try but invariably fail – those writers who believe they are capable of encapsulating in prose or verse the essence of ...
Stewart Sowman-Lund looks at the growing concern around the world in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. What’s all this? When Covid-19 arrived on our shores in early 2020, some argued we were too slow, or crucially, ill-prepared for a pandemic. So ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Franco Montalto, Professor of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering and Director, Sustainable Water Resource Engineering Laboratory, Drexel University Water runs into a storm drain in a Los Angeles alley on Aug. 19, 2023, during Tropical Storm Hilary.Citizen of the Planet/Universal Images ...
The inquest into the death of Gore toddler Lachlan Jones has turned up a new witness who says he saw two teenagers and a small child in a high vis vest in the area where the boy’s body was found the day he died. Lachie’s body was discovered face up ...
Stories from the tenancy trenches, featuring spider infestations, cupboard rats and same-sex discrimination. Lucy’s brother was living in a damp 1930s building in Mt Eden where “he had to tie the cupboard doors closed so the rats didn’t get in”. Although he shared custody of his six-year-old son, his property ...
Simeon Brown, Chris Luxon, and Wayne Brown climbed into a hole and announced a plan to solve Auckland’s water woes. This is how it’ll work. New Zealand’s pipes are munted. They’re cracked and leaking, and struggling to handle all the extra poos excreted by our rising population. It’s a big, ...
Opinion: “As time passes, knowledge of the circumstances of the August 2016 outbreak will fade and its immediate impact will be lost.” This statement is from the 2017 report of the Official Inquiry into the Havelock North campylobacteriosis outbreak. The then National-led government established the inquiry after the outbreak left ...
Opinion: Nicholas Khoo looks at two key points in the high-stakes foreign policy pact debate – and asks if NZ can engage with as little drama as possible. The post Where to next for the Aukus ruckus? appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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Opinion: ‘Reference-class forecasting’ is at the heart of improving pricing a project and identifying the expected timeframe but it doesn’t appear to be in use here The post ‘Think fast and act slowly’ is failing big projects appeared first on Newsroom. ...
What do a sombrero in Argentina and cognitive driving tests have in common? Don’t worry, we’re not setting up a bad joke. Hinengaro Clinic dementia clinician Gregory Winkelman has the answer on today’s episode of The Detail. “We ask a patient’s spouse or son or daughter: If you went to ...
Wellington long jumper Phoebe Edwards is back and she’s having fun again. Until this year, Edwards, a top athlete in her teens, had never competed as a senior athlete in New Zealand. In March, the 26-year-old won a national long jump title in a lifetime best of 6.28m after ...
After replacing a fifth of their caucus in just four months, the Greens’ opportunity to reset, reshuffle and refocus on the Government is quickly slipping away The post Persistent Green Party scandals delay caucus reset appeared first on Newsroom. ...
I knew Taika Waititi quite well when he was a kid. His mother lived in a tall narrow house in Aro St, and my youngest sister had a similar house two doors along. They were both single mums, they each had a son aged seven. Taika and my nephew Stepan ...
ANALYSIS:By Olli Hellmann, University of Waikato When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day today on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also to mark a defining event for national identity. The battle of Gallipoli against ...
By Robin Martin, RNZ News reporter A New Zealand local authority, Whanganui District Council, has passed a motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, condemnation of all acts of violence and terror against civilians on both sides of the conflict and the immediate return of hostages. It comes as ...
Asia Pacific Report The Aotearoa chapter of the Women’s International league for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) has appealed to the New Zealand government to call out Israel over the “cruel and barbaric use of force” in Gaza and demand a permanent ceasefire. The league’s open letter was sent to Prime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government will invest $566 million over a decade on data, maps and other tools to promote exploration and development in Australia’s resources industry. The project will fund “the first comprehensive map of what’s ...
Asia Pacific Report Following an open letter by Auckland University academics speaking out in support of their students’ right to protest against the genocidal Israeli war on Gaza, a group of academics at Otago University have today also called on New Zealand academic institutions to “repair colonial violence” and end ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Linda J. Graham, Professor and Director of the Centre for Inclusive Education, Queensland University of Technology Ryan Tauss/ Unsplash, CC BY Two male students have been expelled from a Melbourne private school for their involvement in a list ranking female students. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The Reserve Bank is now assuming Australians will see no interest rate cuts this year – and quite possibly none before the next federal election, due next May. That’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Hayward, Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, RMIT University The Victorian budget offered more of the same on Tuesday, with the only change being how the budget papers were packaged. The usual shrink wrap was gone, hinting at savings in the pages ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Coalition is demanding extensive amendments to the government’s legislation targeting non-citizens who refuse to co-operate with their removal. In a dissenting report to the senate inquiry into the legislation, the Coalition says it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vanita Yadav, Senior Research Fellow, Urban Transformations Research Centre, Western Sydney University Brett Boardman/Belvoir The complex and grappling issue of violence against women takes centre stage in the soul-stirring solo dance drama Nayika: A Dancing Girl. During a dinner conversation ...
Disruption to patient care from a nationwide junior doctors strike is bordering on unsafe, a senior doctor claims, despite what health officials say. ...
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International audiences are starting to discover what New Zealand already knew about After the Party.When After the Party aired in New Zealand last year, the response was fast and furious. In his preview for Rec Room, Duncan Greive said it was a “gritty, wrenching and highly confronting” series. By ...
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"The Greens have an agenda to decimate New Zealand farming if any of their policies are implemented," he said.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/country/428684/farmers-want-labour-to-govern-alone-fed-farmers
Really?!
Anyway…listening to "The Country" Radio show, with Jamie McKay and Rowena Duncum (again, I kid you not : ). I maybe expected Wailing/Gnashing..but there was a real feeling of National had no chance…so we went with the least harm option. And that was their theory anyway. Ok…I thought, see later and sure enough
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/123134716/strategic-voting-thought-to-give-labour-the-edge-in-southland
Maybe…Its just the Farm Workers…and everyone else that ISN'T a Farmer actually liked Labour?
Edit…Dont know if anyone here remembers sir Key and his “Devil Beast” Analogy from years back. Maybe the rightie Farm types prefer a little less Beast with their Devil?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/green-leader-tears-into-smiling-key/D3L2T4LIBWDP4T5AS6QWZCSVXE/
Anyway….Best of for Labour/Greens !!
The red tide of party-vote-Labour in Southland came from the rural towns – the farmer vote is too small to count but the whipped-up hysteria did cause some southern farmers to vote Labour Party on the day! Good strategy, I say and if The Greens turn-down Labour's likely offer of a coalition, their influence will be higher, their long-term prospects brighter and the terror felt by the Federated Farmers of Southland, and regional councillor Eric Roy, greatly heightened. Good thing.
Aye. Fed Farmers…Militant Union.I wonder if the "She's a pretty Communist" feelings had to be Well Repressed. : )
Oh and also Queenstown…etc ; Huge Party Vote Labour. (I used to work as Builders Labour er years ago lol) I remember tryin to talk Workers/NZ Interests at smoko time… "are you a commie?”…Also where I got interested in Green…as some wank was happily talking how he had drill poisoned Trees. "You're not a man of the Trees are ya ?"
Hmmm. gotta laugh and….. Activate.
I think the "National supporters voted tactically for Labour" argument is bollocks.
I think they liked Jacinda, especially what she had done re Covid, and didn't see her as a threat to farming, which is entirely different.
" I think the "National supporters voted tactically for Labour" argument is bollocks. "
I agree. I'm sure a handful did, but barely enough to matter.
Since when did any votes belong to any party?
Back in the 40s the voters didn't belong to Labour.
In the 70s the votes didn't belong to National
In the 80s the votes didn't belong to Labour
in the 90s the votes didn't belong to National … et cetera
And in 2020 none of the votes belonged to National.
Had the election been held on 19 September instead of 17 October the Goldsmith $4b error would not have had such an influence on voters. I think the farming and business community looked at the ability of Robertson and Goldsmith.
Had the election been held on Sept 19 the result would have been worse for National polls were showing Labour at 50% plus.National had the wrong strategy wrong type of leadership Shane Reti would have been better.
National don't have nice people in their party .Dirty politics caught up with them after years of Denials all their chooks came home to roost.Scandal after Scandal showed how low National was prepared to go to gain power.Collins bullying and Bullshitting style went down like a cup of hot sick while she had an initial dead cat bounce,National reverted to simple Soimans perpetual whinging and crying Wolf. National supporters were not impressed with these low life politicians trying Trumpish tactics in the face of the biggest crisis since WW2.
Elections are won on trust and good policy.
No way of finding out if farmers and the business community changed their vote between 19 September and 17 October.
Innovative.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/428677/greens-signal-innovative-ways-of-partnering-with-labour
(I like the Bike in the background : )
edit…And the ladder ! : )
Some random musings on vote-share comparisons between 2002 when the Nats got "Englished" and 2020 when the Nats got "Crushed":
In 2002 to the left of Labour there was also Jim Anderton (vote share 1.70%), and the Alliance (1.27%), as well as the Greens (7.00%)(although in 2002 the Greens flavour was somewhat more green compared the strong social activist flavour of 2020 Greens). This "lefter than Labour" vote share added up to 10% of the vote. In 2020, the "lefter than Labour" vote share is solely represented by the Greens on 7.57% (guess 8% after specials).
In 2002 there were two viable choices for more-or-less centrists that didn't want to choose between Labour and Nats. Winnie First (10.38%), and the Dunnys (6.69%). Between them they drew 17%. In 2020, there were vestigial WinnieFirst (2.7%) and TOP (1.4%) parties, adding up to 4% wasted centrist vote that probably won't vote Labour or Nat under any circumstances. For the sake of argument, let's infer there were 13% (17% – 4%) of centrist voters in 2002 amenable to voting Labour or Nat, but since there were viable centrist alternatives they chose those alternatives, but without those viable alternatives would have split 50/50 Lab/Nat and did so in 2020.
On the left, add up the "lefter than Labour", Labour, and "amenable centrists". In 2002 that came to 10% "ltL", 41.26% Lab, 6.5% "ac", for a total left vote share of 58%. In 2020, call it 8% "ltL" plus 49% Labour plus 0% "ac" for a total left vote share of 57%.
So in overall big picture left vs right terms, 2020 looks pretty similar to 2002 but without the fragmentation on the left.
But Andre, the concentration at the end of the campaign on the Green's Wealth Tax actually won them more votes. Makes you think doesn't it?
Maybe there is a sea-change in progress, Eric Watson has been jailed in England for being an arsehole and hiding assets so that he didn't have to pay Owen Glenn for deceiving him on a dodgy deal. The times they are a-changing and arseholery is having it's day of reckoning.
Poor Eric. An Etonian arsehole would have been believed when he claimed poverty or Alzheimers.
These bloody colonials come from the wrong side of the sheet and don't rate for any ameliorating circumstances – like Eton etc. – the defrauding is just too harrowing.
ha ha ha Gabby. Love ya humour!
"Eric Watson has been jailed in England for being an arsehole"…I love it.
Somebody should put in a members bill to change the law in NZ to make that an offence here too.
I'm thinking Hosking….(feel free to add names)
Hotchin
First time ever I read Hoskings after the election after a headline which included the word landslide….
Interesting how bias works. He focussed on Chole's win. Then rabbited on about how did Tamati and Helen White manage to lose in a Labour Landside……..
Seems possible Hoskings prefers the Greens over Labour.
Ps the one and only time I will read him. He's a tosser.
That scumbag being imprisoned is an occasion for joy, like the equally good news that that filthy water polluter Nick Smith has been fired by the voters of Nelson. The high-minded and decent Adrian, who clearly shares this writer's euphoria, writes that this means "arseholery is having it's [sic] day of reckoning."
Really? In the United Kingdom, exactly what kind of person is running the Conservative Party and the Labour Party? Who are the people running the police and the judiciary?
Sadly, one lowlife shyster getting a small percentage of his just desserts does not mean that "arseholery" is in any danger.
Yeah Dr. Custard pissed me off because he smarmily pretended to be so reasonable and so green, when he was neither. But he was able to fool a lot of people.
At least you know where you are with Crusher (and A-hole Eric Watson).
He was jailed for contempt of court. I assume, though I could be wrong, that he defied a court order to account for his assets.
For anyone vaguely interested in the US preznit election on a state by state basis, but not interested enough to go looking, here's a brief look at the state of current polling averages (reminder, 270 Electoral College votes are needed to win):
Biden is ahead by more than 5% in every state Clinton won (232 EC votes), plus Pennsylvania (20), Michigan (16), Wisconsin (10) and Nebraska 2nd district (1). These add up to 279 EC votes. That's enough more than 270 to survive a few faithless electors, but those three states are slow to count early and mail-in votes so are unlikely to declare a winner on election night. If it comes down to slow counts in those three states, expect mayhem.
Biden is also ahead by 2 to 3%ish in Arizona (11), North Carolina (15) and Florida (29). These states have good systems for counting early and mail-in votes so there's a good chance they will declare winners election night unless the margin is extremely close. Florida plus one other (plus Clinton states) is enough to go over 270. A clear election night victory for Biden in these states will likely deflate Il Douche's inevitable lies he lost because of cheating, so the likelihood of serious mayhem would go down.
Polling averages are within 1.5%ish in Ohio (18), Iowa (6), Georgia (16), Maine 2nd district (1), so call them true toss-ups.
If polling companies have waay over-corrected from their 2016 errors, then Texas (38 EC votes, 3.6% lean to Deranged Dotard) and Alaska (3 EC votes, 6% lean) are within Biden's reach.
https://www.270towin.com/2020-polls-biden-trump/ (pie charts of state polling averages)
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2020-election-forecast/ (good "snake chart" showing their state by state forecast)
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/ (for the pessimists that prefer to look at somewhat Repug-biased polling averages)
There's going to be the inevitable cries of "but the 2016 polls were useless". Pollsters learn and adapt, and will have put a lot of effort into figuring out what they did poorly last time and made changes. Polling errors this time around are just as likely to be against Biden as for him.
This time around the polling averages are remarkably stable over time, with much fewer undecideds and no highly visible third parties. That contrasts with volatile polls in 2016, and Stein and that other guy also pulling variable support. The attempted smear campaigns against Biden are falling flat, rather than gaining traction like the ones against Hillary.
edit: if you find your way to RCPs 2020 vs 2016 comparison, check the full 2016 timeline before you panic:
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/general_election_trump_vs_clinton-5491.html
Right now is equivalent to Hillary’s high point and Tinyfingers Twittertwat’s low point, between the pussygrabbing tape release, and Comey announcing the re-opening of the e-mails investigation.
We're booked for the Democratic Party night with the Dems in Auckland.
Another night of happy screaming to come 😊
Enjoy Ad, these moments in life are to be savoured. (forgive the pun)
Hehehehehe 🙂 You will have such a good night Ad. I've taken the day off work to enjoy the take down of trump.
Thanks for the info Andre.
C'mon Harrison! Take him out!
I too like the 538 snake. Was interested in the lack of quality polls for Texas showing. Unlikely to flip I guess but it's the big haul of electoral votes.
If like me you live in central Auckland you can entertain yourself by going to the Domain and hopping from side to side, so you're crossing between New Zealand's most right-wing electorate and Aotearoa's most left-wing electorate.
Opportunities for domestic tourism here, maybe a drinks cart on the boundary, serving gin and tonics on the Epsom side or carrot juice on the other.
It would never have occurred to me that that might be entertaining.
On second thought, I still don't see the attraction.
You are too wedded to USA politics Andre to understand the nature of our small political joys and fancies.
Sounds like ground zero for the impending school zone war, as Old Boys lawyer up to protect their proprty investments.
I'd expect the G&T and the carrot juice to be similarly expensive.
on a related note, is chloe ,now hoskings local m.p.?
Fairly sure he is in ACT territory ? During lockdown Hoskings was praising MP David Seymour because of his assistance getting his daughter back to Australia to continue studies.
Surely us lefties can still drink G and T.!!!!!!!
According to David S there are two vegetarians in ACT! Strike me down with a feather.
Leaf, rather.
Yup, the mascot and the office hamster.
Which one is gonna go Rabbit of Caerbannog on them when the going gets tough?
Love it!! Lol Could be a fund raiser.
Teleport please that sounds like a hoot.
"Apparently, Collins’ concession speech was gracious and tearful, although I couldn’t really hear it because a drunk Leftie was hurling Samoan swear words at the screen. My wife promptly told me to stop swearing and sent me in the kitchen to make some tea."
Dave Armstrong
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/123137492/election-2020-a-bit-of-swearing-but-no-sausage-rolls-were-thrown
Wouldn't the american election be so much more interesting if it were bernie up there slugging it out with trump..?..(sigh..!)…instead we have biden campaigning on the fact he isn't trump…it's all seriously underwhelming…
You aren't allowed to say that, because it shows: you don't understand the concept of 'electability', you are at best a useful idiot and at worst a closet Trump supporter, and (worst of all) you are denying 'agency' to all the Democratic primary voters who voted for Biden after having their agency denied by being told to vote for Biden. Even such a simple statement of Biden's self-evident uselessness and inadequacy for the horrendous task he will be faced with, is impermissible. Let's hope he wins though.
I found a good quote that has relevance here.
Yeah..nah…eh..?..to yr either/or..u CD b overthinking it…I was bemoaning on an intellectual/entertainment level…as bernie wd eviscerate the orange carbuncle..and I see you playing that 'electability' card…it's looking a bit tired/frayed around the edges..eh..?..that electability-card…as this election is clearly about trump vs the other person…and bernie would have been much more effective in that role than biden..and is yr playing of that tired piece of cardboard/anti-bernie trope an indicator that you could be some sort of neoliberal-incrementalism apologist..?
Something that is apparent to many Americans now, that may not have been during the primaries, is that simple competence in the skills needed for government actually do matter. And that those skills will be desperately needed from the moment the new prez sits down to work, after 4 (or 8) years of the tangerine toddler trashing everything he could get his bleached-white microscale creepy raccoon-paws on.
Biden demonstrably has those skills, in spades. Sanders' unblemished record of zero accomplishments of significance to show from his decades in government strongly suggests he does not possess those skills in governing.
You must be ignoring his record in his state..where he receives wide support…and this in a state that is resolutely republican…what his long record there shows is that he works for all people…and for the good of the whole community he served…it's one of the anomalies of the american political world…that widespread support for a self-avowing democratic socialist in a deeply conservative state….any claims bernie has no record of success ..are falsehoods…his actual record proves just the opposite…and as an aside..I know there are many in labour who are neoliberal-incrementalists..and they really need to realise that bankrupt ideology is past its' use by date…continuing that/those policies will doom us all to environmental self-destruction….it is the time for bold action….not a continuing of what came before…
Trending blue for 30 plus years ain't a resolutely republican state.
/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_party_strength_in_Vermont
Point taken..I should have said 'his long-term/widespread support from resolute Republicans in his home state' etc..etc..
Yankistanis have a mortal dread of the Socialism and would vote against a socialist if the opponent ran on a platform of beating a child to death in the main street of every town beofore lunch.
They have a mortal dread of the Socialism that benefits the poors.
The USDA has released a projection that net U.S. farm income will reach $102.7 billion this year. This would be a 23% increase from net farm income in 2019 and is the result of record farm subsidy payments that were meant to offset losses from COVID-19 and global trade disputes. Farm subsidies in 2020 are expected to total $37.2 billion, a 66% increase from 2019. The question now is if these payments will continue in 2021 if the commodity market does not fully recover from its current state.
https://www.leadertelegram.com/country-today/markets/market-columns/farm-income-to-rise-subsidies-beneficial/article_5a0e4d87-7b80-5ea8-b002-03273ff3ae3d.html
More than a third of U.S. farm income in 2019 will come from the U.S. government in the form of the trade-war bailout, crop-insurance payouts and other federal assistance.
[…]
The U.S. Department of Agriculture projects farm income to be $88 billion. Of that, $19.5 billion will come from direct farm-payment programs and another projected $10.5 billion will come from crop-insurance indemnities. Farmers help pay for federal crop insurance, but the premiums are more than 60% subsidized.
https://www.startribune.com/more-than-a-third-of-u-s-farm-income-in-2019-will-come-from-the-government/564525932/
Yankistanis … ROFL !!!
Wouldn't be wonderful if NZ politics has shifted in tone. Could Jacinda's unending kindness and courtesy rub off on other MPs? Is it possible that the people are sick of the aggressive bullying of leaders like Brownlee and Collins? Could cross party cooperation become a standard reality?
And within that new tone still get the job done and even get militant grumpy farmers to further develop positive repairs to our country.
Brilliant idea – NZ has no appetite to elect an extreme left or right government. So perhaps for starters Dr Reti could be given a health portfolio in formation of some grand coalition…
🙂
Dr Reti needs to survive the Specials first.
And Labour has a 2020 intake replete with doctors and epidemiologists who are better than Reti
Reti chose the wrong team, and for that choice will shortly return to prescribing Neurofen.
But Ad what do you think about the principle of inviting someone from the Opposition to have an input into a Government proposition? Climate Change for example?
Heard or read someone mentioning the 'grumpy vote' so perhaps that is going to be a regular block which needs to be considered.
About Dr Reti, I wasn’t enthused about him after hearing the tenor of his ideas.
I have had Shane Reti help me first hand . He was very proactive and he has a nice manner. It would be great if someone bringing valuable knowledge into Parliament was utilised for these skills. I really do not think his "politic " leanings would get in the way. I believe he just likes to help more than anything.
If they had unique skills that were not within the existing caucus … maybe.
I can't see the point of a Minister for Climate Change. It just Balkanises the whole issue rather than making it a whole-of-government requirement. Also they already have a Commission for it, and a functioning legislative regime for carbon.
Ministers need to focus on actual climate change consequences, such as rural fire and the insurance and planning issues, or transport and fuel issues, electricity and heat plant issues, water supply and reticulation issues, or home insulation and materials issues.
Generally if it's about everything it achieves nothing. As with poverty measures, Ministers need accountability frameworks that are Specific Measurable Accurate Rational and Timebound.
That’s not the SMART acronym I know!?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_criteria
I think Jacinda may be looking for an opportunity for Tracey Martin in some Government role, she rated her.
Tracey is awesome, she was always in the wrong party.
That happens in the working groups.
During the Leaders Debates it just seemed that Jacinda's positivity contrasted so sharply with the harshness of Judiths attempt to appear strong/tough, just might be the future. Of course journalists want/need for MPs to be tough/aggressive so there is something to write about. Maybe a matter of personal perspective but remembering how the Greens developed a reputation for parliamentary courtesy?
Janet We are talking about politics here, not just who has a nice manner when it suits him to be helpful to a patient. You refer to his 'politic' leanings, and believe he wants to help. I am interested in why he wants to get into politics and not stick with the very important medical profession, where he can help more people personally than in politics. It is people with ambition to drive policy in certain ways that enter politics and I wonder in which direction he would like to go?
"Reti could be given a health portfolio in formation of some grand coalition…"
???????
Maybe REti could set up the border agency or build quarantine centres outside of Auckland, that many arm chair critics pontificated about since March…..
Dr Ayesha Verrall would outshine Dr Shane. Her review of contract tracing in NZ early in the pandemic, has likely saved lives, certainly lock down times…
But Chris H found REti constructive to work with, so it might be good to invite him to be involved.
BTW interesting that that arsehole Woodhouse held the Health Portfolio up until he was caught out receiving patient information…………..Then Dr Shane who was lowly ranked was given the port folio. WTF National?
Professor – that’s an insightful comment – care to elaborate?
He could maybe contribute by way of the select committee process couldn't he. Next election he could campaign on behalf of Labour. For Starters. Perhaps.
It is important to have strong informed voices on the opposition benches to ask questions about policy that is the best way for our parliamentary democracy to work.
Niceness does seem to whip the Hammish Prozzes and Horeskins of the world into frenzies of rage. There's something broken in their brains.
Dr Komment says it is probably an incipient tumour in their brains, the signs of advancing dementia, or a slow aneurysm. Whatever I don't think they pass their medical and are not fit for purpose.
I've been looking at quotes – have some good ones to throw into the mix FTTT. Here's a goodie to sit under a thread about National.
Has anyone read the range of connections Labour might have with the Greens? They might even create a new form because there is no rule to be followed.
Andrew Geddis:
https://www.pundit.co.nz/content/what-sort-of-relationship-might-labour-and-the-greens-agree-on
When your opponent creates your ads for you and all ya gotta do is say "what he said".
https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1318170176660135936
https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1317554725596942336
There should be a vast number of red caps distributed that have MALE on them where MAGA is – it will stand for Make Americans Love Everybody.
or perhaps – Make Americans Life Easier |
Could change MAGA to –
Make Americans Good Again | Make Americans Go Away |
Says it all.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CGY_NDrA_Qj/?igshid=fwbhz5fygjqi
Ooooh, Gameshow Goering won't be happy. The debate commission changed the rules, so now the other dude's mic is off for the first two minutes of answering a question. The $750 Man also doesn't like the topics. I wonder if that combo will be enough to make the Great White Shart flounce and do his own thing.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/19/politics/presidential-debate/index.html
I think he'll front. tRump can’t resist an audience and it's his last nation wide chance to fling poo at Biden in prime-time.
He’ll throw a poomerang.
Reckon he'll get someone else to take his covid test for him so he can breathe his greeblies on Biden?
The Biden campaign.. you tested negative…yeah, right..
He's not wearing a cap though! Seeing him in the brilliant unreality of the image I started to hallucinate.
At first I thought he was holding a skull (but it looks like a hamburger), and I thought of 'Alas poor Yorick I knew him well.' Then I thought of a modern Colossus of Roads. He really is a mythical figure – A legend in his own time. I wonder when that will end, will I last long enough to see the train crash?
Rhodes not Roads isn't it?
Yes I was just echoing His Great Stupidness of muddling everything. And he isn't a patch on the real Colossus which was a wonder of the world. Trump just gets the world wondering…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus_of_Rhodes
I wonder how the dissection of the election loss is going in the National caucus. At least they have a doctor there to assist.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/428767/judith-collins-speaks-after-national-party-caucus-meeting-onwards-and-upwards
How many trees wither and small woodland creatures die every time Judith smiles. I could feel the chills through the computer screen.
Fudging the failure of neolib economics and freemarket shittery for decades, government has pulled most of us down the ladder so as to allow room for the fast-movers who are charitable to political parties the room to bypass the ordinary guys.
Now with all the immigration and false bonhomie about our great economy Auckland is stretched to the limit, can't find big enough jeans to fit around its bulging body. Has to limit freedoms to choose schools, is forced to bring in socialist-style planning to all the freedom loving hopeful-socially mobile residents in Auckland. And also to the immigrants working hard to fill gaps with their keen, unswerving determination to make a buck and a good life for themselves. Auckland has grown beyond the resources available to the central or local government – the leaders of the freemarket revolution have stuffed up big time resulting in citizens being worse off on average than if caution had prevailed, and smaller steps taken as needed by our economy.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/428745/big-increase-in-enrolment-zones-for-auckland-schools
"Due to large-scale growth in Auckland we need a co-ordinated and accelerated approach to optimising the Auckland school network," the documents said.
"Without the implementation or amendment of enrolment schemes in line with the Auckland growth plan, the demand and need for additional classrooms in Auckland would increase significantly; and the overall cost in additional property provision could run into the tens of millions of dollars.
This is one reason that we need more taxes: to pay for this boon to the government's apparent financial success, this surge of immigrants and businesses to Auckland, the hub of NZ behind which the rest of the country is just a Sancho Panza. But no governments have ever wanted to turn up and do their Don Quixote charge, no they contract that out. It is the sleazy modern way to not be fully physically engaged with your work, and its results, from go to whoa with full payoff.
Given that our Auckland population surge hasn't resulted in any great increase in GDP per head Auckland is simply a drain on the rest of the country. Don't know what it's like now but for decades it was pretty much an internal economy – production & consumption about equal. maybe we need a specific tax for Auckland so they pay for their own population rather than burdening the rest of the country. Plus some serious measures to move business rather more nationwide
An optimum result out of the upcoming US elections is that the Republican Party is so dissatisfied that it splits.
That starts with commentary with key strategists going: Burn this party down and start again .
https://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/10/19/stuart-stevens-collapse-of-republican-party-sot-vpx-lead.cnn
Maybe National could re-think and start to divorce into a United Party and a Reform Party again. Or even a Country Party. I mean it hasn't hurt Australia really has it?
It's a nice fantasy, but it ain't gonna happen.
The Repugs have always been an uneasy coalition of groups that detest each other only slightly less than they detest Democrats. The Democratic party is exactly the same. FPP almost necessarily forces politics into that kind of two-party configuration.
The best we can hope for is the Repug internecine warfare is prolonged to the maximum and leaves deep scars so the recovery time is measured in generations rather than election cycles.
Here, though, National could easily do it and make it work out just fine for them. MMP, y'know.
Commentators are suggesting that, just as Bill English lead the National Party to a disastrous election in 2002, the Party bounced back to nearly win the next one. In their combined analysis they appear to forget that Brash, in his first year as party leader, delivered his infamous Orewa speech and ran the Iwi/Kiwi campaign and Rob's mob flocked back. Will it take a similar, singular issue again?
1975 – Dancing Cossacks (Labour's superannuation scheme)
2005 – Iwi/Kiwi
2023 – ???
The victim’s ordeal included having his naked body burned with a blow torch, threats of castration, cigarettes stubbed out on his eyelids and beatings…
Liam Hourigan and Henry Enoka Kea were sentenced at the High Court in Auckland on Tuesday for their parts in the kidnapping and torture that only ended when the man rolled out of a moving car.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300137099/torture-case-compared-to-tarantino-film-script
That is horrible. Who would think in NZ. 90% sure that family difficulties would be behind the violent attitudes. We need to have a better NZ that comes about from families having the help and advice they need. How to get them to adopt it – start off with young parents and workshops on what they need to know, tied into a family benefit payment that keeps them involved. Help them over their problems while enabling them to stand tall, be proud, and help to keep them away from the hard drugs, and of course legalise cannabis and treat problems as medical or minor criminal.
Australians are peculiar about NZ? Irrational? NZ has control of its Covid-19 and so entering Melbourne was a risk to NZ not to them. This NZ traveller says that there is anger about them coming though she had checked to ensure that she was following protocols. It does pay to be aware that our countries are different, just united by a common language, and fairly close geographically.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-troubles/300136849/transtasman-bubble-woman-sets-the-record-straight-amid-controversy-over-new-zealanders-entering-melbourne
Storm in a beer-glass. Interesting that their local tipples include Victoria Bitter, Melbourne Bitter so they like a bite, though they also have Carlton Draught. The Premier was kind to the breweries after they suffered a big drop in sales at the beginning of the pandemic. Though not to Kiwis. So if you want to protest you could go past theirs and choose a friendly NZ beer.
Israel young people thinking about things.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/middle-east/300129664/tens-of-thousands-protest-israeli-prime-minister-benjamin-netanyahu
Tens of thousands of Israelis calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign demonstrated across the country Saturday evening, saying he is unfit to rule while on trial for corruption charges and accusing him of mismanaging the nation’s coronavirus crisis.
Protesters gathered at hundreds of locations across the country due to a nationwide lockdown that has barred them from protesting at the usual site outside Netanyahu’s official residence in Jerusalem. The current lockdown regulations allow people only to gather within one kilometre of their home.
Subtle but savage.
https://twitter.com/ProjectLincoln/status/1318303013199433728
"Fauci, 79, is one of the most respected scientists in the United States and has served under Republican and Democratic presidents. He has been director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984."
But hey, what would he know?
Someone who knows…….SFA
"People are tired of Covid," Trump said. "People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots.
"Fauci is a disaster. If I listened to him, we'd have 500,000 deaths," Trump said.
!
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/428746/trump-labels-virus-chief-a-disaster
Apropos the comments about Mike Hosking earlier.
Hosking on September 21 2020:
"It’s been of late a tight run race (Auckland Central) and this time will be no different.The second and much more interesting bit is that Chloe Swarbrick won’t win it."
Hosking this morning after I accidentally bumped into him on radio. On John Key: "One of the great political leaders of the age."
Hosking will be like a pig in muck. There won't have to be muck, he will create it and he will be so happy with three more years for swilling.
Really would be great to see the relevance of Hosking …or Mrs Hosk……Hawkesby disappear in ever decreasing circles. Surely must be now?
Sealord. Imports Covid infected Workers.
"Paulin said he had no regrets about bringing the workers to New Zealand."
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/428777/imported-cases-of-covid-19-confirmed-at-christchurch-isolation-facility
"Paulin said any additional costs such as healthcare or longer stays would be looked after by the fishing companies."
Well…I would fucking hope so….