It sems the Stuff site does not like people mentioning Shipley’s place on the board of the Chinese Constrction Bank or the fact she was part of a rural Southland property tour with Chinese investors last year. My submitted comment on Stuff (about 430pm) yesterday seems to have been ‘misplaced’ because Stuff wouldn’t censor factual statements. Would it?
the following is the comment i submitted to Stuff yesterday which has not been posted
” If the Government pick up the travel costs, accommodation etc as they will have to anyway, then why are these people not doing this for a nominal perdiem? Every person on this panel could well afford to do it for free. Surely the rebuilding of CHCH is more important than another fee collection.
Also why is a current board member of the China Construction Bank,(China’s third largest bank) namely Jenny Shipley, on the panel and what are her intentions and or instructions? Surely her South Island interests were fully displayed by all the rural property Investment tours she personally attended last year”
Oh, this is getting better and better:
The Bank of America reported a record loss of $9.1 billion in the last quarter of last year due to its record-breaking settlement over subprime mortgage claims stemming from the financial crisis!
Apparently they lost $ 0.90 on the dollar on their shares! Added to that they have put $ 14 Billion aside for more repayments to angry investors in their dodgy mortgage derivatives products.
BoA bought Merrill Lynch when it collapsed due to it’s exposure to these selfsame products and John Key’s shares in Merrill were converted to BoA shares.
Is this perhaps why he is so worried about the state if America’s economy and why he is meeting with some of the hoipeloi of the US finance world such as Geithner during his “state visit”?
Does it mean that for every $ 1 million in shares he now only owns $ 1.000.000?
Nope no such luck, BAC lost $0.90 per share, which they then padded up with accounting trickery to make it look like a $0.33 EPS gain. Clever eh. But none of the serious players are fooled in the slightest.
a loss per share is merely a measure of how the company did financially; however shareholders do not actually lose that money per share personally as the loss is onfined to the company itself.
The way shareholders lose out is the negative response of the market (i.e. the share price dropping – and BAC has been dropping for a long time now – the insiders know that they are toast and have been quietly selling into every rally).
Would the sell off of John Key’s shares be open to public scrutiny as they are not in his blind trust?
Would him selling them off be insider trading?
Would it show he still has considerable interests in the International “too big to fail” banks making his Prime Minister role fraught with conflict of interest?
And why are his shares not sensitive to the actual share price? He did concede that he lost value in the collapse of ML but that he had diversified in time by selling some of his shares! (Just honest curiosity here)
Well it would only be insider trading if someone was forewarned of the financial result before it was made public.
The thing is, US financial markets have stopped pretending to be credible, impartial, exchanges for buying and selling now. (This has been the case for the last few years). The entire set up is rigged like a casino. Oridnary investors and retirement funds get totally destroyed on a daily basis as the game makers skim money millisecond by millisecond.
Put another way, the only real serious trading in the international financial markets today is insider trading. For instance, everyone who needs to know, already knows whether the Federal Reserve is going to print more money in QE3 and who that money is likely to go to.
And why are his shares not sensitive to the actual share price?
Not sure I understand your point; the value of his shares will certainly directly reflect the share price of the day. If the share price drops 10%, so will the realisable value of the shares that he holds should he wish to sell on that day.
Yeah as you know, companies can report a loss, and the shareprice will rocket up on the basis that the loss was less than expected.
In this case, the big banks have been padding their numbers in a big way and soon its gonna be obvious that the emperor has no clothes, even with mounds of interest free money care of the US tax payer.
Hard assets count in this new world, vege gardens, hydrodams, steel, silver, gold, clean water, a full tank of gas, a well insulated home with solar hot water, and good relations with friends, neighbours and family.
Nah, look at what used to trade over the long duration land and sea trade routes in the past. Look at the dutch east indies or the land route between europe and india. Try pepper and other spices.
If you go back further in history then you look at the salt caravans that allowed people to live inland.
In WWII in Europe tobacco and alcohol were major bartering tools. People didn’t give a fuck about spices. they didn’t have the food to spice in the first place (In Holland in the last year of the war people ate cats and tulip bulbs. hence the name tulip munchers which contrary to popular belief are not on our daily menu and taste pretty horrible)
When/If it all goes pear-shaped and after the inital ‘problems’ things will eventually settle.We have plenty of wood for building and still have ability to run forges, mine essentials etc. We have a range of herbs and spices we can grow here, we can make bread and have plenty of milk. There is more than enough land to grow veges and fruit so feeding people will be possible. Which is nice.
The true horror awaiting us all is what the hell do we do about coffee?
Key must be shitting himself on a personal financial basis. When you consider that the political elite worldwide hold their wealth in much the same places as Key it becomes really easy to understand why gains are privatized and losses socialized. What Obama is effectively proposing to Congress and the Senate currently is to extend the bail out at the future expense of the taxpayer, to be paid for as the Tea party suggests by slashing pensions, welfare etc. It is the 21rst century equivalent of “let them eat cake”, willful blindness to reality just to keep the show ticking over a little longer.
Key might not be the only person worried. The majority of the dairy industry here is in hock to the finance industry. Over the last fortnight world dairy prices crashed nearly 7%. This plus the rising dollar must be worrying both farmers and financiers, they are both facing the barrel. Anybody for a cheap polluted piece of land, going fast?
Yesterday I commented on the strange state of point price inflation and overall deflation. Watch the markets to respond with far more emotional illogic than usual. The DOW surged a few % yesterday on the basis that Obama would extend the bail out…any regression they will crash. The whole system is clearly out of touch with the world around it.
I had the same thought as No Right Turn in wondering if he who would be dictator of Christchurch had actually asked if those appointed to the CERA advisory board would actuslly do the job for the standard rate. I see this morning he is refering to John Hansen the boards chair not actually submitting asn invoice or asking for payment. Does that make John Key & Brownlee liars?
I thought this media statement by Phil Goff was worthy of note but haven’t seen it picked up by any media…
Playcentre closures not an option
Anne Tolley should immediately rule out a proposal to slash funding to Playcentre, a 70-year-old institution attended by generations of Kiwi kids, Labour Leader Phil Goff says.
A Government taskforce looking into investment in the early childcare sector is calling for a 63% cut in funding to Playcentre, a move the Playcentre Federation says will force the country’s 460 centres to close.
“To borrow a quote from National, that sort of cut is like taking a dagger to the heart of New Zealand’s children,” Phil Goff said. “My kids went to Playcentre. To think of it not being there for other kids is a real concern.”
“This Government has already slashed subsidies to ECE centres, with funding cuts to more than 2000 services over the last year affecting 93,000 children and resulting in fee rises for thousands of families
“It abandoned the target for having 100 per cent qualified teachers and its policy of improving ratios for children under two to 1:4. Now it’s attacking what has come to be seen as a world-leader in low-cost, parent-led early childhood education.
“It’s a complete about-face. The Prime Minister’s chief science advisor has continually stressed the importance of early childhood education, noting that investment in the earlier years results in less expenditure later.
“Here’s Paula Bennett in 2006: ‘Parent-led centres are the backbone of many communities…parents and their children get huge advantages from attending kohanga reo and Playcentres. It would be a big blow to many communities to not have these centres supported.’
“And in 2008 Anne Tolley attacked Labour on the issue, saying ‘Labour does not think that parents who take their kids to Playcentre are worth supporting…’
“Well Anne Tolley, Labour does back our Playcentres. They’ve long been a valuable part of ECE and a great training ground for parents. Our message to the Minister is – step in and act now,” Phil Goff said.
Thanks for pointing that out I have posted it on FB in the hope that more people will see it. Playcentre is an amazing organisation for families to be involved in.
Thanks for spreading the word–I don’t do FB. ACE Aotearoa (Adult and Community Ed) has also done a media release:
Media Release
July 19 2011
Valuable Whānau Learning Opportunities Threatened by
Proposed Funding Cuts to Playcentres
ACE Aotearoa is concerned that proposed funding cuts to Playcentres pose
a threat to whānau learning in Aotearoa. The umbrella organisation for the
Adult and Community Education Sector actively promotes the concept of
families learning together because of the huge benefits it brings for families
and communities.
ACE Aotearoa co- chair Wendel Richardson says when families learn
together, everyone benefits. “There are many examples of how models of
family learning enhance the wellbeing of families and communities. Some
studies have shown that families benefit financially when parents learn
alongside their children.”
For over 70 years, Playcentres have led the way in providing unique
whānau learning opportunities. Funding cuts to centres would be a great
step backwards for both early childhood and community education.
And Anne Tolly responded to a journalist who was doing a story on it by saying that this is just scare-mongering by the Labour Party. What a load of bull-shit–this is a bottom-up campaign from concerned parents and educators.
A Government taskforce looking into investment in the early childcare sector is calling for a 63% cut in funding to Playcentre, a move the Playcentre Federation says will force the country’s 460 centres to close.
What conceivable reason would they have for doing that? It’s insane…
the comments from the PM are predictable, the various articles showing up repeat the story but do raise a few questions… and then there is the article above. The whole timeline of these events is what does not add up. Within hours of the Quake the Israeli Ambassador flew in from Canberra? The bodies would have barely been discovered let alone identified. Yet in the space of a few hours the Ambassador was not only in the country, but gave the surviviors a ride to the airport?
Some expert or other was on Nine to Noon this morning. He concluded that there is undoubtedly something going on, and even if they don’t find out anything more than the 5 passports, those in themselves will be very valuable intelligence that can be disseminated internationally to other intelligence agencies around the world.
He said that they were almost certainly not Mossad agents, due to their age – average of 23. He suggested that they were ‘helpers’, people who help out the Israeli government around the world to do various missions, and likely they had just finished their compulsory military training and were effectively on the mission as a way to gain entrance to Mossad. He suggested they were likely in NZ so they could steal identities for use in fake NZ passports (as happened 7 years ago), because it’s not something that full Mossad agents would normally spend time on.
Makes sense i.e. it was a very routine low level op that got upended by an unexpected situation that they had no decent contingency for (except to abandon their ‘mate’, turn tail and bail).
or… during a routine low level op, id aquisition and asset generation, there is a quake which presented an Operation potential of a far grander scale, having S&R teams get a private NZPolice backdoor seperate to the exisiting private back door that is part and parcel of Interntional Security arrangements. (these are the same people that had to admit to StuxNet)
And is anyone buying that the Israeli Pm tries four times to call Key and it doesn’t happen?
Mr Key’s story has changed, now it seems that the NZ PM did talk to the Israeli PM on the day but the calls were to offer help and support. Only four hours and he already flip-flops.
Is that a record?
Hi Freedom,
Just downloaded the Downloadhelper firefox plugin. The one I was using didn’t want to download it but it is now happily downloading the video.
I think there is a fair use for the purpose of information clause like making sure people know the source and no profit jadajada and no mass use.
Anyway I can down load it myself now so problem solved.
love dlhelper, oh yeah thanks for the Zero link the other day, had not gotten to it yet. Certainly a strong contender for most balanced doco on the subject to date.
no math degrees needed to see something here does not add up
No offense to the dead but are we to believe every time a few citizens are killed in a natural disaster, within a couple of hours the Ambassador runs to see what he can do?
When do you last recall this ever occurring? Anywhere?
how do they just desert their mate in the van ? getting out of the van to safety, sure, but actually deserting the body? Scum seems an apt moniker of their character
Some expert or other was on Nine to Noon this morning.
That was Dr. Paul Buchanan, one of the most informed and brilliant security and espionage commentators in the world.
A few years ago, following a dirty tricks campaign worthy of Mossad or the Stasi, he was railroaded out of his job as a professor at Auckland University.
If you have listened or read Buchanans work he is no sympathizer with the left .So the question has to be asked who is the controller and is he embedded with the SIS or otherwise how come our SIS can,t find these people.IF they can,t find theses people how can they find a terrorist organization . with these guys having a free reign in our country its just making our country and our people overseas more of a terrorist target .
having them present comment from people like PB is a good thing
have you never heard the term ” know thy enemy?”
Paul Buchanan is not “the enemy”. Nor, strictly speaking, is Mossad or MI5 or the CIA “the enemy”. They are simply agents of the states they serve. The crimes committed by these organizations are the responsibility of Israel, the UK and the US.
i would suggest you kind of have that backwards, the state is and always has been a servant of its agents. Be it commercial, military or intelligence based, the lies of spies have darkened the skies
the state is and always has been a servant of its agents.
So Mossad is killing dissidents, stealing the identities of dead people and hacking into computer systems without the Tel Aviv regime knowing anything about it?
And those American “agents” who tried to kill Giuliana Sgrena (they only killed her driver) and killed Reuters and Al Jazeera journalists in Iraq were operating in a rogue fashion?
You are saying that the spies and the military are out of control in the U.S. and Israel. Have you ever thought that, just possibly, these admittedly brutal state servants have far more integrity and honesty than the politicians they report to?
If you have listened or read Buchanans work he is no sympathizer with the left.
Have to disagree wuth you there mik e. While he may not be a ‘lefty’ as such, my reading of some of his posts (I admit I’m not a regular reader) suggest he is agreeably impartial in his judgements.
ooops… I see Tiger Mountain has already challenged mik e and co. The man has an exceptional brain and I can understand why some people feel threatened by him.We are darn lucky to have him.
Mind you, Paul Buchanan appears to know fuck-all about the Israel-Palestine conflict. His argument in a recent kiwipolitico piece (and even more so in his follow-up comments) suggested an astonishing lack of knowledge.
Incidently, NZ Listener Chomsky-smear outline still in the pipeline. I’ll have one or two things to say about this latest Mossad Affair as well.
even if they don’t find out anything more than the 5 passports,
Which had mysteriously become two passports on 3 News. Their treatment of it all amounted to “nothing to see here, move on!” I was texting my son about this, and bizarrely, Jews in predictive text, is “keys”!
I agree with Na Raihana, the Maori Party’s Ikaroa Rawhiti candidate, that Dr Brash’s conjecture that Sir Apirana would be an ACT supporter if he were still alive is “despicable.”
brash said, “In our current context, I’m confident he (Sir Apirana Ngata) would feel his values were best embodied in the ACT Party’s philosophy and policies.”
What a lowlife and he is likely to get back because of the deal with the gnats in Epsom – who can hold the line against their foul agenda? Mana and Greens that’s who.
patsy question after patsy question, can you just imagine the room of lawyers and advisors in the office screening then sending them to Paul then the reply back then the screening then the return, finally the posting. Up to four minutes between questions and answers.
The great illusion of open-participation in the shaping of modern media continues unabated.
strangely enough my question(s) about the timeline of the Israeli Ambassadors travel from Canberra and his subsequent assistance to the survivors seems to have missed the cut :]
Please refer to my post on
‘Jum 13
20 July 2011 at 2:56 pm’
for validation of your comment of patsy questions and controlled answers. (Personally, I hope Tiger Mountain is believable in his 1.29pm comment) because this coming election will be ‘the perfect exercise in how to manipulate the public by John Key and advisers’.
Any New Zealander that wants a fairer, egalitarian New Zealand needs to have all paperwork ready when Roger Douglas, the numbers manipulator and John Key, the ‘forget that expert; I have others’ begin their bloody assault on Kiwi hearts and minds. This year is a pivotal one for which road we want to take as a people – people over profit or profit over people. Simple really.
“mik e” and others here should check out http://www.kiwipolitico.com/ before more assumptions are made about Paul Bs position on the political spectrum.
He is an immensely skilled analyst and commentator.
‘‘We are protesting outside the Maxim dinner on Friday night because we seek to stand in solidarity with beneficiaries in the UK, and because we want to highlight the extent to which the recommendations of the Government’s Rebstock report are based on UK welfare reforms.’
‘Direct actions are a part of political discourse, and given the nature of Government onslaughts against beneficiaries and unemployed people in both New Zealand and the UK, we need to do more than simply listen politely to what conservative ‘experts’ brought in from overseas have to tell us.
‘If Maxim had really wanted a fair debate, they would have brought out a UK claimants’ representative to speak as well, so people attending this function could hear both sides of the story.’
The picket will take place this Friday 22 July from 5.30pm onwards, outside the Heritage Hotel, 35 Hobson St, Auckland.’
This is exactly what occurred during the last decade with Maxim, a far right religious think tank, pretending in various columns that it cared about all New Zealanders. There are only a few New Zealanders they care about and trust me it aint us.
Watch this year when they hold campaign meetings for all election candidates – they get questions from the audience but only ask the ones they want to.
That is NOT democracy; that is neo-conservatism that seeks to control women and anyone who believes in a society where all people have equal rights.
Attend the picket and stand up for all New Zealanders’ rights.
The most puzzling question on these Isreali arseholes is that within minutes of the quake Israeli “officials” had set up a rendevous in Latimer Square for the surviving 3 in the van. How? Cell phones wern’t working very well by my recollection. Who and where did these “officials come from, what were they doing in Chch, hardly a diplomatic hot zone? Don’t expect Key to do anything, he hasn’t got the guts, it should be 3 strikes and you’re out of the country. Is Key an Israeli plant? Anything is possible, he’s as incompetent as Mossad.
Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations were going on at the same time, maybe that was of interest? I remember readings something about he US delegation being there at the time of the earthquake.
Craven politicians bring shame on the Baltic states
07.17.2011
From: ulme muld
Date: Sun, Jul 17, 2011 at 11:32 AM
Subject: Israel-friendly MEPs lobby Ashton on Palestine
To: normfinkelst…@gmail.com
Some 100 members of the European Parliament have sent Catherine Ashton a letter against Palestine’s declaration of an independent state in September. http://eurobserver.com/9/32613
“Israeli-friendly MEPs lobby Ashton on Palestine.”
What is especially shameful about this letter is that some of the signatories are from the Baltic States, namely Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. These three countries were occupied by the Soviet Union; all three declared unilateral independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Yet these very same MEPs are quite ready to ask the Palestinians to continue to “negotiate” with Israel. Had they applied the same principles to their own countries, these countries would still be “negotiating” with the Soviets.
I would especially like to point out Tunne Kelam, a so-called “dissident” during the Soviet occupation in Estonia, and who has made a career out of his “dissident” anti-occupation credentials of 1991. Yet he fails to see the irony, the double standard, and his utter lack of morals in his negation of an independent Palestinian state.
It has been said that some slaves do not want freedom — they just want to become slaveholders themselves.
Seriously this needs to be in a main post, not just in open mike; Key et al promised, amongst other things, they would deal with youth crime
They didn’t listen to experts when they told them bowing to the lemons at the Sensible Sentencing Trust would be a disaster. They wouldn’t and continue to not listen to the links between poverty and deprivation and crime.
Its been nearly three long years, plenty of time for even an Epsilon-minus semi-moron to provide a km or two of cycleway. So Jokey Hen, you let us down, fail us, fail yourself. Wheres my fekkin cycleway??????????
These Nat fellows are, to draw on the link to the ACT poster noted further above, busy fellating Act to stay in power. Expect to see Nat candidates at work in such manner in Epsom and other similar electorates.
Re that picture in the poster: would have been more appropriate to have the faces of don and key.
Radionz today gave a full report on the latest moves in the Destiny church and Hannah Tamaki taking control of the Maori Womens Welfare League. There are ways to maneouvre inside charitable, non-profit organisations with broad concerns, wrest control of the assets and channel these with a narrow focus. It is wise for those trying to do good things in society and who have achieved a good flow of bequests, gifts and donations to be aware of the dangers and have some sort of legal injunction in the rules so that a stop can be put on any move that takes control out of the hands of the historical supporters.
It reminded me of what I heard about the Dunedin Corso office. I googled that and found info under – “nz corso dunedin office takeover” in an academic review from Victoria. I made some notes –
From 1984 Corso’s direction was changed so that two-thirds of its income would be spent in NZ whereas it had previously been majorly concerned with overseas assistance. The program was called Justice begins at Home and a Maori Development Fund called the Aotearoa Putea Fund was developed from 1986. It then gained a fulltime coordinator, H. Halkyard Harawira.
It appeared that in the late 1970s the organisation was captured by different agenda with discussion on the relevance of the Treaty and central control causing branches concern. Relations deteriorated and in 1988 there was a physical assault on one member by people from the Harawira faction. There were no annual accounts issued from 1986 for a few years. Workers and funds began to drift away. Many supporters moved to Oxfam. CORSO came to be regarded as a fringe group with a radical agenda based on Maori development and Tiro rangitiratanga or sovereignty.
The ideals of the Maori group may have been good, but knowing what is achievable and having the ability to run a project that isn’t too ambitious is necessary for success. This faction gave the chop to a long-standing and useful organisation when they gained control and the funds.
Another long-running group this time gutted by unscrupulous people. was the Whangarei Hearing Assocition which was taken over by an outsider couple who got control of valuable assets and funds. The Court hearing was reported on 26 October 2007 by the Northern Advocate. In his submission to Justice Asher, Crown prosecutor Sam Wimsett detailed –
He said the committee allowed president Erika Kemp’s husband Mark Whitfield, the association’s manager, to purchase a property at Henry St, Kensington, for $298,000 when it was valued at $335,000.
The property was leased back to the association at a rental of $2600 a month – a move the Registrar of Incorporated Societies called unjustified because a house wasn’t necessary for the organisation to conduct its affairs.
Mr Whitfield sold his Holden Commodore to the association for $40,000 which was later traded in at $18,000 on a Landcruiser worth $83,000.
Justice Asher… the association had lost nearly 60 percent of its assets in a short time and it seemed that this year’s pending financial statement would show a deficit worst than that of 2006.
When the current committee stormed into the role in 2005, the association had purpose-built premises, qualified hearing practitioners working there, and $100,000 in the bank.
The liquidation hearing yesterday heard that at the beginning of this year it had $12 in the bank, and owned no building.
hi millsy I didn’t have time and was tired last might to check up on possible family connections but it could be. Let’s hope the Maori Womens Welfare League doesn’t get used in a similar to a mixture of the drives that were apparent in both Corso and the Whangarei Hearing group takeovers.
Colmar Brunton will probably/possibly be out in a few days. A poller mistakenly called my work tonight — she was very apologetic when she found out she rang a business.
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Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
Buzz from the Beehive A significant decline in natural gas production has given Resources Minister Shane Jones an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the mining and burning of coal. For good measure, he has praised an announcement from Genesis Energy that it will resume importing coal. He and Energy ...
“Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Here is my subjective ranking on a “most-left” to “most-right” scale of most of our major NZ Universities, with some anecdotal (and at times amusing) evidence to back up the claim.Extreme Left Auckland University of TechnologyEvidenceThe ...
Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes – 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 ...
Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
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 ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
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 ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
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. ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
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 ...
The fight to control major transport policy and projects in Auckland has burst into the open again, with councillors rejecting Mayor Wayne Brown’s latest attempt to steer things more under his influence. Councillors from the left and right broke ranks on the mayor’s bid to control Auckland Transport more directly ...
Exhausted by the general election campaign, horrified by the twilight zone of coalition negotiations, distracted by the silly season and waiting for the honeymoon to begin, Raw Politics has been in hibernation since October. From today, we’re back. Our weekly political video show and podcast returns for ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk Authorities in the small town of Boulouparis have commemorated Armistice Day on May 8 with a new memorial honouring New Zealand soldiers who were stationed in New Caledonia during World War II. The ceremony took place in the township on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Dehm, Senior lecturer, international migration and refugee law, University of Technology Sydney The High Court unanimously ruled today that the Australian government can keep asylum seekers in immigration detention indefinitely in cases where they do not “voluntarily” cooperate with their own ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Munro, Lecturer, Creative Industries and Digital Media, University of South Australia Twenty-four hours after the release of Macklemore’s pro-Palestine protest song Hind’s Hall on social media on May 7, the video had already notched up over 24 million views. In ...
Failing to anticipate the complexity of the consenting system is being cited as the the current builder's shortcomings, an Infrastructure Commission review says. ...
350 Aotearoa is calling the Environment Select Committee’s decision to allow oral submissions from just 40% of individual, unique submitters who asked to speak to the committee ‘a disgraceful blight to democracy’. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Helal, Assistant Dean (Sustainability), The University of Melbourne Dubai skylineAleksandarPasaric/Pexels Since ancient times, people have built structures that reach for the skies – from the steep spires of medieval towers to the grand domes of ancient cathedrals and mosques. Today ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edward Musole, PhD Law Student, University of New England Girts Ragelis/ShutterstockRecent trends show Australians are increasingly buying wearables such as smartwatches and fitness trackers. These electronics track our body movements or vital signs to provide data throughout the day, with ...
Papua New Guinea experienced a significant earthquake on 24 March in East Sepik and there has also been recent flooding there and in surrounding provinces. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yousuf Mohammed, Dermatology researcher, The University of Queensland Maridav/Shutterstock You wake up, stagger to the bathroom and gaze into the mirror. No, you’re not imagining it. You’ve developed face wrinkles overnight. They’re sleep wrinkles. Sleep wrinkles are temporary. But as your ...
The Environment Select Committee has just announced that 60 percent of individuals who asked to speak at the hearings will not be heard. This equates to almost 700 people who made individual submissions and more than 1000 more who made a form submission. ...
The Royal New Zealand Ballet is performing Swan Lake around the country. What kind of dream does the ballet sell?Before going to see the Royal New Zealand Ballet perform Swan Lake, I had about as much familiarity with the plot of this ballet as could be expected from having ...
A new poem by Auckland poet Eamonn Tee. High Tide at Local Maxima It is only going to get worse. The streams will be narrow and fickle. The week will bend and buckle like a pot-bellied waist. You will make it to the weekend with one ...
The New Zealand entrepreneur behind beauty business Ethique is gearing up to launch a new eco-venture. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Our thirst for a tasty bevvy is insatiable, but it comes with a hefty plastic price for the planet: 580 billion ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 James by Percival Everett (Mantle, $38) A retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from ...
By Kamna Kumar in Suva Pacific Islands Forum Secretary-General Henry Puna stressed the importance of media freedom and its link to the climate and environmental crisis at the 2024 World Press Freedom Day event organised by the University of the South Pacific’s journalism programme. Under the theme “A Planet for ...
Tara Ward previews a new local TV series offering alternative visions of motherhood. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. A woman is clambering up the side of her two-story house, clinging desperately to a drainpipe. Nearby, her child is perched on the ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is supportive of the cross-party approach to climate adaptation announced by the Minister of Climate Change today. ...
The Sustainable Business Council (SBC) and Climate Leaders Coalition (CLC) welcome today’s announcement from Government around a bipartisan inquiry into an enduring climate adaptation framework for New Zealand. ...
The Free Speech Union welcomes the decision by the Department of Internal Affairs, and Minister Brooke Van Velden, to abandon proposals to further regulate online speech. ...
Its new building in Wellington will not be nearly big enough for all its records, and it has also run out of money to build its new storage facility in Levin. ...
BusinessNZ is congratulating the Minister of Climate Change for his work in achieving cross-party consensus for a way forward on climate adaptation. ...
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More jobs for the boys (and girls)
It sems the Stuff site does not like people mentioning Shipley’s place on the board of the Chinese Constrction Bank or the fact she was part of a rural Southland property tour with Chinese investors last year. My submitted comment on Stuff (about 430pm) yesterday seems to have been ‘misplaced’ because Stuff wouldn’t censor factual statements. Would it?
the following is the comment i submitted to Stuff yesterday which has not been posted
” If the Government pick up the travel costs, accommodation etc as they will have to anyway, then why are these people not doing this for a nominal perdiem? Every person on this panel could well afford to do it for free. Surely the rebuilding of CHCH is more important than another fee collection.
Also why is a current board member of the China Construction Bank,(China’s third largest bank) namely Jenny Shipley, on the panel and what are her intentions and or instructions? Surely her South Island interests were fully displayed by all the rural property Investment tours she personally attended last year”
How is this any different from the other comments posted?
Or do you think the “…instructions” question crossed a line.
I would like to know what you guys and gals think…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch-earthquake-2011/5309089/Jenny-Shipley-on-Cera-review-panel
Also why is a current board member of the China Construction Bank,(China’s third largest bank) namely Jenny Shipley
Shipley wears her pro-China views on her sleeve.
I guarantee it she will be heading our puppet Chinese controlled government when they end up occupying us.
Oh, this is getting better and better:
The Bank of America reported a record loss of $9.1 billion in the last quarter of last year due to its record-breaking settlement over subprime mortgage claims stemming from the financial crisis!
Apparently they lost $ 0.90 on the dollar on their shares! Added to that they have put $ 14 Billion aside for more repayments to angry investors in their dodgy mortgage derivatives products.
BoA bought Merrill Lynch when it collapsed due to it’s exposure to these selfsame products and John Key’s shares in Merrill were converted to BoA shares.
Is this perhaps why he is so worried about the state if America’s economy and why he is meeting with some of the hoipeloi of the US finance world such as Geithner during his “state visit”?
Does it mean that for every $ 1 million in shares he now only owns $ 1.000.000?
Nope no such luck, BAC lost $0.90 per share, which they then padded up with accounting trickery to make it look like a $0.33 EPS gain. Clever eh. But none of the serious players are fooled in the slightest.
a loss per share is merely a measure of how the company did financially; however shareholders do not actually lose that money per share personally as the loss is onfined to the company itself.
The way shareholders lose out is the negative response of the market (i.e. the share price dropping – and BAC has been dropping for a long time now – the insiders know that they are toast and have been quietly selling into every rally).
Would the sell off of John Key’s shares be open to public scrutiny as they are not in his blind trust?
Would him selling them off be insider trading?
Would it show he still has considerable interests in the International “too big to fail” banks making his Prime Minister role fraught with conflict of interest?
And why are his shares not sensitive to the actual share price? He did concede that he lost value in the collapse of ML but that he had diversified in time by selling some of his shares! (Just honest curiosity here)
And added to that; this is what Tyler Durden of Zero Hedge has to say about the BoA fiasco and he is usually right!
Well it would only be insider trading if someone was forewarned of the financial result before it was made public.
The thing is, US financial markets have stopped pretending to be credible, impartial, exchanges for buying and selling now. (This has been the case for the last few years). The entire set up is rigged like a casino. Oridnary investors and retirement funds get totally destroyed on a daily basis as the game makers skim money millisecond by millisecond.
Put another way, the only real serious trading in the international financial markets today is insider trading. For instance, everyone who needs to know, already knows whether the Federal Reserve is going to print more money in QE3 and who that money is likely to go to.
Not sure I understand your point; the value of his shares will certainly directly reflect the share price of the day. If the share price drops 10%, so will the realisable value of the shares that he holds should he wish to sell on that day.
Your response is very much my own opinion based on what I have been reading.
This sentence confused me. 🙂
haha sorry about that
Yeah as you know, companies can report a loss, and the shareprice will rocket up on the basis that the loss was less than expected.
In this case, the big banks have been padding their numbers in a big way and soon its gonna be obvious that the emperor has no clothes, even with mounds of interest free money care of the US tax payer.
Its gonna be uglier than 2008.
Here is what I said in April 2008 on this blog about what was going to happen!
I told you so. LOL!!! (God, that feels good) No not you CV, but all the other philistines here.
🙂 very nice.
Hard assets count in this new world, vege gardens, hydrodams, steel, silver, gold, clean water, a full tank of gas, a well insulated home with solar hot water, and good relations with friends, neighbours and family.
Have all that! (Well… maybe not the gold but I hear your own distilled is a good bartering tool too. LOL)
Nah, look at what used to trade over the long duration land and sea trade routes in the past. Look at the dutch east indies or the land route between europe and india. Try pepper and other spices.
If you go back further in history then you look at the salt caravans that allowed people to live inland.
In WWII in Europe tobacco and alcohol were major bartering tools. People didn’t give a fuck about spices. they didn’t have the food to spice in the first place (In Holland in the last year of the war people ate cats and tulip bulbs. hence the name tulip munchers which contrary to popular belief are not on our daily menu and taste pretty horrible)
When/If it all goes pear-shaped and after the inital ‘problems’ things will eventually settle.We have plenty of wood for building and still have ability to run forges, mine essentials etc. We have a range of herbs and spices we can grow here, we can make bread and have plenty of milk. There is more than enough land to grow veges and fruit so feeding people will be possible. Which is nice.
The true horror awaiting us all is what the hell do we do about coffee?
I have a coffee and some tea plants too. But the coffee won’t fruit here but perhaps up in the Northland area?
I’m pretty sure it is too cold there as well (and isn’t likely to rise enough), and not the best soils for it.
But I’d bet you’d have problems even with bananas down there…
interestingly, NZ is going to do OK on renewable salt 🙂
No I, We actually can grow bananas here. I’ve got a couple of friends who do. I haven’t started yet
Yeah, I’ve had good bananas here. Small but fat and very sweet.
The only challenge is getting to them before the birds do.
Key must be shitting himself on a personal financial basis. When you consider that the political elite worldwide hold their wealth in much the same places as Key it becomes really easy to understand why gains are privatized and losses socialized. What Obama is effectively proposing to Congress and the Senate currently is to extend the bail out at the future expense of the taxpayer, to be paid for as the Tea party suggests by slashing pensions, welfare etc. It is the 21rst century equivalent of “let them eat cake”, willful blindness to reality just to keep the show ticking over a little longer.
Key might not be the only person worried. The majority of the dairy industry here is in hock to the finance industry. Over the last fortnight world dairy prices crashed nearly 7%. This plus the rising dollar must be worrying both farmers and financiers, they are both facing the barrel. Anybody for a cheap polluted piece of land, going fast?
Yesterday I commented on the strange state of point price inflation and overall deflation. Watch the markets to respond with far more emotional illogic than usual. The DOW surged a few % yesterday on the basis that Obama would extend the bail out…any regression they will crash. The whole system is clearly out of touch with the world around it.
FTSE dropped seriously too!
I had the same thought as No Right Turn in wondering if he who would be dictator of Christchurch had actually asked if those appointed to the CERA advisory board would actuslly do the job for the standard rate. I see this morning he is refering to John Hansen the boards chair not actually submitting asn invoice or asking for payment. Does that make John Key & Brownlee liars?
Violence likely if US income/wealth in equality deteriorates further
Slightly worrying when its CNN saying this, and they are doing it in all seriousness.
http://revolutionarypolitics.tv/video/viewVideo.php?video_id=15271
I thought this media statement by Phil Goff was worthy of note but haven’t seen it picked up by any media…
Playcentre closures not an option
Anne Tolley should immediately rule out a proposal to slash funding to Playcentre, a 70-year-old institution attended by generations of Kiwi kids, Labour Leader Phil Goff says.
A Government taskforce looking into investment in the early childcare sector is calling for a 63% cut in funding to Playcentre, a move the Playcentre Federation says will force the country’s 460 centres to close.
“To borrow a quote from National, that sort of cut is like taking a dagger to the heart of New Zealand’s children,” Phil Goff said. “My kids went to Playcentre. To think of it not being there for other kids is a real concern.”
“This Government has already slashed subsidies to ECE centres, with funding cuts to more than 2000 services over the last year affecting 93,000 children and resulting in fee rises for thousands of families
“It abandoned the target for having 100 per cent qualified teachers and its policy of improving ratios for children under two to 1:4. Now it’s attacking what has come to be seen as a world-leader in low-cost, parent-led early childhood education.
“It’s a complete about-face. The Prime Minister’s chief science advisor has continually stressed the importance of early childhood education, noting that investment in the earlier years results in less expenditure later.
“Here’s Paula Bennett in 2006: ‘Parent-led centres are the backbone of many communities…parents and their children get huge advantages from attending kohanga reo and Playcentres. It would be a big blow to many communities to not have these centres supported.’
“And in 2008 Anne Tolley attacked Labour on the issue, saying ‘Labour does not think that parents who take their kids to Playcentre are worth supporting…’
“Well Anne Tolley, Labour does back our Playcentres. They’ve long been a valuable part of ECE and a great training ground for parents. Our message to the Minister is – step in and act now,” Phil Goff said.
Thanks for pointing that out I have posted it on FB in the hope that more people will see it. Playcentre is an amazing organisation for families to be involved in.
Thanks for spreading the word–I don’t do FB. ACE Aotearoa (Adult and Community Ed) has also done a media release:
Media Release
July 19 2011
Valuable Whānau Learning Opportunities Threatened by
Proposed Funding Cuts to Playcentres
ACE Aotearoa is concerned that proposed funding cuts to Playcentres pose
a threat to whānau learning in Aotearoa. The umbrella organisation for the
Adult and Community Education Sector actively promotes the concept of
families learning together because of the huge benefits it brings for families
and communities.
ACE Aotearoa co- chair Wendel Richardson says when families learn
together, everyone benefits. “There are many examples of how models of
family learning enhance the wellbeing of families and communities. Some
studies have shown that families benefit financially when parents learn
alongside their children.”
For over 70 years, Playcentres have led the way in providing unique
whānau learning opportunities. Funding cuts to centres would be a great
step backwards for both early childhood and community education.
Ends
For more information on whānau learning go to http://www.aceaotearoa.org.nz
And Anne Tolly responded to a journalist who was doing a story on it by saying that this is just scare-mongering by the Labour Party. What a load of bull-shit–this is a bottom-up campaign from concerned parents and educators.
What conceivable reason would they have for doing that? It’s insane…
Israeli spies back in NZ and Key KNOWS NOTHING!
Except he knows enough to say that its not in our interests for us to know either. Despite not knowing the details himself. Apparently.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10739639
And this ..
“Apparently [New Zealand passports are] worth their weight in gold when it comes to intelligence operations”
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/questions-remain-over-israeli-spying-claims-4313751
Now, who told Key that?
Next thing you know, our New Zealand passports might be up for sale.
I’m a graduate immigrant with a couple of million to invest in NZ businesses.
Is that good enough? 😉
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5311497/Quake-victims-no-Mossad-agents
the comments from the PM are predictable, the various articles showing up repeat the story but do raise a few questions… and then there is the article above. The whole timeline of these events is what does not add up. Within hours of the Quake the Israeli Ambassador flew in from Canberra? The bodies would have barely been discovered let alone identified. Yet in the space of a few hours the Ambassador was not only in the country, but gave the surviviors a ride to the airport?
Some expert or other was on Nine to Noon this morning. He concluded that there is undoubtedly something going on, and even if they don’t find out anything more than the 5 passports, those in themselves will be very valuable intelligence that can be disseminated internationally to other intelligence agencies around the world.
He said that they were almost certainly not Mossad agents, due to their age – average of 23. He suggested that they were ‘helpers’, people who help out the Israeli government around the world to do various missions, and likely they had just finished their compulsory military training and were effectively on the mission as a way to gain entrance to Mossad. He suggested they were likely in NZ so they could steal identities for use in fake NZ passports (as happened 7 years ago), because it’s not something that full Mossad agents would normally spend time on.
Makes sense i.e. it was a very routine low level op that got upended by an unexpected situation that they had no decent contingency for (except to abandon their ‘mate’, turn tail and bail).
or… during a routine low level op, id aquisition and asset generation, there is a quake which presented an Operation potential of a far grander scale, having S&R teams get a private NZPolice backdoor seperate to the exisiting private back door that is part and parcel of Interntional Security arrangements. (these are the same people that had to admit to StuxNet)
And is anyone buying that the Israeli Pm tries four times to call Key and it doesn’t happen?
update info from RNZ midday news
Mr Key’s story has changed, now it seems that the NZ PM did talk to the Israeli PM on the day but the calls were to offer help and support. Only four hours and he already flip-flops.
Is that a record?
Can you download or stream save the video? I can’t but love to have a you tube version of it!
anyone have a quick answer as to what is the legal position of uploading a 3news video from Scoop onto youtube?
downloads with Downloadhelper on Firefox,
Hi Freedom,
Just downloaded the Downloadhelper firefox plugin. The one I was using didn’t want to download it but it is now happily downloading the video.
I think there is a fair use for the purpose of information clause like making sure people know the source and no profit jadajada and no mass use.
Anyway I can down load it myself now so problem solved.
love dlhelper, oh yeah thanks for the Zero link the other day, had not gotten to it yet. Certainly a strong contender for most balanced doco on the subject to date.
Cheers, by the way horrible news! Danny Jovenko died in a car crash
yeah, not good news, far too much silencing of experts going on. Notice the road intersection on which he died is a high visibility T road yet they say he drove straight into a tree.
http://maps.google.co.nz/maps?q=zomp+Wilgenhoekweg+/+Hondegemseweg&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl
and according to the local Bobbies there’s nothing suspicious about a certain whistleblowers death in th UK either, right
keepvid.com can also be useful
cut n paste the URL and it will show any available download formats
I prefer Karbon myself with Aurora
my last post on this today i promise…
feb 22
http://yeahthatskosher.com/2011/02/chabad-house-in-christchurch-new-zealand-destroyed-in-earthquake-young-israeli-traveler-killed/
“Contact information and personal details were gathered and presented to the Israeli Embassy in Wellington. With the airport shut down, Shemi Tzur, Israel’s Ambassador to New Zealand, has been unable to travel to the site of the disaster by air, but is scheduled to arrive by car”
July 20
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/5311491/SIS-on-trail-of-suspected-Israeli-spies#graphic
“Israel’s Ambassador in the South Pacific, Shemi Tzur, who is based in Australia, booked flights to Christchurch, where he visited the morgue.”
no math degrees needed to see something here does not add up
No offense to the dead but are we to believe every time a few citizens are killed in a natural disaster, within a couple of hours the Ambassador runs to see what he can do?
When do you last recall this ever occurring? Anywhere?
Turns out there were actually 6 in this group, 3 of whom were killed and 3 who fled the country.
The ones most talked about are the 4 that were in the van, 1 was killed and the other 3 took photos. There were also 2 pedestrians that were killed.
how do they just desert their mate in the van ? getting out of the van to safety, sure, but actually deserting the body? Scum seems an apt moniker of their character
Simple explanation is that they were not mates. At least not in the usual sense of the word.
Some expert or other was on Nine to Noon this morning.
That was Dr. Paul Buchanan, one of the most informed and brilliant security and espionage commentators in the world.
A few years ago, following a dirty tricks campaign worthy of Mossad or the Stasi, he was railroaded out of his job as a professor at Auckland University.
If you have listened or read Buchanans work he is no sympathizer with the left .So the question has to be asked who is the controller and is he embedded with the SIS or otherwise how come our SIS can,t find these people.IF they can,t find theses people how can they find a terrorist organization . with these guys having a free reign in our country its just making our country and our people overseas more of a terrorist target .
having them present comment from people like PB is a good thing
have you never heard the term ” know thy enemy?”
and in the world of espionage etc there is no Left or Right,
just different brands on the same brown paper bags
having them present comment from people like PB is a good thing
have you never heard the term ” know thy enemy?”
Paul Buchanan is not “the enemy”. Nor, strictly speaking, is Mossad or MI5 or the CIA “the enemy”. They are simply agents of the states they serve. The crimes committed by these organizations are the responsibility of Israel, the UK and the US.
i would suggest you kind of have that backwards, the state is and always has been a servant of its agents. Be it commercial, military or intelligence based, the lies of spies have darkened the skies
the state is and always has been a servant of its agents.
So Mossad is killing dissidents, stealing the identities of dead people and hacking into computer systems without the Tel Aviv regime knowing anything about it?
And those American “agents” who tried to kill Giuliana Sgrena (they only killed her driver) and killed Reuters and Al Jazeera journalists in Iraq were operating in a rogue fashion?
You are saying that the spies and the military are out of control in the U.S. and Israel. Have you ever thought that, just possibly, these admittedly brutal state servants have far more integrity and honesty than the politicians they report to?
heads of State change and are oft forgotten, heads on staffs are often remembered
If you have listened or read Buchanans work he is no sympathizer with the left.
Have to disagree wuth you there mik e. While he may not be a ‘lefty’ as such, my reading of some of his posts (I admit I’m not a regular reader) suggest he is agreeably impartial in his judgements.
ooops… I see Tiger Mountain has already challenged mik e and co. The man has an exceptional brain and I can understand why some people feel threatened by him.We are darn lucky to have him.
Mind you, Paul Buchanan appears to know fuck-all about the Israel-Palestine conflict. His argument in a recent kiwipolitico piece (and even more so in his follow-up comments) suggested an astonishing lack of knowledge.
Incidently, NZ Listener Chomsky-smear outline still in the pipeline. I’ll have one or two things to say about this latest Mossad Affair as well.
Which had mysteriously become two passports on 3 News. Their treatment of it all amounted to “nothing to see here, move on!” I was texting my son about this, and bizarrely, Jews in predictive text, is “keys”!
blaaaaargh, there goes my morning tea.
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/BackBencher-Debate-web.jpg
Wow. Just… ugh…
Jeez HS, it curdles the milk, truly ugly …afternoon tea goes west too..
Quite interesting with regard to what the picture reveals about the mind behind it and the kind of people who are promoting it.
Well, at least now we know who’s probably behind the steamy Key/Goff slash fan fictions…
*ahem*
There is such a thing as Key/Goff slash fiction? Oh noes, where’s the brain bleach?
Rule 34: If it exists, there is porn of it. No Exceptions.
I agree with Na Raihana, the Maori Party’s Ikaroa Rawhiti candidate, that Dr Brash’s conjecture that Sir Apirana would be an ACT supporter if he were still alive is “despicable.”
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/80420/maori-party-upset-by-act-using-ngata%27s-name
brash said, “In our current context, I’m confident he (Sir Apirana Ngata) would feel his values were best embodied in the ACT Party’s philosophy and policies.”
http://www.voxy.co.nz/politics/apirana-and-act-real-solutions-maori-problems-brash/5/95536
What a lowlife and he is likely to get back because of the deal with the gnats in Epsom – who can hold the line against their foul agenda? Mana and Greens that’s who.
http://mars2earth.blogspot.com/2011/07/its-life-jim-but-not-as-we-know-it.html
Holy shit – I thought that it was a joke when I heard someone claim he’d said it. Laughed like a drain. I didn’t know it was true!
Hey whatsup with Mossad agents in CHCH stealing identities.I wonder who their controller is ,wouln,t be a smiling assassin with connections to the SIS
Mik e – go to the top of the class.
Is John Key lying over the Israeli presence in New Zealand?
Thank you Prime MInister.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10739676
live chat with paul buchanan on now
patsy question after patsy question, can you just imagine the room of lawyers and advisors in the office screening then sending them to Paul then the reply back then the screening then the return, finally the posting. Up to four minutes between questions and answers.
The great illusion of open-participation in the shaping of modern media continues unabated.
strangely enough my question(s) about the timeline of the Israeli Ambassadors travel from Canberra and his subsequent assistance to the survivors seems to have missed the cut :]
Freedom,
Please refer to my post on
‘Jum 13
20 July 2011 at 2:56 pm’
for validation of your comment of patsy questions and controlled answers. (Personally, I hope Tiger Mountain is believable in his 1.29pm comment) because this coming election will be ‘the perfect exercise in how to manipulate the public by John Key and advisers’.
Any New Zealander that wants a fairer, egalitarian New Zealand needs to have all paperwork ready when Roger Douglas, the numbers manipulator and John Key, the ‘forget that expert; I have others’ begin their bloody assault on Kiwi hearts and minds. This year is a pivotal one for which road we want to take as a people – people over profit or profit over people. Simple really.
“mik e” and others here should check out http://www.kiwipolitico.com/ before more assumptions are made about Paul Bs position on the political spectrum.
He is an immensely skilled analyst and commentator.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1107/S00219/uk-welfare-groups-back-auckland-picket.htm
‘‘We are protesting outside the Maxim dinner on Friday night because we seek to stand in solidarity with beneficiaries in the UK, and because we want to highlight the extent to which the recommendations of the Government’s Rebstock report are based on UK welfare reforms.’
‘Direct actions are a part of political discourse, and given the nature of Government onslaughts against beneficiaries and unemployed people in both New Zealand and the UK, we need to do more than simply listen politely to what conservative ‘experts’ brought in from overseas have to tell us.
‘If Maxim had really wanted a fair debate, they would have brought out a UK claimants’ representative to speak as well, so people attending this function could hear both sides of the story.’
The picket will take place this Friday 22 July from 5.30pm onwards, outside the Heritage Hotel, 35 Hobson St, Auckland.’
This is exactly what occurred during the last decade with Maxim, a far right religious think tank, pretending in various columns that it cared about all New Zealanders. There are only a few New Zealanders they care about and trust me it aint us.
Watch this year when they hold campaign meetings for all election candidates – they get questions from the audience but only ask the ones they want to.
That is NOT democracy; that is neo-conservatism that seeks to control women and anyone who believes in a society where all people have equal rights.
Attend the picket and stand up for all New Zealanders’ rights.
Would love to be there but can’t make it this time. All the best!
P.S.
The UK group:
http://www.boycottworkfare.org/?p=93
The most puzzling question on these Isreali arseholes is that within minutes of the quake Israeli “officials” had set up a rendevous in Latimer Square for the surviving 3 in the van. How? Cell phones wern’t working very well by my recollection. Who and where did these “officials come from, what were they doing in Chch, hardly a diplomatic hot zone? Don’t expect Key to do anything, he hasn’t got the guts, it should be 3 strikes and you’re out of the country. Is Key an Israeli plant? Anything is possible, he’s as incompetent as Mossad.
Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations were going on at the same time, maybe that was of interest? I remember readings something about he US delegation being there at the time of the earthquake.
http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/letter-of-the-day-2/
Craven politicians bring shame on the Baltic states
07.17.2011
From: ulme muld
Date: Sun, Jul 17, 2011 at 11:32 AM
Subject: Israel-friendly MEPs lobby Ashton on Palestine
To: normfinkelst…@gmail.com
Some 100 members of the European Parliament have sent Catherine Ashton a letter against Palestine’s declaration of an independent state in September.
http://eurobserver.com/9/32613
“Israeli-friendly MEPs lobby Ashton on Palestine.”
What is especially shameful about this letter is that some of the signatories are from the Baltic States, namely Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. These three countries were occupied by the Soviet Union; all three declared unilateral independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Yet these very same MEPs are quite ready to ask the Palestinians to continue to “negotiate” with Israel. Had they applied the same principles to their own countries, these countries would still be “negotiating” with the Soviets.
I would especially like to point out Tunne Kelam, a so-called “dissident” during the Soviet occupation in Estonia, and who has made a career out of his “dissident” anti-occupation credentials of 1991. Yet he fails to see the irony, the double standard, and his utter lack of morals in his negation of an independent Palestinian state.
It has been said that some slaves do not want freedom — they just want to become slaveholders themselves.
Ulme Muld
http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/letter-of-the-day-2/
Apologies if I’m timelined
John Key and Mark Zuckerberg
http://hellameke.com/dev/awesome/files/10/keyzuck.jpg
[deleted]
[lprent: I wasn’t due to see you for a few more weeks – ummm 7th August.
More comments. Banned permanently. ]
When NAct came into power they cut successful rehabilitation schemes and put in place Fresh Start Result?
Also worth reading is When is a Boot Camp Not a Boot Camp? When it’s a Big Mac!
Seriously this needs to be in a main post, not just in open mike; Key et al promised, amongst other things, they would deal with youth crime
They didn’t listen to experts when they told them bowing to the lemons at the Sensible Sentencing Trust would be a disaster. They wouldn’t and continue to not listen to the links between poverty and deprivation and crime.
Its been nearly three long years, plenty of time for even an Epsilon-minus semi-moron to provide a km or two of cycleway. So Jokey Hen, you let us down, fail us, fail yourself. Wheres my fekkin cycleway??????????
Wasn’t that the jewel of the crown from the, cough, jobs summit?
The scoundrel took us for a ride.
Dodgy deals being done by National and Act:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10739621
We need to reform that ‘get one electorate seat and get five MPs in Parliament’ thing stat.
What’s dodgy about that? Parties are free to arrange anything they like with each other.
And voters are free to judge what parties arrange vote for whoever they like.
These Nat fellows are, to draw on the link to the ACT poster noted further above, busy fellating Act to stay in power. Expect to see Nat candidates at work in such manner in Epsom and other similar electorates.
Re that picture in the poster: would have been more appropriate to have the faces of don and key.
I’d like to see the Greens and Labour do this tbh.
Me too. But try convincing Gareth.
Radionz today gave a full report on the latest moves in the Destiny church and Hannah Tamaki taking control of the Maori Womens Welfare League. There are ways to maneouvre inside charitable, non-profit organisations with broad concerns, wrest control of the assets and channel these with a narrow focus. It is wise for those trying to do good things in society and who have achieved a good flow of bequests, gifts and donations to be aware of the dangers and have some sort of legal injunction in the rules so that a stop can be put on any move that takes control out of the hands of the historical supporters.
It reminded me of what I heard about the Dunedin Corso office. I googled that and found info under – “nz corso dunedin office takeover” in an academic review from Victoria. I made some notes –
From 1984 Corso’s direction was changed so that two-thirds of its income would be spent in NZ whereas it had previously been majorly concerned with overseas assistance. The program was called Justice begins at Home and a Maori Development Fund called the Aotearoa Putea Fund was developed from 1986. It then gained a fulltime coordinator, H. Halkyard Harawira.
It appeared that in the late 1970s the organisation was captured by different agenda with discussion on the relevance of the Treaty and central control causing branches concern. Relations deteriorated and in 1988 there was a physical assault on one member by people from the Harawira faction. There were no annual accounts issued from 1986 for a few years. Workers and funds began to drift away. Many supporters moved to Oxfam. CORSO came to be regarded as a fringe group with a radical agenda based on Maori development and Tiro rangitiratanga or sovereignty.
The ideals of the Maori group may have been good, but knowing what is achievable and having the ability to run a project that isn’t too ambitious is necessary for success. This faction gave the chop to a long-standing and useful organisation when they gained control and the funds.
Another long-running group this time gutted by unscrupulous people. was the Whangarei Hearing Assocition which was taken over by an outsider couple who got control of valuable assets and funds. The Court hearing was reported on 26 October 2007 by the Northern Advocate.
In his submission to Justice Asher, Crown prosecutor Sam Wimsett detailed –
He said the committee allowed president Erika Kemp’s husband Mark Whitfield, the association’s manager, to purchase a property at Henry St, Kensington, for $298,000 when it was valued at $335,000.
The property was leased back to the association at a rental of $2600 a month – a move the Registrar of Incorporated Societies called unjustified because a house wasn’t necessary for the organisation to conduct its affairs.
Mr Whitfield sold his Holden Commodore to the association for $40,000 which was later traded in at $18,000 on a Landcruiser worth $83,000.
Justice Asher… the association had lost nearly 60 percent of its assets in a short time and it seemed that this year’s pending financial statement would show a deficit worst than that of 2006.
When the current committee stormed into the role in 2005, the association had purpose-built premises, qualified hearing practitioners working there, and $100,000 in the bank.
The liquidation hearing yesterday heard that at the beginning of this year it had $12 in the bank, and owned no building.
Prism you should google Hugh Watt Society, Chris Diack, ACT and Onehunga Labour hall …
Talk about assets accumulated for a good cause being used for the purposes of evil …
ms thanks will
The Harawiras you mention. Any relation to the currently ‘exiled’ Mana Party leader?
hi millsy I didn’t have time and was tired last might to check up on possible family connections but it could be. Let’s hope the Maori Womens Welfare League doesn’t get used in a similar to a mixture of the drives that were apparent in both Corso and the Whangarei Hearing group takeovers.
Oh, I had forgotten all about the existence of CORSO! So that’s what became of it…
New Roy Morgan out.
Labour 33.5, Greens 7.5, Nats 49, ACT 3.
Still bouncing around but better than the last Colmar Brunton.
Leftie response, it is heartening but accuracy of the polls are uncertain.
RWNJ response – silence. It does not provide them with a weapon to bash Phil Goff with …
I can haz linky?
Sure
http://www.roymorgan.com/news/polls/2011/4685/
Colmar Brunton will probably/possibly be out in a few days. A poller mistakenly called my work tonight — she was very apologetic when she found out she rang a business.
Disaster Capitalism
This week it was revealed that CERA officials are being paid over twice as much as was officially recommended. Former National Prime Minister Jenny Shipley, Anake Goodall and Murray Sherwin are being paid $1000 a day while the panel’s convenor, Sir John William Hansen, has been set at $1400 a day.