I suspect that Cunliffe has put quite a bit of personal thought into these questions over the last 12 months đ
My take: a sense of elite entitlement and loss of accountability to ordinary members – indeed sometimes outright disdain of those members. quite similar to the Tory ‘born to rule’ conceit, in fact.
And now, after 30 years, we’re going to finish taking our party back this November, goddammit.
My take: a sense of elite entitlement and loss of accountability to ordinary members â indeed sometimes outright disdain of those members. quite similar to the Tory âborn to ruleâ conceit, in fact.
– We elect them when they do shit like this (both sides of the political spectrum) so why should they change?
– I mean Clark flagrantly breaking the law and dropping the cop in it and would anyone from Labour suggest she be gotten rid of? (at the time) and add any example you want of Key for the same thing
– We keep rewarding them so keep acting how they want to and so it goes…
Your use of Helen Clark as an example is petty and small minded. Key has fucked this country over to the tune of billions of dollars to his rich mates and eroded the civil rights of every NZer.
Bottom line is that MPs in each party need to be held more accountable to their membership. When is National going to do this?
When Prebble was Minister of State-Owned Enterprises in the 1980s, then yes; there was the sale of far too many assets. But I regard those dark Douglas days as being a perversion of Labour into an almost proto-ACT party, rather than the return to its socialist roots that I hope Cunliffe’s 6th Labour government will represent.
Nope sorry no matter the spin Douglas and Prebble were part of Labour which reinforces the point of ministers acting how they want with virtually nil ramifications
Douglas & Prebble were indeed members of the 4th Labour government. The leader of the soon to be 6th Labour-led government has stated that he refused in 1987 to be recruited by Treasury due to his opposition to their policies (in TDB interview last night). So the chances of his replicating their folly is hopefully minimal.
As for ramifications:
“Prebble retained his Auckland Central seat in the 1990 election, which Labour lost, arguably because of public dissatisfaction with the reforms. In the 1993 election, however, Prebble lost his seat to Sandra Lee-Vercoe, deputy leader of the left-wing Alliance. For the next three years, he worked as a consultant.”
Then in 1996 he became an MP for the ACT party started by his mate Douglas.
I remember back in the eighties when Lange won.We Labour party members were on a high,every thing and anything was possible, like the Kennedy years for the Americans.
Some months later i was at a meeting attended by Prebble,Caygill and De Cleene.The meeting was held at the local offices of various unions, and also the office of the local party.The meeting was a fiery one, with the local union orginisers and their sub branch members, along with the local Party members.The barny that ensued was about the direction that the government were taking us At the end of the meeting as the Parliamentarians were leaving were over heard to say Union officials, and they chuckled, as they went down the stairs..
It is without question that our elected, and more importantly, our list representatives, are out of touch with the every day rank and file and party members who vote for them, and the recent election has shone a glaring light on that.
Power to the Party members, and lets hope it continues.
My take: a sense of elite entitlement and loss of accountability to ordinary members â indeed sometimes outright disdain of those members. quite similar to the Tory âborn to ruleâ conceit, in fact.
In other words: a total absorption into the neocon mindset of the Beltway bubble (albeit a less harsh version of the Nat model) where members and affiliates cease to be of any importance. What’s the bet more than one ABCer reflected this week about… how much easier and better it would be if there were no members and affilliates in the Labour Party.
Yes even when the writing was on the wall they still persisted in voting for the wrong person
That would have given us
Goff
Shearer
and then RobertsonFFS
Unbelievable And as for unity the biggest attack lines the right and msm has been the disunity in caucus as evidenced by the vote. Did they not see this coming ? are they so out of touch they actually thought Robertson a stood a chance ? Did they not see the media narratives around such a split vote that would eventuate?
Someone should tell them that the biggest enemy is actually the Tories not Cunliffe et el.
The membership agreed with most of the caucus who voted for Robertson. Membership were not unanimously behind Cunliffe, by any means.
So I think the “disconnect” can be overstated.
And I also think that expecting different votes from different groups is reasonable.
So my conclusion is that Sanctuary is overstating the case when talking about a “deep divide”. But I note a couple of tories have been having fun stoking the debate, which is nice for them I guess.
item b is obvious. Build more democracy into the Party. Give the members more say on who represents them. Not sure why we would want the caucus should have a separate vote for leader they should get the same vote as any other member.
Also we need to get the party list process right. We have to decide if we should have open or closed list selection and ordering of the party list. I myself are leaning towards a fully open list where the public can have input into the list but would like to hear alternative views
The Greens do the list reasonably well
Delegates at election conference meet candidates and assess them
They report back to branches who put together list this is aggregated
And becomes the recommended list
This new list goes to wider membership who then can rank candidates in a stv type system
(with a couple of tweaks for gender and geographical balance)
Problems are that sitting MP ‘s have an advantage because of profile and name recognition
and better resourced candidates can visit branches to get there name out there more widely and enhance their profile. This has happened to great effect last time around with at least one of the candidates getting a much higher ranking then from the initial delegate list (members should have listened to the delegates đ
All in all it works quite well with a very strong competent united team. As can be witnessed by there strong performance in this last term.
Labour could learn from this
Really Claire? Just because Pinokeyo says it doesn’t make it true, and I really don’t need you to report his spin on his failures.
One of the main aims of Mr Key’s trip to Europe is to nudge the EU into trade talks – New Zealand is one of only about five countries yet to start negotiations.
He raised the issue with British Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday, and told the media afterwards that the UK could be a powerful advocate for New Zealand’s case because it was a key figure in the EU.
A key figure? The country that hasn’t joined the Eurozone and is in holding a referendum on membership? If he was talking the Merkel or Hollande he would have a point.
“Europe is the biggest economy in the world, it’s a powerful economy notwithstanding the challenges it’s had. And if New Zealand could advance a trade agreement with Europe it would be quite important,” he said.
Last year Nact was calling the EU a basketcase and blaming this non-key trading partner problems for our continuing economic hole.
How about holding him up to his spin instead of hanging on to it? John Hartevelt did a better job of it.
An economy can be powerful and a basketcase at the same time. Those two terms don’t contradict each other.I would argue both the EU and US fit this category.
The article you link to doesn’t blame the non-key trading partner for our economic hole it blames the weakening US and EU economies for the strength of our dollar. That seems reasonable to me – also at the time of that article (October last year) Europe was a basketcase and it still is.
Finally, while the UK may not be as key as Germany it would still be considered a key member by most given the size of its economy – it is the second largest economy (if going by GDP).
Entropy. After three decades of cheap high density fuel flooding the western economies is it any wonder that society, economy, culture is in such chaos. Rebuilding requires that the right wing state gets off the backs of normal people who want to express and live their lives.
“An economy can be powerful and a basketcase at the same time”
Nah, a basketcase is a basketcase. It can be influential, but not powerful because other players can dismantle it if they choose to do so. E.g. the Greek economy is influential in EU economic decsion-making and a basketcase. It would take real spin to turn that situation into stating the Greek economy is powerful.
Key and English spent quite a lot of time blaming the New Zealand poor performing economy and trade deficits on conditions in Europe while ignoring the booming economies of our nearest trading partners Australia and China. Not much was asked about why the NZ economy didn’t get a boost from Aust and China but was impacted by Europe.
“Europe was a basketcase and it still is”
The periphery is in trouble. Core Europe is doing ok – the bit I live in is doing better than NZ in many ways.
And the UK has not the 2nd biggest economy, by GDP, in Europe since 2008 – austerity for the masses will do that to an economy – and any soft power the UK had was diminished by refusing to join the Euro and it’s referendum decision. It’s not committed and that seriously affects it’s power in the union.
The Court of Appeal chose yesterday to uphold last year’s decision by the Employment Court that employers paying the minimum wage had to pay their KiwiSaver contributions on top. This would give some minimum-wage workers an extra $540 a year.
Key was invited by Conservative Party leader and British counterpart David Cameron to a gathering of most of his MPs in Chipping Norton, a couple of hours northwest of London.
Key gave a speech to the MPs and strategists and joined in a “deeply political conversation” with high-ranking Cabinet ministers including Chancellor George Osborne and Home Secretary Theresa May.
Key also chatted with the controversial Australian political strategist Lynton Crosby, who advises Cameron.
Yes most interesting Tracey.Just what are they up too/
In fact its a bit scary ,120 Tory MP’s Crosby Textor smells a bit strong . In wonder if they are planning the next NZ election and how the UK Right would be able to help the NZ
Lets not forget that we were never told who payed for the ” Cossack adverts back in the 1970’s
Labour people need to keep a watchful eye on this . There was a good reason why they held this meeting with closed doors.
The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 7.2.1
Trying to watch the Live coverage of the yachting, but no, all I get is about 2 seconds and the stream just freezes. Every other site I use streams perfectly. So I figure TVNZ must have been sitting with fingers crossed that they didn’t get more then 20 people at once wanting to watch. This must be what happens when the govt strips all the cash out of the company, and they have to do it on the cheap\free!
They used to host some of the content (ad’s) out of Oz and nearly crashed the stn X cable when the ch ch earthquake had their site taking alot of hits….perhaps they still do and the site’s pulling content from outside NZ thus the performance.
It’s not so much the cash David, it’s the competance and general savvy and will to do things properly but when 7 Sharp and Best Bits is your idea of quality is it any surprise.
I watched TVNZ ‘live’ without interruption but ran Herald blog at the same time .. TVNZ ‘live’ was 12 minutes behind the Herald blog. I checked time time the blog gave Peter Lester’s comment “like being at the dentist” against when it was webcast == 12 minutes !! no idea how or why .. maybe commercials ?? “Live” ? Yeah, nah.
The one I can’t stream from is TV3. It has to be the AD Blocker, but I can usually find the feed elsewhere, unless it’s Gower making shit up then I don’t bother with it.
Reading all the available resources it is not hard to come to the conclusion that the age of fossil fuel use is coming to an end.
Even here in New Zealand we can see this. Solid Energy is bankrupt, Denniston coal is also bust and can only go ahead with skewed legalisms that prevent climate change being taken into account. And large wind farms that could let us finally close down coal fired Huntly Power Station are prevented from starting through through lack of the barest legislation costing the taxpayer nothing. Meanwhile tens of $millions of tax payer subsidies are being shoveled into encouraging risky extreme deep water oil exploration, as conventional supplies run out.
It all signals one thing, the age of oil and coal is over. And if we keep desperately subsidising these failing technologies our civilisation will be over too.
Nothing is surer.
We need leaders of vision to prevent this catastrophe. (or at the very least soften the crash)
NZ has enough coal for at least 1200 years. Open cast is the way to go, and put the land back nice afterwards. The Coromandels and the Shotover river were extensively mined and are top tourist attractions now.
And then there’s fracking, which in NZ should allow us to put off nuclear power for many years until it is safe enough. The rest of the world can do with a lot of fracking too!
Those who don’t like fracking can stop opposing new hydro dams, especially on the West Coast.
Whatever happened to that wind farm that a councillor voted to allow on her farm at Waiuku, right where the noise would keep Waiuku awake?
In spite of the ranting by right wing weirdo’s about wanting Abbott as NZ’s PM its it’s taken all of five minutes in office for him to show his true colours:
You ain’t seen nothing yet, he’s dissolved the Climate change body also and is warming up into his role as a fundamentalist christian mysoginist homophobic with anger issues…..politics suits him well.
Barrister Julian Burnside writes about Australia’s refugee policy.
So here we are: Australia in 2013. We have forgotten our origins and our good fortune, we are blind to our own selfishness. In place of memory we cling to a national myth of a generous, welcoming country, a land of new arrivals where everyone gets a fair go; a myth in which vanity fills the emptiness where the truth was forgotten.
‘..national myth of a generous, welcoming country..’ It’s on record Oz favoured europeans re-settling there after WW2.
The Lib’s have tapped past the thin veneer of ‘ a fair go’ into an Oz that most who live there discover very quickly. Wander out of the CBD’s into suburbia or better still rural Oz and it’s rather old fashioned shall we say.
Garrett should reform the Oils now he’s left parliament, their material has never been so relevant.
Brisbane often reminds me of Auckland in the 80s. Some of the places in rural Queensland are just scary. The xenophobia and bigotry has a more overwhelming presence than sulphur in Rotorua. Newman in Queensland and Abbott federally will take it back even further. If they get their way, it’ll become a land that WhaleSpew would be proud to call home.
Rural Oz is scary, probably Tassie being the least scary with alot of foodie/produce/artisan diversity and a massive social welfare dependancy relative to other states.
A good interview : Cunliffe indicates his broad policy directions.
He joined the Daily Blog Editors Selwyn Manning and Martyn Bradbury to discuss what challenges New Zealand faces and what bis solutions are to those challenges.
A pity that Cunliffe made a perceived big booboo at his first great opportunity to impress the public with ‘caucus’ vs ‘Corus’. A bit of lost ground to make up there with the ‘general’ voters. Our stupid media concentrates on such simple errors as their information highlight unfortunately. They do a great injustice to real democracy and politics. [Less than 200 people have viewed Cunliffe’s daily blog interview so far, while hundreds of thousands watched his booboo highlighted by our stupid Main Stream Media!]
CP @ 13.1.1 – you really, really identify that slip of the tongue as something that’ll stick with Cunliffe right through to the last of the leaders’ debates in 2014 ? Unlike the now cemented tangible sense amongst how many tens maybe hundreds of thousands that ShonKey Python is, well, shonky ?
You think that we’re going to see an opinion poll in the lead-up to the election in which the greatest number of respondents are moved to mention as the tipping point “caucus/chorus” in September 2013 ? Whatever the unfortunately turned out weirdo Potty Gower might choose to say ?
There was a well attended meeting; about the dangers of deep-water oil drilling, in Dunedin last night with Gareth Hughes as key speaker (plus a couple of Otago university lecturers with Green mayoral candidate; Aaron Hawkins, moderating). Simon Hartly; who wrote this acticle for today’s ODT business section, obviously didn’t attend:
“…John Warren, the senior business development manager of Halliburton, covering Australasia.”
“On the question of the Deepwater Horizon seabed blowout and subsequent rig fire in the Gulf of Mexico, which became the United States’ worst environmental disaster, Mr Warren said it was a combination of human and technological error.
There was now more technology, reliability and competence in the workforce. ”
But there isn’t any real incentive for a Deepwater Horizon-style exploratory-phase disaster in NZ to actually be avoided (beyond the loss of their ship), or cleaned-up by the company responsible if it does. There is presently $10 million maximum liability under NZ law, plus $30 million mandatory insurance for the oil drilling. Deepwater Horizon cleanup costs are US$40 billion so far.
That’s a 0.02 cent on the dollar cost; to cut their losses and pay the fine, rather than stay and try to clean-up the problem (if you consider that the insurance premiums will already have been paid).
the “human error” was corporate middle managers fucking around with shortcuts in order to make more money and keep to budgets they had promised the board of directors.
And lets add in the captured and under-resourced regulators in the USA, where they had one inspector for every 40-50 rigs, and anyways the regulators would often be out partying with oil company staff, accepting big gifts from the corporates, accepting favours in the forms of prostitutes etc.
when is parliament going to be available to us proles with only an uhf aerial.
at the moment it seems to be restricted to disc users and sky subscribers.
has parliament become pay per view too?
“Nick Smith should resign. He is not the Minister for Conservation; he is the minister for large-scale dams; he is the minister for water pollution; he’s the minister for wiping out New Zealand’s native fish. He has no right to occupy the Minister of Conservation portfolio.”
He is the Minister of tents, caravans, sheds and ‘lean-tos’ and Minister for Property Developers’,” says Sue Henry, Spokesperson for the Housing Lobby.
“He should resign forthwith from the Housing portfolio.”
“It is a disgrace when State Housing tenants are forced out of their homes and along with others referred to sub-standard caravan parks and temporary ‘doss houses’ by Housing New Zealand, when thousands of State houses sit empty, and some have done so for well over over one year.”
“Vulnerable driven to caravan parks” (TV3 News !9 September 2013)
“It’s misleading and deceptive for Nick Smith to promote affordable housing when he’s delivering unaffordable housing, where $700,000 houses are being sold off the plans (eg: Apirana Ave, Glen Innes).”
“This of course, is after the forced removal of State housing tenants and their affordable State houses, which have been, and are being trucked out of the area.”
“This is being replicated in other parts of New Zealand, against the wishes of both the tenants and their communities in which some lived for decades.”
“This situation is becoming critical, and is totally unacceptable.”
“A moratorium to cease forthwith State house removals must be implemented immediately. ”
Sue Henry
Spokesperson
Housing Lobby
_________________________________________________________________________
No one in their eighties or at any age should be expected to trot 50 metres to use a toilet several times a night. This would cause me sleep deprivation as I would be awake just after one trip in the freezing cold.
I knew that HNZ was not performing. I have underestimated how despicable the government are regarding housing. I’d like to see how long they would last in a caravan park.
In an interview on âSquawk Box,â the founder of hedge fund Duquesne Capital said that the Federal Reserveâs policy of quantitative easing was inflating stocks and other assets held by wealthy investors like himself. But the price of making the rich richer will be paid by future generations.
âThis is fantastic for every rich person,â he said Thursday, a day after the Fedâs stunning decision to delay tightening its monetary policy. âThis is the biggest redistribution of wealth from the middle class and the poor to the rich ever.â
âWho owns assetsâthe rich, the billionaires. You think Warren Buffett hates this stuff? You think I hate this stuff? I had a very good day yesterday.â
Druckenmiller, whose net worth is estimated at more than $2 billion, said that the implication of the Fedâs policy is that the rich will spend their wealth and create jobsâessentially betting on âtrickle-down economics.â
âI mean, maybe this trickle-down monetary policy that gives money to billionaires and hopefully we go spend it is going to work,â he said. âBut it hasnât worked for five years.â
The U$ Home of NeoLiberalism and the inspiration of our RWNJ politicians:
“These individuals represent a social type. The saying of Balzac, âBehind every great fortune there is a great crime,â was never truer than for the American ruling class. The list is full of people* who made their money not through any contribution to the productive process, but through various forms of financial swindling, speculation and the impoverishment of working people*
âAccumulation of wealth at one pole is at the same time accumulation of misery, agony of toil, slavery, ignorance, brutality, mental degradation, at the opposite pole,â wrote Marx. And so it is. The Census Bureau report, âIncome, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2012,â showed that the income of a typical household in the US has fallen to the lowest level since 1989, while poverty remains at the highest levels in decades.”
There will always be people who need help from the community. Those who are already filthy rich, and presently get the most help, should not be among them. The economic system that we live under should not contribute to this number, but people will always have accidents, get sick, or have physical deficiencies. I want a system that means these people don’t miss out. I don’t want SSlands’ system, where even a dry spot on footpaths is denied to the needy.
amirite
I like this bit.
“The king earns an annual salary of around 825,000 euros ($1.1 million), though maintaining the Royal House â castles, parades and all â costs the government more than 100 million euros annually. ”
And he should be looking for a smaller throne. The one he was on is wide enough for two.
Austerity and cuts are helping the Dutch Government to shrink the economy so it will fit into a mini-size oil tanker which the pollies will then sail away to spend in a more deserving country leaving the rest of the country to run a participation society, i.e. where they all do their own thing and don’t have to pay any taxes at all as they just look after themselves. I think this is the unspoken end of this utopian, retrograde stumble.
WTF!!! Tax payer money has been spent in the Supreme Court to obtain a declaration that resource management law, as currently worded, excludes climate change considerations.
Just one more law for a new government to change. In the meantime, mass opposition to standard extraction practices needs to grow to the level where mining executives are thought of as being lower than pedophiles, and too embarrassed to show their faces in public.
I’m bloody gobsmacked!!I!!
There’s a documentary on TV3 at the moment about NZ SIS agents’ life and work and how they see themselves in the global economy.
I never thought our security intelligence agencies would – indeed COULD be that open.
I think its called ‘Johny English Reborn’ – or something like that.
It shows how important and competent our intelligence services are in contributing to our safety, and the protection of us all as a sovereign nation.
I’m still coming to terms with how open and up front our intelligence services are as they strive to protect us as NewZill citizens. There’s even one or two Murray radicals in there showing us that we’ve nothing to fear if we have nothing to hide.
God …. it’s such a relief to know – given all this GCSB, TICS, TPPA and other crap that’s going on in the background.
My God – there really are Mightier men than Me! (Geeeez – and I mean I’m pretty butch to start with, but God – I never knew!)
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The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this yearâs Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran OâSullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm â a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon â note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinsonâs analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana â or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. Itâs a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealandâs highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes –Â Â Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – âIt is often said that behind every great man is a great womanâ. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their âLadies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxonâ. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Petersâ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes â If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshubâs closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
The Coalition Governmentâs plan to âget Auckland movingâ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities sheâs meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Governmentâs archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the Americaâs Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it wonât stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Memberâs Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labourâs change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand Firstâs State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared âco-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te PÄti MÄori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. âIâm calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to âtake back our countryâ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jonesâ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Governmentâs fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Governmentâs miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesnât act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. âIt was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. âThe Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend.  âThis travel will focus on a range of New Zealandâs traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,â Mr Peters says.  Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. âRoad safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. âOur relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliamentâs order paper. âThe Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,â Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams wonât be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. âThe coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. âDam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. âI have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. âThe Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023â24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the governmentâs finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Governmentâs Budget objectives. âThe coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says.                                        âThe Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says.  âThese changes are long overdue â the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealandâs growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Ministerâs Prizes for Space today. âNew Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealandâs concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. Â Â âThe Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Educationâs School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. âThere is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. âToday I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of Peopleâs Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. âThe use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,â Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. âWeâre sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealandâs ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. Â Â âI am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. âI have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commissionâs online consultation portal.â Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. âComprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. âI would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. âThis is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women donât ...
Good morning, itâs great to be here.  First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Governmentâs ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Governmentâs commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools MÄori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. âThe Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, Iâm proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of todayâs address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and Iâm sorry I canât be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the WhangÄrei site where the facility will be constructed. âNorthland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata MÄori 20 years ago, says MÄori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisationâs 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Analysis - Nicola Willis is holding firm on tax cuts despite the economic outlook being worse than forecast and critics urging her to wait, writes Peter Wilson for The Week In Politics. ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealandâs Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The countryâs largest trade union â The Public Service Association â says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership sheâs hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article â Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? â looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Booksâ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pickânâmix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If youâre at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, donât panic: The Spinoffâs got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but letâs be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time â but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who havenât accessed support to come forward and engage with the councilâs recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “Itâs official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “weâre in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliamentâs forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the âdisappearanceâ of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people âsequesteredâ in this weekâs raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Itâs Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether youâre a boomer, or an â80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fijiâs Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? â Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
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If my managers were any guide yesterday, today will be a public holiday for the top 10% if ETNZ win the America’s Cup.
Oh and now that the leadership debate has died down, is now the time to ask:
a) how it came to pass that a parliamentary caucus was so fundamentally out of sync with it’s membership and affiliated unions, and
b) how to prevent such a deep divide from re-occurring in the future?
I suspect that Cunliffe has put quite a bit of personal thought into these questions over the last 12 months đ
My take: a sense of elite entitlement and loss of accountability to ordinary members – indeed sometimes outright disdain of those members. quite similar to the Tory ‘born to rule’ conceit, in fact.
And now, after 30 years, we’re going to finish taking our party back this November, goddammit.
My take: a sense of elite entitlement and loss of accountability to ordinary members â indeed sometimes outright disdain of those members. quite similar to the Tory âborn to ruleâ conceit, in fact.
– We elect them when they do shit like this (both sides of the political spectrum) so why should they change?
– I mean Clark flagrantly breaking the law and dropping the cop in it and would anyone from Labour suggest she be gotten rid of? (at the time) and add any example you want of Key for the same thing
– We keep rewarding them so keep acting how they want to and so it goes…
Your use of Helen Clark as an example is petty and small minded. Key has fucked this country over to the tune of billions of dollars to his rich mates and eroded the civil rights of every NZer.
Bottom line is that MPs in each party need to be held more accountable to their membership. When is National going to do this?
+100 absolutely agree.
*Cough* Labour sold off billions of dollars of assets, many more then the present National govt. have
PR
When Prebble was Minister of State-Owned Enterprises in the 1980s, then yes; there was the sale of far too many assets. But I regard those dark Douglas days as being a perversion of Labour into an almost proto-ACT party, rather than the return to its socialist roots that I hope Cunliffe’s 6th Labour government will represent.
Nope sorry no matter the spin Douglas and Prebble were part of Labour which reinforces the point of ministers acting how they want with virtually nil ramifications
Which is a plight on all parties
Very few disagree with the fact that it was the First ACT Government.
PR
Douglas & Prebble were indeed members of the 4th Labour government. The leader of the soon to be 6th Labour-led government has stated that he refused in 1987 to be recruited by Treasury due to his opposition to their policies (in TDB interview last night). So the chances of his replicating their folly is hopefully minimal.
As for ramifications:
“Prebble retained his Auckland Central seat in the 1990 election, which Labour lost, arguably because of public dissatisfaction with the reforms. In the 1993 election, however, Prebble lost his seat to Sandra Lee-Vercoe, deputy leader of the left-wing Alliance. For the next three years, he worked as a consultant.”
Then in 1996 he became an MP for the ACT party started by his mate Douglas.
ref Auckland Central
1″the 1993 election, however, Prebble lost his seat to Sandra Lee-Vercoe, deputy leader of the left-wing Alliance.”
I hope Ardern has woken up to the fact that she reaps what she sows. What she has sown for the past five years has not flowered.
She needs to get stuck into Auckland Central, develops a functioning LEC, show respect to members and to voters and get elected in her own right.
” Douglas and Prebble were part of Labour”
yes well sleeper agents do tend to look like those they are hiding amongst
I remember back in the eighties when Lange won.We Labour party members were on a high,every thing and anything was possible, like the Kennedy years for the Americans.
Some months later i was at a meeting attended by Prebble,Caygill and De Cleene.The meeting was held at the local offices of various unions, and also the office of the local party.The meeting was a fiery one, with the local union orginisers and their sub branch members, along with the local Party members.The barny that ensued was about the direction that the government were taking us At the end of the meeting as the Parliamentarians were leaving were over heard to say Union officials, and they chuckled, as they went down the stairs..
It is without question that our elected, and more importantly, our list representatives, are out of touch with the every day rank and file and party members who vote for them, and the recent election has shone a glaring light on that.
Power to the Party members, and lets hope it continues.
In other words: a total absorption into the neocon mindset of the Beltway bubble (albeit a less harsh version of the Nat model) where members and affiliates cease to be of any importance. What’s the bet more than one ABCer reflected this week about… how much easier and better it would be if there were no members and affilliates in the Labour Party.
Well, they are expected to be “followers” who donate money, deliver flyers, and organise electorate events for the MPs.
I booked my tickets for Christchurch on the Airline that I as a taxpayer will continue to own.
Yes even when the writing was on the wall they still persisted in voting for the wrong person
That would have given us
Goff
Shearer
and then RobertsonFFS
Unbelievable And as for unity the biggest attack lines the right and msm has been the disunity in caucus as evidenced by the vote. Did they not see this coming ? are they so out of touch they actually thought Robertson a stood a chance ? Did they not see the media narratives around such a split vote that would eventuate?
Someone should tell them that the biggest enemy is actually the Tories not Cunliffe et el.
Winston Churchill said something along the lines of “the opposition isn’t the enemy, the ministers behind are”
I think thats true then and still is today (on both sides of the house)
The membership agreed with most of the caucus who voted for Robertson. Membership were not unanimously behind Cunliffe, by any means.
So I think the “disconnect” can be overstated.
And I also think that expecting different votes from different groups is reasonable.
So my conclusion is that Sanctuary is overstating the case when talking about a “deep divide”. But I note a couple of tories have been having fun stoking the debate, which is nice for them I guess.
item b is obvious. Build more democracy into the Party. Give the members more say on who represents them. Not sure why we would want the caucus should have a separate vote for leader they should get the same vote as any other member.
Also we need to get the party list process right. We have to decide if we should have open or closed list selection and ordering of the party list. I myself are leaning towards a fully open list where the public can have input into the list but would like to hear alternative views
The Greens do the list reasonably well
Delegates at election conference meet candidates and assess them
They report back to branches who put together list this is aggregated
And becomes the recommended list
This new list goes to wider membership who then can rank candidates in a stv type system
(with a couple of tweaks for gender and geographical balance)
Problems are that sitting MP ‘s have an advantage because of profile and name recognition
and better resourced candidates can visit branches to get there name out there more widely and enhance their profile. This has happened to great effect last time around with at least one of the candidates getting a much higher ranking then from the initial delegate list (members should have listened to the delegates đ
All in all it works quite well with a very strong competent united team. As can be witnessed by there strong performance in this last term.
Labour could learn from this
Fukushima just had a 5.8 quake. Swell.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhQhZyNKqhM
I expected to see just the link and not the whole media player thing.
If I mod wishes to delete, to avoid consternation, I wouldn’t be offended.
Updating Jetpack has this habit of enabling that feature.
It should clean out shortly when I get around to looking at it.
CV who is this shima guy that you are cussing?
lolzzz
drawing a line in the kif..
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-michael/if-you-still-think-pot-sh_b_3907678.html
(excerpt..)
â..If You Still Think Pot Should Be Illegal â You Are an A**hole..â (ed:..or as we would say:..a***holeâŚeh..?..)
â..there are a slew of bellowing ignorant statements that you make when you support cannabis prohibition:
That you donât care about injustice;
That you mindlessly repeat propaganda so easily debunked –
– it belies the shallowness of either your intelligence â or your integrity;
That you are so averse to admitting that you were wrong about something –
(regardless of how bigoted â short-sighted â and stupid it makes you look)
– you donât even care what your stubbornness is saying about you.
For one â if you think cannabis should remain a Schedule I drug â one for which there is no accepted medical use â
– then you are scientifically illiterate. .â
(cont..)
(mm-kay..?..)
phillip ure..
Really Claire? Just because Pinokeyo says it doesn’t make it true, and I really don’t need you to report his spin on his failures.
A key figure? The country that hasn’t joined the Eurozone and is in holding a referendum on membership? If he was talking the Merkel or Hollande he would have a point.
Last year Nact was calling the EU a basketcase and blaming this non-key trading partner problems for our continuing economic hole.
How about holding him up to his spin instead of hanging on to it? John Hartevelt did a better job of it.
An economy can be powerful and a basketcase at the same time. Those two terms don’t contradict each other.I would argue both the EU and US fit this category.
The article you link to doesn’t blame the non-key trading partner for our economic hole it blames the weakening US and EU economies for the strength of our dollar. That seems reasonable to me – also at the time of that article (October last year) Europe was a basketcase and it still is.
Finally, while the UK may not be as key as Germany it would still be considered a key member by most given the size of its economy – it is the second largest economy (if going by GDP).
Entropy. After three decades of cheap high density fuel flooding the western economies is it any wonder that society, economy, culture is in such chaos. Rebuilding requires that the right wing state gets off the backs of normal people who want to express and live their lives.
“An economy can be powerful and a basketcase at the same time”
Nah, a basketcase is a basketcase. It can be influential, but not powerful because other players can dismantle it if they choose to do so. E.g. the Greek economy is influential in EU economic decsion-making and a basketcase. It would take real spin to turn that situation into stating the Greek economy is powerful.
Key and English spent quite a lot of time blaming the New Zealand poor performing economy and trade deficits on conditions in Europe while ignoring the booming economies of our nearest trading partners Australia and China. Not much was asked about why the NZ economy didn’t get a boost from Aust and China but was impacted by Europe.
“Europe was a basketcase and it still is”
The periphery is in trouble. Core Europe is doing ok – the bit I live in is doing better than NZ in many ways.
And the UK has not the 2nd biggest economy, by GDP, in Europe since 2008 – austerity for the masses will do that to an economy – and any soft power the UK had was diminished by refusing to join the Euro and it’s referendum decision. It’s not committed and that seriously affects it’s power in the union.
The Court of Appeal chose yesterday to uphold last year’s decision by the Employment Court that employers paying the minimum wage had to pay their KiwiSaver contributions on top. This would give some minimum-wage workers an extra $540 a year.
Key was invited by Conservative Party leader and British counterpart David Cameron to a gathering of most of his MPs in Chipping Norton, a couple of hours northwest of London.
Key gave a speech to the MPs and strategists and joined in a “deeply political conversation” with high-ranking Cabinet ministers including Chancellor George Osborne and Home Secretary Theresa May.
Key also chatted with the controversial Australian political strategist Lynton Crosby, who advises Cameron.
OMG Key spoke to people!!!!!
Unlikely according to Tracey’s account.
Yes most interesting Tracey.Just what are they up too/
In fact its a bit scary ,120 Tory MP’s Crosby Textor smells a bit strong . In wonder if they are planning the next NZ election and how the UK Right would be able to help the NZ
Lets not forget that we were never told who payed for the ” Cossack adverts back in the 1970’s
Labour people need to keep a watchful eye on this . There was a good reason why they held this meeting with closed doors.
Fuck. Do you think maybe they were strategising about how to an election? That is concerning.
Trying to watch the Live coverage of the yachting, but no, all I get is about 2 seconds and the stream just freezes. Every other site I use streams perfectly. So I figure TVNZ must have been sitting with fingers crossed that they didn’t get more then 20 people at once wanting to watch. This must be what happens when the govt strips all the cash out of the company, and they have to do it on the cheap\free!
They used to host some of the content (ad’s) out of Oz and nearly crashed the stn X cable when the ch ch earthquake had their site taking alot of hits….perhaps they still do and the site’s pulling content from outside NZ thus the performance.
It’s not so much the cash David, it’s the competance and general savvy and will to do things properly but when 7 Sharp and Best Bits is your idea of quality is it any surprise.
I watched TVNZ ‘live’ without interruption but ran Herald blog at the same time .. TVNZ ‘live’ was 12 minutes behind the Herald blog. I checked time time the blog gave Peter Lester’s comment “like being at the dentist” against when it was webcast == 12 minutes !! no idea how or why .. maybe commercials ?? “Live” ? Yeah, nah.
LPRENT .. when I try to edit, takes me through to TS homepage in a box ?? very weird .. checked and it did same thing again ?? thx
yeah STD home page appearing as a window inside the edit dialogue box
The one I can’t stream from is TV3. It has to be the AD Blocker, but I can usually find the feed elsewhere, unless it’s Gower making shit up then I don’t bother with it.
pr, of note was he was meeting british mps and yet an australian political strategist was there and who he chose to speak with.
Extreme Oil and Coal.
Reading all the available resources it is not hard to come to the conclusion that the age of fossil fuel use is coming to an end.
Even here in New Zealand we can see this. Solid Energy is bankrupt, Denniston coal is also bust and can only go ahead with skewed legalisms that prevent climate change being taken into account. And large wind farms that could let us finally close down coal fired Huntly Power Station are prevented from starting through through lack of the barest legislation costing the taxpayer nothing. Meanwhile tens of $millions of tax payer subsidies are being shoveled into encouraging risky extreme deep water oil exploration, as conventional supplies run out.
It all signals one thing, the age of oil and coal is over. And if we keep desperately subsidising these failing technologies our civilisation will be over too.
Nothing is surer.
We need leaders of vision to prevent this catastrophe. (or at the very least soften the crash)
Oil will still be a dominant and widely available fuel for another 10-20 years; coal for another 50 years after that.
NZ has enough coal for at least 1200 years. Open cast is the way to go, and put the land back nice afterwards. The Coromandels and the Shotover river were extensively mined and are top tourist attractions now.
And then there’s fracking, which in NZ should allow us to put off nuclear power for many years until it is safe enough. The rest of the world can do with a lot of fracking too!
Those who don’t like fracking can stop opposing new hydro dams, especially on the West Coast.
Whatever happened to that wind farm that a councillor voted to allow on her farm at Waiuku, right where the noise would keep Waiuku awake?
In spite of the ranting by right wing weirdo’s about wanting Abbott as NZ’s PM its it’s taken all of five minutes in office for him to show his true colours:
http://au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/latest/18999353/pm-seeks-legal-advice-on-act-marriage-equality-bill/
You ain’t seen nothing yet, he’s dissolved the Climate change body also and is warming up into his role as a fundamentalist christian mysoginist homophobic with anger issues…..politics suits him well.
Next – Abbott channels Mbeki.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/climate-sceptics-like-aids-deniers-scientist-nilay-shah-says/story-fnb64oi6-1226721777519#
Barrister Julian Burnside writes about Australia’s refugee policy.
So here we are: Australia in 2013. We have forgotten our origins and our good fortune, we are blind to our own selfishness. In place of memory we cling to a national myth of a generous, welcoming country, a land of new arrivals where everyone gets a fair go; a myth in which vanity fills the emptiness where the truth was forgotten.
http://theconversation.com/julian-burnside-alienation-to-alien-nation-18290
‘..national myth of a generous, welcoming country..’ It’s on record Oz favoured europeans re-settling there after WW2.
The Lib’s have tapped past the thin veneer of ‘ a fair go’ into an Oz that most who live there discover very quickly. Wander out of the CBD’s into suburbia or better still rural Oz and it’s rather old fashioned shall we say.
Garrett should reform the Oils now he’s left parliament, their material has never been so relevant.
Indeed, visiting Hay NSW last year was like stepping back into the seventies, late night Friday shopping and all.
Brisbane often reminds me of Auckland in the 80s. Some of the places in rural Queensland are just scary. The xenophobia and bigotry has a more overwhelming presence than sulphur in Rotorua. Newman in Queensland and Abbott federally will take it back even further. If they get their way, it’ll become a land that WhaleSpew would be proud to call home.
Rural Oz is scary, probably Tassie being the least scary with alot of foodie/produce/artisan diversity and a massive social welfare dependancy relative to other states.
Also most Taswegians don’t consider themselves Australians after having been shat on for many many decades by the Mainlanders
Scary, Cunnamulla is a real place.
http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/review/film/s242728.htm
A good interview : Cunliffe indicates his broad policy directions.
He joined the Daily Blog Editors Selwyn Manning and Martyn Bradbury to discuss what challenges New Zealand faces and what bis solutions are to those challenges.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SHeFijl3js&feature=player_embedded
A good interview, but marred by technical difficulties. Hopefully they work the bugs out before next time. Definitely worth the effort though.
A pity that Cunliffe made a perceived big booboo at his first great opportunity to impress the public with ‘caucus’ vs ‘Corus’. A bit of lost ground to make up there with the ‘general’ voters. Our stupid media concentrates on such simple errors as their information highlight unfortunately. They do a great injustice to real democracy and politics. [Less than 200 people have viewed Cunliffe’s daily blog interview so far, while hundreds of thousands watched his booboo highlighted by our stupid Main Stream Media!]
CP @ 13.1.1 – you really, really identify that slip of the tongue as something that’ll stick with Cunliffe right through to the last of the leaders’ debates in 2014 ? Unlike the now cemented tangible sense amongst how many tens maybe hundreds of thousands that ShonKey Python is, well, shonky ?
You think that we’re going to see an opinion poll in the lead-up to the election in which the greatest number of respondents are moved to mention as the tipping point “caucus/chorus” in September 2013 ? Whatever the unfortunately turned out weirdo Potty Gower might choose to say ?
No, I don’t.
And also, I didn’t realise I said all that in my post.
No, you’re right, you didn’t say all that CP. Sorry about that. Me being too rhetorical I guess.
No worries, North. All good.
There was a well attended meeting; about the dangers of deep-water oil drilling, in Dunedin last night with Gareth Hughes as key speaker (plus a couple of Otago university lecturers with Green mayoral candidate; Aaron Hawkins, moderating). Simon Hartly; who wrote this acticle for today’s ODT business section, obviously didn’t attend:
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/business/273950/deepwater-drilling-likely-grow
“…John Warren, the senior business development manager of Halliburton, covering Australasia.”
“On the question of the Deepwater Horizon seabed blowout and subsequent rig fire in the Gulf of Mexico, which became the United States’ worst environmental disaster, Mr Warren said it was a combination of human and technological error.
There was now more technology, reliability and competence in the workforce. ”
But there isn’t any real incentive for a Deepwater Horizon-style exploratory-phase disaster in NZ to actually be avoided (beyond the loss of their ship), or cleaned-up by the company responsible if it does. There is presently $10 million maximum liability under NZ law, plus $30 million mandatory insurance for the oil drilling. Deepwater Horizon cleanup costs are US$40 billion so far.
That’s a 0.02 cent on the dollar cost; to cut their losses and pay the fine, rather than stay and try to clean-up the problem (if you consider that the insurance premiums will already have been paid).
the “human error” was corporate middle managers fucking around with shortcuts in order to make more money and keep to budgets they had promised the board of directors.
And lets add in the captured and under-resourced regulators in the USA, where they had one inspector for every 40-50 rigs, and anyways the regulators would often be out partying with oil company staff, accepting big gifts from the corporates, accepting favours in the forms of prostitutes etc.
Was this also “human error”?
NZ could put rostered inspectors on every rig permanently as a condition of a drilling / extraction permit. All paid for by the company.
when is parliament going to be available to us proles with only an uhf aerial.
at the moment it seems to be restricted to disc users and sky subscribers.
has parliament become pay per view too?
I get Parliament TV with a UHF aerial. Channel 22.
You can also watch it online live – never tried so don’t know what the quality is like but the option is there.
Used to watch it on Parliament TV live on computer. Only small image though:
http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/about-parliament/see-hear/ptv/
Now watch on channel 22 Freeview.
The quality is good chris, but it has varied in the past.
Btw, you can enlarge the picture to full size ianmac.
Anyone with a UHF aerial plus a freeview box or TV with inbuilt freeview should be able to et Parliament.
Come December when Analog switches off, that’s what will be needed to get any free-to-air TV.
What’s a disc user? I don’t think I’m one of those, and neither do I subscribe to Sky.
I have a UHF aerial plus Freeview set top box for one old analog TV, & a myfreeview recorder for the small high def LCD TV.
FYI
__________________________________________________________________________
“RE: Greens call for Smith’s sacking
“Nick Smith should resign. He is not the Minister for Conservation; he is the minister for large-scale dams; he is the minister for water pollution; he’s the minister for wiping out New Zealand’s native fish. He has no right to occupy the Minister of Conservation portfolio.”
(Russel Norman, 19 September 2013).
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/222179/doc-defends-minister-over-dam-answers
___________________________________________________________________________
“Nick Smith is NOT the Minister of Housing.
He is the Minister of tents, caravans, sheds and ‘lean-tos’ and Minister for Property Developers’,” says Sue Henry, Spokesperson for the Housing Lobby.
“He should resign forthwith from the Housing portfolio.”
“It is a disgrace when State Housing tenants are forced out of their homes and along with others referred to sub-standard caravan parks and temporary ‘doss houses’ by Housing New Zealand, when thousands of State houses sit empty, and some have done so for well over over one year.”
“Vulnerable driven to caravan parks” (TV3 News !9 September 2013)
http://www.3news.co.nz/Vulnerable-driven-to-caravan-parks/tabid/423/articleID/313937/Default.aspx
“It’s misleading and deceptive for Nick Smith to promote affordable housing when he’s delivering unaffordable housing, where $700,000 houses are being sold off the plans (eg: Apirana Ave, Glen Innes).”
“This of course, is after the forced removal of State housing tenants and their affordable State houses, which have been, and are being trucked out of the area.”
“This is being replicated in other parts of New Zealand, against the wishes of both the tenants and their communities in which some lived for decades.”
“This situation is becoming critical, and is totally unacceptable.”
“A moratorium to cease forthwith State house removals must be implemented immediately. ”
Sue Henry
Spokesperson
Housing Lobby
_________________________________________________________________________
No one in their eighties or at any age should be expected to trot 50 metres to use a toilet several times a night. This would cause me sleep deprivation as I would be awake just after one trip in the freezing cold.
I knew that HNZ was not performing. I have underestimated how despicable the government are regarding housing. I’d like to see how long they would last in a caravan park.
Iâm feeling so much better now.
/
In an interview on âSquawk Box,â the founder of hedge fund Duquesne Capital said that the Federal Reserveâs policy of quantitative easing was inflating stocks and other assets held by wealthy investors like himself. But the price of making the rich richer will be paid by future generations.
âThis is fantastic for every rich person,â he said Thursday, a day after the Fedâs stunning decision to delay tightening its monetary policy. âThis is the biggest redistribution of wealth from the middle class and the poor to the rich ever.â
âWho owns assetsâthe rich, the billionaires. You think Warren Buffett hates this stuff? You think I hate this stuff? I had a very good day yesterday.â
Druckenmiller, whose net worth is estimated at more than $2 billion, said that the implication of the Fedâs policy is that the rich will spend their wealth and create jobsâessentially betting on âtrickle-down economics.â
âI mean, maybe this trickle-down monetary policy that gives money to billionaires and hopefully we go spend it is going to work,â he said. âBut it hasnât worked for five years.â
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/hedge-fund-billionaire-feds-move-fantastic-rich-4B11199524
The U$ Home of NeoLiberalism and the inspiration of our RWNJ politicians:
“These individuals represent a social type. The saying of Balzac, âBehind every great fortune there is a great crime,â was never truer than for the American ruling class. The list is full of people* who made their money not through any contribution to the productive process, but through various forms of financial swindling, speculation and the impoverishment of working people*
âAccumulation of wealth at one pole is at the same time accumulation of misery, agony of toil, slavery, ignorance, brutality, mental degradation, at the opposite pole,â wrote Marx. And so it is. The Census Bureau report, âIncome, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2012,â showed that the income of a typical household in the US has fallen to the lowest level since 1989, while poverty remains at the highest levels in decades.”
* John Key?
“The Looting of America”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article36285.htm
The NL ideology has destroyed working and social America
In this country, if you’re rich you can get away with anything and you can keep on living the high life:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/crime/news/article.cfm?c_id=30&objectid=11126767
And this is where the neoliberal societies are heading to:
Dutch King Willem-Alexander declares the end of the welfare state
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/dutch-king-willemalexander-declares-the-end-of-the-welfare-state-8822421.html
Oh, the irony! The greatest bludger in Holland doesn’t mind other people’s taxes going for his upkeep.
Off with his head!
I would hope that we all want an end to welfare.
Yes, you would. Because you have the moral compass of Emperor Palpatine.
i have got news for you SSLands, think brand spanking new fridges and washing machines courtesy of your mate Paula,
And guess what, your paying for em…
There will always be people who need help from the community. Those who are already filthy rich, and presently get the most help, should not be among them. The economic system that we live under should not contribute to this number, but people will always have accidents, get sick, or have physical deficiencies. I want a system that means these people don’t miss out. I don’t want SSlands’ system, where even a dry spot on footpaths is denied to the needy.
I want an end to “welfare” and a return to “social security” for all.
amirite
I like this bit.
“The king earns an annual salary of around 825,000 euros ($1.1 million), though maintaining the Royal House â castles, parades and all â costs the government more than 100 million euros annually. ”
And he should be looking for a smaller throne. The one he was on is wide enough for two.
Austerity and cuts are helping the Dutch Government to shrink the economy so it will fit into a mini-size oil tanker which the pollies will then sail away to spend in a more deserving country leaving the rest of the country to run a participation society, i.e. where they all do their own thing and don’t have to pay any taxes at all as they just look after themselves. I think this is the unspoken end of this utopian, retrograde stumble.
Hi amirite
100% right! đ This Dutch parasite lives in an alternative reality.
So is T. Mallard coming back to NZ any time soon or is he a wee bit scared? Though I’d say its worth the money to keep him away from NZ đ
Whatever the “Silent T”(revor) does will probably cue if you have to put up with caucus acting like dorks.
‘
WTF!!! Tax payer money has been spent in the Supreme Court to obtain a declaration that resource management law, as currently worded, excludes climate change considerations.
Just one more law for a new government to change. In the meantime, mass opposition to standard extraction practices needs to grow to the level where mining executives are thought of as being lower than pedophiles, and too embarrassed to show their faces in public.
I’m bloody gobsmacked!!I!!
There’s a documentary on TV3 at the moment about NZ SIS agents’ life and work and how they see themselves in the global economy.
I never thought our security intelligence agencies would – indeed COULD be that open.
I think its called ‘Johny English Reborn’ – or something like that.
It shows how important and competent our intelligence services are in contributing to our safety, and the protection of us all as a sovereign nation.
I’m still coming to terms with how open and up front our intelligence services are as they strive to protect us as NewZill citizens. There’s even one or two Murray radicals in there showing us that we’ve nothing to fear if we have nothing to hide.
God …. it’s such a relief to know – given all this GCSB, TICS, TPPA and other crap that’s going on in the background.
My God – there really are Mightier men than Me! (Geeeez – and I mean I’m pretty butch to start with, but God – I never knew!)