There are always clues in people’s behaviour. One a blog like this it is always interesting to see what questions people answer and which they never come back to.
He has been quite particular since it was signed on what he is emphasising, over and over again (with minor refinements). he has focused very early on on the 2005 withdrawal clause (no bad jokes please) and is very sure it remains in the agreement ten years later. And he can’t see why anyone would worry about the investor relations clauses which are of course the very clauses the opponents are MOST worried about.
It is all designed to back Labour into a corner and to paint the deal as the best thing we could ever have hoped for.
This can help (but doesn’t completely resolve) the kinds of issues Trotter raises.
“Because if, just for the sake of argument, I belonged to the New Zealand United States Council, a body committed to “fostering and developing a strong and mutually beneficial relationship between New Zealand and the United States.” And if, as an American member of the Council, I was a strong “advocate for the expansion of trade and economic links between the two countries including a comprehensive free trade agreement achieved either bilaterally or in the context of an expanded Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.” Well, you know, I would feel like Exeltium, and Hooton, were really giving me great value for my money.
Not that I have any way of knowing who – if anyone – has contracted Hooton to sell the TPP to an apprehensive New Zealand electorate. But, if I were the editor of a major New Zealand newspaper, then I’m pretty damned sure I’d be asking one of my best reporters to find out.
– See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/10/20/spinning-spinning-spinning-are-matthew-hootons-tpp-musings-personal-or-professional/#sthash.FRdDjrq7.dpuf
Hooton reckons Labour are on an ’emotional journey’ because the TPP is really not that bad and certainly not the black hole of despair we all thought it was 😉
Given your outrage and the abuse of the OIA system Matthew, are you going to actively lobby for a law change? And given, you know what motivates people to abuse the law, how do you suggest we deal with it?
are you going to actively lobby for a law change? Or at east issue a Press Release calling for Ministers and officials to face imprisonment. Hell ask for it to be retrospective, and name Groser as your first target?
You misunderstand Tracy. Hooton was a proud pioneer in the techniques of flouting the spirit and intent of the OIA, whilst eventually complying with the letter of the law after leading the ombudsman a merry dance. He now expects us to accept that he is a man of principle, as he acts outraged by the behaviour of those who widened the trail he helped to blaze.
Hooton: Maybe exclude ministers? So officials will stand up to ministers when asked to do illegal things?
Nope. Still wouldn’t happen. Ministers rely on officials to assist them to avoid releasing uncomfortable or damaging info. This government is never going to legislate to make that a serious problem for their officials.
No tax on sugar.
The cheerleaders for the food industry are delighted.
Profits for big sugar beat our kids’ health.
No wonder Key says we don’t get sued by big business.
His government bows down to them.
yes interesting doctors are saying that a referral for obesity is not going to do anything
imo for what it is worth
….all kids should be taught vege gardening and how to make easy cheap vegetarian meals using lentils , rice, potatoes, vege soups, pasta, eggs, porridge
…and meat dishes using cheap cuts of meat( eg slow cooking stewing steak, liver, kidneys…)…curries and spices for taste
…gluten free flour, olive oil and butter for cooking….and water/ milk/tea/coffee for drinking
…with the emphasis that home cooking is best
taxes and red warning stickers should be put on products…soft drinks and anything supposedly healthy bought with excessive amounts of sugar eg. milo , baked beans,
…exercising /walking for an hour a day is also good…especially when so much time is spent on computers
I have no complaint with your suggestions but the “obesity problem” is NOT with the consumers.
The multi-national criminals peddle poisons in the guise of the “free market.”
I see no difference between tobacco and alcohol profiteers and fast food, sugar, and fizzy drink peddlers of death.
They KNOW what they sell KILLS.
They bribe the media and government to block any restrictions on their “right” to kill. They are the food version of the American gun lobby. “Poison foods don’t kill, only eating them does.”
I blame everyone who has voted for the election winners every three years, for voting in the governments that have implemented the policies to cause this….
Supply side, voodoo economics whatever term you use it’s been proven to be an abject failure with decades of evidence to debunk this trickle down meme.
And the ‘comfortable’ middle class count their profits from real estate and still believe the neo-liberal lie about there being no such thing as society.
Sadly, it appears the zeitgeist will only change once catastrophic climate change or a serious economic collapse slaps them in the face.
Until then, selfish New Zealanders will care more about celebrities, reality TV and sport than the needs of their fellow humans and the planet they live on.
What happened to that kind place that NZ used to be?
Those are easy lines to throw out there, but I am coming around to agree…
… have had cause, in our community of late, to wonder about its base standards and drivers. There have been two events, one around children’s sports, the other about neighbour issues, which have led to this. Both events had factors intertwined with how they were dealt with which were very much from the me-me-me, self-interest driver programme. The end results were disappointing and reflective of today’s society’s drivers.
The policies of the last 30 years have embedded themselves in the base structures of our society now and I know we are worse off because of it.
A starting point to understand how our culture has been turned from empathy and altruism to the naked individualism of today is the documentary ‘The Century of Self’ by Adam Curtis.
This is a hugely interesting social change to observe vto. I would love to discuss at length but have to dash out the door. I see it all around too and have experienced several neighbourhood incidents to highlight this slide from collective care to self promoting concerns, among individuals and within communities.
Ugly and sad stuff. It alienates, isolates and breaks down life affirming bonds. I find it absolutely depressing.
Key calls Kelvin Davis’ mission a “publicity stunt”, and so do his media parrots;
And Andrew Little lets Nadine Chalmers Ross get away with it unscathed.
Tuesday 20 October 2015
For some weeks now, Labour M.P. Kelvin Davis has been on the notorious Christmas Island detention centre, trying hard to speak up for the inmates there. The government of course has been utterly disparaging of his efforts, dismissing them as a “publicity stunt”. The government’s media parrots have also assiduously worked at undermining Davis. An example of this occurred just before the seven o’clock news this morning on One’s pisspoor Breakfast program…..
NADINE CHALMERS-ROSS: Doesn’t Kelvin Davis swooping in like a super-hero not end up looking like a bit of a publicity stunt?
In response to that nasty little provocation, Labour “leader” Andrew Little said something unmemorable.
Meanwhile, one of the detainees at the Christmas Island detention centre did something that Little seems frightened of doing: he spoke plainly and honestly in response to Key’s call for the detainees to come straight “home”, and bypass Christmas Island. Key of course is parroting the Australian government’s line that “home” for these people is New Zealand rather than Australia, which is their real home.
John Key, the detainee said, is “full of rubbish.”
Maybe the Labour front bench should be replaced with a line-up of these detainees. They couldn’t do a worse job.
I’ve been composing a little piece about this on and off over the last thirty-six hours. I’ll put it up soon.
The most interesting part about this is the way people have expressed sympathy for poor little Scotland, compared to the lack of sympathy for big bad France four years ago after a far, far worse display from Joubert.
Of course, I and millions of disgusted rugby fans (most of them French, naturally) have been on Joubert’s case for the last four years. My most recent comment was earlier this month….
+1 – they can do the 2nd best thing and actually meet and (listen) to what she has to say. Likewise other high profile capable people like Nicky Hager, who have knowledge on the subject.
I mean what do Labour have to lose? And a lot more to gain to appear to be ‘fair and reasonable’ at actually educating themselves about issues and since Kelsey have won in court they could get a few ideas.
Apparently the notion that a comedian’s idea of “greatest” might not exactly be a compliment hasn’t occurred to them, and of course they missed the part where he described the Prime Minister as a dick.
John Oliver’s contribution to New Zealand current affairs reporting far outweighs Fairfax’s feeble dreck.
In the article to which OAB refers, it reads-“Key said he was unprepared for the types of questions he was asked, and did not listen to Hauraki so had no idea what to expect.
He said he answered the questions because ‘what else do you do’. ”
What else does a Prime Minister do? He gets information from his aides as to what kind of show, what kinds of questioning and discusses the format and scope of the show.
A Prime Minister then makes it clear that he is not some sort of instant celebrity but the most senior elected politician in New Zealand, the latest holder in a post that demands gravitas and dignity.
The Prime Minister then refuses on grounds of dignity, respect and mana to answer such questions.
That’s what he does.
Oh yes, he then gives his event organiser one hell of a shellacking for putting him in there.
But our Prime Minister is different. He knew what kind of questioning he would get. He likes risk and instant response situations. He has shown he does not care for dignity or appropriate behaviour.
Did you Matthew, or the PR company for which you work – Exceltium – ever lobby against New Zealand legislating for more controls on lobbyists, such as a Register of Lobbyists, or a ‘Code of Conduct’ for Lobbyists?
Thousands of homes across Auckland have been stripped of heritage protection, according to new maps presented to councillors at a confidential briefing on Friday.
Entire suburbs, including Mission Bay, Kohimarama, St Heliers, Takapuna, Milford and Belmont, have virtually no heritage protection, leaving them open for demolition.
Other suburbs, notably Grey Lynn, have had their historic character areas increased. Parts of Westmere have been recognised for their collective value of bungalows.
The maps also highlight anomalies. Several streets of villas in Mt Eden and Balmoral – Grange and Fairview Rds and Marsden Ave – are only partially protected.
Several blocks of Art Deco apartments on Jervois Rd in Herne Bay have missed out on protection.
Councillors and Local Board chairs were given a copy of the maps on Friday and five days to provide feedback at a confidential session of the Unitary Plan committee on Wednesday. The maps will be finalised and approved at Wednesday’s meeting.
The elected representatives have been forbidden from sharing the information with Aucklanders, whose homes and neighbourhoods could be affected.
Once the committee has made changes behind closed doors, the maps will be forwarded to the independent hearings panel for the Unitary Plan and made public.
Only submitters to the pre-1944 heritage rules in the proposed plan are allowed to give feedback.
The city’s growth and housing shortage is putting pressure on the council to relax heritage and density controls in the Unitary Plan, with the independent hearings panel not convinced controls on pre-1944 houses were justified.
After applying a blanket demolition control across the city’s pre-1944 houses, teams of council staff and contractors have assessed every house covered by the rules in the proposed plan.
The council planners can’t wait to turn the suburbs into the wreck of 1990’s CBD for cash. In particular make the ability to create 3 story mansions, high rise apartments blocks, large, ugly and without any heritage merit as well as being unaffordable to most families, and have poor sun and outdoor living, houses built right up to the boundary with concrete walls. Welcome to Chatswood in the city. Thanks dumbo Auckland council, lobbyists and commissioners for making Auckland the worlds least liveable city under secrecy.
I guess the Governments actions on TPP endorse this sort of disgusting behaviour of secret deals.
Government and council planner policy, open the floodgates to immigration and foreign investment, get rid of planning regulations and bank the cheques for 5 years until the leaky lawsuits start coming in. Wow what a strategy!
Oh and no public transport either with all the new houses so Kiwis are forced further out have to leave home hours earlier, increase air pollution into our city and spend less time with their families. Good one! NOT.
The reason that immigrants want to live in Auckland may possibly be because it is the way it is right now with space around houses for outside activities, gardens, and for children to play etc -something many of them have never had. If all that is taken away with only terrace houses and apartments on offer why would people want to move to Auckland? It will then be just like every other large city in the world. Why do they want to move to Auckland in the first place? – we should find that out for starters. The other thing to consider is the residents of Auckland right now – they are the ones who have built the city, paid rates for decades and they like it the way it is. Why are their views not being considered? Why are they of less importance than some future immigrants? Why ruin our city to cater for some faceless foreigners a long way down the track and to line the pockets of some greedy developers? And as for the young people wanting a home, why can’t they do what young people did a few decades ago – move further out and create new areas like Conifer Grove etc. NZ has a lot of land, why would families want to be squashed up in apartments – Apartments are suitable for singles, couples and maybe some retirees and that is fine, but why allow suburban neighbourhoods to be destroyed – I would imagine most of these new apartments and terraces will be in places where sea-views are to be had, and I would also imagine that none of them will be in any way cheap or affordable for a young family. A while ago I heard on the radio that a study had been done on new entrants at school and it was found that children who lived in apartments had delayed physical skills and development compared to children who live in a house with land. Can’t give a link, just something I heard. Maybe someone else heard it and can provide a link?
Hosted by Fucked Up’s Damian Abraham, tune in to get your up to-the-minute election results, with special guests including Chris Hedges, Kardinal Offishall, and former Toronto city councillor Doug Ford.
All of Atlantic canada has gone to the Liberals so far, that is 30 of the 170 seats needed for a majority. This includes the canine states, New Foundland and Labrador 🙂 Could this be a landslide..
If Labour NZ did something as extensive as this they’d be onto a winner. (Would pay to make sure you could click straight back to where you were on the list from whatever policy you’ve clicked on to read in detail without having to start scrolling back down the whole list to find your place again.)
Thanks for that Ovid. I was feeling sorry for the one Green candidate who wasn’t showing up at all on either column. I hope she scrapes in but people may be determined to get rid of Harper this time that it’s all in for that cause. You would have thought that Canada would have a Green presence by now. I notice in the people’s declaration song against Harper that joe90 put up that environment was mentioned.
“Experience shows that many of the 608 arbitration awards that have become known, have overridden national law and hindered States in the sovereign determination of fiscal and budgetary policy, labour, health and environmental regulation, and have had adverse human rights impacts, also on third parties, including a “chilling effect” with regard to the exercise of democratic governance.”
Officially known as Investor State Dispute Settlement or ISDS, corporate courts bring us closer to a private international system of law which threatens the whole basis of human rights and democracy. De Zayas says:
Goldman Sachs not making enough in NZ so it is off to Oz
” Goldman Sachs is looking to shift its New Zealand-based securities business across the Tasman.
Goldman bosses Andrew Barclay and Simon Rothery informed staff this morning of a proposal to make changes to the firm’s securities trading, settlements and clearing functions in New Zealand.
“In early 2016 we are proposing to relocate our New Zealand-based market trading activities and implement an integrated coverage model from Sydney,” Barclay and Rothery said.
“From a psychological perspective, though, the people backing Trump are perfectly normal. Interviews with psychologists and other experts suggest one explanation for the candidate’s success — and for the collective failure to anticipate it: The political elite hasn’t confronted a few fundamental, universal and uncomfortable facts about the human mind.
We like people who talk big.
We like people who tell us that our problems are simple and easy to solve, even when they aren’t.
Basically, Sapolsky expected the troop to return to normal, with the remaining male baboons sliding into the roles of the alphas who had died.
But that didn’t happen.
Instead, the surviving male baboons were like…
Capitalism seems to be based upon myths perpetuated by the 1% in justification for them having more than anyone else.
The video on that page is a must watch as it shows the path that we as a society need to take to make life better for everyone. It includes getting rid of the hierarchy that is killing us.
Graham Adams writes about the $55m media fund — When Patrick Gower was asked by Mike Hosking last week what he would say to the many Newstalk ZB callers who allege the Labour government bribed media with $55 million of taxpayers’ money via the Public Interest Journalism Fund — and ...
Note: this blog post has been put together over the course of the week I followed the happenings at the conference virtually. Should recordings of the Great Debates and possibly Union Symposia mentioned below, be released sometime after the conference ends, I'll include links to the ones I participated in. ...
The following was my submission made on the “Fast Track Approvals Bill”. This potential law will give three Ministers unchecked powers, un-paralled since the days of Robert Muldoon’s “Think Big” projects.The submission is written a bit tongue-in-cheek. But it’s irreverent because the FTAB is in itself not worthy of respect. ...
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Buzz from the Beehive A few days ago, Point of Order suggested the media must be musing “on why Melissa is mute”. Our article reported that people working in the beleaguered media industry have cause to yearn for a minister as busy as Melissa Lee’s ministerial colleagues and we drew ...
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Jack Vowles writes – New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. ...
Chris Trotter writes – MELISSA LEE should be deprived of her ministerial warrant. Her handling – or non-handling – of the crisis engulfing the New Zealand news media has been woeful. The fate of New Zealand’s two linear television networks, a question which the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications ...
TL;DR: The podcast above features co-hosts and , along with regular guests Robert Patman on Gaza and AUKUS II, and on climate change.The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the ...
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I like to keep an eye on what’s happening in places like the UK, the US, and over the ditch with our good mates the Aussies. Let’s call them AUKUS, for want of a better collective term. More on that in a bit.It used to be, not long ago, that ...
TL;DR: The global economy will be one fifth smaller than it would have otherwise been in 2050 as a result of climate damage, according to a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and published in the journal Nature. (See more detail and analysis below, and ...
New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. The data is from February this ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is understood to be planning a major speech within the next fortnight to clear up the confusion over whether or not New Zealand might join the AUKUS submarine project. So far, there have been conflicting signals from the Government. RNZ reported the Prime Minister yesterday in ...
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Open access notables Glacial isostatic adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost, Creel et al., Nature Communications:Sea-level rise submerges terrestrial permafrost in the Arctic, turning it into subsea permafrost. Subsea permafrost underlies ~ 1.8 million km2 of Arctic continental shelf, with thicknesses in places exceeding 700 m. Sea-level variations over glacial-interglacial cycles control ...
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Experiencing a locked computer can be frustrating, especially when you need access to your files and applications urgently. The methods to unlock your computer will vary depending on the specific situation and the type of lock you encounter. This guide will explore various scenarios and provide step-by-step instructions on how ...
While the world has largely transitioned to digital communication, faxing still holds relevance in certain industries and situations. Fortunately, gone are the days of bulky fax machines and dedicated phone lines. Today, you can easily send and receive faxes directly from your computer, offering a convenient and efficient way to ...
In our increasingly digital world, home computers have become essential tools for work, communication, entertainment, and more. However, this increased reliance on technology also exposes us to various cyber threats. Understanding these threats and taking proactive steps to protect your home computer is crucial for safeguarding your personal information, finances, ...
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The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading → ...
Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
Chris Trotter writes – The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
Mariupol, on the Azov Sea coast, was one of the first cities to suffer almost complete destruction after the start of the Ukraine War started in late February 2022. We remember the scenes of absolute destruction of the houses and city structures. The deaths of innocent civilians – many of ...
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It’s a simple deal. We pay taxes in order to finance the social services we want and need. The carnage now occurring across the public sector though, is breaking that contract. Over 3,000 jobs have been lost so far. Many are in crucial areas like Education where the impact of ...
Hi,A friend had their 40th over the weekend and decided to theme it after Curb Your Enthusiasm fashion icon Susie Greene. Captured in my tiny kitchen before I left the house, I ending up evoking a mix of old lesbian and Hillary Clinton — both unintentional.Me vs Hillary ClintonIf you’re ...
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The schools are on holiday and the sun is shining in the seaside village and all day long I have been seeing bunches of bikes; Mums, Dads, teens and toddlers chattering, laughing, happy, having a bloody great time together. Cheers, AT, for the bits of lane you’ve added lately around the ...
Today in our National-led authoritarian nightmare: Shane Jones thinks Ministers should be above the law: New Zealand First MP Shane Jones is accusing the Waitangi Tribunal of over-stepping its mandate by subpoenaing a minister for its urgent hearing on the Oranga Tamariki claim. The tribunal is looking into the ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. ...
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Tonight’s six-stack includes: launching his substack with a bunch of his previous documentaries, including this 1992 interview with Dame Whina Cooper. and here crew give climate activists plenty to do, including this call to submit against the Fast Track Approvals bill. writes brilliantly here on his substack ...
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You're in the mall when you hear it: some kind of popping sound in the distance, kids with fireworks, maybe. But then a moment of eerie stillness is followed by more of the fireworks sound and there’s also screaming and shrieking and now here come people running for their lives.Does ...
Karl du Fresne writes – There’s a crisis in the news media and the media are blaming it on everyone except themselves. Culpability is being deflected elsewhere – mainly to the hapless Minister of Communications, Melissa Lee, and the big social media platforms that are accused of hoovering ...
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Buzz from the Beehive David Seymour and Winston Peters today signalled that at least two ministers of the Crown might be in Wellington today. Seymour (as Associate Minister of Education) announced the removal of more red tape, this time to make it easier for new early learning services to be ...
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You're a fraud, and you know itBut it's too good to throw it all awayAnyone would do the sameYou've got 'em goingAnd you're careful not to show itSometimes you even fool yourself a bitIt's like magicBut it's always been a smoke and mirrors gameAnyone would do the sameForty six billion ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The June general election in Mexico could mark a turning point in ensuring that the country’s climate policies better reflect the desire of its citizens to address the climate crisis, with both leading presidential candidates expressing support for renewable energy. Mexico is the ...
2024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?When I say 2024 I really mean the state of humanity in 2024.Saturday night, we watched Civil War because that is one terrifying cliff we've ...
Buzz from the Beehive A pet project and governmental tunnel vision jump out from the latest batch of ministerial announcements. The government is keen to assure us of its concern for the wellbeing of our pets. It will be introducing pet bonds in a change to the Residential Tenancies Act ...
A recent report generated from a Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) survey of 1,224 rangatahi Māori aged 11-12 found: Cultural connectedness was associated with fewer depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms and better quality of life. That sounds cut and dry. But further into the report the following appears: Cultural connectedness is ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: From the gory details of job-cuts news, you’d think the public service was being eviscerated. While the media’s view of the cuts is incomplete, it’s also true that departments have been leaking the particulars faster than a Wellington ...
Remember the good old days, back when New Zealand had a PM who could think and speak calmly and intelligently in whole sentences without blustering? Even while Iran’s drones and missiles were still being launched, Helen Clark was live on TVNZ expertly summing up the latest crisis in the Middle ...
Costello did not pass on analysis of the benefits of the smokefree reforms to Cabinet, emphasising instead the extra tax revenues of repealing them. Photo: Hagen Hopkins, Getty Images TL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me at 7:26 am today are:The Lead: Casey Costello never passed on ...
True loveYou're the one I'm dreaming ofYour heart fits me like a gloveAnd I'm gonna be true blueBaby, I love youI’ve written about the job cuts in our news media last week. The impact on individuals, and the loss to Aotearoa of voices covering our news from different angles.That by ...
While commentators, including former Prime Minister Helen Clark, are noting a subtle shift in New Zealand’s foreign policy, which now places more emphasis on the United States, many have missed a key element of the shift. What National said before the election is not what the government is doing now. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Changes to minimum wage and benefit indexation means many New Zealanders will get less this year, as the Government gives a big tax break to landlords instead. ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced further New Zealand cooperation with the United States in the Pacific Islands region through $16.4 million in funding for initiatives in digital connectivity and oceans and fisheries research. “New Zealand can achieve more in the Pacific if we work together more urgently and ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University Pexels/RDNE stock project You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. ...
A new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)Hot off the press, this debut ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
Chief executive Shaun Robinson said it has not had any government funding cut, but government-funded contracts have not kept pace with rising costs. ...
The Ministry of Health has delayed the release of its evidence brief on the safety, reversibility and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for puberty blockers. While we wait, Julia de Bres speaks to those with firsthand experience. Best practice gender-affirming healthcare is based on trans people’s self-determination and agency. The ...
Barcelona’s city streets have gone from traffic-clogged to pedestrian-friendly. How? Superblocks. Ellen Rykers explains. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week I read a great interview with renowned urbanist Janette Sadik-Khan by The Spinoff’s Wellington editor Joel MacManus: “You can reimagine streets, ...
Student groups ‘Climate Action VUW’, Schools Strike 4 Climate and VUWSA will be on the street in Wellington today, the last day for submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Bill, with a message that the fight against the Government’s ‘War on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sofia Ammassari, Research Fellow, Griffith University Since 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity has grown exponentially – and so has the formidable organisational machine of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These two factors will be key to delivering the BJP a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon Hyndman, Associate Professor of Education (Adjunct) & Senior Manager (BCE), Charles Sturt University During COVID almost all Australian students and their families experienced online learning. But while schools have long since gone back to in-person teaching, online learning has not gone ...
Yes, they’re better for the environment. No, that’s not a good enough reason for me to use them. Once every 26 days or so, my period arrives, and if struck by an act of God, I am caught red-crotched without products. How, after 17 years of this, do I still ...
“It will cause significant harm to our environment and communities. It is completely at odds with New Zealanders’ relationship with nature and our need for a low-carbon, sustainable economic future." ...
The Chair of the National Maori Authority, Matthew Tukaki, has warned a Parliamentary Select Committee that fast-tracking legislation is a perilous practice that undermines the core tenets of democracy, transparency, and accountability. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Tenbensel, Associate Professor, Health Policy, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images Since coming into power, the coalition government has adopted a simple but shrewd see-how-fast-we-can-move political strategy. However, in the health sector this need for speed entails ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Hronis, Clinical Psychologist, University of Technology Sydney Darya Sannikova/Pexels Whether you’re watching TV, attending a footy game, or eating a meal at your local pub, gambling is hard to escape. Although the rise of gambling is not unique to Australia, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Wong, Forrest Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia Have you ever wondered if there are more insects out at night than during the day? We set out to answer this question by combing through the scientific ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carol T Kulik, Research Professor, University of South Australia IR Stone/Shutterstock In Australia, it’s not the done thing to know – let alone ask – what our colleagues are paid. Yet, it’s easy to see how pay transparency can make pay ...
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is sounding a warning to migrants, that running foul of the law may see them leaving the country prematurely. ...
The government’s plan to get 50,000 people off jobseeker support by 2030 has had a rocky start, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Beneficiary numbers are up – and so are ...
Raglan Roast is a staple of Wellington coffee culture. But with five branches across the capital, which one is the best? I am a die-hard Raglan Roast fan. It’s consistently the most affordable cafe in Wellington, and one of the only places you can get a coffee after 3pm. So, ...
Residents of University of Auckland halls are being urged to withhold their accommodation fees from May 1, in a bid to force the university to take student concerns over rent hikes seriously.The University of Auckland is facing a strike from students over the cost of on-campus accommodation. The Students ...
Opinion: With maths understanding at 42 percent for Year 8 students, there’s no doubt something has to be done. But how? The post Financial literacy should be on all of us appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Hineaupounamu ‘Missy’ Nuku has been scaling mountains in Canada for her college basketball team, the Lakeland Rustlers. Alberta is currently home for the 20-year-old point guard, who is in her first year of a scholarship at Lakeland College, where she is studying for a business degree. She has certainly made ...
New Zealand and the Philippines have signed a new maritime security agreement and stated their concerns over activity in the South China Sea, as Chinese vessels continue to flout international law. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos committed to signing a Mutual Logistics Supporting Arrangement by ...
The thousands of government “back-office” job cuts are causing widespread pain in the capital city. In today’s episode of The Detail, we speak to three journalists and a think tank researcher, looking at the larger picture around the cuts and what effect it will have on Wellington, a city that’s ...
Opinion: The famed American architect and urban designer Daniel Burnham once said, “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood!” Burnham wouldn’t have been referring to the transport plans in Aotearoa New Zealand over the past five years; projects so big they hadn’t the credibility to ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra When ASIO boss Mike Burgess delivered his annual threat assessment earlier this year, he stressed the rising danger posed by espionage and foreign interference. “In 2024, threats to our way of life have surpassed ...
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31 + 12 + 9 = lots of spin from Mr Hooton.
You are right, and there should be more attention to this.
Thanks for admitting it Matty, the spin that is.
Chris Trotter’ view about Hooton.
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/10/20/spinning-spinning-spinning-are-matthew-hootons-tpp-musings-personal-or-professional/
Paul
There are always clues in people’s behaviour. One a blog like this it is always interesting to see what questions people answer and which they never come back to.
He has been quite particular since it was signed on what he is emphasising, over and over again (with minor refinements). he has focused very early on on the 2005 withdrawal clause (no bad jokes please) and is very sure it remains in the agreement ten years later. And he can’t see why anyone would worry about the investor relations clauses which are of course the very clauses the opponents are MOST worried about.
It is all designed to back Labour into a corner and to paint the deal as the best thing we could ever have hoped for.
This can help (but doesn’t completely resolve) the kinds of issues Trotter raises.
“Because if, just for the sake of argument, I belonged to the New Zealand United States Council, a body committed to “fostering and developing a strong and mutually beneficial relationship between New Zealand and the United States.” And if, as an American member of the Council, I was a strong “advocate for the expansion of trade and economic links between the two countries including a comprehensive free trade agreement achieved either bilaterally or in the context of an expanded Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.” Well, you know, I would feel like Exeltium, and Hooton, were really giving me great value for my money.
Not that I have any way of knowing who – if anyone – has contracted Hooton to sell the TPP to an apprehensive New Zealand electorate. But, if I were the editor of a major New Zealand newspaper, then I’m pretty damned sure I’d be asking one of my best reporters to find out.
– See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/10/20/spinning-spinning-spinning-are-matthew-hootons-tpp-musings-personal-or-professional/#sthash.FRdDjrq7.dpuf
Follow the money.
Chairman = Simon Power
Hooton reckons Labour are on an ’emotional journey’ because the TPP is really not that bad and certainly not the black hole of despair we all thought it was 😉
Hooton is working. He had his lines VERY clear and ready the moment TPP was signed.
His faux outrage at the OIA is the part where he produces credibility for the aforementioned sales pitch
thanks for the link Paul…interesting….Hooton is a master spinner
Campbell has his number too
http://gordoncampbell.scoop.co.nz/2015/10/16/gordon-campbell-on-labour-bashing-over-the-tpp-and-canada/
Given your outrage and the abuse of the OIA system Matthew, are you going to actively lobby for a law change? And given, you know what motivates people to abuse the law, how do you suggest we deal with it?
Add prison sentences for officials (and ministers) who don’t comply with the law.
are you going to actively lobby for a law change? Or at east issue a Press Release calling for Ministers and officials to face imprisonment. Hell ask for it to be retrospective, and name Groser as your first target?
Make it retrospective and name Hooton as the second target.
http://thestandard.org.nz/congratulations-jane-kelsey/#comment-1082926
It’s faux outrage to make himself seem like an impartial observer to give strength to his planned TPP lines.
The man couldn’t lie straight in bed.
Hooton: Add prison sentences for officials (and ministers) who don’t comply with the law.
About as likely to happen as John Key to vote Green.
Oh no, Hooton will release a press release lobbying for it,
True. Maybe exclude ministers? So officials will stand up to ministers when asked to do illegal things?
why didnt you resist?
You misunderstand Tracy. Hooton was a proud pioneer in the techniques of flouting the spirit and intent of the OIA, whilst eventually complying with the letter of the law after leading the ombudsman a merry dance. He now expects us to accept that he is a man of principle, as he acts outraged by the behaviour of those who widened the trail he helped to blaze.
Hooton: Maybe exclude ministers? So officials will stand up to ministers when asked to do illegal things?
Nope. Still wouldn’t happen. Ministers rely on officials to assist them to avoid releasing uncomfortable or damaging info. This government is never going to legislate to make that a serious problem for their officials.
he isnt serious. he is just pretending to have remorse so people will swallow his latest swill
He isn’t taken seriously, whether he is being serious or not
No tax on sugar.
The cheerleaders for the food industry are delighted.
Profits for big sugar beat our kids’ health.
No wonder Key says we don’t get sued by big business.
His government bows down to them.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1510/S00611/nz-fgc-taxpayers-union-cheer-obesity-package.htm
Radio New Zealand gets heading wrong.
Writes ‘Government tackles childhood obesity.’
Should have written ‘Government fails to tackle childhood obesity.’
Or maybe the French tackled Julian Savea.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/287423/government-tackles-childhood-obesity
+1
yes interesting doctors are saying that a referral for obesity is not going to do anything
imo for what it is worth
….all kids should be taught vege gardening and how to make easy cheap vegetarian meals using lentils , rice, potatoes, vege soups, pasta, eggs, porridge
…and meat dishes using cheap cuts of meat( eg slow cooking stewing steak, liver, kidneys…)…curries and spices for taste
…gluten free flour, olive oil and butter for cooking….and water/ milk/tea/coffee for drinking
…with the emphasis that home cooking is best
taxes and red warning stickers should be put on products…soft drinks and anything supposedly healthy bought with excessive amounts of sugar eg. milo , baked beans,
…exercising /walking for an hour a day is also good…especially when so much time is spent on computers
(btw… i don’t follow my own advice)
add to this …teaching kids how to make salads and fruit/vege smoothies with yoghurt
Chooky,
I have no complaint with your suggestions but the “obesity problem” is NOT with the consumers.
The multi-national criminals peddle poisons in the guise of the “free market.”
I see no difference between tobacco and alcohol profiteers and fast food, sugar, and fizzy drink peddlers of death.
They KNOW what they sell KILLS.
They bribe the media and government to block any restrictions on their “right” to kill. They are the food version of the American gun lobby. “Poison foods don’t kill, only eating them does.”
That’s always been true of National. They’re the party of the rich, for the rich at everyone else’s expense.
The rise of begging in New Zealand.
What happened to that lovely place that used to be NZ?
It nows appears such a heartless place.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/nights/audio/201774947/the-rise-of-begging-in-new-zealand
I blame everyone who has voted for the election winners every three years, for voting in the governments that have implemented the policies to cause this….
vote them out
Because make no mistake – it is government policies that have caused this.
Government policies of the last 30 years.
Totally agree vto.
The biggest lie.
Trickle down economics.
Supply side, voodoo economics whatever term you use it’s been proven to be an abject failure with decades of evidence to debunk this trickle down meme.
And the ‘comfortable’ middle class count their profits from real estate and still believe the neo-liberal lie about there being no such thing as society.
Sadly, it appears the zeitgeist will only change once catastrophic climate change or a serious economic collapse slaps them in the face.
Until then, selfish New Zealanders will care more about celebrities, reality TV and sport than the needs of their fellow humans and the planet they live on.
What happened to that kind place that NZ used to be?
Those are easy lines to throw out there, but I am coming around to agree…
… have had cause, in our community of late, to wonder about its base standards and drivers. There have been two events, one around children’s sports, the other about neighbour issues, which have led to this. Both events had factors intertwined with how they were dealt with which were very much from the me-me-me, self-interest driver programme. The end results were disappointing and reflective of today’s society’s drivers.
The policies of the last 30 years have embedded themselves in the base structures of our society now and I know we are worse off because of it.
A starting point to understand how our culture has been turned from empathy and altruism to the naked individualism of today is the documentary ‘The Century of Self’ by Adam Curtis.
Will look into the doco Paul. Thanks for the tip.
This is a hugely interesting social change to observe vto. I would love to discuss at length but have to dash out the door. I see it all around too and have experienced several neighbourhood incidents to highlight this slide from collective care to self promoting concerns, among individuals and within communities.
Ugly and sad stuff. It alienates, isolates and breaks down life affirming bonds. I find it absolutely depressing.
Gotta go, but would like to return to this
Centuries of evidence actually. That’s why I’m truly amazed that the economists still push the same failed hypothesis.
Key calls Kelvin Davis’ mission a “publicity stunt”, and so do his media parrots;
And Andrew Little lets Nadine Chalmers Ross get away with it unscathed.
Tuesday 20 October 2015
For some weeks now, Labour M.P. Kelvin Davis has been on the notorious Christmas Island detention centre, trying hard to speak up for the inmates there. The government of course has been utterly disparaging of his efforts, dismissing them as a “publicity stunt”. The government’s media parrots have also assiduously worked at undermining Davis. An example of this occurred just before the seven o’clock news this morning on One’s pisspoor Breakfast program…..
NADINE CHALMERS-ROSS: Doesn’t Kelvin Davis swooping in like a super-hero not end up looking like a bit of a publicity stunt?
In response to that nasty little provocation, Labour “leader” Andrew Little said something unmemorable.
Meanwhile, one of the detainees at the Christmas Island detention centre did something that Little seems frightened of doing: he spoke plainly and honestly in response to Key’s call for the detainees to come straight “home”, and bypass Christmas Island. Key of course is parroting the Australian government’s line that “home” for these people is New Zealand rather than Australia, which is their real home.
John Key, the detainee said, is “full of rubbish.”
Maybe the Labour front bench should be replaced with a line-up of these detainees. They couldn’t do a worse job.
On a side issue. Morrissey, I’m surprised I haven’t seen you comment yet on Mr Joubert’s refereeing of the Scotland vs Australia match.
I’ve been composing a little piece about this on and off over the last thirty-six hours. I’ll put it up soon.
The most interesting part about this is the way people have expressed sympathy for poor little Scotland, compared to the lack of sympathy for big bad France four years ago after a far, far worse display from Joubert.
Of course, I and millions of disgusted rugby fans (most of them French, naturally) have been on Joubert’s case for the last four years. My most recent comment was earlier this month….
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-13102015/#comment-1081758
Jane Kelsey should be leader of the opposition.
Just imagine if any member of the Labour Party challenged the TPPA in similar fashion.
+1 – they can do the 2nd best thing and actually meet and (listen) to what she has to say. Likewise other high profile capable people like Nicky Hager, who have knowledge on the subject.
I mean what do Labour have to lose? And a lot more to gain to appear to be ‘fair and reasonable’ at actually educating themselves about issues and since Kelsey have won in court they could get a few ideas.
She does what she does very well. Let’s leave her there.
“Every pic is a dick pic.”
John Oliver on Our Leader’s finest media moment.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11531913
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LT2k4uR4ho&feature=player_embedded
The single greatest political interview of all time, simpers Fairfax.
Apparently the notion that a comedian’s idea of “greatest” might not exactly be a compliment hasn’t occurred to them, and of course they missed the part where he described the Prime Minister as a dick.
John Oliver’s contribution to New Zealand current affairs reporting far outweighs Fairfax’s feeble dreck.
“The American late-night talk show enjoys mocking New Zealand”
He enjoys mocking Our Leader…and why not? When the raw material is readily available, he’d be a fool not to exploit it.
However, “…mocking New Zealand” might also be on the mark… His star seems to rise and rise…
A greyed out caption to the photo at the very bottom of the story is not balance.
Most people won’t read further than the headline, of those that do, two-thirds won’t read beyond the first paragraph.
“do I have a choice”? said Key. To be honest John? That was the telling bit for me.
Yeah nah. There’s no way Key would front up without an agreed format: I expect his office sought and received an assurance to that effect.
agreed.
my point of course is that he considers that being honest is dependent on whether he feels he has a “choice”
My point is that it was a scripted (or at the very least anticipated) line, not an off-the-cuff remark.
yup, got that. Thought you had mistaken my point
No, I think your point is a massive stretch.
“Key said he was unprepared for the types of questions he was asked” – so he was (typically) lying then.
Either that or his office forgot to tell him, or they told him and he forgot.
Yeah nah, he’s lying.
that he picks and chooses when he lies? Is a stretch? Okay
A more likely interpretation of his remark is that he was answering Wells’ invitation to play the “game”, that’s all.
A highly scripted “laissez faire” act, not easy, and I have to admit he (usually) pulls it off
In the article to which OAB refers, it reads-“Key said he was unprepared for the types of questions he was asked, and did not listen to Hauraki so had no idea what to expect.
He said he answered the questions because ‘what else do you do’. ”
What else does a Prime Minister do? He gets information from his aides as to what kind of show, what kinds of questioning and discusses the format and scope of the show.
A Prime Minister then makes it clear that he is not some sort of instant celebrity but the most senior elected politician in New Zealand, the latest holder in a post that demands gravitas and dignity.
The Prime Minister then refuses on grounds of dignity, respect and mana to answer such questions.
That’s what he does.
Oh yes, he then gives his event organiser one hell of a shellacking for putting him in there.
But our Prime Minister is different. He knew what kind of questioning he would get. He likes risk and instant response situations. He has shown he does not care for dignity or appropriate behaviour.
He is a ‘starlatan’.
Any reason Matthew, why the PR company for which you work – Exceltium – is NOT a member of the Public Relations Institute of New Zealand (PRINZ)?
Kind regards
Penny Bright
Matthew is VERY busy today Penny
😉
Did you Matthew, or the PR company for which you work – Exceltium – ever lobby against New Zealand legislating for more controls on lobbyists, such as a Register of Lobbyists, or a ‘Code of Conduct’ for Lobbyists?
Just asking?
Nicely.
Kind regards
Penny Bright
I hear the Canadians are going of Harper… Just NZ that still finds right-wing BS 50% appealing…
36% of the electorate that still finds… fify
I was referring to Key’s popularity rating
Yeah imagine a country getting sick of someone after leading them for 10 years (or however long its been)
‘Democracy – for developers’ under the disastrous Auckland ‘Supercity’?
Seen THIS?
______________________________________________________
Heritage protection to be slashed
Monday, 19 October 2015
The New Zealand Herald
Thousands of homes across Auckland have been stripped of heritage protection, according to new maps presented to councillors at a confidential briefing on Friday.
Entire suburbs, including Mission Bay, Kohimarama, St Heliers, Takapuna, Milford and Belmont, have virtually no heritage protection, leaving them open for demolition.
Other suburbs, notably Grey Lynn, have had their historic character areas increased. Parts of Westmere have been recognised for their collective value of bungalows.
The maps also highlight anomalies. Several streets of villas in Mt Eden and Balmoral – Grange and Fairview Rds and Marsden Ave – are only partially protected.
Several blocks of Art Deco apartments on Jervois Rd in Herne Bay have missed out on protection.
Councillors and Local Board chairs were given a copy of the maps on Friday and five days to provide feedback at a confidential session of the Unitary Plan committee on Wednesday. The maps will be finalised and approved at Wednesday’s meeting.
The elected representatives have been forbidden from sharing the information with Aucklanders, whose homes and neighbourhoods could be affected.
Once the committee has made changes behind closed doors, the maps will be forwarded to the independent hearings panel for the Unitary Plan and made public.
Only submitters to the pre-1944 heritage rules in the proposed plan are allowed to give feedback.
The city’s growth and housing shortage is putting pressure on the council to relax heritage and density controls in the Unitary Plan, with the independent hearings panel not convinced controls on pre-1944 houses were justified.
After applying a blanket demolition control across the city’s pre-1944 houses, teams of council staff and contractors have assessed every house covered by the rules in the proposed plan.
….
______________________________________
Penny Bright
The council planners can’t wait to turn the suburbs into the wreck of 1990’s CBD for cash. In particular make the ability to create 3 story mansions, high rise apartments blocks, large, ugly and without any heritage merit as well as being unaffordable to most families, and have poor sun and outdoor living, houses built right up to the boundary with concrete walls. Welcome to Chatswood in the city. Thanks dumbo Auckland council, lobbyists and commissioners for making Auckland the worlds least liveable city under secrecy.
I guess the Governments actions on TPP endorse this sort of disgusting behaviour of secret deals.
Government and council planner policy, open the floodgates to immigration and foreign investment, get rid of planning regulations and bank the cheques for 5 years until the leaky lawsuits start coming in. Wow what a strategy!
Oh and no public transport either with all the new houses so Kiwis are forced further out have to leave home hours earlier, increase air pollution into our city and spend less time with their families. Good one! NOT.
The reason that immigrants want to live in Auckland may possibly be because it is the way it is right now with space around houses for outside activities, gardens, and for children to play etc -something many of them have never had. If all that is taken away with only terrace houses and apartments on offer why would people want to move to Auckland? It will then be just like every other large city in the world. Why do they want to move to Auckland in the first place? – we should find that out for starters. The other thing to consider is the residents of Auckland right now – they are the ones who have built the city, paid rates for decades and they like it the way it is. Why are their views not being considered? Why are they of less importance than some future immigrants? Why ruin our city to cater for some faceless foreigners a long way down the track and to line the pockets of some greedy developers? And as for the young people wanting a home, why can’t they do what young people did a few decades ago – move further out and create new areas like Conifer Grove etc. NZ has a lot of land, why would families want to be squashed up in apartments – Apartments are suitable for singles, couples and maybe some retirees and that is fine, but why allow suburban neighbourhoods to be destroyed – I would imagine most of these new apartments and terraces will be in places where sea-views are to be had, and I would also imagine that none of them will be in any way cheap or affordable for a young family. A while ago I heard on the radio that a study had been done on new entrants at school and it was found that children who lived in apartments had delayed physical skills and development compared to children who live in a house with land. Can’t give a link, just something I heard. Maybe someone else heard it and can provide a link?
I hope you proof read that Hami S before releasing it. If you did, how come you couldn’t split it up into say three paras.
Canadian eastern time is 17 hours behind us so election coverage should begin at noon our time.
Elections Canada- http://enr.elections.ca/National.aspx?lang=e
CBC- http://www.cbc.ca/includes/federalelection/dashboard/index.html
CBC radio- http://www.cbc.ca/programguide/daily/2015/10/19/cbc_radio_one/?t=1445207854358
CBC stream- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWFNl0K18A4 (9.30am our time)
https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadaPolitics/
Keeping an eye on the fix – #pollwatch
https://www.reddit.com/r/canada/comments/3pdudu/reports_coming_in_from_all_over_canada_premarked/
http://www.citynews.ca/2015/10/19/voting-issues-reported-at-gta-polling-stations/
https://twitter.com/geoffnoxon/status/656194235209674752
Talking heads stream.
http://www.cpac.ca/en/
btw, the CBC election stream has started
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWFNl0K18A4
Awesome, thanks for the links.
exciting stuff!
Vice stream.
Hosted by Fucked Up’s Damian Abraham, tune in to get your up to-the-minute election results, with special guests including Chris Hedges, Kardinal Offishall, and former Toronto city councillor Doug Ford.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWFNl0K18A4
All of Atlantic canada has gone to the Liberals so far, that is 30 of the 170 seats needed for a majority. This includes the canine states, New Foundland and Labrador 🙂 Could this be a landslide..
CBC calling it a Liberal win already and Trudeau as the new PM, meanwhile British Colombia is still voting..
A forecast based on the results so far has been announced:
The Liberal Party is expected to form a government and:
JUSTIN TRUDEAU WILL BE THE NEXT PM OF CANADA.
Three cheers for Trudeau!!!
Look at the scope and level of detail of the Canadian Liberal policy platform. Amazing.
https://www.liberal.ca/realchange/
Strewth! Now that’s a real vote for change.
If Labour NZ did something as extensive as this they’d be onto a winner. (Would pay to make sure you could click straight back to where you were on the list from whatever policy you’ve clicked on to read in detail without having to start scrolling back down the whole list to find your place again.)
The thing is that Labour DID release that much policy but they didn’t it present it nearly as well as that.
True, and that’s what I should’ve said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei50lM6ab1c
Lot of verve in that joe90. Jolly good.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation projects a Liberal government
Thanks for that Ovid. I was feeling sorry for the one Green candidate who wasn’t showing up at all on either column. I hope she scrapes in but people may be determined to get rid of Harper this time that it’s all in for that cause. You would have thought that Canada would have a Green presence by now. I notice in the people’s declaration song against Harper that joe90 put up that environment was mentioned.
TTIP is a ‘revolution against international law’, says UN Expert
http://www.globaljustice.org.uk/blog/2015/oct/16/ttip-‘revolution-against-international-law’-says-un-expert#.ViLlDdgCwJc.facebook
And there’s more.
“Experience shows that many of the 608 arbitration awards that have become known, have overridden national law and hindered States in the sovereign determination of fiscal and budgetary policy, labour, health and environmental regulation, and have had adverse human rights impacts, also on third parties, including a “chilling effect” with regard to the exercise of democratic governance.”
Officially known as Investor State Dispute Settlement or ISDS, corporate courts bring us closer to a private international system of law which threatens the whole basis of human rights and democracy. De Zayas says:
Definitely worth reading the full text.
very urged to put this up for no reason at all..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxsYrfKf_pc
At first I thought Hide had scored a film role.
But But BUT Matthew Hooton says it’s just fine
Haahhh ….. the country in which I had spent so much time and loved.
When is it a chip and not a chunk? Lol. Not talking about feesh and cheeps here.
DPMC staff behaving like pre-puberty kids being evasive:
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbotts-alcohol-preferences-remain-secret-as-penny-wong-lambasts-utopia-bureaucrats-20151019-gkd0pz.html
Thatcher talks about the problem and how her government is going to fix it, but how did things get so bad in the first place?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhEPyjolGQQ
I went on to watch the clip of Corbyn winding up the Tories, lol.
I apologise for the crassness of the title but there you have it. That is what the Prime Minister’s office has come too.
Open letter to National voters 2: On Shaving Pubic Hair, Pissing In The Shower, Feeding Chickens…
This week: Why Don’t Economists?… presented by Marie McCahery.
It’s about banking and how the private banks create money. People may want to get hold of the earlier episodes.
Goldman Sachs not making enough in NZ so it is off to Oz
” Goldman Sachs is looking to shift its New Zealand-based securities business across the Tasman.
Goldman bosses Andrew Barclay and Simon Rothery informed staff this morning of a proposal to make changes to the firm’s securities trading, settlements and clearing functions in New Zealand.
“In early 2016 we are proposing to relocate our New Zealand-based market trading activities and implement an integrated coverage model from Sydney,” Barclay and Rothery said.
“
“From a psychological perspective, though, the people backing Trump are perfectly normal. Interviews with psychologists and other experts suggest one explanation for the candidate’s success — and for the collective failure to anticipate it: The political elite hasn’t confronted a few fundamental, universal and uncomfortable facts about the human mind.
We like people who talk big.
We like people who tell us that our problems are simple and easy to solve, even when they aren’t.
And we don’t like people who don’t look like us.”
An interesting analysis of Trump’s success.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/10/15/i-asked-psychologists-to-analyze-trump-supporters-this-is-what-i-learned/?tid=hybrid_experimentrandom_2_na
Well, I suppose he’s lucky he’s a big talker as he appears to be a failure at business.
and Key
We hear a lot from the RWNJs that our nature is set and that we need to cater to it and thus we need capitalism. But, that’s probably not true:
Capitalism seems to be based upon myths perpetuated by the 1% in justification for them having more than anyone else.
The video on that page is a must watch as it shows the path that we as a society need to take to make life better for everyone. It includes getting rid of the hierarchy that is killing us.
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYG0ZuTv5rs
Liars of Our Time
No. 51: BINYAMIN NETANYAHU
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“Israel is a law-abiding state.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
—Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu
Al Jazeera news, 4p.m., Tuesday 20 October 2015
More liars HERE….
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-07062015/#comment-1026357
Awaiting your analysis of Joubert.
It will be interesting.