Open mike 20/10/2015

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, October 20th, 2015 - 113 comments
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openmikeOpen mike is your post.

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113 comments on “Open mike 20/10/2015 ”

  1. Paul 1

    31 + 12 + 9 = lots of spin from Mr Hooton.

    • Matthew Hooton 1.1

      You are right, and there should be more attention to this.

      • tc 1.1.1

        Thanks for admitting it Matty, the spin that is.

          • Tracey 1.1.1.1.1

            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

            • One Anonymous Bloke 1.1.1.1.1.1

              Follow the money.

              The Council gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the following companies and organisations :

              Air New Zealand

              Beef + Lamb New Zealand

              Business NZ

              Fonterra Cooperative Group

              Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade

              NZ International Business Forum

              Saatchi & Saatchi

              Tourism New Zealand

              University of Canterbury

              Westpac Institutional Bank

            • weka 1.1.1.1.1.2

              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 😉

              • tracey

                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

          • Chooky 1.1.1.1.2

            thanks for the link Paul…interesting….Hooton is a master spinner

      • Tracey 1.1.2

        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?

        • Matthew Hooton 1.1.2.1

          Add prison sentences for officials (and ministers) who don’t comply with the law.

          • Tracey 1.1.2.1.1

            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?

          • Grindlebottom 1.1.2.1.2

            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.

            • tracey 1.1.2.1.2.1

              Oh no, Hooton will release a press release lobbying for it,

            • Matthew Hooton 1.1.2.1.2.2

              True. Maybe exclude ministers? So officials will stand up to ministers when asked to do illegal things?

              • Tracey

                why didnt you resist?

                • Grant

                  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.

              • Grindlebottom

                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.

  2. Paul 2

    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

    • Paul 2.1

      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

      • savenz 2.1.1

        +1

      • Chooky 2.1.2

        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)

        • Chooky 2.1.2.1

          add to this …teaching kids how to make salads and fruit/vege smoothies with yoghurt

          • AmaKiwi 2.1.2.1.1

            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.”

    • Draco T Bastard 2.2

      No wonder Key says we don’t get sued by big business.
      His government bows down to them.

      That’s always been true of National. They’re the party of the rich, for the rich at everyone else’s expense.

  3. Paul 3

    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

    • vto 3.1

      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

      • vto 3.1.1

        Because make no mistake – it is government policies that have caused this.

        Government policies of the last 30 years.

        • Paul 3.1.1.1

          Totally agree vto.
          The biggest lie.
          Trickle down economics.

          • tc 3.1.1.1.1

            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.

            • Paul 3.1.1.1.1.1

              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?

              • vto

                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.

                • Paul

                  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.

                • Rosie

                  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

            • Draco T Bastard 3.1.1.1.1.2

              Centuries of evidence actually. That’s why I’m truly amazed that the economists still push the same failed hypothesis.

  4. Morrissey 4

    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.

    • Paul 4.1

      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.

      • Morrissey 4.1.1

        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

    • Paul 4.2

      Jane Kelsey should be leader of the opposition.
      Just imagine if any member of the Labour Party challenged the TPPA in similar fashion.

      • savenz 4.2.1

        +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.

      • Tracey 4.2.2

        She does what she does very well. Let’s leave her there.

  5. Rosemary McDonald 5

    “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

    • One Anonymous Bloke 5.1

      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.

      • Rosemary McDonald 5.1.1

        “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…

        • One Anonymous Bloke 5.1.1.1

          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.

      • Tracey 5.1.2

        “do I have a choice”? said Key. To be honest John? That was the telling bit for me.

        • One Anonymous Bloke 5.1.2.1

          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.

          • tracey 5.1.2.1.1

            agreed.

            my point of course is that he considers that being honest is dependent on whether he feels he has a “choice”

            • One Anonymous Bloke 5.1.2.1.1.1

              My point is that it was a scripted (or at the very least anticipated) line, not an off-the-cuff remark.

      • mac1 5.1.3

        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’.

  6. Penny Bright 6

    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

  7. Penny Bright 7

    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

  8. Tracey 8

    I hear the Canadians are going of Harper… Just NZ that still finds right-wing BS 50% appealing…

  9. Penny Bright 9

    ‘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

    • savenz 9.1

      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!

      • savenz 9.1.1

        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.

      • Hami Shearlie 9.1.2

        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?

        • greywarshark 9.1.2.1

          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.

  10. savenz 11

    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:

  11. Kiwiri 12

    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

  12. Chris 13

    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?

  13. 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…

  14. Draco T Bastard 15

    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.

  15. Tracey 16

    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.

  16. Northsider 17

    “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

  17. Draco T Bastard 18

    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:

    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.

    • Draco T Bastard 18.1

      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.

  18. Morrissey 19

    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

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