[Please note, we are trialling something new for Open Mike and Daily Review.
In order to keep OM and DR free for other conversations, all comments, link postings etc about the US election now need to go in the dedicated US election discussion here.
If you are unsure, post in that thread rather than here. It’s not possible for moderators to shift comments from OM to there, so any comments here may get deleted.
See that rowarth woman? No thanks, b waghorn, but the article you link to and the issue it covers is high up on my “to do” list. I’m putting it to my regional councillors at the next meeting – what is the council’s response to the Parliamentary Commisioner’s report on farming and climate change. You’ll have recoiled from the spin from Rolleston in the article, I’m guessing – he and rowath are tag-teaming it.
The junior doctors strike was the subject of two cracking interviews on NatRad this morning which go to show how “real” news need not be boring. And really, the junior doctors strike is a text book example of how the modern, trivia driven corporate media act as an anaesthesia on the general public. The tawdry NZ Herald has led with a Sydney murder suicide, the Trump-Clinton clown show and Julian Saveas recall for a rugby match. Oh and something called “sponsored content” (pay to publish) for a hair loss product for women.The state of our health system and civil society really does deserve better than the dross and dumbed down bullshit that our current commercial MSM serve up.
I think we should re-look at what Muttonbird said last night.
“Funny how whenever there’s ‘shock resignations’ of National government ministers it’s about rejuvenation and forward thinking, yet when Labour party press secretaries do the same there’s a poisonous culture in Andrew Little’s office.”
Great analysis by Muttonbird. I think our media has lost the plot, and nothing we can do will bring them to heel. For the next election, people have to be offered alternative views, as our media are getting worse. Dirty politics it seems, was just the tip of a very large iceberg.
Number. Number of resignations. Apparently there are a number of resignations expected from the National Government over the next few months. Quite a number. That’s the issue.
I agree, prune some of the deadwood from the benches, promote some newer faces and present a fresher (or as fresh as you can considering how long they’ve been in power) look for the up coming election
However that has nothing to do with the number of resignations in key back room positions for Andrew Little
I’m not calling her deadwood but Key (probably but not definitely) thinks of her that way and Key (probably) told her to go or be fired (again probably)
Key probably wants to present a fresh look to the voters and also wants to stop any controversies before they start up, although It’d be hard to find someone in the National the teachers don’t have a problem with
I personally wouldn’t have got rid of her but then I also haven’t won three general elections either
So why do you think the working life of a Little back room staffer is approximately a month?
Probably for valid reasons, probably. There’s no reason to think otherwise. No more at least, than to believe that Parata’s exit is oddly rapid and premature. !0 years in politics is a remarkably short time though. Do you know how long Bill English has been in politics (just for comparisons sake)? Parata’s departure seems unseemly somehow, don’t you think? Perhaps she’s offended at Key calling her “deadwood” (probably).
“Probably for valid reasons, probably. There’s no reason to think otherwise.”
You really believe that someone would take on a position like that for approximately a month and then go “oh well its not for me”, that someone would give up the chance of real power and you think theres a valid reason for the three/four people leaving, one maybe but 3/4 in quick succession?
I’ll bet if the same amount of people left John Keys office there’d be any number of people saying it must be a horrible place to work
“Parata’s departure seems unseemly somehow, don’t you think? Perhaps she’s offended at Key calling her “deadwood” (probably).”
Quite possibly, as I say I wouldn’t have got rid of her
Your view as to what the PM will have suggested is almost certainly completely wrong. In my view he would have preferred that Hekia should stay. She has got on top of the portfolio, and has made some real gains. She has become a solid performer within the Cabinet.
She also adds deep links into iwi leadership and relationships.
Ouch!
Wayne’s an insider who thinks you’re “almost certainly completely wrong”.
I suspect an insider from Andrew Little’s team would say the same thing.
“almost certainly completely wrong”
Ouch!
“Made some real gains”
– by which you presumably mean that she has pushed ahead on a few things of importance to National that are against best international practice in education, and continued to ignore the entire teaching profession telling her that she was entirely wrong. Not really ‘gains’ then…
Certainly with a crowning achievement like Novapay Hekia was a standout. The logical successor must be Sam Lotu Liga – bringing SERCO into everywhere the government doesn’t know wtf it is doing.
I guess only Hekia can give you (us) that answer Robert,
She has been an MP for about 10 years, high profile…maybe she was told her time was up? or maybe she wanted to spend more time with her family? or different job pathway? etc…
No proof in the piece, not one word of evidence to support a poisonous culture.
Who needs truth, when a snippy headline, a snide attack, and stacks of innuendo will do. All hidden under opinion.
That is the point Puckish, but I’m sure you get that, and would not want to try and misdirect a conversation…No wait you did in your response to Robert Guyton
Oh do pull the other one Puckish, your evidence an opinion piece for starters.
Parata was, and continues to be just one of a collection of bad and incompetent ministers this national government has produced. Jumped before she was pushed, now we getting a sick husband smoke screen. MMMM, somthing rotten in the national house.
“Oh do pull the other one Puckish, your evidence an opinion piece for starters.”
Are you saying they haven’t resigned?
“Parata was, and continues to be just one of a collection of bad and incompetent ministers this national government has produced. Jumped before she was pushed, now we getting a sick husband smoke screen. MMMM, somthing rotten in the national house.”
I personally don’t think so was a bad or incompetent education minister, can you name a National education minister that the teachers unions considered good, you’re always on a hiding to nothing.
You’re probably right when about the jumped before she was pushed, along with the soon to be announced cushy number for her
John Key isn’t known as the smiling assassin for nothing but, and its a pretty big but, its ministers in National getting the axe but its back room staff in Labour quitting
Where I work there has been a position that has had three changes in a little over a year (its currently vacant) and I think that’s a problem
You’ve got three/four resignations over a shorter time and the positions would indicate you get a lot of power once Labour wins power yet you don’t think that’s a problem?
The issue before you do you usual and try to take it side ways – is the representation by the press. No one know why they resigned, so I’m not going to speculate on peoples personal decisions, the speculation of which by the way, is quite vulgar.
So apart from your snide opinion piece, all I’m seeing is a boorish attempt at spin.
So if questions are it, then you think it is fine the press are not holding this appalling collection of ministers to account? Nick I can mess it up Smith, and Murray I gave away the farm McCully – just two examples.
You are the one sticking with your vulgar arguments and missing the point.
I’ve seen you post entertain links here so I guess I should not be surprised you would be into gutter politics, of the amoral speculative kind.
No personal grievances, no golden hand shakes, at least one person actually got a promotion, with the bonus of coming back home. So sorry Puckish you argument is vugar, boorish and childish.
Lets not forget its light weight, and a diversion. You were wrong about Hekia, and you are wrong about this.
If what they say is true then hopefully the protestors will get charged for damaging government property but if the judicial system has been taken over by dirty, stinking, pinko lefties then he’ll probably be let off with a warning
“Parata was, and continues to be just one of a collection of bad and incompetent ministers this national government has produced. Jumped before she was pushed, now we getting a sick husband smoke screen. MMMM, somthing rotten in the national house.”
adam I feel the need to point out your double standards here…
“Oh do pull the other one Puckish, your evidence an opinion piece for starters”
And what have you just written above adam? oh that’s right its your own opinion piece!!
Now there is nothing wrong with anyone having an opinion, but when you call up someone for having an opinion, then respond back with your own opinion…its hmm??
Adam – Puckish Rogue’s aim is to dishearten readers here who are supportive of the Left. His wide-eyed “questions” are his method for keeping us feeling insecure. He insists that his topic of the day is THE issue and tries always to drag discussion back to his choice of topic, which, curiously enough, always has Labour/Little/the Left cast in a negative light. He’s always done it and will continue to do it until the election. We’d be best to ignore completely, his “angles”. Sadly, I find quibbling with him fun but will try now to ignore his bait. Almost always, his topics of interest are lightweight and inconsequential. Oh, how I wish Pucky would introduce a topic that had some weight, some gravitas, some oomph!
“Funny how whenever there’s ‘shock resignations’ of National government ministers it’s about rejuvenation and forward thinking, yet when Labour party press secretaries do the same there’s a poisonous culture in Andrew Little’s office.”
I mean its not quite the same thing is it, comparing the resignations of ministers to press secretaries.
For starters Hekia has been in parliament for 10 years whereas the average Labour press secretary seems to be lasting around a month so we’re probably overdue for another resignation
However I am not, for one instance, laying the blame for this at Andrew Littles feet, just because its his office and they’re working under him is no reason to think hes a bad boss
“Funny how whenever there’s ‘shock resignations’ of National government ministers it’s about rejuvenation and forward thinking, yet when Labour party press secretaries do the same there’s a poisonous culture in Andrew Little’s office.”
“Great analysis by Muttonbird”
adam I think you need to understand the difference between a MP and a member of staff (in this case employed by Labour).
Interesting, seems they found it by accident a new method to convert carbon dioxide to ethanol. No all we need to know is can it be recreated in another lab.
10 billion tonnes (ie, between a quarter and a third of current annual emissions) of CO2 being captured in some nano-tech dependent ethanol process every year, year on year; decade after decade? Sure.
There is nothing in any industrial process we currently have that even comes close to kind of volume/scale.
As far as I can see, this idea is proposing a ‘get around’ on the fact we don’t have the geological capacity to store the required volumes of CO2 that we can’t yet capture by…incorporating it into batteries!!!!?
And it was an accident. Which means it has not be replicated yet. If you noticed a small little video connected with that – about the capture of CO2, and how it’s not working how they expected either.
No not a story of hope, more a glimpse at the desperation to get a good news story out there by the press.
Didn’t you read yesterdays Guardian CV? The world is saved!
“MIT nuclear fusion record marks latest step towards unlimited clean energy”
Now MIT scientists have increased the record plasma pressure to more than two atmospheres, a 16% increase on the previous record set in 2005, at a temperature of 35 million C and lasting for two seconds. The breakthrough …
Two seconds is quite a long time in the field of Nuclear Fusion. Even the Guardian’s clickbaity editors admit in the title that this is one of many steps needed to achieve a practical fusion generator (other than the sun of course). This is the bit that depressed me:
However, the world record was achieved on the last day of the MIT tokamak’s operation, because funding from the US Department of Energy has now ended. The US, along with the EU, China, India, South Korea, Russia and Japan, are now ploughing their fusion funding into a huge fusion reactor called ITER… should be completed in 15-20 years and aims to deliver 500MW of power, about the same as today’s large fission reactors. But the project has been hampered by delays.
chief executive of Tokamak Energy [a spin-off from the UK’s national fusion lab], said the important aspect of the MIT world record was that it showed extreme conditions can be created in small tokamaks: the volume of the MIT device is just one cubic metre. “The conventional view is that tokamaks have to be huge [like ITER] to be powerful,” he said. “The MIT people disagree with that view, as do we.” Kingham’s target is for his company’s compact reactors to produce their first electricity by 2025.
ITER seems like putting a lot of eggs into the one basket, especially if takes so much longer to build and prove. I’m not sure that having private companies piggy-backing on public research to patent Fusion Reactor tech is such a great idea either though.
Its a novel way to capture emissions from flue stacks.
Ultimately a win-win situation would be to use bio char for carbon sequestration. This would pull CO2 out of our atmosphere while also allowing our soils to replenish their carbon stocks, as its estimated the worlds cultivated soils have lost 50 – 70% of their original carbon stock.
Unfortunately, all the cunning plans seem to be coming from all those who want to keep going the same way. Facts don’t deter them from their greed which is destroying us.
Despite not being a Government or Ministry, given the Government’s past negative reaction to being criticized, the Salvation Army comments about immigrants and jobs is quite a brave thing to have done.
Heard on RNZ 6am and 7am news, but not on subsequent bulletins:
Two Pro-democracy members of the Hong Kong parliament were denied a scheduled meeting with NZ finance minister, and meetings with anyone in the NZ government.
Their explanation – the Chinese government has a long reach.
But, if true, since when has the Chinese government been determining who our elected representatives can meet?
“I heartily agree that Nigel Farage and Trump are grotesques. But the free-traders peddle their own untruths. They have insistedthat black is white, even as the voters beg to differ. In their seminar rooms, their TV studios and their Geneva offices, they have perpetrated the ideological sleight of hand that equates internationalism with free trade, and globalisation with untrammelled corporate power. The result has been misery for workers from Bolton to Baltimore to Bangladesh. But it has also left the six-figure technocrats who supervise our economic system pushing a zombie idea. Because that is what free trade has become: an idea leached of life and meaning but stumbling on for want of any replacement. We have a globalisation for bankers, but not for children fleeing the bombs of Syria. Security for investors but not for workers.
To see how debased the notion of free trade has become, look at the deal between Canada and the EU that is currently being voted through Europe’s parliaments. It’s called the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (Ceta), and the fact that you can see it at all is largely down to leaks of the documents, which forced the European commission to publish,. That is after the negotiations were conducted for five years in secret, with even the directives kept hidden from the hundreds of millions of citizens affected.
This is no minor technical work. Provided it is passed in time, Ceta will apply to Britain too – and parts of it will affect Britons’ lives even after we’ve “taken back control”. It has been billed as “a backdoor for TTIP”, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, which collapsed this summer amid public opposition both in Europe and the US. Like TTIP, Ceta includes the investor-state dispute settlement system – which hands big business the power to sue governments, including for profits they haven’t made yet. A US multinational with an office in Canada (nearly all of them) will be able to sue Britons for bringing in laws that lose them money. This was the mechanism tobacco giant Philip Morris used to sue Australia’s government for bringing in plain packaging. On that occasion, Big Tobacco was unsuccessful – but it took four years of expensive legal battle.”
Syria Solidarity: National day of action 29th October
Civilians in Aleppo and across Syria are being intensively bombed by Russia with bunker bombs, phosphorous bombs, napalm, thermobaric and cluster bombs; and by the Syrian regime with chlorine containing barrel bombs; targetting homes, schools, hospitals, rescue teams, and underground shelters .
Like many Syrian cities, Aleppo has been under a starvation siege. The regime and Russian have even bombed the city’s water supply.
Despite these atrocious crimes against humanity, Aleppo’s people show tremendous solidarity and caring for each other, as they work to find the wounded under the rubble, and rush them to undergound clinics for treatment. Hundreds of democratically run community councils have been formed across Syria in the liberated areas. They have produced a tremendous amount of art, literature, music, and electronic media documenting the revolution and counter revolution in Syria.
The “peace” talks have broken down. It is clear that Russia and the Assad regime are looking for a military solution to enable the genocidal Assad regime to continue in power.
Most of the fighters killing Syrian civilians are not Syrians. They include soliders from Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq, many of them conscripted or desperately poor with no other options for a living.
The Assad regime and Russia have killed half a million Syrian people. The genocide has to stop! The regime regularly uses rape and torture as weapons.
The war started because people across Syria went onto the streets to demand democracy, and instead were shot, rounded up, tortured, raped and killed. So the people took up arms to defend themselves. The Assad regime has vowed to continue to obliterate the population until it accepts his rule.
Both the United States and Russia have re-defined the people’s struggle for democracy as a “war on terror” and are both responsible for killing civilians.
Isis grew in Syria with the encouragement of the Assad regime. Assad deliberately released extremists from his jails, who went on to join Isis in Syria. The regime leaves Isis alone, and Isis is continually attacking the democratic opposition groups. The democratic opposition has been forced to fight on two fronts, against the attacks from the regime and from Isis. Despite the evils perpetrated by Isis, it has killed a fraction of the number of people, that the Assad regime has. The Assad regime with its Russian and Iranian allies are the greater evil.
Stop the bombing! Troops out!
No more genocide! Solidarity with the Syrian Revolution!
Victory for Syrian people now!
Utterly delusional bollocks there Ian. That’s the ‘bending over backwards to be nice’ take by the way. Because the only other take is that your post and those organising the protest are deliberately peddling simplistic and disgusting lies. The Boris Johnson’s of the world would, no doubt, approve of your stance.
Unfortunately many well meaning people who know no better may well pedal on down. 🙁
[In order to keep OM and DR free for other conversations, all comments, link postings etc about the US election now need to go in the dedicated US election discussion here.
If you are unsure, post in that thread rather than here. It’s not possible for moderators to shift comments from OM to there, so any comments here may get deleted – weka]
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Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Voice Memos is a convenient app on your iPhone that allows you to quickly record and store audio snippets. These recordings can be useful for a variety of purposes, such as taking notes, capturing ideas, or recording interviews. While you can listen to your voice memos on your iPhone, you ...
Laptop screens are essential for interacting with our devices and accessing information. However, when lines appear on the screen, it can be frustrating and disrupt productivity. Understanding the underlying causes of these lines is crucial for finding effective solutions. Types of Screen Lines Horizontal lines: Also known as scan ...
Right-clicking is a common and essential computer operation that allows users to access additional options and settings. While most desktop computers have dedicated right-click buttons on their mice, laptops often do not have these buttons due to space limitations. This article will provide a comprehensive guide on how to right-click ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
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. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
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. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
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. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
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 ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
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)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, 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 ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
What does a forever relationship look like when you don’t believe in marriage? And how do you celebrate it? This essay is part of our Sunday Essay series, made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.I’m going to do it, right now. I’m going to say ...
The Prime Minister has committed to resuming direct flights to Thailand. But it’s not a promise he will be able to deliver on anytime soon. The post Prime Minister jumps the gun in Thailand appeared first on Newsroom. ...
It’s not that long ago Eliza McCartney was seriously wondering if the Paris Olympics would be her pole vaulting swansong. After years of being hounded by injury after injury, the Rio Olympics bronze medallist was still confident she would compete at her second Olympics in Paris in July, unless something ...
FICTION 1 Take Two by Danielle Hawkins (Allen & Unwin, $36.99) There’s commercial fiction, like this book, and then there’s quality fiction, quality writers, quality literature; the forthcoming Auckland Writers Festival is full of quality, and ReadingRoom has two tickets to give away to the following events: Paul Lynch (Dublin ...
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You can’t have missed the Gallipoli story as the movies, documentaries, essays and books capture what it was like for New Zealand troops in their eight-month campaign on the Peninsula. But this Anzac Day the Auckland War Memorial Museum has published a book that sheds light on a little-known aspect of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to ...
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
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[Please note, we are trialling something new for Open Mike and Daily Review.
In order to keep OM and DR free for other conversations, all comments, link postings etc about the US election now need to go in the dedicated US election discussion here.
If you are unsure, post in that thread rather than here. It’s not possible for moderators to shift comments from OM to there, so any comments here may get deleted.
Have fun folks – weka]
If you want to see the rowarth woman earning here daily bread watch henry on delay in about 5o mins. The most stunning display of a set up interview i’ve seen , and that’s coming from someone who watch’s henry and thinks the ETS is a farce. I believe it was set up to counter this
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/85509709/warning-to-farmers-better-to-move-on-emissions-now-than-face-major-shock-later
See that rowarth woman? No thanks, b waghorn, but the article you link to and the issue it covers is high up on my “to do” list. I’m putting it to my regional councillors at the next meeting – what is the council’s response to the Parliamentary Commisioner’s report on farming and climate change. You’ll have recoiled from the spin from Rolleston in the article, I’m guessing – he and rowath are tag-teaming it.
The junior doctors strike was the subject of two cracking interviews on NatRad this morning which go to show how “real” news need not be boring. And really, the junior doctors strike is a text book example of how the modern, trivia driven corporate media act as an anaesthesia on the general public. The tawdry NZ Herald has led with a Sydney murder suicide, the Trump-Clinton clown show and Julian Saveas recall for a rugby match. Oh and something called “sponsored content” (pay to publish) for a hair loss product for women.The state of our health system and civil society really does deserve better than the dross and dumbed down bullshit that our current commercial MSM serve up.
Video interview with Asma Al-Assad
http://www.youtube.com/embed/ahMxGAPQHiQ
I think we should re-look at what Muttonbird said last night.
“Funny how whenever there’s ‘shock resignations’ of National government ministers it’s about rejuvenation and forward thinking, yet when Labour party press secretaries do the same there’s a poisonous culture in Andrew Little’s office.”
Great analysis by Muttonbird. I think our media has lost the plot, and nothing we can do will bring them to heel. For the next election, people have to be offered alternative views, as our media are getting worse. Dirty politics it seems, was just the tip of a very large iceberg.
The issue is the amount of resignations that’s happening, http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/83908414/Labour-leaders-staffing-exodus-continues-with-four-key-roles-now-vacant
that’s three key resignations that’s happened recently, four if you count McCarten and that seems to be quite a high turn over
Number. Number of resignations. Apparently there are a number of resignations expected from the National Government over the next few months. Quite a number. That’s the issue.
I agree, prune some of the deadwood from the benches, promote some newer faces and present a fresher (or as fresh as you can considering how long they’ve been in power) look for the up coming election
However that has nothing to do with the number of resignations in key back room positions for Andrew Little
Why are they resigning?
You are describing Hekia Parata as “deadwood”, Pucky.
Why do you characterize her that way?
Why, do you think, is she resigning?
I’m not calling her deadwood but Key (probably but not definitely) thinks of her that way and Key (probably) told her to go or be fired (again probably)
Key probably wants to present a fresh look to the voters and also wants to stop any controversies before they start up, although It’d be hard to find someone in the National the teachers don’t have a problem with
I personally wouldn’t have got rid of her but then I also haven’t won three general elections either
So why do you think the working life of a Little back room staffer is approximately a month?
Probably for valid reasons, probably. There’s no reason to think otherwise. No more at least, than to believe that Parata’s exit is oddly rapid and premature. !0 years in politics is a remarkably short time though. Do you know how long Bill English has been in politics (just for comparisons sake)? Parata’s departure seems unseemly somehow, don’t you think? Perhaps she’s offended at Key calling her “deadwood” (probably).
“Probably for valid reasons, probably. There’s no reason to think otherwise.”
You really believe that someone would take on a position like that for approximately a month and then go “oh well its not for me”, that someone would give up the chance of real power and you think theres a valid reason for the three/four people leaving, one maybe but 3/4 in quick succession?
I’ll bet if the same amount of people left John Keys office there’d be any number of people saying it must be a horrible place to work
“Parata’s departure seems unseemly somehow, don’t you think? Perhaps she’s offended at Key calling her “deadwood” (probably).”
Quite possibly, as I say I wouldn’t have got rid of her
Puckish Rogue,
Your view as to what the PM will have suggested is almost certainly completely wrong. In my view he would have preferred that Hekia should stay. She has got on top of the portfolio, and has made some real gains. She has become a solid performer within the Cabinet.
She also adds deep links into iwi leadership and relationships.
Ouch!
Wayne’s an insider who thinks you’re “almost certainly completely wrong”.
I suspect an insider from Andrew Little’s team would say the same thing.
“almost certainly completely wrong”
Ouch!
Aren’t you supposed to be grafting some trees?
Coffee time. Back to work again. It’s beautifully sunny in Southland.
Huh fancy that, its heavy drizzling in Burnham
just clearing up in dunedin 🙂
All good
“Made some real gains”
– by which you presumably mean that she has pushed ahead on a few things of importance to National that are against best international practice in education, and continued to ignore the entire teaching profession telling her that she was entirely wrong. Not really ‘gains’ then…
Certainly with a crowning achievement like Novapay Hekia was a standout. The logical successor must be Sam Lotu Liga – bringing SERCO into everywhere the government doesn’t know wtf it is doing.
“Why, do you think, is she resigning?”
I guess only Hekia can give you (us) that answer Robert,
She has been an MP for about 10 years, high profile…maybe she was told her time was up? or maybe she wanted to spend more time with her family? or different job pathway? etc…
Yeah, I’m with you, Chuck. It’s odd. Doesn’t add up.
10 years – isn’t that a pension threshold, or used to be?
Nice work if you can get it
yup.
Especially given the tolerance for abject incompetence
Right up there with paid trolling on left wing sites.
They’re all desperate to work for Wee Toddy Baccy.
heh
No proof in the piece, not one word of evidence to support a poisonous culture.
Who needs truth, when a snippy headline, a snide attack, and stacks of innuendo will do. All hidden under opinion.
That is the point Puckish, but I’m sure you get that, and would not want to try and misdirect a conversation…No wait you did in your response to Robert Guyton
I didn’t read what muttonbird said last night but three/four resignations in quick succession is a problem that needs resolving
It’s “a problem that needs resolving”, declares Puckish Rogue. Quick-smart people, look lively, pull ya socks up! Pucky’s declaring again!
If you have that many people leaving that quickly in any sort of industry then yes it is a problem
Is it that hard to admit that working with Andrew Little might be difficult?
Oh do pull the other one Puckish, your evidence an opinion piece for starters.
Parata was, and continues to be just one of a collection of bad and incompetent ministers this national government has produced. Jumped before she was pushed, now we getting a sick husband smoke screen. MMMM, somthing rotten in the national house.
“Oh do pull the other one Puckish, your evidence an opinion piece for starters.”
Are you saying they haven’t resigned?
“Parata was, and continues to be just one of a collection of bad and incompetent ministers this national government has produced. Jumped before she was pushed, now we getting a sick husband smoke screen. MMMM, somthing rotten in the national house.”
I personally don’t think so was a bad or incompetent education minister, can you name a National education minister that the teachers unions considered good, you’re always on a hiding to nothing.
You’re probably right when about the jumped before she was pushed, along with the soon to be announced cushy number for her
John Key isn’t known as the smiling assassin for nothing but, and its a pretty big but, its ministers in National getting the axe but its back room staff in Labour quitting
“Are you saying they haven’t resigned?”
No you are just buying into the beat up by the press, in effect proving my point.
Where I work there has been a position that has had three changes in a little over a year (its currently vacant) and I think that’s a problem
You’ve got three/four resignations over a shorter time and the positions would indicate you get a lot of power once Labour wins power yet you don’t think that’s a problem?
The issue before you do you usual and try to take it side ways – is the representation by the press. No one know why they resigned, so I’m not going to speculate on peoples personal decisions, the speculation of which by the way, is quite vulgar.
So apart from your snide opinion piece, all I’m seeing is a boorish attempt at spin.
So if questions are it, then you think it is fine the press are not holding this appalling collection of ministers to account? Nick I can mess it up Smith, and Murray I gave away the farm McCully – just two examples.
All I’m seeing from you is the usual head in the sand, nothing to see here, its all the medias fault deliberate ignorance
Worst response, ever.
Yeah people don’t normally like it when you point out their foibles to them
You are the one sticking with your vulgar arguments and missing the point.
I’ve seen you post entertain links here so I guess I should not be surprised you would be into gutter politics, of the amoral speculative kind.
No personal grievances, no golden hand shakes, at least one person actually got a promotion, with the bonus of coming back home. So sorry Puckish you argument is vugar, boorish and childish.
Lets not forget its light weight, and a diversion. You were wrong about Hekia, and you are wrong about this.
“Lets not forget its light weight, and a diversion. You were wrong about Hekia, and you are wrong about this”
I think you’ll find its not yet proven correct
Hey, Puckish-of-the-Crystal-Ball, what do you reckon’s going to happen with Chester?
http://robinwestenra.blogspot.co.nz/2016/10/govt-mp-runs-into-tppa-protesters.html
If what they say is true then hopefully the protestors will get charged for damaging government property but if the judicial system has been taken over by dirty, stinking, pinko lefties then he’ll probably be let off with a warning
You really are a miserable troll.
“Parata was, and continues to be just one of a collection of bad and incompetent ministers this national government has produced. Jumped before she was pushed, now we getting a sick husband smoke screen. MMMM, somthing rotten in the national house.”
adam I feel the need to point out your double standards here…
“Oh do pull the other one Puckish, your evidence an opinion piece for starters”
And what have you just written above adam? oh that’s right its your own opinion piece!!
Now there is nothing wrong with anyone having an opinion, but when you call up someone for having an opinion, then respond back with your own opinion…its hmm??
*stunned silence
It’s the Trump effect Robert Guyton, were any old bullshit is now the truth for rightwing conspiracy theorist nuts.
Adam – Puckish Rogue’s aim is to dishearten readers here who are supportive of the Left. His wide-eyed “questions” are his method for keeping us feeling insecure. He insists that his topic of the day is THE issue and tries always to drag discussion back to his choice of topic, which, curiously enough, always has Labour/Little/the Left cast in a negative light. He’s always done it and will continue to do it until the election. We’d be best to ignore completely, his “angles”. Sadly, I find quibbling with him fun but will try now to ignore his bait. Almost always, his topics of interest are lightweight and inconsequential. Oh, how I wish Pucky would introduce a topic that had some weight, some gravitas, some oomph!
Oh, and Chuck’s just Chuck.
You do know it was adam that started this topic:
“Funny how whenever there’s ‘shock resignations’ of National government ministers it’s about rejuvenation and forward thinking, yet when Labour party press secretaries do the same there’s a poisonous culture in Andrew Little’s office.”
I mean its not quite the same thing is it, comparing the resignations of ministers to press secretaries.
For starters Hekia has been in parliament for 10 years whereas the average Labour press secretary seems to be lasting around a month so we’re probably overdue for another resignation
However I am not, for one instance, laying the blame for this at Andrew Littles feet, just because its his office and they’re working under him is no reason to think hes a bad boss
Not at all
*Splutters, “But, but, but… Adam started it”
Of course he did, Pucky.
Everything began with Adam.
🙂
Incorrect, we’re all in the matrix and everything you know has been loaded into your mind
I see two cats!
Trolls are beneath contempt .
Shilling for the 1%.
Words that describe what they stand for and who they work for would get me banned.
They are on message following the plot laid out by the DP driven agenda setters this govt relies on to keep the sheeple ill informed.
Working as designed folks
So there were no resignations in Littles back room staff, why not try looking up how many resignations there in Keys staff and compare
Too boring. I’m off to graft fruit trees. Have a nice day.
That’s ok I understand, have fun.
“Funny how whenever there’s ‘shock resignations’ of National government ministers it’s about rejuvenation and forward thinking, yet when Labour party press secretaries do the same there’s a poisonous culture in Andrew Little’s office.”
“Great analysis by Muttonbird”
adam I think you need to understand the difference between a MP and a member of staff (in this case employed by Labour).
Clinton campaign & DNC on violence at Trump rallies
https://youtu.be/5IuJGHuIkzY
Vote Fraud HOWTO
https://youtu.be/hDc8PVCvfKs
Interesting, seems they found it by accident a new method to convert carbon dioxide to ethanol. No all we need to know is can it be recreated in another lab.
http://time.com/4536708/carbon-dioxide-ethanol/
He link to the research itself.
https://www.ornl.gov/news/nano-spike-catalysts-convert-carbon-dioxide-directly-ethanol
Interesting; accepted in 7 days! Put the still on 😉
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/slct.201601169/full
10 billion tonnes (ie, between a quarter and a third of current annual emissions) of CO2 being captured in some nano-tech dependent ethanol process every year, year on year; decade after decade? Sure.
There is nothing in any industrial process we currently have that even comes close to kind of volume/scale.
As far as I can see, this idea is proposing a ‘get around’ on the fact we don’t have the geological capacity to store the required volumes of CO2 that we can’t yet capture by…incorporating it into batteries!!!!?
Fuck.
And it was an accident. Which means it has not be replicated yet. If you noticed a small little video connected with that – about the capture of CO2, and how it’s not working how they expected either.
No not a story of hope, more a glimpse at the desperation to get a good news story out there by the press.
To turn CO2 into ethanol would require a massive input of energy…unless we start believing in free energy: cold fusion/zero point energy style…
Didn’t you read yesterdays Guardian CV? The world is saved!
“MIT nuclear fusion record marks latest step towards unlimited clean energy”
Now MIT scientists have increased the record plasma pressure to more than two atmospheres, a 16% increase on the previous record set in 2005, at a temperature of 35 million C and lasting for two seconds. The breakthrough …
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/oct/17/mit-nuclear-fusion-record-marks-latest-step-towards-unlimited-clean-energy
Two seconds! Not quite gazillions of $$$. I tells ye. No. fcuking. stopping. us.
Two seconds is quite a long time in the field of Nuclear Fusion. Even the Guardian’s clickbaity editors admit in the title that this is one of many steps needed to achieve a practical fusion generator (other than the sun of course). This is the bit that depressed me:
ITER seems like putting a lot of eggs into the one basket, especially if takes so much longer to build and prove. I’m not sure that having private companies piggy-backing on public research to patent Fusion Reactor tech is such a great idea either though.
LanzaTech technology is gas fermentation using waste carbon.
http://www.lanzatech.com/innovation/technical-overview/
Its a novel way to capture emissions from flue stacks.
Ultimately a win-win situation would be to use bio char for carbon sequestration. This would pull CO2 out of our atmosphere while also allowing our soils to replenish their carbon stocks, as its estimated the worlds cultivated soils have lost 50 – 70% of their original carbon stock.
If you want to know what global warming means watch this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmeTCw5Xk1I
Baldrick! 🙂
Where’s the cunning plan, that’s what I wan to know.
The perils of WIMPS and why the dark matters.
http://mnras.oxfordjournals.org/content/448/2/1816
Unfortunately, all the cunning plans seem to be coming from all those who want to keep going the same way. Facts don’t deter them from their greed which is destroying us.
Great wee documentary.
Despite not being a Government or Ministry, given the Government’s past negative reaction to being criticized, the Salvation Army comments about immigrants and jobs is quite a brave thing to have done.
https://willnewzealandberight.com/2016/10/20/salvation-army-immigration-commentary-disturbing/
Heard on RNZ 6am and 7am news, but not on subsequent bulletins:
Two Pro-democracy members of the Hong Kong parliament were denied a scheduled meeting with NZ finance minister, and meetings with anyone in the NZ government.
Their explanation – the Chinese government has a long reach.
But, if true, since when has the Chinese government been determining who our elected representatives can meet?
From what I can make out, ever since we signed the FTA with them. Ever since then we’ve been too scared to upset them.
Another fine example of trade overwriting principles.
Russel Norman wasn’t too frightened.
True but, IIRC, the government did apologize.
Privatisation.
Infrastructure.
Climate change.
Them’s the dots. Join them up. Good piece from newshub.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/tvshows/story/ex-manager-blows-lid-on-dangerous-toppling-power-poles-2016101919
I hate Trump and Farage. But on free trade they have a point
Aditya Chakrabortty
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/19/free-trade-broken-idea-elites-deals-ceta-ttip-economic
extract..
“I heartily agree that Nigel Farage and Trump are grotesques. But the free-traders peddle their own untruths. They have insistedthat black is white, even as the voters beg to differ. In their seminar rooms, their TV studios and their Geneva offices, they have perpetrated the ideological sleight of hand that equates internationalism with free trade, and globalisation with untrammelled corporate power. The result has been misery for workers from Bolton to Baltimore to Bangladesh. But it has also left the six-figure technocrats who supervise our economic system pushing a zombie idea. Because that is what free trade has become: an idea leached of life and meaning but stumbling on for want of any replacement. We have a globalisation for bankers, but not for children fleeing the bombs of Syria. Security for investors but not for workers.
To see how debased the notion of free trade has become, look at the deal between Canada and the EU that is currently being voted through Europe’s parliaments. It’s called the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (Ceta), and the fact that you can see it at all is largely down to leaks of the documents, which forced the European commission to publish,. That is after the negotiations were conducted for five years in secret, with even the directives kept hidden from the hundreds of millions of citizens affected.
This is no minor technical work. Provided it is passed in time, Ceta will apply to Britain too – and parts of it will affect Britons’ lives even after we’ve “taken back control”. It has been billed as “a backdoor for TTIP”, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, which collapsed this summer amid public opposition both in Europe and the US. Like TTIP, Ceta includes the investor-state dispute settlement system – which hands big business the power to sue governments, including for profits they haven’t made yet. A US multinational with an office in Canada (nearly all of them) will be able to sue Britons for bringing in laws that lose them money. This was the mechanism tobacco giant Philip Morris used to sue Australia’s government for bringing in plain packaging. On that occasion, Big Tobacco was unsuccessful – but it took four years of expensive legal battle.”
On a similar note of free trade agreements…. in NZ our politicians just run over democratic protestors…
Govt MP runs into TPPA protesters
Suppressed news: Gov’t MP drives over TPPA protesters
Whanganui MP Chester Borrows in court on careless driving charge
http://robinwestenra.blogspot.co.nz/2016/10/govt-mp-runs-into-tppa-protesters.html
This is very cutting from Mr Evans.
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2016/10/20/malcolm-evans-solutions-to-the-housing-crisis/
Syria Solidarity: National day of action 29th October
Civilians in Aleppo and across Syria are being intensively bombed by Russia with bunker bombs, phosphorous bombs, napalm, thermobaric and cluster bombs; and by the Syrian regime with chlorine containing barrel bombs; targetting homes, schools, hospitals, rescue teams, and underground shelters .
Like many Syrian cities, Aleppo has been under a starvation siege. The regime and Russian have even bombed the city’s water supply.
Despite these atrocious crimes against humanity, Aleppo’s people show tremendous solidarity and caring for each other, as they work to find the wounded under the rubble, and rush them to undergound clinics for treatment. Hundreds of democratically run community councils have been formed across Syria in the liberated areas. They have produced a tremendous amount of art, literature, music, and electronic media documenting the revolution and counter revolution in Syria.
The “peace” talks have broken down. It is clear that Russia and the Assad regime are looking for a military solution to enable the genocidal Assad regime to continue in power.
Most of the fighters killing Syrian civilians are not Syrians. They include soliders from Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq, many of them conscripted or desperately poor with no other options for a living.
The Assad regime and Russia have killed half a million Syrian people. The genocide has to stop! The regime regularly uses rape and torture as weapons.
The war started because people across Syria went onto the streets to demand democracy, and instead were shot, rounded up, tortured, raped and killed. So the people took up arms to defend themselves. The Assad regime has vowed to continue to obliterate the population until it accepts his rule.
Both the United States and Russia have re-defined the people’s struggle for democracy as a “war on terror” and are both responsible for killing civilians.
Isis grew in Syria with the encouragement of the Assad regime. Assad deliberately released extremists from his jails, who went on to join Isis in Syria. The regime leaves Isis alone, and Isis is continually attacking the democratic opposition groups. The democratic opposition has been forced to fight on two fronts, against the attacks from the regime and from Isis. Despite the evils perpetrated by Isis, it has killed a fraction of the number of people, that the Assad regime has. The Assad regime with its Russian and Iranian allies are the greater evil.
Stop the bombing! Troops out!
No more genocide! Solidarity with the Syrian Revolution!
Victory for Syrian people now!
Wellington action:
2-3pm 29th October, Russian Embassy, 57 Messines Road, Karori
Auckland action:
2-3pm 29th October, Aotea Square
https://www.facebook.com/events/104432090029183/
[have added a link – weka]
Utterly delusional bollocks there Ian. That’s the ‘bending over backwards to be nice’ take by the way. Because the only other take is that your post and those organising the protest are deliberately peddling simplistic and disgusting lies. The Boris Johnson’s of the world would, no doubt, approve of your stance.
Unfortunately many well meaning people who know no better may well pedal on down. 🙁
[In order to keep OM and DR free for other conversations, all comments, link postings etc about the US election now need to go in the dedicated US election discussion here.
If you are unsure, post in that thread rather than here. It’s not possible for moderators to shift comments from OM to there, so any comments here may get deleted – weka]