To me, this isn’t a good look from a /state/ broadcaster. Predicting how much coverage Ardens pregnancy will get while actual politics gets ignored? RNZ, and every other ‘news’ agency, decides that. And that title, urgh.
An admission that someone on kiwiblog expects sexist white knights to cry wolf whenever the opposition interacts with the PM just because shes pregnant? She decided she can be PM and pregnant at the same time, and good for her, but she still has to be PM and the opposition shouldn’t be afraid to do their jobs. Frankly, anyone who blows up over normal politics because “how could you treat a pregnant lady like that” is siding /with/ the “she shouldn’t be PM and pregnant crowd”, the hypocracy of which would only help the right.
Since when have the Gnats done their jobs? They’re great at making noise but have rat-all to boast of for all their years in power. The legitimacy of a complaining opposition rests upon a determination to do better that was not in evidence under Key and English.
We are in a historic time that (some) don’t want any changes but a change is coming Anon so get over it.
So please do what we had to do nine years ago, when we had to accept a ‘PM’ that had lived mostly abroad, and was speculating on the NZ Dollar and our own economy and we accepted that.
So you now need to realise that we are now about to have a youngest first pregnant leader woman PM, and a Maori PM male (Winston Peters) for six weeks during the birth of the first family’s baby also.
I don’t care about identity politics, when is the government going to actually follow through on some election promises? And why is /state media/ coming out and saying it’ll ignore real politics to report more on fluff???
“the state media” is not saying anything. It’s an OP by Brigitte Morten.
If you read to the end of the article, you will see this:
Brigitte Morten was a senior ministerial adviser for the previous National-led government. Prior to that she was an adviser and campaign director for the Australia’s Liberal Party.
So, it could just as easily be claimed that Brigette is giving the Nats some warning about where be dragons, and pointing them to how they should proceed to counter the Ardern-led government.
Then it would be nice if they published it with an editorial note that they won’t actually be doing this. To let the accusation stand, especially given that it would be status quo for media in New Zealand…
…As someone who wants to see the government I voted for do something substantial? Like on homelessness, poverty, climate change, or abortion law reform?
In a way any vote in the elections is kind of a vote for the government – even a ‘losing’ vote. (Though to be clear, I party voted Labour after Arden promised abortion law reform.)
Fair enough. I just find it very ambiguous language when people colloquially say that they voted for a particular Government as if it were based on an (single) outcome at one given time. Yet, in three years’ time people will still stick to the tribal & partisan lines proclaiming that they did or did not vote for the incumbent Government. After the Election on 23rd September last year it was anybody’s guess what the new Government would look like and how it would enact on election promises and core (party) policies. One could argue that we vote for a given Government and political outcome over a period of one election cycle (and longer) by proxy by I find this such an extrapolation that it is next to meaningless. Quite possibly I am not enough of a dedicated ‘team player’ or loyal ‘team supporter’ to feel a strong affiliation and association with a given political clique. The one possible downside is that I don’t get to ‘celebrate’ and rejoice in so-called victories but neither do I get too wound up about the inevitable defeats and setbacks. Big picture vs. small picture stuff IMO.
You expected all that by Jan 2018? We will only need one year govts based on your expectations that all promises are done within 3 months ( given the shut down period where no laws can be changed)
Hmmm been in a few months including a shut down for Christmas… what woukd you have had them do by now given Parliament shut down about a mo th ago so no Bills or Laws can be pushed through?
First year of free tertiary education available this year. Glossy brochures with this years course info and a blurb about the first year free via NMIT already delivered… awesomesauce, lets do this, thanking you new government. Salisbury School is to remain open, EPIC GOODNESS RIGHT THERE, loving this coalition, thank you VERY MUCH.
Baby news is still fresh as, public are interested, any mainstream media will milk it for airplay/views etc, thats a given. Opinions every where, click bait abound, advertising revenue up up up.
Tomorrow on the AM show… will mark richardson be there, Jacinda too? Entertainment for the masses, stand by for the headlines.
“first family’s baby also”.
Do you really feel the need to adopt this dreadful US approach?
“First Family” may, almost, be justified in the US where the person is the Head of State and kow-towed to in quite ridiculous manner but why do people in New Zealand want to adopt the practice?
“Key/English set the pace for ” this dreadful US approach” not me”.
Really? You can of course provide links to where they used the phrase “first family” to describe their families, or at least each others families?
No? Thought not.
By the way what does “loosing” mean when applied to an election?
I notice that you tend to use the word quite regularly in unusual circumstances.
Do you have any evidence at all that Key himself the term “First Family” or anything like it?
That is what you are claiming when you say “I didn’t think we needed it from Key and Max either, but we got it”.
I am not claiming, you will note, that Jacinda Ardern or her partner use the term. I am only suggesting that there is no need for cleangreen to introduce it.
We didnt need the notion of it alwyn. And some media treated Key and Max as celebrities something that bothered neither of them given Max’s milking of it. Bronagh did not and the media seemed to respect that. Compare with tge social media swirling around Peter Davis.
I disagree and think that although it is a big step for the JA-CG household, and possibly a minor ‘event’ for the coalition, it is nothing but a tiny ripple for the country as a whole.
I reckon the whole thing is ‘dramatized’ and taken way out of proportion with wild speculation and exaggerations abound but it gives the ‘pundits’ something to chew on 😉 Lately, we seem to have been experiencing a plethora of ‘historical events’ with ‘milestones’ at every step of the way 😉
“we had to accept a ‘PM’ that had lived mostly abroad”.
Who was the MP you have in mind?
I thought you might have meant John Key but he only lived overseas for 6 of the 47 years of his life before becoming PM.
That was less years away than either Geoffrey Palmer, before he was PM or Helen Clark, although hers were after her stint in the PMs seat.
It was very similar to the number Rob Muldoon was away.
Regardless of that it certainly wasn’t the case that he had “lived mostly abroad” was it?
It was, however vastly less than any of the early Labour Prime Ministers, Mickey Savage, Peter Fraser or Walter Nash who all spent about half their lives out of New Zealand. Did you have one of them in mind?
Not really, she said before the election that she wanted kids, and it’d be pretty naive to think a persons personal circumstances does’t affect their politics. But “being pregnant” isn’t a policy, and focusing on one policy area (if indeed that’s what’s going to happen) just because it personnally relates is a pretty selfish way to run a country.
I do also wonder if this will affect abortion law reform, as promised during election but as yet not since mentioned.
Lack of results? In 3 months. Get a grip. We had to wait months for the ordained job summit which would solve all unemployment problems from GFC but all we got was a cycle trail ( still not complete).
You really think so? I would imagine the last time you would focus on getting pregnant is during an election campaign. You joining the ti foil hat brigade BM? You laugh at far more plausible conspiracies than this like peeps accusing Key of using Max to project a certain image…
Thou shalt not have intercourse to risk pregnancy whilst holding any role of importance, especially if one has the power to grow a human life form inside of one self.
But, but… we only did it once…. well you should have thought about it to start with.
Shame on them for making love when they had been advised they could have difficulty conceiving.
New rule… no sex for all politicians, gender equality and all that, could be part of the ‘no surprises’ narrative.
FFS
Side note…. are tories annoyed because they aren’t getting any/enough sex? Could that be an underlying issue? Kinda feeling a bit sorry for the tories now. Yeah, nah LMAO
Aren’t top sporters banned from sex before major performances? Or perhaps they should hand out free condoms in Parliament as they do in the Olympic Village (and the Games don’t last as long either!).
The Prime Minister is going to be a mother. They will be one person.
The rest of the country including the entire political order is going to have to deal with that. People should just relax and presume it’s actually perfectly natural.
Yes, you may have to get a great deal more circumspect Rosemary.
Ad sounds like the Thai Government. He will no doubt soon be wanting to copy their laws about the Royal Family and apply them to our PM.
Don’t even dare to suggest that the “first family’s baby” as Cleangreen is labelling the child, may just be like any other infant.
Such an insult may open you up to 35 years inside. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/09/man-jailed-for-35-years-in-thailand-for-insulting-monarchy-on-facebook
I believe that was the case with the late King.
Friends who are familiar with the situation there, which I am not, are not at all sure whether this is the case with the current incumbent.
Not terribly relevant I suppose. I think the New Zealand public would be very loathe to have such rules in place.
In my opinion you’re one of the most readable and considered commentators here…
You are correct that Ad took the comments you made about PM baby in a way that you clearly were not meaning in that comment…
Ads comments are , at best, inconsistent…
Clearly , the offspring of a careerist public servant, nor the parents, will need to concern about the ‘harships’ faced by many parents and family’s…the media will feadt on it of course…
This govt will achieve little of nothing significant…that’s already clear…
It’s perfectly natural that people get distracted by babies? It’s perfectly natural that people will hypocritically expect others to take it easy on the Prime Minister because she’s pregnant? Yeah, I’d agree with that.
You did note who that opinion piece was written by? She was an advisor to the Nats and obviously lost her job in October last year. She’s been advising the Key government and the Liberals in Australia, y’know Abbott, Bishop, and Dutton types.
She’s still advising the Nats here via the media on how to attack. I wonder if it’s paid work…
As state broadcaster it should be providing space for diverse views. It is clearly labelled as an opinion piece, and the appropriate disclaimer has been made. It also publishes opinion pieces by the likes of left winger Stephanie Rodgers. That IS the role of a state broadcaster.
It enables democratic public debate of and between different views.
It is not being presented as News, which does require more balance.
* Brigitte Morten was a senior ministerial adviser for the previous National-led government. Prior to that she was an adviser and campaign director for the Australia’s Liberal Party.
Do you think anyone is going to read that and not recognise the blatant political bias of the author? It’ll go straight into the readers’ metaphorical trash cans.
It’ll go straight into the readers’ metaphorical trash cans.
You think so?
I have my doubts; the very recent saga around Open Parachute here on TS, which resulted in a (brief) ban, proved and again confirmed, to me, that many (most?) people don’t properly (or at all?) read disclaimers and ‘fine-print’ and mostly utilise fast thinking to form judgements and make decisions.
An even better (and less contentious!) example is the blogpost by swordfish that featured in OM yesterday, which shows, among other things, that many professional and intelligent people do the exact same thing with all the (negative) consequences. You would think that anything that David Farrar writes would be scrupulously scrutinised and critically examined before accepting it as true & correct information that’s fit for general consumption and further dissemination, wouldn’t you? The analysis by swordfish shows it is almost the exact opposite!
Jesus you trolls sound such a lot of losers – scraping the bottom of the barrel of ideas on how to criticise this new Government. Never heard such drivel in my life. Start the day on a better note please for the sake of the sanity of the readers of this site. Just grow up all of you.
“I’ve been doing this for so many years,” said the Northbrook resident. “And though women have seen a lot of progress, it has started to erode. But people are waking up.”
A lot of people; more than a quarter of a million.
Organizers about 11:30 a.m. said the city informed them they’ve exceeded last year’s crowd of 250,000.
“I have just been informed that we are as big as last year,” said organizer Ann Scholhamer, over the cheering crowd and the whir of a helicopter overhead. “And people are still coming.”
Many thanks to all the Lady’s in the USA and around the world for protesting for their equal rights and protest against trump.
In my view tax cut is a form of cheating to get a economic stimulus taking money from the 99% and giving to the 1%. It’s a bigger challenge to stimulat a economy to benefit the 99% who trump has ignored. Ka kite ano
Without “tenure review” we would have retained thousands of acres of public land. Instead of paying to give it away. To runholders who have made up to 3000 times anything the have paid. On selling it too wealthy Yanks.
The ending of funding of the Children’s Health Insurance Programme in this budget failure will affect 9 million children. This was an Orrin Hatch/Kennedy initiative with strong bipartisan support.
That is going to be big on the list of this Women’s March.
As well as the spectacular attacks on the funding of reproductive health.
Wow, where could this massive march be? CA, NY? Nope North Carolina, Asheville. Lots more of us decent Americans than those Racist, Hate Driven trump/republicans. Put that in your pipe and enjoy it! pic.twitter.com/zw9tdZzkvj— Allen Marshall (@AllenCMarshall) January 20, 2018
She talks about intersections of sexual abuse with racism and poverty. Viola begins with a quote from Malcolm X. She does draw on US constitutional and individual rights values, but transforms them into values for collective action.
And she says that no one or nothing can be great without a cost. We need to be prepared to pay the price, and not take a weak comfortable position.
I didn’t so much hear her “drawing on” the US Constitution or individual rights so much as sledgehammering the US constitution and the so-called founding fathers by slating Jim Crow and the 13th Amendment straight on back to where they came from.
What I admire about our Australian cousins is that they stick up for their rights. There unions are strong and wages are higher than ours. They are not to shy to push for their rights in my view any way. Ka kite ano
Now that Treasury officials have confirmed that child poverty reductions were over-estimated, can we expect to see Labour increase their families package?
Should have just zipped it sweetie every time she saw a cream cake. Amused by her desire to get back to Electorate la la la la and her BIG National Party in Wellington.
Its great that she has the income to be able to afford the $20,000 plus fees for the job.
Reminds me years ago a very non-P.C. doctor telling me “You never saw a fat person in Belsen did you” when I was grizzling about my increasing weight. Then he said “It’s what going in here that is the problem” pointing to his open mouth. Another time he told me to “get a pair of runners and get off your ass” when I complained about being tired and lacking in energy.
Honestly this was happening back in the 1980’s when doctors were advising patients what to do with their weight or lack of energy woes.
I keep my weight off as I can’t afford to have this bypass surgery – just like heaps of other people have to. It won’t make me admire her for her initiative and discipline in having the job done as Dr Edward Elder said in the Herald. What discipline is involved in having this sort of operation?
You are a dumb ass, you don’t know what you’re talking about so please keep your opinions to yourself
So sharing time…my wife had this same procedure roughly a year ago and it cost us 21 grand (could have gone overseas but if something went wrong…) with a bit of a discount for taking part in a questionaire
This was the best thing for my wife while for some its relatively easy to lose weight (I lost 16 kilos last year by mainly changing my diet to a predominately vegetarian diet) but in her case the steroids she was on in her early 20s (due to cervical cancer that came back) plus her having PCOS and that the genetics from her family are on the shorter, stockier side means that when it comes to gaining weight and losing weight she certainly got the worst of it
Most who get this operation don’t do it lightly and it is a big deal because for a lot of people it does mean you have to admit that you can’t do it yourself, that you do need help and for some it can have a serious effect
You have to get used to just not being able to have certain things any longer (no fizzy drink, ever) or complete changes in the things you want to eat or losing the joy in eating certain foods and having to remember to eat and drink because you no longer feel hungry or thirsty
Having to be careful how much you eat and drink because just a bite or two more and you’re in the toilet throwing it all back up, having to deal with well-meaning friends and family that don’t get that you just can’t eat much, not being able to fully take part in celebrations (or at least thinking you can’t)
Depressed because you’ve spent 21 grand on an operation for something that everyone says is easy…
There is no need to call me a dumb ass – I have close family who have PCOS- two in fact and I am very familiar with it, neither of them has become obese, they have made dietry changes and do the gym regularly – one of my family had a scan done and both ovaries were smothered in multi cysts. There are vitamin supplements which help and yes, there is a tendancy for weight gain but both have kept their weight down to a respectable degree. A good example Jamie Oliver’s wife has PCOS and has kept her weight down.
Steroid use I do admit can cause weight gain because of increased appetite, a lot of medications can cause weight gain gain and for that I understand your wife’s predicament – I just feel that surgery is a quick fix as other avenues may not have not been explored in lots of cases. Lucky for those who can afford it as I am sure our hospital system wouldn’t allow people willy nilly to have this surgery done at the tax payer’s expense.
I was talking to Ed however your type of ignorance is not needed either, all it does is help strengthen the argument that all you need to do is a bit of exercise, eat some vitamins, eat a little better and hey presto the weights gone
As I’m sure you might be aware (sarcasm) everyone is different so your experiences are yours, mine is mine and having lived with my wife for 14 years and seeing how the exercise hasn’t worked, hearing the abuse shes gotten (’cause you know people, men and women, love to shout “encouragement”) holding her when shes cried, supported her when shes down, tried to convince I still love and desire her even when her own brains telling herself how weak and disgusting she is I can’t really be bothered with the type of person that dismiss a legitimate medical procedure simply because they think its somehow not putting in the work
“What discipline is involved in having this sort of operation?”
The discipline to admit you can’t do it, the discipline to have accept you need help even though everyone (all experts of course) tells you its easy to lose weight, the discipline to realize that you’re having surgery and you’ll never be the same again
The discipline to realize that you’ll lose weight but that you won’t accept you did anything to “deserve” the weight loss because you didn’t work for it, that theirs a lot of ignorant people that will think its cheating
The discipline to understand that from now and until the day you die you have to remember to eat and drink because you don’t feel hungry or thirsty
The guilt you go through when you consider what else you could spend 20 odd grand on
So yeah I was talking to Ed but you’re a dumb ass as well
No he isn’t, it works for some but not so it is not a panacea amd its the kind of attitude that makes people feel worse about themselves and their decision because “all they have to do is this and they’ll lose weight” which basically you’re not really trying to lose weight and are just lazy
She will be advocating for this to be on the public list as a medical procedure, right? So poor people can get access to this life threatening thing that can only be resolved surgically?
Bariatric surgery is funded by most DHBs if the patient meets certain specified criteria, as she had her surgery in private I don’t see how your comment is particularly relevant though ?
The funny (but not really funny) thing is because of the healthy eating and exercise my wife did to try to shift the weight meant that she wasn’t eligible for funding because she is so healthy
Cholesterol, blood pressure basically everything was good so we had to fund it ourselves
That’s twuly twuly gorgeous darling.
You do wealise that if he ever saw some of your contwibutions on TS, He’d pwobably think you a pwise pwatt.
You should stick to music appreciation.
[This kind of pointless snarky and homo-phobic shite isn’t appreciated. Don’t do it again.] – Bill
Virtue-signalling is a social media construct used by right wing people when denigrating the socially responsible left for defending minorities, women, the environment, or when they are just being plain old polite to those who might be struggling in life.
Bill English riskily used it as a pejorative in the media at some point last year, no doubt egged on by those poisonous rich kids at the Young Nats who were confident that everyone was saying it. Look where it got him!
I got to thinking that right wing people virtue-signal as well but it’s not around social consciousness, but rather their own personal success, and individual responsibility. “I’m so good I had a barbecue with my family”, for instance, and “why can’t everyone be as successful as me, it’s easy if you just try!”
Quite clearly, right wing virtue-signallers are sometimes consciously and sometimes unconsciously communicating with one another their superiority over those less fortunate than themselves. They are congratulating each other on what a fine life the’ve made for themselves.
This is virtue-signalling for the right and fellow RWNJs lap this stuff up, of course.
“A body formed to influence legislation on a particular issue.”
Since the NZ Initiative probably have zero influence over the current Government, they probably don’t meet the definition of one. And I doubt they would take credit for having negative influence, ie Govt does the total opposite of what they want….
Sorry, I thought my irony would would have been obvious. I took their denial of being a lobby group as an admission that they won’t be doing much influencing going forward.
I believe the UK has crossed the Rubicon on Brexit. The Chunnel (AKA Euro Tunnel) lacked symbolic power to establish and maintain a meaningful politico-economic let alone socio-cultural connection with the rest of Europe. Isolation in the name of sovereignty and self-rule is the game that’s still in the hearts & minds of many subjects of the ‘British Empire’.
I honestly don’t know. To me, Brexit feels like the political equivalent of a sink hole that everybody is trying to avoid but that’s getting bigger all the time and will end up swallowing everybody, metaphorically speaking. Just before that critical moment we may see some sudden and possibly unexpected actions, political throes, but I reckon till then it’ll be cautious & timid manoeuvring around the edges from a relatively ‘safe’ distance.
As I said before, the pro-Brexit side (ie Farage, Johnson, etc) would have preferred a no vote, because they can just carry on moaning and groaning about the EU. Now they have voted yes, and they have no idea what the fuck to do, and are prbably waiting for someone to say, ‘lets not worry about this’.
At 37 years of age, Roger Federer makes it to the top 16 in the Australian Open.
Looking not as liquid as usual – but then neither is Djokovich or Nadal – who knows whether he can better his outstanding 2017 year, or indeed whether this is his final year of greatness.
At 37, 11 times world champion Kelly Slater’s carcass isn’t quite as robust as it once was but prior to a season ending foot injury, he was cleaning up competitors 25 years his junior.
He may or may not compete in the 2018 WTC but for us older than yourself types, Slater is a joy to watch.
Meanwhile, in other more important news.
The Government’s much vaunted claim of planting a billion trees over 10 years dropped immediately after the election by 50%.
Now even that greatly reduce number has dropped by a further 90%.
Instead of the 100 million per year that was touted before the election it is now down to a hoped for 5 million in the next year.
No money, no land, nobody wanting forests, no seedlings and nobody to do the work.
Why am I not surprised? Any one willing to bet that there will be a reduction in the number of trees planted this year compared to last?
Alternatively I suppose that Shane and his cohort will start counting all the weed wilding pines that are infesting so much DOC and other uncultivated land these days as being part of their work.
I doubt that Shane choosing this time to admit the problems is entirely coincidental. The old story of dumping bad news on a Friday just before a Holiday Weekend.
Let the story out while the journalists are distracted.
I took you to mean that Shane was letting it out now while the Press was all distracted by Jacinda’s “more important” news .
That would mean little attention would be taken of anything he said.
Obviously that was not what your comment meant.
Now I am curious what you did mean. What is the “important news” you had in mind.
I had nothing in mind with “more important news” and I was only quoting from your comment @ 17 hence the quotation marks 😉
Personally, I struggle to reconcile the idea of betting on important news or issues as, to me, it seems to lessen the importance and lower it to a simplistic little game with only two possible outcomes with money as the ultimate reward.
I do realise that I probably take this way too seriously and that it might not be an issue to you or others. In other words, it is no big deal 😉
Wait for the facts as they are now being planned in meetings around the country.
For instance Regional meetings with Iwi’s are on board here and articles in our East Coast Press Gisborne Herald & Wairoa Star, and HB Today have covered this forestry planting issue already now but details are ‘ongoing’ with iwi groups, so hold back on your suppositions.
” hold back on your suppositions.”
My suppositions? I am merely quoting what Shane Jones said.
Do you mean that he was lying or simply that he has no idea what is going on.
What we are told is that talks are ongoing with iwis so we need them to be finished to fruition.
Shane is inside all the issues of getting a deal with iwi land use rules firstly I understand so in the local press he said that ongoing talks with iwis through the Waitangi tribunal has been described as the place and we all know that process needs to be given time to be completed.
you are using Pakeha logic in what is the Maori domain Alwyn.
Be careful here.
have some sensitivity please and let it all run it’s course.
“High Country selloff scandal laid bare”
See the bloody mess the previous governments have made of land use over on the latest selloff of our high country farmland, so Maori are pretty cautious now about any changes in land use that is where we are at now.
Unfortunately, 5 million trees will dampen the anticipated offsetting of greenhouse gas emissions and the vast employment opportunities that were hoped to be gained from the scheme.
However, voters will accept it will take time to ramp up before disillusionment starts to set in.
The next disappointment (IMO) will be their failure to ensure these new Government created jobs pay a living wage.
I’m not sowing the seeds of mistrust. Merely highlighting the disappointment in the small number of trees (compared to what was initially touted) and how that will dampen expected outcomes.
And while supporters may be accepting and confident at this stage, if expectations aren’t met within a reasonable time frame, there will be some disillusionment.
The next disappointment (IMO) will be their failure to ensure these new Government created jobs pay a living wage.
I won’t be disappointed at that at all because the Government does not create jobs as such. Therefore, it was laughable when National (also) made these (similar) ridiculous promises and John Key said:
We are going to fulfil our target of creating 170,000 jobs we talked about some years ago
With respect, you seem to view and frame these issues in a way that will guarantee disillusionment and disappointment IMHO. It reminds me of yesterday’s comment by swordfish about David Farrar first seeding the expectation in people’s minds that a new Government must enjoy an 11% bounce in the first post-election poll, which inevitably and unavoidably leads to an emotional reaction such as disillusionment and disappointment when this expectation never materialises because it was based on a false premise in the first place.
I never seeded an expectation Labour would pay a living wage, merely pointing out the lost opportunity of them not doing so.
In fact, going off their announced minimum wage increase (which extends out to 2021) Labour have shown they have no plan for the minimum wage to hit parity with the living wage. Hence, my expectation is these new Government created jobs won’t pay a living wage.
O.k. I admit that I’m confused; OT1H you say that you “never seeded an expectation” but OTOH you write “my expectation is these new Government created jobs won’t pay a living wage.”!? Aren’t you contradicting yourself?
Hmmm, you state that you never seeded an expectation yet @ 17.3.2.1 you wrote:
And the disappointment will be the lost opportunity to help address inequality and poverty if they fail to pay a living wage.
And @ 17.3 you wrote:
The next disappointment (IMO) will be their failure to ensure these new Government created jobs pay a living wage.[my bold]
To me, that reads like an expectation …
Up to your comment @ 17.3.2.1.1.1 you were referring to the (new) Government but then you start referring to Labour!?
But, as you clarified, you never expected Labour to pay the living wage so you were never going to be disappointed.
This only leaves only one question: whose expectation and disappointment are you talking about if not your own? And why are you so concerned? [technically, these are two questions]
No. You need to read a sentence through to the end. I said I never seeded an expectation Labour would pay a living wage – not I never seeded an expectation full stop.
And while I don’t personally believe Labour will hold true to their claimed support of the living wage, I still hold a glimmer of hope I may be wrong. Hence, I’m also susceptible to disappointment.
Nevertheless, as stated above, Labour are a party that claim to support the living wage, therefore (in giving that support) seeded an expectation that will no doubt, if not met, will disappoint more than just me.
Additionally, by lifting wages to a living wage and providing secure decent jobs, Labour can achieve some vital (and long overdue) benefits for workers through this scheme. Helping improve inequality and poverty, while also helping to stimulate smaller struggling regions.
And those that understand this are more likely to be the ones who will be disappointed if Labour waste this opportunity.
I did read your sentences through to the end. In fact, I literally quoted two of your sentences in full, i.e. including the full stops!
The coalition agreement commits to a minimum wage of $20 per hour in 2021 and the current Living Wage is $20.20 an hour. I have not seen any claims from the Government that they would pay the LW for those new tree planting jobs but feel free to throw me a link 😉
You may be correct that Labour may have seeded these kinds of expectations with some such as yourself but comments like yours will only fuel these expectations, which, I fully admit, is not the same as seeding but amounts to feeding and is equally ‘harmful’ in public discourse and like scaremongering IMO.
At this point in time it is pure speculation whether any expectations will be met or dashed and how disappointed some people might be. You have no idea, nobody does, the least of all how others might feel and react.
The best we can do is to argue for a LW across the board ASAP and playing the expectation-disappointment card is tantamount to emotional blackmail and a very poor & weak argument and negotiating tool.
Yet you continue to incorrectly claim I stated I never seeded an expectation.
People shouldn’t be silence from expressing their expectations and disappointment, they should be encouraged. Political parties require the feedback. Widening the perspective while allowing them to better understand, thus possibility appease concerns, improving their ability to bring the public along with them.
I never claimed Labour has committed to paying the living wage to employees on this scheme. I said Labour are a party that support the living wage. And to be fair, have done some work towards that end.
Nevertheless, at this stage they’ve only committed to the minimum wage for this scheme after Jones touted work for the dole.
However, that has yet to be finalised. Thus, this is the time to hold them to that support of the living wage. And we can help in doing that by speaking out publicly. Highlighting the opportunity that can potentially be gained or wasted and the benefits or disappointment related to that.
It’s not blackmail, it’s just highlighting the expected pros and cons of their decision.
As for the timing, best to apply pressure before the final decision is made.
It’s not often Governments offer to create employment and spend a billion dollars on a scheme, thus we should all be pushing to ensure it bests serves everyone and not just cronies and the elite.
I agree wholeheartedly with you that the Government has the power to set the scene & example by creating an employment scheme that pays the Living Wage and has other provisions for the employees that go above & beyond the (bare) minimum.
Pointing out pros & cons, perceived and real, is fine in discourse or negotiation; emotional blackmail – not just any blackmail – on the other hand, is a very weak and even risky bargaining chip and should be avoided IMHO. Stick to facts and proper (risk) modelling and people may even agree to disagree and respectfully accept the eventual outcome, any outcome, without getting ‘grief-stricken’ with disappointment about stuff that never was …
Apparently there will be disappointment when the new government fail to do more than they explicitly promised to do, in whatever policy area (TPP and tree numbers also come to mind).
Just another example of how the nats have it easy – nobody expected them to actually do what they promised, let alone exceed their manifesto commitments.
I don’t highlight real or anticipated disappointment as a means of emotional blackmail.
Voter disappointment is a vital factor that shouldn’t be overlooked when it comes to the pros and cons of policy crafting and political decision making.
Labour’s history of disappointing supporters has not only damaged their own support base (with supporters defecting to the Greens, Mana and NZF) overtime it has damaged the left overall.
I’ve come across a fair number that no longer vote due to Labour’s past betrayal. Perceiving voting makes no, to little difference.
Labour do themselves no favours in this area. Touting headlines such as their support of the living wage, their belief in full employment, a ban on foreign property investors etc, which, when one scratches the surface, quickly discovers Labour fails to actually fully deliver on.
The realisation of which, leads to voter disappointment.
If I recall correctly, your “50%” drop was actually repeating exactly what was announced initially – the “100billion” trees includes the 500million currently planned.
So now the additional lie (and yes, I think you are deliberately and knowingly trying to misrepresent reality) is that every program must immediately start at its nominal average level and sustain it over the ten year duration, rather than starting slow to establish systems and then operating at above-average levels when everything is working.
Yeah, obviously this Government is not going to last the full 3-year term, maybe just 40+6 weeks 😉
The prodigious boy-wonder genius National’s Economic and Regional Development spokesman Simon Bridges quickly (!) calculated that “it would take 200 years to plant a billion trees at 5 million per year.” I believe he’s managed to do this without any help from Treasury, which should increase our confidence in his figures because there was a growing perception that he could not count to ten 😉
Apple will pay about $NZ52bn in tax on the roughly $344bn cash pile it holds outside the US following recent changes to American tax rules.
Last year, the New Zealand Herald reported the tech giant had paid no local tax here in the last decade, despite selling $NZ4.2bn of products in that time.
Surely, you’re not suggesting, not even for a minute, that there was zero profit on $4.2 billion worth of sales revenue, are you?
Of course, they paid taxes but they did pay the bulk of that overseas, i.e. in Oz, then Ireland followed by the US as far as I know but I am no expert and it is very complex and obviously not transparent to the average nominal TS commenter.
Maybe, maybe not, but I’m much more concerned about spreading of mis- and disinformation in a manner that seems similar to David Farrar’s ways of planting false memes under the cover of plausible deniability – just wait for the defensive arguments to appear, often in an aggressive tone because the best defence is attack.
Please don’t insult our and your own intelligence. You comment in this thread without having a clue and without making any attempt to educate yourself!? And surely, you don’t really believe that the profit margin on Apple devices is very small and that their costs (what costs?) to an overseas mother company are very high? The mind boggles if Apple were indeed not making any (!) profit on local sales worth $4.2 billion, don’t you think?
It did not take much digging to find useful information (and there are more useful recent pieces):
The accounts also show apparent income tax payments of $34 million – but a close reading shows this sum was actually sent abroad to the Australian Tax Office, an arrangement that has been in place since at least 2007.
Had Apple reported the same healthy profit margin in New Zealand as it did for its operations globally it would have paid $356m in taxes over the period. [my emphasis]
The seven stations time series of data is the one that Jim did his original thesis on in the late ’70’s early ’80’s. At that time Jim and I used to travel to and from work in Wellington on the train together, he lived close by, and we enjoyed many a discussion on Global warming and the results of his research at that time.
While maximum temps get the headlines they are in fact not the dominant factor in the final average. Night time temperatures are included, and these are the ones that show the consistent increase over time. This factor is a significant indicator for the evidence of Global warming being caused by increasing GHGs. Were it not for the fact that the earth is enveloped in an atmosphere containing GHG’s all the heat from the sun would be radiated into space during nighttime and the temperature of the Earth would be around -18 C. Increasing minimum temperatures (ie Night time Temperatures) are a direct result of increasing GHG’s.
It was an absolute pleasure to travel with Jim. The 45 min journey always passed quickly. I was then on The Naval Staff in Def HQ, and Jim was in the Met Office in Karori. As always Jim had his own weather station at his home in Silverstream where we both lived, and he would write a weekly weather column for the local paper “The Leader”.
Economic development minister David Parker congratulated Rocket Lab on the successful launch, and said New Zealand was well positioned to support further development of the space industry.
“Our natural advantage of clear skies and seas, and relatively low levels of air traffic make us an attractive location for space activity.” Parker said.
Parker visited Mission Control to watch the countdown on Saturday, and pledged further support for the space industry.
“The Government is particularly interested in advancing areas where New Zealand has existing strengths in space-based data applied to agri-technology, hazard management, oceanography and meteorology,” he said.
We have a few trolls here who like to bring up the situation in Venezuela using the chaos there to show what NZ will be like if we continue with Labour/Green policy.
Honduras, which has a dictatorial US backed regime is also in violent chaos. Guess it’s not socialism after all…
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
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. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
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Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
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Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
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Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
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Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
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Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
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 ...
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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 ...
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RNZ News A group of academic staff at New Zealand’s largest university have expressed concern at the administration’s move to block a protest encampment that was planned to take place on campus calling for support for the rights of Palestinians. This week, the University of Auckland warned that while it ...
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Political conferences after a party returns to power are usually a chance for some healthy, even unhealthy backslapping. Yet National Party president Sylvia Wood’s address to its mainland representatives on Saturday hardly contained the unalloyed delight that one might have expected following National’s escape from the wilderness of opposition. Yes, ...
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Ahead of the reality franchise’s return to New Zealand, allow us to introduce the eight brides and grooms. Chuck on a veil and tie back your man bun, because it’s time to say “I do” to a new season of Married at First Sight NZ. The reality TV “social experiment” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University Every year on June 1, student debt in Australia is indexed to inflation. In 2023, high inflation pushed the indexation rate to 7.1%, the highest since 1990. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Changes in the May 14 budget will cut the student debt of more than three million people, wiping more than $3 billion from what people owe. The government will cap the HELP indexation rate ...
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New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
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http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/348533/did-the-pm-just-win-the-next-election
To me, this isn’t a good look from a /state/ broadcaster. Predicting how much coverage Ardens pregnancy will get while actual politics gets ignored? RNZ, and every other ‘news’ agency, decides that. And that title, urgh.
Ardern’s baby is the new axis around which much of government business will turn.
She’s made children her central policy plank already. This just doubles down on it.
This baby will be a total political gift.
An admission.
https://screenshots.firefox.com/Uo5F45A17MboGqke/www.kiwiblog.co.nz
An admission that someone on kiwiblog expects sexist white knights to cry wolf whenever the opposition interacts with the PM just because shes pregnant? She decided she can be PM and pregnant at the same time, and good for her, but she still has to be PM and the opposition shouldn’t be afraid to do their jobs. Frankly, anyone who blows up over normal politics because “how could you treat a pregnant lady like that” is siding /with/ the “she shouldn’t be PM and pregnant crowd”, the hypocracy of which would only help the right.
Since when have the Gnats done their jobs? They’re great at making noise but have rat-all to boast of for all their years in power. The legitimacy of a complaining opposition rests upon a determination to do better that was not in evidence under Key and English.
Like people laid off Nikki Kaye when she returned from her breast cancer issue?
I like that Ad,100%
We are in a historic time that (some) don’t want any changes but a change is coming Anon so get over it.
So please do what we had to do nine years ago, when we had to accept a ‘PM’ that had lived mostly abroad, and was speculating on the NZ Dollar and our own economy and we accepted that.
So you now need to realise that we are now about to have a youngest first pregnant leader woman PM, and a Maori PM male (Winston Peters) for six weeks during the birth of the first family’s baby also.
This set of events is a historic milestone.
I don’t care about identity politics, when is the government going to actually follow through on some election promises? And why is /state media/ coming out and saying it’ll ignore real politics to report more on fluff???
“the state media” is not saying anything. It’s an OP by Brigitte Morten.
If you read to the end of the article, you will see this:
So, it could just as easily be claimed that Brigette is giving the Nats some warning about where be dragons, and pointing them to how they should proceed to counter the Ardern-led government.
Then it would be nice if they published it with an editorial note that they won’t actually be doing this. To let the accusation stand, especially given that it would be status quo for media in New Zealand…
Anon wake up.
This government has “followed up on its election promises”.
This government has set out its achievements over its first 100 days pretty clearly.
I’ve already posted on it.
You just need to relax a little, accept that a baby is coming, and that it will be the baby of the Prime Minister, and it’s a total political gift.
Urgh no, I don’t accept that style of politics at all.
Finally found this from November: https://thestandard.org.nz/progress-from-the-labour-led-government/
As far as I can see a bit of tinkering, nothing substantial – but it’s several months old and could use an update.
Oh!! You just “Outed” yourself big time!!
…As someone who wants to see the government I voted for do something substantial? Like on homelessness, poverty, climate change, or abortion law reform?
The government you voted for. Yeah right.
The government you think hasn’t followed through on election promises when the actual list of what it did in its first 100 days is extensive.
Hmmm…
If we have to put up with trolls can’t we be allocated some better ones.
I ticked two boxes; there are three parties making up the coalition so which one(s) did I/did I not vote for??
In a way any vote in the elections is kind of a vote for the government – even a ‘losing’ vote. (Though to be clear, I party voted Labour after Arden promised abortion law reform.)
Fair enough. I just find it very ambiguous language when people colloquially say that they voted for a particular Government as if it were based on an (single) outcome at one given time. Yet, in three years’ time people will still stick to the tribal & partisan lines proclaiming that they did or did not vote for the incumbent Government. After the Election on 23rd September last year it was anybody’s guess what the new Government would look like and how it would enact on election promises and core (party) policies. One could argue that we vote for a given Government and political outcome over a period of one election cycle (and longer) by proxy by I find this such an extrapolation that it is next to meaningless. Quite possibly I am not enough of a dedicated ‘team player’ or loyal ‘team supporter’ to feel a strong affiliation and association with a given political clique. The one possible downside is that I don’t get to ‘celebrate’ and rejoice in so-called victories but neither do I get too wound up about the inevitable defeats and setbacks. Big picture vs. small picture stuff IMO.
So they’ve ended homelessness, poverty, climate change, and reformed abortion law, or are on track to do so? Because that would be news to me.
You expected all that by Jan 2018? We will only need one year govts based on your expectations that all promises are done within 3 months ( given the shut down period where no laws can be changed)
Hmmm been in a few months including a shut down for Christmas… what woukd you have had them do by now given Parliament shut down about a mo th ago so no Bills or Laws can be pushed through?
Everything apparently. 🙄
First year of free tertiary education available this year. Glossy brochures with this years course info and a blurb about the first year free via NMIT already delivered… awesomesauce, lets do this, thanking you new government. Salisbury School is to remain open, EPIC GOODNESS RIGHT THERE, loving this coalition, thank you VERY MUCH.
Baby news is still fresh as, public are interested, any mainstream media will milk it for airplay/views etc, thats a given. Opinions every where, click bait abound, advertising revenue up up up.
Tomorrow on the AM show… will mark richardson be there, Jacinda too? Entertainment for the masses, stand by for the headlines.
Parliament is currently in recess.
paula is having tummy surgery.
“first family’s baby also”.
Do you really feel the need to adopt this dreadful US approach?
“First Family” may, almost, be justified in the US where the person is the Head of State and kow-towed to in quite ridiculous manner but why do people in New Zealand want to adopt the practice?
alwyn; – Still hurting from loosing the election are you?
your friends – Key/English set the pace for ” this dreadful US approach” not me.
Try these lies and deceitful actions for the dreadful scandals carried out in your ‘ preferred Government’s’ time.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11948852
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2018/01/21/the-continued-media-lynching-of-metiria/
“Key/English set the pace for ” this dreadful US approach” not me”.
Really? You can of course provide links to where they used the phrase “first family” to describe their families, or at least each others families?
No? Thought not.
By the way what does “loosing” mean when applied to an election?
I notice that you tend to use the word quite regularly in unusual circumstances.
I agree we dont need it. But then I didnt think we needed it from Key and Max either, but we got it. For 9 years.
Do you have any evidence at all that Key himself the term “First Family” or anything like it?
That is what you are claiming when you say “I didn’t think we needed it from Key and Max either, but we got it”.
I am not claiming, you will note, that Jacinda Ardern or her partner use the term. I am only suggesting that there is no need for cleangreen to introduce it.
We didnt need the notion of it alwyn. And some media treated Key and Max as celebrities something that bothered neither of them given Max’s milking of it. Bronagh did not and the media seemed to respect that. Compare with tge social media swirling around Peter Davis.
times infinity
I disagree and think that although it is a big step for the JA-CG household, and possibly a minor ‘event’ for the coalition, it is nothing but a tiny ripple for the country as a whole.
I reckon the whole thing is ‘dramatized’ and taken way out of proportion with wild speculation and exaggerations abound but it gives the ‘pundits’ something to chew on 😉 Lately, we seem to have been experiencing a plethora of ‘historical events’ with ‘milestones’ at every step of the way 😉
“we had to accept a ‘PM’ that had lived mostly abroad”.
Who was the MP you have in mind?
I thought you might have meant John Key but he only lived overseas for 6 of the 47 years of his life before becoming PM.
That was less years away than either Geoffrey Palmer, before he was PM or Helen Clark, although hers were after her stint in the PMs seat.
It was very similar to the number Rob Muldoon was away.
Regardless of that it certainly wasn’t the case that he had “lived mostly abroad” was it?
It was, however vastly less than any of the early Labour Prime Ministers, Mickey Savage, Peter Fraser or Walter Nash who all spent about half their lives out of New Zealand. Did you have one of them in mind?
“She’s made children her central policy plank already. This just doubles down on it.” So being pregnant is somehow the same as government policy?
Smells a bit whiffy doesn’t it, almost as if the whole thing has been set up.
Not really, she said before the election that she wanted kids, and it’d be pretty naive to think a persons personal circumstances does’t affect their politics. But “being pregnant” isn’t a policy, and focusing on one policy area (if indeed that’s what’s going to happen) just because it personnally relates is a pretty selfish way to run a country.
I do also wonder if this will affect abortion law reform, as promised during election but as yet not since mentioned.
I do also wonder if this will affect abortion law reform, as promised during election but as yet not since mentioned.
No mention will be made of that again, it’s bread and babies for the foreseeable future, as planned.
Great smoke screen to cover and distract away from all those broken promises and lack of results
Not sure how successful it will be though, from what I’ve read/heard it’s starting to reach peak baby already.
Lack of results? In 3 months. Get a grip. We had to wait months for the ordained job summit which would solve all unemployment problems from GFC but all we got was a cycle trail ( still not complete).
Do you want to change the nappy then?
Ha ha ha Macro,
These national trolls don’t do dirty work like changing nappies, other than exclusively engaging in “dirty politics”
Yeah! But you would think that with all the shit stirring they would be a dab hand at changing nappies.
That’s better BM, glad to see you have exposed yourself as a foolish conspiracy theorist!!
You really think so? I would imagine the last time you would focus on getting pregnant is during an election campaign. You joining the ti foil hat brigade BM? You laugh at far more plausible conspiracies than this like peeps accusing Key of using Max to project a certain image…
Thou shalt not have intercourse to risk pregnancy whilst holding any role of importance, especially if one has the power to grow a human life form inside of one self.
But, but… we only did it once…. well you should have thought about it to start with.
Shame on them for making love when they had been advised they could have difficulty conceiving.
New rule… no sex for all politicians, gender equality and all that, could be part of the ‘no surprises’ narrative.
FFS
Side note…. are tories annoyed because they aren’t getting any/enough sex? Could that be an underlying issue? Kinda feeling a bit sorry for the tories now. Yeah, nah LMAO
Aren’t top sporters banned from sex before major performances? Or perhaps they should hand out free condoms in Parliament as they do in the Olympic Village (and the Games don’t last as long either!).
The Prime Minister and the mother of the upcoming child are the same person.
Let me introduce you to the Doctrine of Transsubstantiation.
So Jacinda is the virgin Mary?? Not sure where you’re going with this.
The Prime Minister is going to be a mother. They will be one person.
The rest of the country including the entire political order is going to have to deal with that. People should just relax and presume it’s actually perfectly natural.
“People should just relax and presume it’s actually perfectly natural.
And yet, when I say just that…I’m “demeaning the PM.”
https://thestandard.org.nz/daily-review-19-01-2018/#comment-1437804
Then, you disrespect me by calling me “doll” ….
https://thestandard.org.nz/daily-review-19-01-2018/#comment-1437771
I’ll be keeping a closer eye on your comments Ad…
Yes, you may have to get a great deal more circumspect Rosemary.
Ad sounds like the Thai Government. He will no doubt soon be wanting to copy their laws about the Royal Family and apply them to our PM.
Don’t even dare to suggest that the “first family’s baby” as Cleangreen is labelling the child, may just be like any other infant.
Such an insult may open you up to 35 years inside.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/09/man-jailed-for-35-years-in-thailand-for-insulting-monarchy-on-facebook
Hyperbole made of straw 😉
Thai people are overwhelmingly supportive with such policy and practice…
That said, the link you posted to is about as uninformed on the matter as you appear to be…
I believe that was the case with the late King.
Friends who are familiar with the situation there, which I am not, are not at all sure whether this is the case with the current incumbent.
Not terribly relevant I suppose. I think the New Zealand public would be very loathe to have such rules in place.
Hi Rosemary,
In my opinion you’re one of the most readable and considered commentators here…
You are correct that Ad took the comments you made about PM baby in a way that you clearly were not meaning in that comment…
Ads comments are , at best, inconsistent…
Clearly , the offspring of a careerist public servant, nor the parents, will need to concern about the ‘harships’ faced by many parents and family’s…the media will feadt on it of course…
This govt will achieve little of nothing significant…that’s already clear…
I hope you will continue to post…
Have a good one…
This ^^^^
It’s perfectly natural that people get distracted by babies? It’s perfectly natural that people will hypocritically expect others to take it easy on the Prime Minister because she’s pregnant? Yeah, I’d agree with that.
“Doctrine of Transsubstantiation”.
As was so wonderfully spoofed by Tom Lehrer in The Vatican Rag?
“If it is, try playin’ it safer
Drink the wine and chew the wafer
Two, four, six, eight
Time to transubstantiate”
You did note who that opinion piece was written by? She was an advisor to the Nats and obviously lost her job in October last year. She’s been advising the Key government and the Liberals in Australia, y’know Abbott, Bishop, and Dutton types.
She’s still advising the Nats here via the media on how to attack. I wonder if it’s paid work…
No I didn’t lol, but all the more reason for RNZ not to publish it uncritically perhaps?
Fair enough Anon. I assumed you had seen that note @1.3.
As state broadcaster it should be providing space for diverse views. It is clearly labelled as an opinion piece, and the appropriate disclaimer has been made. It also publishes opinion pieces by the likes of left winger Stephanie Rodgers. That IS the role of a state broadcaster.
It enables democratic public debate of and between different views.
It is not being presented as News, which does require more balance.
Agree.
Great intel Muttonbird 100%
Top marks there.
Anon @ 1
From your link:
Do you think anyone is going to read that and not recognise the blatant political bias of the author? It’ll go straight into the readers’ metaphorical trash cans.
You think so?
I have my doubts; the very recent saga around Open Parachute here on TS, which resulted in a (brief) ban, proved and again confirmed, to me, that many (most?) people don’t properly (or at all?) read disclaimers and ‘fine-print’ and mostly utilise fast thinking to form judgements and make decisions.
An even better (and less contentious!) example is the blogpost by swordfish that featured in OM yesterday, which shows, among other things, that many professional and intelligent people do the exact same thing with all the (negative) consequences. You would think that anything that David Farrar writes would be scrupulously scrutinised and critically examined before accepting it as true & correct information that’s fit for general consumption and further dissemination, wouldn’t you? The analysis by swordfish shows it is almost the exact opposite!
If you havent read Jaques Ellul on Formation of Mens Attitudes I think you will enjoy it.
In particular the use of academics and so called intelligent to spread propaganda
Never heard of so thank you for the tip! I’ll look forward to finding out more.
“It’ll go straight into the readers’ metaphorical trash cans.”
Agree this crap should be trashed….but how many actually recognise it as trash?
Folk should be automatically checking the creds of writers, checking the publication venue, and at all times be asking what is the agenda here????
Anon 1. Well, that article is a whole lot of “good luck with the new distraction of your pregnancy” written by a national supporter.
We could hardly expect better from them, and the positive coverage of the P.M’s pregnancy was extensive and worrying in their eyes.
A new attack line had to be found. So hints of baby brain, loss of self, personal questions.
But they are right in that her team will be even more supportive, and any slurs will be met by anger in the electorate and the house.
Let’s do this!! Even with errors from treasury.
100% Patricia,
Good call.
Funny that the same writers were silent for 9 years on Max Key’s role in shaping his fathers image and vice versa
Jesus you trolls sound such a lot of losers – scraping the bottom of the barrel of ideas on how to criticise this new Government. Never heard such drivel in my life. Start the day on a better note please for the sake of the sanity of the readers of this site. Just grow up all of you.
I assume, given the tumble weeds, you’re talking to me??
Agreed 100% Whispering Kate.
McConnell crying about the Democrat’s tactics while tens of thousands take to the streets.
tRump will be seething.
“I’ve been doing this for so many years,” said the Northbrook resident. “And though women have seen a lot of progress, it has started to erode. But people are waking up.”
A lot of people; more than a quarter of a million.
Organizers about 11:30 a.m. said the city informed them they’ve exceeded last year’s crowd of 250,000.
“I have just been informed that we are as big as last year,” said organizer Ann Scholhamer, over the cheering crowd and the whir of a helicopter overhead. “And people are still coming.”
Around 1 p.m. they adjusted it to 300,000 people.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-womens-march-draws-thousands-012018-story.html
Many thanks to all the Lady’s in the USA and around the world for protesting for their equal rights and protest against trump.
In my view tax cut is a form of cheating to get a economic stimulus taking money from the 99% and giving to the 1%. It’s a bigger challenge to stimulat a economy to benefit the 99% who trump has ignored. Ka kite ano
So true.
Surely a good target to add into DOC or similar care with added marine sanctuary as well ?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11978790
Why would DOC sink $20 million they don’t have into buying a coastal farm?
The question is…
‘Why is DoC underfunded’..
Without “tenure review” we would have retained thousands of acres of public land. Instead of paying to give it away. To runholders who have made up to 3000 times anything the have paid. On selling it too wealthy Yanks.
What’s with the banner on the right of the page about National trying to revive the TPPA? Didn’t Labour already do that?
Twitter vid of women’s march in DC as government looks to be going to shut down
Wow. That’s a seriously big march.
The ending of funding of the Children’s Health Insurance Programme in this budget failure will affect 9 million children. This was an Orrin Hatch/Kennedy initiative with strong bipartisan support.
That is going to be big on the list of this Women’s March.
As well as the spectacular attacks on the funding of reproductive health.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/terrifying-reality-for-children-s-health-is-a-game-in-congress-1141382211734
A beautifully timed march if ever there was one.
Nationwide.
https://whyy.org/articles/thousands-take-parkway-second-philly-womens-march/
Thanks for the links.
And this speech by Viola Davis at the Women’s March is very powerful
She talks about intersections of sexual abuse with racism and poverty. Viola begins with a quote from Malcolm X. She does draw on US constitutional and individual rights values, but transforms them into values for collective action.
And she says that no one or nothing can be great without a cost. We need to be prepared to pay the price, and not take a weak comfortable position.
Thanks for this
heh
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DUA_ppRW4AIxk6S.jpg
from https://www.instagram.com/p/BeLgdXzlqw4/
(scroll through)
That was quite exceptionally powerful.
Just me, or did it cut out before she’d quite finished speaking?
I didn’t so much hear her “drawing on” the US Constitution or individual rights so much as sledgehammering the US constitution and the so-called founding fathers by slating Jim Crow and the 13th Amendment straight on back to where they came from.
What I admire about our Australian cousins is that they stick up for their rights. There unions are strong and wages are higher than ours. They are not to shy to push for their rights in my view any way. Ka kite ano
Now that Treasury officials have confirmed that child poverty reductions were over-estimated, can we expect to see Labour increase their families package?
They have to fill Joyces 21 billion dollar hole first
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/100751197/former-deputy-pm-paula-bennett-undergoes-gastric-bypass-surgery
Good on her, its not an easy decision to make but it’ll help her out in the long run
It might achieve a sustainable weight loss and corresponding improvement of health & quality of life or it might not; it is not a magic bullet!
Should have just zipped it sweetie every time she saw a cream cake. Amused by her desire to get back to Electorate la la la la and her BIG National Party in Wellington.
Its great that she has the income to be able to afford the $20,000 plus fees for the job.
Reminds me years ago a very non-P.C. doctor telling me “You never saw a fat person in Belsen did you” when I was grizzling about my increasing weight. Then he said “It’s what going in here that is the problem” pointing to his open mouth. Another time he told me to “get a pair of runners and get off your ass” when I complained about being tired and lacking in energy.
Honestly this was happening back in the 1980’s when doctors were advising patients what to do with their weight or lack of energy woes.
I keep my weight off as I can’t afford to have this bypass surgery – just like heaps of other people have to. It won’t make me admire her for her initiative and discipline in having the job done as Dr Edward Elder said in the Herald. What discipline is involved in having this sort of operation?
Eating a whole food plant based diet is a sure fire solution.
It may certainly help but it is not a sure fire solution.
There are no “sure fire solution[s]” to general or individual obesity.
You are a dumb ass, you don’t know what you’re talking about so please keep your opinions to yourself
So sharing time…my wife had this same procedure roughly a year ago and it cost us 21 grand (could have gone overseas but if something went wrong…) with a bit of a discount for taking part in a questionaire
This was the best thing for my wife while for some its relatively easy to lose weight (I lost 16 kilos last year by mainly changing my diet to a predominately vegetarian diet) but in her case the steroids she was on in her early 20s (due to cervical cancer that came back) plus her having PCOS and that the genetics from her family are on the shorter, stockier side means that when it comes to gaining weight and losing weight she certainly got the worst of it
Most who get this operation don’t do it lightly and it is a big deal because for a lot of people it does mean you have to admit that you can’t do it yourself, that you do need help and for some it can have a serious effect
You have to get used to just not being able to have certain things any longer (no fizzy drink, ever) or complete changes in the things you want to eat or losing the joy in eating certain foods and having to remember to eat and drink because you no longer feel hungry or thirsty
Having to be careful how much you eat and drink because just a bite or two more and you’re in the toilet throwing it all back up, having to deal with well-meaning friends and family that don’t get that you just can’t eat much, not being able to fully take part in celebrations (or at least thinking you can’t)
Depressed because you’ve spent 21 grand on an operation for something that everyone says is easy…
Its a big deal
Thanks Chris.
Hi weka,
I’ve sent you a message 😉
thanks! will have a look in the next day or so.
There is no need to call me a dumb ass – I have close family who have PCOS- two in fact and I am very familiar with it, neither of them has become obese, they have made dietry changes and do the gym regularly – one of my family had a scan done and both ovaries were smothered in multi cysts. There are vitamin supplements which help and yes, there is a tendancy for weight gain but both have kept their weight down to a respectable degree. A good example Jamie Oliver’s wife has PCOS and has kept her weight down.
Steroid use I do admit can cause weight gain because of increased appetite, a lot of medications can cause weight gain gain and for that I understand your wife’s predicament – I just feel that surgery is a quick fix as other avenues may not have not been explored in lots of cases. Lucky for those who can afford it as I am sure our hospital system wouldn’t allow people willy nilly to have this surgery done at the tax payer’s expense.
Pretty sure chris73 was responding to Ed at 10.2.1, not you W.Kate.
I was talking to Ed however your type of ignorance is not needed either, all it does is help strengthen the argument that all you need to do is a bit of exercise, eat some vitamins, eat a little better and hey presto the weights gone
As I’m sure you might be aware (sarcasm) everyone is different so your experiences are yours, mine is mine and having lived with my wife for 14 years and seeing how the exercise hasn’t worked, hearing the abuse shes gotten (’cause you know people, men and women, love to shout “encouragement”) holding her when shes cried, supported her when shes down, tried to convince I still love and desire her even when her own brains telling herself how weak and disgusting she is I can’t really be bothered with the type of person that dismiss a legitimate medical procedure simply because they think its somehow not putting in the work
“What discipline is involved in having this sort of operation?”
The discipline to admit you can’t do it, the discipline to have accept you need help even though everyone (all experts of course) tells you its easy to lose weight, the discipline to realize that you’re having surgery and you’ll never be the same again
The discipline to realize that you’ll lose weight but that you won’t accept you did anything to “deserve” the weight loss because you didn’t work for it, that theirs a lot of ignorant people that will think its cheating
The discipline to understand that from now and until the day you die you have to remember to eat and drink because you don’t feel hungry or thirsty
The guilt you go through when you consider what else you could spend 20 odd grand on
So yeah I was talking to Ed but you’re a dumb ass as well
Ed you are correct once again re the plant based diet.
Thank you
No he isn’t, it works for some but not so it is not a panacea amd its the kind of attitude that makes people feel worse about themselves and their decision because “all they have to do is this and they’ll lose weight” which basically you’re not really trying to lose weight and are just lazy
Basically Eds being a sanctimonious, smug prick
She will be advocating for this to be on the public list as a medical procedure, right? So poor people can get access to this life threatening thing that can only be resolved surgically?
Bariatric surgery is funded by most DHBs if the patient meets certain specified criteria, as she had her surgery in private I don’t see how your comment is particularly relevant though ?
The funny (but not really funny) thing is because of the healthy eating and exercise my wife did to try to shift the weight meant that she wasn’t eligible for funding because she is so healthy
Cholesterol, blood pressure basically everything was good so we had to fund it ourselves
Whats with the “haters can hate” nonsense she spouts.
Look at some of the comments on here, cream cakes, wheres the discipline etc etc so I’d bet theres more on social media
Hell even just walking down the street it probably gets helpfully pointed out to her that shes overweight (because shes probably forgotten)
Nothing to do with politics, but a visual and auditory treat for those so inclined.
Just mesmerised my non-musically gifted eleven year old – who has delusions of waving his arms around conducting orchestras.
Very good, and I can create a political link if you like.
There is no need at all for grand gestures to produce perfect results. 🙂
🙂
… you can imagine the facial contortions going on at the moment while listening to music, in a mistaken idea that this is the skill needed…
All I could think of while enjoying looking at that beautifully expressive face was…’No Botox been near here…”
i have had the joy of seeing him live …..unforgettable..
That’s twuly twuly gorgeous darling.
You do wealise that if he ever saw some of your contwibutions on TS, He’d pwobably think you a pwise pwatt.
You should stick to music appreciation.
[This kind of pointless snarky and homo-phobic shite isn’t appreciated. Don’t do it again.] – Bill
Ah another standard commenter who needs a hug – I’ll add you to the list.
That was Stunted mullet virtue-signalling right wing style.
Dear old muttonbird- don’t feel left out, you can have a hug too.
Possum, haven’t you heard my new theory?
Virtue-signalling is a social media construct used by right wing people when denigrating the socially responsible left for defending minorities, women, the environment, or when they are just being plain old polite to those who might be struggling in life.
Bill English riskily used it as a pejorative in the media at some point last year, no doubt egged on by those poisonous rich kids at the Young Nats who were confident that everyone was saying it. Look where it got him!
I got to thinking that right wing people virtue-signal as well but it’s not around social consciousness, but rather their own personal success, and individual responsibility. “I’m so good I had a barbecue with my family”, for instance, and “why can’t everyone be as successful as me, it’s easy if you just try!”
Quite clearly, right wing virtue-signallers are sometimes consciously and sometimes unconsciously communicating with one another their superiority over those less fortunate than themselves. They are congratulating each other on what a fine life the’ve made for themselves.
This is virtue-signalling for the right and fellow RWNJs lap this stuff up, of course.
Gosh ! Sounds like you need two hugs and an early night.
No cuddles and a goodnight kiss??
A stunning performance. Thankyou Sm.
Who are New Zealand’s economic think tanks?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11964748
from the link…..”The NZ Initiative is not a lobby group,….”
Actually hurt my vocal chords laughing….
lol
Well, maybe not….
After consulting https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/lobby_group
“A body formed to influence legislation on a particular issue.”
Since the NZ Initiative probably have zero influence over the current Government, they probably don’t meet the definition of one. And I doubt they would take credit for having negative influence, ie Govt does the total opposite of what they want….
“…the current Government, ”
Who have not as yet done a hundred days…so their lobbying on the Previous Incumbents is still in effect.
You reckon they wont be visiting Labour or NZF Ministers?
Cue laughing
Sorry, I thought my irony would would have been obvious. I took their denial of being a lobby group as an admission that they won’t be doing much influencing going forward.
Lolololol
Speaking of lobbyists
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/98896171/labour-chief-of-staff-neale-jones-takes-up-job-with-lobby-firm-hawker-britton
https://www.unwatch.org/farce-u-n-s-2018-membership-human-rights-council/
Yeah…
Prime Minister May has appointed a Minister of Loneliness …
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/17/world/europe/uk-britain-loneliness.html
… apparently 9 million UK citizens always feeling lonely….
…. one of which is the Prime Minister, trying to figure out how to make the Brexit Dog bark and not a soul in the world wanting to listen.
But still plenty of European countries encouraging the UK government to forget this deliberate-loneliness strategy and welcome them all back.
Such a lonely job being Conservative PM.
I believe the UK has crossed the Rubicon on Brexit. The Chunnel (AKA Euro Tunnel) lacked symbolic power to establish and maintain a meaningful politico-economic let alone socio-cultural connection with the rest of Europe. Isolation in the name of sovereignty and self-rule is the game that’s still in the hearts & minds of many subjects of the ‘British Empire’.
Do you think the Corbyn-led Labour Party will change its mind and come out clearly opposing Brexit, with a commitment to hold a further referendum?
I honestly don’t know. To me, Brexit feels like the political equivalent of a sink hole that everybody is trying to avoid but that’s getting bigger all the time and will end up swallowing everybody, metaphorically speaking. Just before that critical moment we may see some sudden and possibly unexpected actions, political throes, but I reckon till then it’ll be cautious & timid manoeuvring around the edges from a relatively ‘safe’ distance.
As I said before, the pro-Brexit side (ie Farage, Johnson, etc) would have preferred a no vote, because they can just carry on moaning and groaning about the EU. Now they have voted yes, and they have no idea what the fuck to do, and are prbably waiting for someone to say, ‘lets not worry about this’.
At 37 years of age, Roger Federer makes it to the top 16 in the Australian Open.
Looking not as liquid as usual – but then neither is Djokovich or Nadal – who knows whether he can better his outstanding 2017 year, or indeed whether this is his final year of greatness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXLRU_IjjqI
For all us middle aged types, Federer remains a joy to watch.
At 37, 11 times world champion Kelly Slater’s carcass isn’t quite as robust as it once was but prior to a season ending foot injury, he was cleaning up competitors 25 years his junior.
He may or may not compete in the 2018 WTC but for us older than yourself types, Slater is a joy to watch.
Ocean energy…
Thanks, J90…
“Isolation in the name of sovereignty and self-rule is the game that’s still in the hearts & minds of many subjects of the ‘British Empire’.”
Yep Incognito, I know this is true.
I married an English lady 42 yrs ago and she is fiercely loyal and independent as she was then in 1976,
To be British is to be a breed of their own, and we are intertwined with them through our genealogy.
Meanwhile, in other more important news.
The Government’s much vaunted claim of planting a billion trees over 10 years dropped immediately after the election by 50%.
Now even that greatly reduce number has dropped by a further 90%.
Instead of the 100 million per year that was touted before the election it is now down to a hoped for 5 million in the next year.
No money, no land, nobody wanting forests, no seedlings and nobody to do the work.
Why am I not surprised? Any one willing to bet that there will be a reduction in the number of trees planted this year compared to last?
Alternatively I suppose that Shane and his cohort will start counting all the weed wilding pines that are infesting so much DOC and other uncultivated land these days as being part of their work.
Hmmm, betting on “more important news” 🤔
I doubt that Shane choosing this time to admit the problems is entirely coincidental. The old story of dumping bad news on a Friday just before a Holiday Weekend.
Let the story out while the journalists are distracted.
Hmmm, odd reply to my comment 🤔
Let’s agree to keep talking past each other, but in a nice respectful and kind manner 😉
I took you to mean that Shane was letting it out now while the Press was all distracted by Jacinda’s “more important” news .
That would mean little attention would be taken of anything he said.
Obviously that was not what your comment meant.
Now I am curious what you did mean. What is the “important news” you had in mind.
I had nothing in mind with “more important news” and I was only quoting from your comment @ 17 hence the quotation marks 😉
Personally, I struggle to reconcile the idea of betting on important news or issues as, to me, it seems to lessen the importance and lower it to a simplistic little game with only two possible outcomes with money as the ultimate reward.
I do realise that I probably take this way too seriously and that it might not be an issue to you or others. In other words, it is no big deal 😉
Thank you. Now I see what you meant.
Rubbish!!!! – is all that is worth saying.
Wait for the facts as they are now being planned in meetings around the country.
For instance Regional meetings with Iwi’s are on board here and articles in our East Coast Press Gisborne Herald & Wairoa Star, and HB Today have covered this forestry planting issue already now but details are ‘ongoing’ with iwi groups, so hold back on your suppositions.
” hold back on your suppositions.”
My suppositions? I am merely quoting what Shane Jones said.
Do you mean that he was lying or simply that he has no idea what is going on.
Alwyn,
What we are told is that talks are ongoing with iwis so we need them to be finished to fruition.
Shane is inside all the issues of getting a deal with iwi land use rules firstly I understand so in the local press he said that ongoing talks with iwis through the Waitangi tribunal has been described as the place and we all know that process needs to be given time to be completed.
you are using Pakeha logic in what is the Maori domain Alwyn.
Be careful here.
have some sensitivity please and let it all run it’s course.
“High Country selloff scandal laid bare”
See the bloody mess the previous governments have made of land use over on the latest selloff of our high country farmland, so Maori are pretty cautious now about any changes in land use that is where we are at now.
@ alwyn (17)
Unfortunately, 5 million trees will dampen the anticipated offsetting of greenhouse gas emissions and the vast employment opportunities that were hoped to be gained from the scheme.
However, voters will accept it will take time to ramp up before disillusionment starts to set in.
The next disappointment (IMO) will be their failure to ensure these new Government created jobs pay a living wage.
The Chairman.
i see you still sowing the seeds of mistrust eh?
“voters will accept it will take time to ramp up before disillusionment starts to set in”
Like what we all endured during “nine tortuous years of national slash and sell off carpetbegging.”????
We on the East Coast are confident that the expansion of tree planting policy will still achieve a large increase of plantings.
You can believe what you want it wont change the plan.
The financial rewards to the government for increasing our carbon credits will pay for the project handsomely, while heling to caurb climate change..
I’m not sowing the seeds of mistrust. Merely highlighting the disappointment in the small number of trees (compared to what was initially touted) and how that will dampen expected outcomes.
And while supporters may be accepting and confident at this stage, if expectations aren’t met within a reasonable time frame, there will be some disillusionment.
I won’t be disappointed at that at all because the Government does not create jobs as such. Therefore, it was laughable when National (also) made these (similar) ridiculous promises and John Key said:
It’s a Government scheme that will create employment.
And the disappointment will be the lost opportunity to help address inequality and poverty if they fail to pay a living wage.
With respect, you seem to view and frame these issues in a way that will guarantee disillusionment and disappointment IMHO. It reminds me of yesterday’s comment by swordfish about David Farrar first seeding the expectation in people’s minds that a new Government must enjoy an 11% bounce in the first post-election poll, which inevitably and unavoidably leads to an emotional reaction such as disillusionment and disappointment when this expectation never materialises because it was based on a false premise in the first place.
I never seeded an expectation Labour would pay a living wage, merely pointing out the lost opportunity of them not doing so.
In fact, going off their announced minimum wage increase (which extends out to 2021) Labour have shown they have no plan for the minimum wage to hit parity with the living wage. Hence, my expectation is these new Government created jobs won’t pay a living wage.
O.k. I admit that I’m confused; OT1H you say that you “never seeded an expectation” but OTOH you write “my expectation is these new Government created jobs won’t pay a living wage.”!? Aren’t you contradicting yourself?
“You say that you “never seeded an expectation””
No. I said I never seeded an expectation Labour would pay a living wage. And therein lays your confusion.
Nevertheless, Labour are a party that claim to support the living wage, therefore largely seeded the expectation themselves.
Hmmm, you state that you never seeded an expectation yet @ 17.3.2.1 you wrote:
And @ 17.3 you wrote:
To me, that reads like an expectation …
Up to your comment @ 17.3.2.1.1.1 you were referring to the (new) Government but then you start referring to Labour!?
But, as you clarified, you never expected Labour to pay the living wage so you were never going to be disappointed.
This only leaves only one question: whose expectation and disappointment are you talking about if not your own? And why are you so concerned? [technically, these are two questions]
No. You need to read a sentence through to the end. I said I never seeded an expectation Labour would pay a living wage – not I never seeded an expectation full stop.
And while I don’t personally believe Labour will hold true to their claimed support of the living wage, I still hold a glimmer of hope I may be wrong. Hence, I’m also susceptible to disappointment.
Nevertheless, as stated above, Labour are a party that claim to support the living wage, therefore (in giving that support) seeded an expectation that will no doubt, if not met, will disappoint more than just me.
Additionally, by lifting wages to a living wage and providing secure decent jobs, Labour can achieve some vital (and long overdue) benefits for workers through this scheme. Helping improve inequality and poverty, while also helping to stimulate smaller struggling regions.
And those that understand this are more likely to be the ones who will be disappointed if Labour waste this opportunity.
I did read your sentences through to the end. In fact, I literally quoted two of your sentences in full, i.e. including the full stops!
The coalition agreement commits to a minimum wage of $20 per hour in 2021 and the current Living Wage is $20.20 an hour. I have not seen any claims from the Government that they would pay the LW for those new tree planting jobs but feel free to throw me a link 😉
You may be correct that Labour may have seeded these kinds of expectations with some such as yourself but comments like yours will only fuel these expectations, which, I fully admit, is not the same as seeding but amounts to feeding and is equally ‘harmful’ in public discourse and like scaremongering IMO.
At this point in time it is pure speculation whether any expectations will be met or dashed and how disappointed some people might be. You have no idea, nobody does, the least of all how others might feel and react.
The best we can do is to argue for a LW across the board ASAP and playing the expectation-disappointment card is tantamount to emotional blackmail and a very poor & weak argument and negotiating tool.
“I did read your sentences through to the end”
Yet you continue to incorrectly claim I stated I never seeded an expectation.
People shouldn’t be silence from expressing their expectations and disappointment, they should be encouraged. Political parties require the feedback. Widening the perspective while allowing them to better understand, thus possibility appease concerns, improving their ability to bring the public along with them.
I never claimed Labour has committed to paying the living wage to employees on this scheme. I said Labour are a party that support the living wage. And to be fair, have done some work towards that end.
Nevertheless, at this stage they’ve only committed to the minimum wage for this scheme after Jones touted work for the dole.
However, that has yet to be finalised. Thus, this is the time to hold them to that support of the living wage. And we can help in doing that by speaking out publicly. Highlighting the opportunity that can potentially be gained or wasted and the benefits or disappointment related to that.
It’s not blackmail, it’s just highlighting the expected pros and cons of their decision.
As for the timing, best to apply pressure before the final decision is made.
It’s not often Governments offer to create employment and spend a billion dollars on a scheme, thus we should all be pushing to ensure it bests serves everyone and not just cronies and the elite.
I agree wholeheartedly with you that the Government has the power to set the scene & example by creating an employment scheme that pays the Living Wage and has other provisions for the employees that go above & beyond the (bare) minimum.
Pointing out pros & cons, perceived and real, is fine in discourse or negotiation; emotional blackmail – not just any blackmail – on the other hand, is a very weak and even risky bargaining chip and should be avoided IMHO. Stick to facts and proper (risk) modelling and people may even agree to disagree and respectfully accept the eventual outcome, any outcome, without getting ‘grief-stricken’ with disappointment about stuff that never was …
Apparently there will be disappointment when the new government fail to do more than they explicitly promised to do, in whatever policy area (TPP and tree numbers also come to mind).
Just another example of how the nats have it easy – nobody expected them to actually do what they promised, let alone exceed their manifesto commitments.
I don’t highlight real or anticipated disappointment as a means of emotional blackmail.
Voter disappointment is a vital factor that shouldn’t be overlooked when it comes to the pros and cons of policy crafting and political decision making.
Labour’s history of disappointing supporters has not only damaged their own support base (with supporters defecting to the Greens, Mana and NZF) overtime it has damaged the left overall.
I’ve come across a fair number that no longer vote due to Labour’s past betrayal. Perceiving voting makes no, to little difference.
Labour do themselves no favours in this area. Touting headlines such as their support of the living wage, their belief in full employment, a ban on foreign property investors etc, which, when one scratches the surface, quickly discovers Labour fails to actually fully deliver on.
The realisation of which, leads to voter disappointment.
If there are roadblocks in place, it is the belief that these things should be done by the private sector.
Let’s see.
If I recall correctly, your “50%” drop was actually repeating exactly what was announced initially – the “100billion” trees includes the 500million currently planned.
So now the additional lie (and yes, I think you are deliberately and knowingly trying to misrepresent reality) is that every program must immediately start at its nominal average level and sustain it over the ten year duration, rather than starting slow to establish systems and then operating at above-average levels when everything is working.
Exactly right!
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2017/10/revealed-shane-jones-minister-for-100-million-trees-1-billion-regional-fund.html dated 25 October 2017, i.e. the day after the coalition agreement, which means that according to some ‘bright lights’ (…) they should have already planted 273,973 trees! Thus, by the same token, the Government already failed to meet its promised targets after one day!! No wonder we never saw that 11% bounce on the polls 😉
I’m shocked that they didn’t plant the full billion new trees in the first 100 days. /sarc
Yeah, obviously this Government is not going to last the full 3-year term, maybe just 40+6 weeks 😉
The prodigious boy-wonder geniusNational’s Economic and Regional Development spokesman Simon Bridges quickly (!) calculated that “it would take 200 years to plant a billion trees at 5 million per year.” I believe he’s managed to do this without any help from Treasury, which should increase our confidence in his figures because there was a growing perception that he could not count to ten 😉http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/politics/national-targets-government-over-failure-to-meet-tree-planting-target
Well, to be fair he’s used to National’s approach to project management – wildly over promise and under (if at all) deliver.
You’re right again and I apologise for being overly harsh on somebody who simply is following the only rulebook he knows.
Apple will pay about $NZ52bn in tax on the roughly $344bn cash pile it holds outside the US following recent changes to American tax rules.
Last year, the New Zealand Herald reported the tech giant had paid no local tax here in the last decade, despite selling $NZ4.2bn of products in that time.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/business/348400/apple-to-pay-us-tax-on-foreign-cash
you know tax is paid on profit not revenue right ?
So what’s the $344bn cash if not profit? Are they just holding it ready to pay their creditors?
Surely, you’re not suggesting, not even for a minute, that there was zero profit on $4.2 billion worth of sales revenue, are you?
Of course, they paid taxes but they did pay the bulk of that overseas, i.e. in Oz, then Ireland followed by the US as far as I know but I am no expert and it is very complex and obviously not transparent to the
averagenominal TS commenter.James defends corporate tax dodgers
Maybe, maybe not, but I’m much more concerned about spreading of mis- and disinformation in a manner that seems similar to David Farrar’s ways of planting false memes under the cover of plausible deniability – just wait for the defensive arguments to appear, often in an aggressive tone because the best defence is attack.
You say that as a fact with nothing to back it up.
I on the other hand can state facts like Ed supports boycotting the alzheimer’s society and Heart kids
I have no idea of the cost of the NZ Company. Im guessing that they make very little profit on the devices they sell.
The cost to them from ANOTHER (OVERSEAS) company is probably very high.
Please don’t insult our and your own intelligence. You comment in this thread without having a clue and without making any attempt to educate yourself!? And surely, you don’t really believe that the profit margin on Apple devices is very small and that their costs (what costs?) to an overseas mother company are very high? The mind boggles if Apple were indeed not making any (!) profit on local sales worth $4.2 billion, don’t you think?
It did not take much digging to find useful information (and there are more useful recent pieces):
By: Matt Nippert http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11820240
To provide some balance (for your perusal), a recent statement by Apple: https://www.apple.com/nz/newsroom/2017/11/the-facts-about-apple-tax-payments/
The upshot is that taxes are not paid in NZ but somewhere else and it all is perfectly legal.
New Zealand’s hottest January could be ultimate record-breaker
Rachel Stewart asks
[link fixed. I can’t see anything from Stewart in that article though – weka]
The seven stations time series of data is the one that Jim did his original thesis on in the late ’70’s early ’80’s. At that time Jim and I used to travel to and from work in Wellington on the train together, he lived close by, and we enjoyed many a discussion on Global warming and the results of his research at that time.
While maximum temps get the headlines they are in fact not the dominant factor in the final average. Night time temperatures are included, and these are the ones that show the consistent increase over time. This factor is a significant indicator for the evidence of Global warming being caused by increasing GHGs. Were it not for the fact that the earth is enveloped in an atmosphere containing GHG’s all the heat from the sun would be radiated into space during nighttime and the temperature of the Earth would be around -18 C. Increasing minimum temperatures (ie Night time Temperatures) are a direct result of increasing GHG’s.
Thank you. Most informative- you get the most interesting and intelligent posters on the Standard!
It was an absolute pleasure to travel with Jim. The 45 min journey always passed quickly. I was then on The Naval Staff in Def HQ, and Jim was in the Met Office in Karori. As always Jim had his own weather station at his home in Silverstream where we both lived, and he would write a weekly weather column for the local paper “The Leader”.
Outstanding achievement by rocket labs this afternoon.
https://mobile.twitter.com/rocketlab?lang=en
A great achievement, and the government gets it.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/100757521/rocket-lab-launches-electron-test-rocket-from-mhia-peninsula-hawkes-bay
We have a few trolls here who like to bring up the situation in Venezuela using the chaos there to show what NZ will be like if we continue with Labour/Green policy.
Honduras, which has a dictatorial US backed regime is also in violent chaos. Guess it’s not socialism after all…
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/348561/man-60-latest-killed-in-honduras-protests-ngo
So, she left protestors who were out in the cold to attend a warm, cosy, alt-right party,
She didn’t say shit, had drinks, and chatted with Mickey super serum Cernovich, Jimmy dildo boat O’Keefe and the rest of the gorilla mindset menz.
/
https://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/chelsea-manning-goes-to-a-pro-trump-gala?