According to Hosking in his column we’re travelling down an introspective, small-minded, closed shop road in stopping foreigners buying land here.
Apparently selling foreign land to rich Americans who want to escape their not introspective, small-minded, closed shop country will be great for us.
Don’t panic Mike , we’ve got you and the riches from that enhance our lives more than Julian Robertson, Peter Thiel, Barak Obama or a thousand American billionaires could ever do.
It also keep luxury house prices up, they might fall or sell less like hot cakes if the foreign sales are stopped.
As for US, I think soon it will be billionaires from Asian and Middle East vying for our bolt holes to join the American’s and keep the McMansions getting bigger and our best builders employed for years, in a building shortage.
Personally don’t mind a few foreign sales but clearly many in the world have WAY too much money to spend and countries to influence, and like UK, it just gets out of control.
That has now happened to NZ and places like Queenstown for example are being built for people who don’t live there and no accomodation for people who do.
Listening to that ridiculous stuffed shirt Grant Robertson dissemble and divert on RNZ over the issue of Air New Zealand’s abandonment of the provinces made my blood boil this morning. For Christ’s sake man, this should be a BREAD AND BUTTER issue for a left wing politician.
Robertson clearly has no interest in holding the Air NZ board to account. From that, i doubt he has any real intentions beyond what is in the coalition deal of helping Shane Jones and NZ First in their plan for regional renewal.
Robertson might as well fuck off to the National party for all the difference he plans to make as finance minister.
Sorry to restate the obvious but Roberston isn’t a left wing politician. It’s the same old dilemma for Labour (and Labour members and Labour voters). What can they do?
Draco – this has already been pointed out to you. The political compass is not evidence of anything.
It is the same as using an anonymous Stuff survey. There is no way to no who did it and how they answered. Basing anything on that is stupid and you should feel stupid
Draco – you can’t use an anonymous survey (because that is essentially what it is – an anonymous survey) which doesn’t state it’s methodology or who completed it, what they know about party policy or how they answered the question.
The overwhelming majority of political scientists, commentators and anyone else who puts their name to anything agree Labour is centre-left so how you can argue against that with an anonymous website which doesn’t disclose the methodology behind its results is an extremely poor argument indeed.
It’s like using a Stuff poll which asks “Is the government heading in the right direction” as evidence the government is/isn’t heading in the right direction.
And knock it off with the RW bullshit. I have told you several times I am not RW, never have been and can’t see any reason why I would. Pointing out your poor argument does not make one a RWinger
which doesn’t state it’s methodology or who completed it, what they know about party policy or how they answered the question.
Except that they do state their methodology and who completes it isn’t important. The latter is just an Appeal to Authority which is a logical fallacy.
The overwhelming majority of political scientists, commentators and anyone else who puts their name to anything agree Labour is centre-left so how you can argue against that with an anonymous website which doesn’t disclose the methodology behind its results is an extremely poor argument indeed.
[Citation Needed]
But that rings of another logical fallacy: Bandwagon
And knock it off with the RW bullshit. I have told you several times I am not RW, never have been and can’t see any reason why I would. Pointing out your poor argument does not make one a RWinger
“Except that they do state their methodology”
Not really no – they doesn’t really give us anymore information at all as to how they got the result they did.
And it isn’t an appeal to authority – it’s the exact opposite because I’m not appealing to any authority – I’m actually asking you where the Political Compass gets the authority to make the claims they are.
Do you really need a citation as to who thinks Labour is centre-left? Given is the leading paradigm I wouldn’t have thought it needed a citation. But fine – I can’t provide you with a list.
I’m not acting like a right-winger – I’m explaining to you why this Political Compass as evidence of Labour being centre-right is extremely poor scholarship for reason listed. Calling you out on that isn’t being right-wing
Relative to what? If we’re talking the Overton Window, then yes Robertson would be too far to the right of traditional left wingness. But in NZ today, on our own spectrum, centre left neoliberalism is a useful way to understand where we are at.
Btw, the political compass you linked to, how come the Greens have been moved to the right?
Btw, the political compass you linked to, how come the Greens have been moved to the right?
Because their policies have moved to the right. And they actually have done to some degree as they’ve become more ‘business friendly’ over the last few years.
I’ll take that to be some vague impression that the GP have moved right, but it’s not actual evidence of such.
The Greens building relationships with business has easily been counter balanced by them also building relationships with Māori and the underclasses. It’s also a way of moving business leftwards.
This is why the Greens don’t readily fit into classic L/R framing, but I’m not seeing anything obvious about their policies that account for them having been moved right on that particular compass.
The main one might be the BRR, but that appears to have been a compromise in order to work with Labour rather than an ideological or policy shift. Am open to some actual examples that show different.
Yes labour are a disappointment so far, but a negative poll may spur their lazy ways to actually get up and do the right thing they promised us all before the election or they may need to “waka jump”.
Robertson is a product of his time…he studied politics in the mid nineties and then worked for Foreign Affairs and Trade upon graduation….the height of the neolib era ….Overton window and all that.
I don’t think the Greens really fit or suit the label “left” for the same reason I have difficulties labelling myself “left”. But this is just my personal pedantry 😉
True. I think calling them left in this kind of conversation is useful but then it does cause a bit of confusion when we have the neither left nor right conversations.
Also, they’re not traditional left, which is what many people are still expecting Labour to be. Which begs the question of what the left does now given neither Labour nor the Greens are in that role.
Because there is no socialists to vote for. Especially party vote, the greens have made it abundantly clear they are not socialist. And the labour party threw out any pretence to social democracy in the 1980’s, and have never looked like taking it up again.
I’m broadly socialist and I vote. I party vote Green because I can see that if they have more power, they will take us in the direction of socialism. That’s what that whole movement wanted and had it been supported more by socialists and left wingers in the past 30 years we might be actually getting somewhere by now. Instead, the only way the Greens have been able to gain ground was by playing the long game and finding the balance point between influencing the mainstream and becoming more mainstream in order to do so.
Not voting doesn’t answer my question, it just cedes the power and the discussion to the Robertsons of the world.
I don’t think Labour/Greens will ever be left enough for many of the regular commenters at The Standard. They would need to abandon middle NZ to do so and struggle to secure 5% of the vote.
They have the votes of the regulars here in the bag. Growing their share of the votes requires being seen to move right, not left.
The Green’s greatest supporter/critics eg: The Chairman, every day he was taking a swipe at their lack of sliding left. It may well be with reluctance but I do feel that those that share his sentiment would never vote Nat/ACT.
I agree that there are those here for whom nothing short of revolution would be regarded as “right wing neoliberalism”, but there are also no shortage of tories who like to encourage those divisions with concern-trolling about whether party A or person B is “left wing enough”.
As for moving right to get votes, I’m not so sure. Arguing that there’s a pool of voters betwixt lab and nat is the same trap as others who attribute votes to policy or simple photogenic leadership.
People vote for complex reasons, and pivoting a party to chase that one thing which will work kind of leaves your dick on the anvil if that one thing turns out to have been a pipe dream.
At the risk of sounding like a damned hippy, the analogy of the Venn diagram constrains the discussion into the right/left/intersect argument you’re making, rather than simply illustrating it.
For example, the Greens are doing their thing, following through on their commitments as much as they can. Labour are doing their thing, following through on their commitments as much as they can. Actually having honest politicians will increase the pool of voters on the leftish side, not just suck some voters from the nat side. Having tories look like losers will disincentivise some tories from voting, lowering their pool of voters. So labgrn might increase their proportion of votes without ever approaching the middle ground with the tories.
Like most of us, his contribution stands testament to the life he has led. Grant has never been unplugged from the Mother Ship. I think he’d struggle to run a successful lemonade stall at the bottom of his drive.
Similar to English. He was never really a “farmer” (grew up on one but then I have a pool but am not thereby an olympic swimmer) but was a career bureaucrat and then politician but nary a peep from Nats about his lack of real world experience. Then there is the woodwork teacher turned politician who fucked over the people of Christchurch and then EQC and then giving Fletchers immunity from any poor repair work.
Aren’t there restrictions on the directions he can give the board because the govt isn’t sole shareholder? It has to run for profit unless we renationalise.
For a party that believes in democratic process, they FAILED miserably here just to gain a little notoriety, just hope they don’t go the same way the Aus Greens have, supporting conservative agendas, their polling is already fairly low.
Did Shaw ASK you if you thought it was a good idea to gift National their questions, my take is that it’s members only heard about this through the media, the strong Green supporters here defended the hell out of it, even though the reality is it is likely to see supporters drift away from an already diminishing base.
I hoped to see the Greens be very successful at promoting the core issues they stand for and put forward policies and ideas that all Kiwis can be proud of, instead they’ve poked a lot of supporters in the eye with a blunt stick to gain a few NEWs headlines.
For me, James Shaw has made some serious mistakes trying to be more relevant, some of the statements he has made in the past just don’t really support the true Values of the Green movement.
1. Shaw didn’t ask each individual member because that is not how the GP works democratically. They have tried and true processes that balance democracy with functionality. The caucus is empowered to make decisions without having to go to the membership each time. Think that through. The amount of work of running a democratic process with the membership on every decision, or even just this one, would be massive.
2. The GP didn’t give their questions to National, they gave them to the Opposition. Think about that.
3. Shaw didn’t do this, the Green Party did. But he fronted it and the rationales I have heard from him fit very well with the principles of the GP. That’s the whole point (which is being missed by many people). If you think that is wrong, please point to the specific values that have been undermined here and explain how they’ve been undermined.
So the caucus was well informed and approved about his intentions then?
OK, the opposition parties comprise of National and ACT, splitting hairs I think, are there any common policies between these two parties and the Greens?
So you’re still arguing that the Green Party did this but with out informing any of the members of the Green party that this is what they will do.
Weka, I read all the threads on the topic the other day and TBH, could see the search for a suitable reason to justify it (the announcement), and when one was found you all clapped your hands and said Yeah. I understand that improving democratic process is a good thing in a world where everything is skewed by vested interests, but as pointed out, there are many other things that could have been done to achieve a much better and enduring outcome without alienating members of the party.
I want the Greens to successful, but they need to recognize that their base is now only 5%, they need smart policies that the general public will support for the right reasons, staunch Green supporters do not like National, either do I, stop pandering to them, the public aren’t as stupid as some may think.
“So the caucus was well informed and approved about his intentions then?”
I think you really have no idea how the GP works. Shaw didn’t make this decision, the GP did. Which means that the caucus both discussed and made a decision about it.
“OK, the opposition parties comprise of National and ACT, splitting hairs I think, are there any common policies between these two parties and the Greens”
You miss the point. The Greens are offering it to the Opposition, because of the principle that the Opposition should be the ones holding the govt to account. That would apply to whoever was in Opposition including Labour.
“So you’re still arguing that the Green Party did this but with out informing any of the members of the Green party that this is what they will do.”
I’m not arguing that, it’s simply a fact. That’s how the party works, and it has processes built into to increase democracy without having to run extremely time consuming processes around involving the whole membership each time. Do you have much experience with consensus decision making? Or there other processes the Greens use?
“there are many other things that could have been done to achieve a much better and enduring outcome without alienating members of the party.”
Such as? You get that the GP has done some other things too, and has active plans for more in the future right?
“I want the Greens to successful, but they need to recognize that their base is now only 5%, they need smart policies that the general public will support for the right reasons, staunch Green supporters do not like National, either do I, stop pandering to them, the public aren’t as stupid as some may think.”
If you can’t see that this isn’t pandering to National, then I can’t help you. The Greens have a culture and a specific mandate based on core principles. They also have a problem with expressing that (and I’m critical of their comms generally and in this specific instance), but that’s also because of the general misunderstandings in the public about who they are and what they do. So I get that for many people, hating on National is core to the politics. That’s just not how it is for the GP, and for very good reasons.
I know what question time is like, but everyone seems to think that it’s just the Govt that needs to be held to account, all parties need to be held to account for their actions and statements, opposition parties should be held to the same high standard as the Govt otherwise it’s just a farce.
There are a lot of Green supporters who are a little dismayed at the policy, which is where this thread originated.
I don’t deny the Greens have a robust democratic process, but it still doesn’t mean the policies are palatable for all their members.
I think if you were go back and read ALL the threads on this topic from a few days ago, you might just see the bigger picture that emerged.
I’m going to leave at that, I just don’t see the Greens as a movement benefiting from this policy, either from a membership perspective or popularity.
I know what question time is like, but everyone seems to think that it’s just the Govt that needs to be held to account, all parties need to be held to account for their actions and statements, opposition parties should be held to the same high standard as the Govt otherwise it’s just a farce.
I agree, but how does that apply to QT? Are you saying that the Greens could have used their questions to hold National to account? I don’t think they are allowed to do that. There are other ways to hold the Opposition parties to account though.
“There are a lot of Green supporters who are a little dismayed at the policy,”
Yes. But that has happened before when they do something that lots of people don’t understand and where the MSM do a poor job of explaining it.
“I think if you were go back and read ALL the threads on this topic from a few days ago, you might just see the bigger picture that emerged.”
I haven’t read every comment, but I’ve read most of them, and lots on twitter too. So I have a pretty good idea of the range of response, and the range of arguments for and against. I’m still trying to decide whether to write a post on this, but have been researching a lot in the past few days.
I’m going to leave at that, I just don’t see the Greens as a movement benefiting from this policy, either from a membership perspective or popularity.
I know this still comes as a surprise but the GP operate from principles first. This doesn’t mean they don’t take feedback or notice of dissent, they do. But that alone isn’t a good enough reason to recant on a policy let alone a principle. In this case I expect the party first and foremost to be listening to its active members but also people generally. I hope they take the time to see where the change leads and if people change their minds on it, but I am not supportive of the Greens informing their policies and actions from a ‘we hate National’ position.
true. This is why I suggest that to understand the Greens one needs to listen to them directly. One can still disagree but one is then disagreeing from an informed place.
A Guest Post would be welcome! (when the time is right)
Ah the threshold chestnut again. Go look at their record in every election and except when Labour was imploding they have always been around the threshold. Therefore being around the threshold is evidence of nothing other than that for nearly 20 years it has been enough to get Greens into parliament.
Read it right through and then think about whether it served any purpose at all.
If you were Golriz Ghahraman wouldn’t you be totally embarrassed by being required to ask these stupid questions? Wouldn’t you like to be able to refuse to do so?
Actually I quite admire the way she asked the last supplementary.
In case you haven’t seen this tool, it is the Oral Question Roster for the 52nd Parliament drawn up and approved by the Business Committee last Nov 2017 which sets out by sitting day, the number of primary Oral Questions allocated to each party making up the 12 Questions for the day.
The actual sequence of the 12 questions often changes but the numbers don’t. I doubt that this will be rejigged in light of the Greens decision as this is in essence an informal decision by the Greens and their arrangement with National is outside (but not contrary to) the current formal procedures and rules of the House.
Today is Sitting Day 31. This day number is always at the top of the Order Paper for each sitting day – helpful if you lose count as the allocation roster doesn’t state the date of each numbered day.
Today was to have been the only day this week that the Greens had an allocated question (#12) but this allocation seems to have been given to ACT today – whether by the Greens is not clear …
That is certainly a great deal easier than the way I found the questions.
I think you are wrong about being able to find the day on the list from the day on the order paper though.
As you say the day on the order paper is 31. The questions for today are however the ones for day 29 on the table you have linked to.
The questions for day 29 go L,N,A,L,N,N,L,N …….(L=Labour etc) The Greens were not going to have a question.
If you look at the list of questions for today you will see that they are in that same order as day 29. ACT has got question 3. https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/order-paper-questions/list-of-oral-questions/oral-questions-21-march-2018/
I hope what I am saying is clear enough to follow.
Thus the day number on the table you provide is only the days on which there is a Question Time. The difference between 29 and 31 caters, of course, for the fact that there was no Question Time on the first 2 days of the term. I guess keeping track would be like using one of those old desk diaries where you tear off and throw away the sheet for each day.
It would be embarrassing if a party got out of step with the right day wouldn’t it?
You’re right – good spotting. Your explanation makes sense and I should have spotted it.
The value of peer review, yet again. Thanks. Brain has had a bit of a workout this week. Will correct my post of last night on this for the record.
So in fact the Greens were allocated Q10 today and this was used by Nick Smith,Nat. Bit of a hot one today, that one! *
Did you go through Hansard to find those four questions? Do you ever use the Watch On Demand section? It was upgraded over the election break and IMHO is the quickest place to find who has asked questions, spoken on Bills etc as it now has a good filter system whereby you can filter by individual MP, subject, date period, Questions, Bill Debates etc https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand
For example, if you select Oral questions (rather than All) and then click on the MP box, the drop down box lists them by name, you select who you want, and then press the apply filters box and it will bring up all the questions (with videos) that MP has asked or been involved in with the latest first. Have only had one missed to date so not quite 100%.
Videos are now up very promptly – usually up in about 15 – 20 mins except after about 5pm when they slow, but then quicker again in the evening.
By my reckoning, today’s roster was No. 7 – would welcome you checking this for me. Based mine on the sequence of the videos using the Watch On Demand link above.
Cheers – just shows that people of different pol leanings can work well together when we have other shared interests and respect one another’s differences!
* From the videos on On Demand, I now see that Q10 was so hot that Smith came back later and made a Personal Explanation.
I would agree that it is Roster number7.
At least it has Seymour at position 7 of the 12 which is right. He only gets 3 turns in the 30 week cycle and the others are at 11 (in week 17) and 4 (in week 24).
That certainly makes him a pretty easy marker.
“Did you go through Hansard to find those four questions”.
I just looked at each day of the last 2 weeks of the questions that were going to be asked. The reference is in my comment above minus the specific date (here 21 March).
I was only looking for some samples and I wasn’t actually interested in the replies or the supplementary questions so it is only a single page per day. I just went until I had 4 from 2 weeks so it seemed a fair sample. It was only later that I bothered to look at the full debate for the last, Census, one.
Actually, while trying to edit it to be more readable I left in an erroneous statement. I said after the bit about the order that the Greens weren’t getting a question. They of course got Q10 as you say.. I left that comment in by accident after changing around chunks of the material.
Poor old Nick. “a” instead of “other”. Good on the Minister for spotting the chance and taking advantage of it. It was a great response. Pity Kelvin Davis isn’t as quick.
I shall have to have a look at some of the things you have suggested. I am just old fashioned and have to date stuck happily to the transcripts.
“people of different pol leanings”
My political leanings are generally right in the centre. I do not think that a Government should last more than 3 terms though, as long as there is someone else prepared to take over. Unfortunately I don’t think Labour were in that position last election which annoyed me greatly. Haven’t changed my mind about it either.
Since 1981 I have voted 7 times National, 5 times Labour and once did not vote. Pretty close to a swinging voter. Could have easily been 6,6,1 if Labour hadn’t, at least in my view, wasted 9 years of opposition.
I note that alwyn has given you the link to Hansard for the transcript of Question 6 on 1 March 2018 – but not the link to the video.
Here is the link to the video as this gives a much better feel for the demeanour of both Golriz Ghahraman and James Shaw in asking and answering both the primary question and the string of supplementary questions on the Census – and the attitude and reaction of the National Party MPs.
Do you see any embarrassment on the part of Golriz Ghahraman in asking the primary questions and her first supplementary questions?
I don’t. Nor do I see any embarrassment on Shaw’s part in answering them – initially.
IMO both seem quite eager and to be enjoying themselves. Golriz laughs at about supplementary question 2 and 3, and uses eye and facial expressions to emphasize parts of her questions. She is obviously a little taken aback that she has to wait for Brownlee to ask a question and also raise a Point of Order before she asks her final supplementary which she prefaces with “This is a good one.”
Shaw’s initial enthusiasm dwindles as the barracking from the National Party MPs increases with each question and answer, and he appears quite feed up at the end. Ghahraman’s laughter in the final moments could also be embarrassment.
I can understand that Shaw could well feel p. off that he was being landed with criticism of the Census system and processes set up under the previous National Govt well before he became Minister – and the problems with the process being experienced at the time. This would have been particularly galling coming from the very same National MPs that were previously involved in the setting up of the revised Census procedures etc.
BUT did anyone else make Shaw as Minister of Statistics and Ghahraman choose to use the Green Party Parliamentary Oral Question allocation to attempt to clarify the situation on the Census processes ?
No. That was entirely their decision.
And now they have decided to give some of their primary Oral questions to these very same people – ????
Here’s a message to the community I just wanted to share….
I’m really enjoying The Standard and engaging with everyone here. While we all have differences in opinion I am enjoying having some robust discussions and interesting conversations with everyone. While I have butted heads with some of the more… colourful individuals (Draco can never back down even when wrong; CV has gone completely round the bend and the less said about LPrent the better) I have also enjoyed these back and forths.
McFlock, Carolyn_nth, Tracey, Weka and Pyscho Milt – you guys are some of my favourite people to talk with and enjoy your contributions.
In due course I think you will change your mind about Draco and lprent. Their individual styles take a bit of getting used to, but they both have brilliant brains even if one doesn’t always agree with them.
Draco just comes out with some pretty easily disproven shit at times and LPrent is just very much in love with himself (yes I know he is the site owner – I’m just calling it like I see it). Also when he thinks he is being clever by insulting people it comes across very poorly.
I don’t think either of them are dumb however and don’t want nor expect them – or anyone for that matter – to change. It all makes up the rich tapestry of life….
Great Britain became great through trade – the whole fucking American Revolution started because of Britain’s trading practices and they owned well over half the worlds trade at one point.
No, they owned well over half the world’s theft at one point. They were wealthy because of stealing resources, not because they were trading fairly for their resources.
No, they became ‘great’ because they built up their local manufacturing and their war machine so that they could conquer other territories and steal the resources of those conquered territories.
I’m saying that we should do the first bit and build up our manufacturing capabilities, knowledge and skills so that we can support ourselves from our own resources rather than being dependent upon trade which actually leaves us poorer.
And to build the war machine they needed….trade! with the baltic states to get the wood needed for their ships.
This isn’t hard – the owned nearly every trade route in the world and traded extensively. It isn’t even disputed.
Your statement at the very beginning said they didn’t need trade when in fact they were the biggest trading nation the world have even seen and one British company, on it’s own, controlled half the worlds trade. These are facts.
If you want to believe Great Britain wasn’t a trading nation (the biggest trading nation of its time) despite everything to the contrary then fine. You’ll note I have provided about 5 – 6 different citations that disagree with your premise while you have provided none – just your opinion.
So despite owning over the half the worlds, opening trading posts all over the world, trading extensively with China, the baltics, the West indies, India and the Orient in general you still hold the position that they did it all themselves without the need for trade.
I stand by my original post – you can’t admit when you got something just plain wrong.
You don’t understand John.
You are arguing from just a small, say one thousand years of history. To disprove DTB’s credo you have to prove that Britain was the leading trading nation at all times and with all other countries.
They weren’t between 1121 and 1123 AD with Inner Mongolia.
Therefore you are totally wrong and you should bow down before the superior knowledge of DTB.
Know your place villein and don’t question the wisdom of your Lord, Baron Draco of Bastard.
Initially the British Empire grew from mercantilism within its borders but from the Industrial Revolution onwards “British control of the oceans proved optimal in creating a liberal free-trade global economy, and helped Britain gain the lion’s share of the world’s carrying trade and financial support services.”
Thanks (sarcasm) for screwing up Fonterra, cumulating a loss of $348 million.
Maybe next time they cap the salary at 1 million instead of 8 million plus – Fonterra might actually get someone who is less greedy and more interested in the company than screwing it up. Of course they are also giving him a consultancy role so he can keeping milking it…
Maybe think about a Kiwi at the helm too as we keep hearing how important Fonterra is for NZ and therefore needs TPPA, more environmental degradation and the country has to suck it up so they can post loses and pay execs 8 million.
Funny Fonterra is always a Kiwi company when it suits them, but an international one, when it comes to management and their decisions and salaries.
At least if they bother to appoint a Kiwi at the helm, they have to live with their decisions and hopefully have a more long term approach, than make cash and deliver losses… for the 8 million salary and then off to do it again, no doubt somewhere else in the world.
Dairy farming does not have to be toxic! Clearly getting someone in from Holland which intensively farms animals in barns and specialises in mergers was never a good fit with NZ farming practises. Has not worked out financially either.
Whose bright idea was it to hire him in the first place?
No net benefit? Tell that to the tens of thousands of farmers, farm staff, ancillary industries, and contractual staff who derive an income from the dairy industry.
Not to mention billions into the government’s coffers from the associated income and gst tax.
Local councils love rates income from dairy farms.
You can grizzle about farming and pollution but net benefit….hole in your head with that comment.
Yep, clearly Fonterra team are financial and overseas planning wizards.. (sarcasm)
“But in its interim results on Wednesday, Fonterra said net normalised profit after tax had fallen 36 per cent from its 2017 result, to $248 million.
While revenue was up 6 per cent, the company’s earnings before interest and taxes were down 25 per cent from 2017.
With the one-off payments to Danone, over the botulism contamination scare, and the Beingmate write-off factored in, the cooperative made a loss of $348m, a 183 per cent drop in net profit after tax from the 2017 interim result.”
With CEO Theo Spierings resigned, I sure hope Fonterra use this as an opportunity to get their shit together, stop losing money, and emphasise the Value over their Volume and Velocity drivers.
Can anyone tell me where the big election push for cleaner waterways went, now that they are in power?
Currently, other than through an oblique regulatory lens enabled through a change of legislation, I don’t see any government strategy for engaging with the dairy industry as a whole, let alone Fonterra as our largest locally-owned business.
Fonterra knew Beingmate sales were declining when they bought them due to on line sales increasing at a rapid pace. They overpaid because it was tipped they were buying them and also they were over valued in the first place, because on line sales were taking the business.
Mistake after mistake.
Fonterra management are dinosaurs and out of touch with modern business.
Surely they could work out, that in a country of billions it is easier to order on line than go through traffic and have to travel in an enormous country to a few retail stores, to get your milk powder?
Surely????
When the evidence was before their eyes at the time in China, retail declining, on line sales increasing?
One would expect the chairman to resign also given that the CEO is presumably carrying out the boards wishes. The board and upper management need an extensive clean out.
Am I qualified to comment, yep, got family who work for them.
If they lower the salaries under 1 million with benefits for CEO under $500k for anyone else and set the board salary at NZ levels, hopefully clean out of the worst Greedies and certainly the board and upper management set the strategy and make the bad decisions so heads should roll.
The reality is that like in the famous add for pineapple lumps the world sees many Kiwis as yokels in business, with good reason and our ability to attract B and C grade overseas executives while thinking we have hit the jackpot seems to have become the new norm.
Fonterra were probably fed fake facts about Bestmate from the Chinese or someone got a backhander to make such a bad error in the first place and over pay. Unless it is just out and out stupidity and laziness?
Similar to treasury apparently blaming a 25% error on their child poverty on the IT guy.
Time also to actually improve the Kiwi business with Kiwi residents who actually understand the culture here and work for NZ and company interests.
Kiwi’s used to be renewed for their ideas and quality not the pen pushing lazies that expect the government to wipe their asses with policy friendly laissez-faire deregulation for short term profits and have an expensive board of ‘names’ to show they are part of the greedy club and have the appropriate nepotism and networking in place.
It’s kinda the opposite of what to expect from a functioning rural co operative in this country.
Well, you don’t seem to support the left and seem to get your information from sources like foxnews as well as supporting a right wing US political candidate.
I’m sorry if I have misinterpreted you – I am asking for genuine reasons and not to offend
John, CV works pretty hard at sustaining nuanced and well researched positions.
You will find plenty on here who don’t change their minds, are spectacularly narrow-minded, and spend most of their times in tiresome purity contests with each about how ultra-left and ultra-good they are.
What “Left” is there to support? The Greens? Labour?
Socialism (or perhaps Communism) as a political economic model?
Post-modern identity politics or perhaps a radical social liberalism which promotes the inversion/destruction of traditional social boundaries and social structures?
Or the Clinton Left which seems to believe that escalating tensions with Russia and proclaiming the sanctity of the FBI/CIA/New York Times as guardians of freedom and democracy is now “Left”?
Or maybe the environmental left which has spent the last week proclaiming that Climate Change is bringing on a global catastrophe of civilisation ending proportions – but the furthest we can possibly go is (an ineffective) ban on oil exploration, but not a ban on actual fossil fuel importation?
Or perhaps the Left which is breathless at the prospects of Hillary and Obama visiting NZ along with their congratulations that NZ Labour carried on with the implementation of the TPP that they championed while in office?
I’m not sure which left. I’m left in that I oppose right wing/social conservatism. Not having a party to always support doesn’t mean I don’t strife against it the right.
Does this mean you have given up on the left as being able to get their shit together rather than “joining the right” as it were?
I decided that a degree of social conservatism and also long standing cultural values have an important place in the every day running of society that too many people have taken for granted.
Arabs, Asians, Indians, Russians, Chinese, Persians, etc. place far, far more value on their own cultures and traditions than Anglo-Saxons do on theirs.
I also decided that both elements on the Left and the Right were far too busy trying to invert morality and present crappy BS as virtuous goods.
The left can’t get its shit together because with the exception of just a few, it doesn’t understand what fitness for the current age is, and it doesn’t understand that because it doesn’t understand the broader operating environment of the current age.
And to tack a footnote on that sentiment CV, I’m most interested in building trust across the whole range of people and communities in our society. Not just within New Zealand, but globally.
I understand this is a forbidding goal, but I’d sooner be moving towards a sense of human unity than away from it.
Very forboding especially when some people in some cultures have no concept of or buy in to this kind of openness, and indeed would take the degrees of freedom presented to them in such an open system to throw a spanner in the works for their own short term gain.
As a concrete example, Chinese nationals obtaining NZ citizenship for their elderly parents on family grounds then dumping them here for the Crown to pay for their care and healthcare as they themselves head back to do business overseas is only one example.
And the only answer to that is exactly as you outlined above; we need to value our own cultural values more, and be willing to defend them when we see them betrayed like that.
But of course every modest attempt to do so gets screamed down by someone frantically waving the ‘racist’ card. Depressing.
Unity isn’t about some beige, insipid ‘tolerance’; it’s about understanding who you are, what is important to you, and engaging the world constructively on that basis.
Arabs, Asians, Indians, Russians, Chinese, Persians, etc. place far, far more value on their own cultures and traditions than Anglo-Saxons do on theirs.
I also decided that both elements on the Left and the Right were far too busy trying to invert morality and present crappy BS as virtuous goods.
Or to put it more simply, you became an authoritarian nationalist. Thank you though, that explains the right-wing opinions and the support for Trump and Putin nicely.
[RL: 12 month ban for starting a flame war and wasting moderators time.]
I can’t help your delusional interpretations and poor reading comprehension.
[Read the first and second paragraphs of the Policy. I’m done with trying to explain this to a commenter who now has a 2 year history of causing multiple and serious problems on this site. I spent a lot of effort in the last week dampening down flame wars. Given how much moderation work you have taken up in recent years I am now done with spending any more time on you when, in returning from the past few short bans, you just revert back to the same behaviour and on and on it goes. I see no point in letting this escalate and cause problems in the commentariat. 12 month ban. – weka]
” I also decided that both elements on the Left and the Right were far too busy trying to invert morality and present crappy BS as virtuous goods. ”
This is why people get confused by you CV. You adopt the Rights memes designed to silence dissent and preserve the status quo…
Virtue signalling and identity politics and PC are just that and when you sneer them out as a substitute for counter argument and then bask in your superiority that you and some select others are the only ones who see the world for what it is and have all the answers you attract challenge. By all means have your worldview and champion it but it is still just an opinion no matter how fervently and firmly you hold onto it
“I decided that a degree of social conservatism and also long standing cultural values have an important place in the every day running of society that too many people have taken for granted.”
Totally agree with this statement.
Also, It still amazes me how many commenters on this and other sites, as well as within the MSM, believe that conservative = right wing. This is not the case. For example the working class are generally conservative and are (traditionally) mostly left wing leaning
This is why there is a massive disconnect between say the Green Party and the working class. The working class are too busy working to feed their families and trying to get their kids well educated to worry excessively about less important (to them) things.
Yet all they hear from the supposed left is post modernist, intersectionalist, non binary cis gender, virtue signalling, victim claiming, unscientific, fantasyland claptrap. They are looked down upon, discriminated against (in the name of getting rid of discrimination) , told they must feel guilty about their so called mythical white privilege, accept the ‘fact’ that their masculinity is toxic and they’re part of this massive conspiracy called the patriarchy which exists to dis-empower and discriminate against women.
Wonder why Trump won.
I could rant on and on, but I’ve got a family to feed.
How do you know many Green Party members/voters haven’t come from working class backgrounds?
I have certainly come across GP members who are women from working class backgrounds who went to Uni – probably the first in their family.
And I have known a few working class women, strong on class politics who are also explicitly feminists – while perhaps being critical of some middle class feminists.
There are also quite a few working class LGBTI people.
Sarah Smarsh comes from a poor US family – was the first in her family to go to uni, and writes a lot about class, and also feminism.
Working-class women might not be fighting for a cause with words, time and money they don’t have, but they possess an unsurpassed wisdom about the way gender works in the world.
Take, for example, the concept of intersectionality. The poor white women who raised me don’t know that term, but they readily acknowledge that the dark-skinned women they know face harder battles than they do, in many ways. They know this from working on factory floors and in retail stock rooms alongside women of color who they have watched endure both sexism and racism along with their poverty.
I wonder how many working class are Left voting though. Given the presence of Nat ACT and NZF it seems as though either the percentage in the working class has dropped or they are voting Right.
We constantly have a Nat Government because kwis vote conservatively. And while we have some social liberalism Nats last 2 leaders have been Christian and socially conservative
That mostly reads to me as a fairly reasonable exposition of, not the left, but liberalism.
That said, I’m not sure I understand what you mean by a socialist or communist political economic model, unless you’re referring to forms of authoritarianism that hi-jacked the terms “socialist” and “communist” for cynical (and somewhat successful) political gain.
Many disenchanted liberals are going to fall to the left or the right in coming years, where “left” is the non-authoritarian counter to various forms of authoritarianism (including some that will masquerade as being left) that will undoubtedly seek ascendancy.
Tradition is a tricky one in my mind. Some traditions are valuable and definitely worth defending and/or fighting for. Some have been forgotten or suppressed. Others simply aren’t worth shit, insofar as they run against our best interests and can easily be used to excuse and/or condone some fairly horrific political machinations. (eg – particularly useful in pushing some forms of authoritarianism).
I’d have liked to have carried on this conversation on the basis of “my reckons” – ie, that you tend to confound the liberalism you’ve become disenchanted with as “left” and so, seeing no space to maneuver, kind of default to the less compassionate side of liberalism.
“Left” and “authoritarian” are two mutually exclusive concepts.
“Liberal” and “authoritarian” aren’t.
And liberalism has this dirty habit of claiming to be of the left. Which it can never be in light of the fact it’s synonymous with capitalism – which as economic systems go, is the antithesis of anything “left” (whether in it’s state or command economy setting, it’s liberal market setting, or any point between those poles)
How do you see what you posted advance the interest of the labour movement?
There is no evidence from what you posted that it stopped them before they had actually shot someone. So the reality is a stopping took place. Indeed a school shooting did in fact take place, again.
There is no “labour movement” and even if there were, its not my job to advance its interests and agendas.
Yes, people were shot. Yes it was a school shooting. But the shooter was interrupted in his crime by an armed school resource officer before he could continue further.
So the reality is a stopping took place. Indeed a school shooting did in fact take place, again.
Sad attempt at spin man, sad.
You have a better idea for how this particular school shooting could have been prevented?
Hi adam, firstly I’d ask you to cease your attempts at putting words in my mouth.
Secondly, the armed school resource officer successfully stopped the continuation of the shooting and successfully stopped the perp continuing the shooting incident and his shooting.
I’m sorry that my original comment did not pass your requirements for pedantry.
So you don’t think this site is to improve the interests the labour movement and to question you on that is a pedantry argument. Interesting.
As for words in your mouth, “Armed school resource officer stops Maryland High School Shooting” just quoted you buddy. If that not what you said, I’m all ears.
As for a shooting, one happened. So not really a good propaganda piece for you is it.
How is it my problem if you don’t understand that “a shooting” can be both a noun and a verb, and can have meanings both in a present tense and a past tense?
So you don’t think this site is to improve the interests the labour movement and to question you on that is a pedantry argument. Interesting.
I have said zero about what I believe the purpose of this site is. Again I ask you to stop putting words into my mouth.
You have to realise your piece, is a piece of crap. People died and you want to claim a victory for violence and stupidity. Can’t put a price on people lives when people want to score political points on it can you. Oh wait, you already did.
Hi adam, every parent of that Maryland school will be sending gifts, cards and gratitutide to the armed school resource officer which stopped the shooter.
Yep – if society allows a situation where a very disturbed person can easily get a bunch of weapons and wander into a place where unarmed people are confined in classrooms and then shoot them up – then it might on average reduce the volume of carnage if there were well-trained sharpshooters in the school to take out the said disturbed person.
Probably lots of people killed still, probably a few innocent people taken out by mistake because the sharpshooter thought they had a gun (or maybe they were black and looked kinda suspicious?) when they didn’t have a gun at all. But it is entirely conceivable that the total body count over a long period of time would be less. Will they trial it and find out do you think?
And you know what? If Americans are still convinced that ease of access to guns is some sort of divinely-conferred right, maybe that’s exactly what they should do? The more the merrier really. I still think it’s nuts, but given that belief system it is possibly quite rational.
Rationality in an irrational environment appears as irrational. It’s akin to how do you know you’re in a bubble when you’re in a bubble. But it might just work… Clockwork Orange-like. Enough guns and carnage until everyone is just sick of it.
@ 7:43 “The concept of “Crooked Hillary” was promoted widely on social media including Facebook, Google, and YouTube. And then Nix boasts about how the online videos had 30,000,000 million views, but users would’ve been unaware they came from the Trump Campaign.
The Trump campaign was selling their own messages via social media and the Clinton campaign was selling their own messages via social media.
Leaves the Russians (who may only have been intermediaries themselves and nothing to do with the Kremlin), who spent a tiny amount of money on Face Book, and of that mostly after the election, in the dust.
The CEO is doing a continuous sales pitch on how powerful his company supposedly is and how valuable their services are. That’s what a CEO is supposed to do.
CA isn’t a real company as you or I would recognise one – it is merely a legally constituted shell company.
That you cannot understand this even as I am patiently explaining it to you demonstrates how far behind the curve of these corporate operators you are.
Now adam – where did I say Hillary Clinton was pure and innocent? Show me anyone who is pure and innocent (apart from the new born) and I will show you Christ. She is however, far more pure and innocent than the men who smeared her.
If you are to tell me that she is far more corrupt than Trump, (and pizza gate has been shown to be a straight out fabrication) then you are a living example of just how effective the propaganda machine was!
For starters I never said that, all I said and let it sink in a second time.
“h.r.c had enough dirt that it stuck. Rightly or wrongly.”
I also said a long time ago h.r.c. was stupid choice becasue she came with a lot of baggage, and a history which could be used against her. I’m not sure if your one of the people who poo pooed me over that. But I was right, and h.r.c. was a bloody awful candidate on that, and on so many other levels.
trump is the twitter and chief, corrupt, self absorbed, making a village short of their idiot, and as close to a nightmare walking as humanly possible.
The elites lie, they lie with impunity and if you want them gone. Well supporting one faction of the elites over the other will never make that happen. That my take from the last USA election, what was yours?
I think you need to have a look at how strong female candidates from the centre left are treated adam. Not just in the US but almost universally world wide in the western world. Take for instance Julia Gillard in Australia or our own Helen Clark (“Aunty Helen” ring any bells?) – It’s happening now with Jacinda. In the US right now the Democrats Nancy Pelosi is under attack,
The first female speaker of the House has become the most effective congressional leader of modern times—and, not coincidentally, the most vilified.
yet she has been responsible for helping to advance many of the more progressive legislation in what was a Republican dominated Congress. Elizabeth Warren also – another case in point. Trump insulting her by calling her names because she dares to identify with a native American ancestor.
From the above link:
For a 2010 paper in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, the Yale researchers Victoria Brescoll and Tyler Okimoto showed study participants the fictional biographies of two state senators, identical except that one was named John Burr and the other Ann Burr. (I referred to this study in an October 2016 article for this magazine called “Fear of a Female President.”) When quotations were added that described the state senators as “ambitious” and possessing “a strong will to power,” John Burr became more popular. But the changes provoked “moral outrage” toward Ann Burr, whom both men and women became less willing to support.
and
As the management professors Ekaterina Netchaeva, Maryam Kouchaki, and Leah Sheppard noted in a 2015 paper, Americans generally believe “that leaders must necessarily possess attributes such as competitiveness, self-confidence, objectiveness, aggressiveness, and ambitiousness.” But “these leader attributes, though welcomed in a male, are inconsistent with prescriptive female stereotypes of warmth and communality.” In fact, “the mere indication that a female leader is successful in her position leads to increased ratings of her selfishness, deceitfulness, and coldness.”
Hillary Clinton may not have been as left as you would have liked – nor was she a Bernie – whom I’m sure many here (including myself) would have preferred – however, when all is said and done, the present daily train wreck that is the current White House administration would never be happening under Hillary. The USA would still be active in the Paris Agreement, along with the rest of the world. Scott Pruitt would not be dismantling the EPA as fast he can rip up every piece of environmental regulation he can, and there would still be essential scientific work studying climate change progressing in the US instead of scientists having to up root and travel to France.
Women would be more safe and the poor would not be enriching the rich as much as the last “Tax reform” has done.
Look how Jill Stein was treated during the election. Some of the male democrats were the absolute worst.
Jill Stein is still being treated like crap in the press and by male democrats. Ask most people, and they will say Stein is crazy and emotional. Seen it here often enough.
As for h.r.c, I’d say the males around here were her biggest problem. Especially her husband with his rape allegations and sexual assaults.
As for her being better, a possum on acid would do better than trump. Not much of an upgrade, and the russio-phobia coming from the democrats is frightening. It’s like some of them have a thing for war, and killing of civilians. Oh wait, they voted to increase the military budget and increase spying powers.
Me I’m over these stupid elites, no matter what side they pretend to be on. I’m really not sure why your backing them.
When you don’t listen your baby sitters, they’re going to tell on you.
"DO NOT CONGRATULATE," national security advisers wrote in Trump's written briefing ahead of call with Vladimir Putin. Trump congratulated. The notes said to condemn the attack of an ex-Russian spy in London with a nerve agent. He did not. https://t.co/HjCkbdkbb4— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) March 20, 2018
Of course he ignored it. The Russian election was beset with ballot stuffing, delegitimising the opposition and weird balloons and the like getting in the way of the cameras. For a person (Trump) to congratulate Putin on one hand while screaming about election fraud in his own country (remember he set up the special commission, which has since disbanded, to investigate electoral fraud) is hypocritical in the extreme
News Hub some people don’t like a common brown man having influence I see it all Mike
The humanity star is a major achivement by Peter Beck and his Team at Rocket lab Kia kaha .
There is hope that Fonterra hires a CEO that understands the local cultures and people of our major trading partners .
Many thanks to DOC and all there staff for doing a great job in releaseing the Takahe into Kahururangi National park + all the other creaters they are bring back from the brink of extinction .Ka kite ano P.S Paddy looks happy
There you go News Hub another tragedy cause by alcohol the Australian punched and in a comer for months is happy to be a live
Many thanks to NZRU for including the Black ferns 7 lady’s rugby team in the Commonwealth Games Kia Kaha ladys .
Congradulations to the NZ Paralympics team Kia kaha people ka kite ano
The Project Mark when I had to take away a service from some people I set them up with another service provider . Eco Maori says Air New Zealand should work with other air lines to keep the flights going to Kapiti this is the way a national airline should behave ka kite ano
It’s disgraceful that moderation has become emotionally charged. Decisions to ban people for long periods could maybe be decided by all moderators having a back-end vote or something, because today’s fiasco reflects very poorly on moderators and TS IMO.
Good Morning the AM Show I use to read Andrew Horggards post years ago on Fencepost Fonterra web site hes cool.Theo was cool to he did a lot of good things for the Fonterra farmers but his main job is to deliver the best payout he can to farmers .
Farmers are still trying to get over the years of the low pay out they still have dept because of that I recon all councils could make money with a cut and carry system mowing the side of suitable roads they could unload the fresh grass straight into feed bins on farm this would create jobs and could be a ALTERNATIVE to Plam kernal as this is one solution to get our import budget down and there are other reasons but I don’t want to stir the pot we would be able to stack this valuable resource grass for times of drought it can keep for years in a good silage stack this would improve The Dairy Image and keep the bad publicist away. kia kaha Farmers Ka kite ano P.S Paddy good on you m8 the Cicadas sing the beautiful song of mother nature
Kai pai Duncan for promoting the Northen white Rino subspecies that is close to extinction and lets ban set-net fishing in those locations of the Hector and Maui Dolphin ban new oil drilling in those locations we have a objurgation to save OUR wild live just by changing the way we do things .It will be written in our history books as a big win when we save the Maui Dolphin and who ever makes the right choice to save these precious creaters will go into the history books as a Great person. ka kite ano P.S Efeso Colins is right if you can save a dollar its like saveing 2 dollars so every state or council employee should have this in mine taking Economy instead of business is not much to ask to save there people money and this teaches them not to waste anything Ka pai Efeso
The AM Show is it a coincident that the internet cable into Australia is cut broken when we have Obama here . We have to go to the Australian libraries to find the correct story’s on Ngati Porou .There have been some suspicious things going on with some of OUR major infrastructure there are some real raciest people around at the minute . Then there was the O missing in the Countdown sign at the Auckland Air port I won’t say to much except we are ONE RACE THE HUMAN RACE.
Kia Kaha
The Cafe the live below the line challange is a good way to show kiwis that we have it good Mike in Aotearoa compared to many other poor soles in poor countrys this should not be happening in OUR World this day and age .
Brett McGregor trying to feed himself on$280 a day also tells you that we need meat to raise healthy mokopunas full stop kia kaha
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Can we trust New Zealand’s military? There must now be serious doubt, given the landmark report released on Friday concluding the investigation into allegations made in the book Hit and Run by Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson about a 2010 SAS killing raid in Afghanistan. The most recent Colmar Brunton ...
In New Zealand, we've just had the report of the Hit and Run inquiry, which found that a New Zealand led raid had accidentally killed civilians, including a child. meanwhile, around the same time, the British SAS was conducting its own raids in Afghanistan, and theirs were a hell of ...
In addition to establishing a process for setting emissions reductions plans, the Zero Carbon Act established a process for managing the risks of climate change. The first part of this is the preparation of regular risk assessments, looking at the risks to our economy, society, environment, and ecology. The first ...
Over on The spinoff, Amnesty International's Meg de Ronde has a response to Friday's release of the Hit and Run report. And in response to Attorney-General David Parker's claim that the government was being "transparent" by releasing the report, its titled "we shouldn’t have to work this hard to get ...
Story of the Week... Opinion of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Rising Seas Could Menace Millions Beyond Shorelines, Study FindsAs climate change raises sea levels, storm surges and high tides will ...
There's an election next month, so you'd be expecting political parties to be telling us what they stand for and what they'd do if they'd win. But while the Greens have given us a detailed policy platform, and National has talked about roads and austerity, Labour, currently leading the polls ...
"Who's youse accusin' of innference?" Without the timely intervention of a team of top American political consultants and campaign experts, Boris Yeltsin would never have won his second term as President of the Russian Federation. The Russians waited 20 years to return the favour.WHEN IT COMES to the disinformation game, ...
As polling day in the American presidential election draws closer, things are looking bad for Donald Trump. The polls show that he is tracking well behind his Democrat rival. Most people assume that the President will be striving might and main to avoid what looks increasingly likely to be a ...
Our health professionals do an amazing job. Image credit: Wikipedia – Cardiac surgery. Finally, I have got back to these rankings. A long period in hospital and computer problems meant the June 2020 rankings were abandoned. Now, with a new personal defibrillator implanted in my chest and a new hard ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, July 26 through Sat, Aug 1, 2020Editor's ChoiceThe four types of climate denier, and why you should ignore them allThe shill, the grifter, the egomaniac and the ideological ...
Over the last few days, reports have emerged of people travelling from New Zealand and testing positive for Covid-19 upon arrival at their destination. First in South Korea and now in Australia. What might these positive tests mean?They’re false-positives As Toby Morris and I have explained before, there are ...
Former National Minister - Wayne MappYou could tell that the Hit and Run book by investigative journalists Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson was right on the money by the way former National Party Minister of Defence, Wayne Mapp, reacted to its now largely vindicated claims.Even though the recent inquiry into ...
So, the Hit and Run inquiry has reported back, and found some appalling shit at NZDF and NZSIS. And while they quibble a few of the details - the name of a dead child - they basicly uphold Hager and Stephenson's version of events. The SAS went to those villages. ...
We are failing to think though the interdependencies in an economy. We miss economist Bryan Philpott (1921-2000). I miss him personally – we used to have such great discussions – but this column is about how the nation misses his economic experience and wisdom. We tend to ...
Michelle Boag - LeakerThe Heron report (PDF) was released yesterday, and it was a bit disappointing to say the least. It correctly found that former National Party president Michelle Boag and National Party MP Hamish Walker were politically motivated in leaking peoples private medical information, but didn’t look further into ...
Adam Smith, Massey UniversityA recent global assessment of shark populations at 371 coral reefs in 58 countries found no sharks at almost 20% of reefs and alarmingly low numbers at many others. The study, which involved over 100 scientists under the Global FinPrint project, gave New Zealand a good ...
On different trajectories and from different ends of the political spectrum, last night’s One News/Colmar Brunton poll has the Green Party and ACT converging around the five percent mark. And, as odd as it may sound, they head into the election campaign with a lot in common.Putting the Greens and ...
Janet Stephenson, University of OtagoA proposed multibillion-dollar project to build a pumped hydro storage plant could make New Zealand’s electricity grid 100% renewable, but expensive new infrastructure may not be the best way to achieve this. New Zealand’s electricity generation is already around 80% renewable, with just over half ...
Truth In Advertising: Labour, it would seem, is the party that knows nothing about running the economy right up until the moment that it does. HOW DID LABOUR acquire its reputation for being a poor economic manager? As with most things political and historical, it’s a long story.In the beginning, the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Government rulemakers looking to decide how much money to spend to avoid adding more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere need a good estimate of what a warming climate will cost in social damages, for example through more extreme weather events. That point makes ...
Below is the list of gender-critical material which appeared on Redline from October 1, 2019 to October 31, 2019. Rainbow Tick threatens to pull Massey’s tick if lesbians are allowed to speak Freer Lives – a gender-critical Marxist site Freer Lives on Violence, debate and Britain’s Gender Recognition Act British ...
Fact Check: New Zealand’s own relationship with China might, however, be salvageable if our own Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade was willing to equip its minister, Winston Peters, with a few facts. Legislating for the protection of national security – the very action our Foreign Minister is decrying – ...
I hope we can all agree that charging only certain returning expats for isolation costs is the right call. Instead of a blanket fee, which may have resulted in a small number of Kiwis deciding not to return home because of financial reasons, the Government has chosen to implement a ...
Back at the beginning of this government, the Greens made a foolish decision to support the Electoral Integrity Act - demanded by Winston Peters to keep his own backbench in line as part of his coalition deal with Labour - as an act of good faith within the coalition. It ...
SATURDAY AUGUST 1Artefact (Prime, 7.30pm). The series presented by Dame Anne Salmond screened on Māori Television, but is totally worth revisiting if you saw it the first time. Dame Anne tells the stories of taonga that highlight the history of Aotearoa. Further reading: this 2013 interview with Dame Anne by the lovely ...
Have unions and the Government sold workers short with their attempt at fixing the so-called “Hobbit Law”? Unionist Ian Powell argues that the union movement has been outmanoeuvered, and the Government has agreed to a new piece of anti-worker legislation that retains the principles of the previous National Government’s hated ...
Most of the claims made by anti-fluoride propagandists are simply wrong. Image source:Fluoridation and the ‘sciency’ facts of critics Anti-fluoride propagandists continually cite studies from areas of endemic fluorosis in their arguments against ...
An article in the EETimes suggests that advances in autonomous vehicles are not moving as quickly as expected because those working on them have confused complicated problems with complex ones. Engineering can only take you so far in complex worlds. Complicated systems tend to have fairly predictable inputs, processes and outputs. Complex systems (like ...
Last week, after Judith Collins announced that National would be cruel and vicious to kiwis caught overseas by the pandemic, and rob them at the border if they returned home, Labour looked like it was falling all over itself to cry "me too". But now, it looks like kindness has ...
If entry into New Zealand from abroad is safe, it should be allowed. People arriving from places that are Covid-free, or no more risky than New Zealand, and who get here on flights that do not intersect with risky places, should return to normal travel arrangements. Currently, the Cook ...
Liz SlootenScientists from the University of Otago, working with colleagues from around the world, have found that New Zealand right whales are doing much better than right whales in other parts of the world. The research was published as the feature article in the journal Marine Ecology Progress ...
Back in 2019, the government asked for a comprehensive, independent review of the Resource Management Act and associated legislation. That review has now reported back and recommended a complete repeal and re-enactment. Despite the headlines, this is not a "scrapping" - we're still going to have a resource management law, ...
By Associate Professor Mik Black, Department of Biochemistry, University of OtagoThe increased availability of complex biological data sets means that analysis and computation are becoming critically important skills for New Zealand’s future scientists. Because of this, we need to be doing everything we can to help our students develop ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzIs humanity doomed? If in 2030 we have not reduced ...
Britain's spy agencies are supposedly overseen by various watchdogs, including the investigatory powers tribunal. But it turns out that MI6 at least has contempt for those watchdogs, and attempted to interfere with the operations of the tribunal by concealing evidence from its judges: MI6 has been accused of “inappropriate interference” ...
This week was the last of the 52nd Parliament: a major milestone for our Government and a great opportunity to look back at all the progress we've made for New Zealanders. This week, we increased support for businesses to take on apprentices, improved access to hospital care in Northland, and ...
Kia orana and kia ora koutou katoa. It is a privilege to be able to speak in this adjournment debate and to mark and acknowledge the fact that we are now two years and 10 months into the conclusion of a parliamentary term that has been extraordinary in so many ...
On 1 August, we marked the anniversary of Jacinda Ardern becoming the Leader of the Labour Party. On that day in 2017, Leader Andrew Little nominated Jacinda Ardern to succeed him and lead the party to victory.Now, three years on, we look back at some of the key moments ...
With the June 2020 quarter showing underemployment increasing, the Green Party is calling for a Guaranteed Minimum Income and an increase to the abatement threshold to ensure everyone has a dignified income. ...
We went hard and we went early in our health response to COVID-19, and we did everything we could to cushion the economic impact too. In fact, we can fill every letter of the alphabet with the steps we took to fight COVID-19 and ensure we were in a position ...
Investing in our people, backing businesses, and upgrading infrastructure and housing throughout the country - it's been another week of progress for New Zealanders as we deliver our plan to recover and rebuild. ...
July was another busy month, packed with key investments aimed at progressing our economic recovery as we rebuild New Zealand. We extended support for businesses, helped create jobs through local infrastructure projects, and kept working to clean up our waterways so Kiwis can access safe clean water. Check out the ...
The Green Party is calling for the Defence Force Chiefs in place between 2010-2017 to front up and explain how dishonesty, process and policy failures within the Defence Force led to ‘a series of incorrect statements in briefings to ministers and public releases’ regarding alleged breaches of international torture prevention ...
Thanks to our strong health response, New Zealand’s economy is more open than many other countries. But as COVID continues to surge around the world, the economic consequences of the virus will continue to be a challenge, which is why we have a detailed plan to help New Zealand bounce ...
Thanks to our strong health response, New Zealand’s economy is more open than many other countries. But as COVID continues to surge around the world, the economic consequences of the virus will continue to be a challenge, which is why we have a detailed plan to help New Zealand bounce ...
The Government is stepping up action to deal with environmentally harmful products – including plastic packaging, tyres and e-waste – before they become waste. ...
The Green Party are ensuring that New Zealanders who were overseas when COVID-19 hit will not be charged for the cost of isolation or quarantine if they return home to live. ...
It's been another week of creating jobs, supporting local businesses, and investing in infrastructure up and down the country - all of which are helping to keep our economy moving post-COVID-19. ...
Law changes to end tenure review and provide for better management of Crown pastoral lands in the South Island high country were considered by Parliament today with the first reading of the Crown Pastoral Land Reform Bill says Minister for Land Information, Eugenie Sage. ...
The Green Party have secured legislative amendments in a bill expected to pass third reading this week, to ensure better rules for school teachers and staff, so they can de-escalate children with diverse needs and cognitive differences, such as autism, rather than using unnecessary and often traumatising force. ...
New Zealand needs to be more aggressive in pursuing economic opportunities and resist the short-term thinking affecting some of its major industry, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says.Mr Peters told Wellington Chamber of Commerce members this morning that the planned closure of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter will have ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has ridiculed the National Party "circus", with the politician saying it was in "chaos" after the resignation of another MP.Rangitata MP Andrew Falloon announced on Monday he would retire from politics after he allegedly sent inappropriate pornographic images to a young woman. Following a ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters today outlined what he saw as the requirements to re-open New Zealand's borders for tourists and travellers. If New Zealand was dealing solely with an Australian state such as Tasmania, we wouldn't need a vaccine, said Mr Peters, but these moves were complicated by the ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters appears to have prompted last-minute alterations to proposed legislation for commercial landlords and their tenants. Mr Peters told reporters on Wednesday said that he was making sure the proposed bill was in step with what the parties had actually agreed to. He said he ...
Associate Minister for State Owned Enterprise and New Zealand First List MP Shane Jones attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the new NZ Post "super depot" in Wellington. The state-owned postal service, which got $280 million from the Coalition Government last month, is expanding its operations to handle surging parcel volumes. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First CHECK AGAINST DELIVERYIntroduction Good afternoon. Welcome to you all here today and party supporters watching from around the country. We appreciate your hard work keeping New Zealand First strong; thank you for keeping the faith. Sixty-three days out from Election Day, ...
The diversity of conservation boards around Aotearoa is increasing with 47 appointments to 14 of the 15 conservation boards across New Zealand announced today by the Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage. ...
The Green Party is honoured to be remembering former co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons today at a public memorial service in the heart of Wellington at the Cathedral of St. Paul’s. Following her passing in March, this celebration of her life brings together her friends, family and colleagues to honour her life ...
Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage has announced a $2.5 million boost for South Westland to help a regional alliance of local businesses and government agencies provide nature based jobs. ...
The Government has re-affirmed its commitment to supporting the hosting of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, which the ICC has delayed from 2021 to 2022. “This is obviously a disappointing decision for cricket players and fans around the world and for the White Ferns and their supporters here at ...
Cyclists and walkers will now have a safer way to get around Taupō, Tūrangi, and between Hamilton and Cambridge, with funding for shared paths and Te Awa River Ride, Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter announced today. “The Te Awa River Ride is the latest part of massive growth ...
Six major cycle routes will be completed in Christchurch thanks to funding from the Government’s investment in shovel-ready infrastructure as part of the COVID-19 recovery Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter announced today. $125 million will be invested to kick-start construction and fund the completion of the following cycleway ...
Plans are underway for a brand new state-of-the-art hub for Whanganui’s justice and social agencies, following confirmation the ageing Whanganui Central Police Station is to be replaced. Police Minister Stuart Nash has announced $25 million in new infrastructure spending to improve facilities for the wider community, and for staff who ...
An adjustment payment has been made to Waikato-Tainui and Ngāi Tahu under the relativity mechanisms in their 1995 and 1997 Treaty of Waitangi settlements, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little announced today. The latest payments to Waikato-Tainui and Ngāi Tahu are $2,700,000 and $2,600,000 respectively to ensure the ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Transport Minister Phil Twyford today kicked off the start of the Auckland NZ Upgrade Programme rail projects which will support over 400 jobs and help unlock our biggest city. Both ministers marked the start of enabling works on the third main rail line project ...
The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) investment of $3.78 million in Wairoa will create much needed economic stimulus and jobs, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. PGF projects announced today include: $200,000 loan to Nuhaka Kiwifruit Holdings Ltd (operated by Pine Valley Orchard Ltd) to increase the productivity ...
Tenants in public and Māori housing may be benefiting from their own affordable renewable energy in future – a fund to trial renewable energy technology for public and Māori housing has today been announced by Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods and Associate Minister for Housing (Māori Housing) Nanaia Mahuta. ...
Hokianga will receive $2.7 million to redevelop four of its wharves and upgrade its water supply, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. Far North District Council will receive $1.8 million from the Provincial Growth Fund for the work on the wharves. “The work will include the construction of ...
A $350 million Residential Development Response Fund is being established to support the residential construction sector and to minimise the economic impact from COVID-19, the Housing Minister Dr Megan Woods has announced. “The Residential Development Response Fund will help to progress stalled or at-risk developments that support our broader housing ...
As part of a broader plan to divert waste from landfill, the Government today announced $10.67 million for new infrastructure as part of the Resource Recovery Network across the Auckland region. “This key investment in Auckland’s community recycling network is part of the Government’s Infrastructure Reference Group ‘shovel ready’ projects ...
The Government is investing $45 million in the first stage of an ambitious urban development project for Tauranga that will employ up to 250 people and help the region grow, Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford announced today. Phil Twyford says the funding has been allocated out of the $3 billion ...
Getting low-emission trucks on the road is a step closer with investment in infrastructure to support hydrogen vehicles, the Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods has announced. The Infrastructure Reference Group has provisionally approved $20 million for New Plymouth company Hiringa Energy to establish a nationwide network of hydrogen-fuelling stations. ...
A new trades training centre to upskill the local workforce will be built in the South Waikato town of Tokoroa through funding from the Government’s COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund, Education Minister Chris Hipkins and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones have announced. The Government will contribute $10.84 million from ...
The Government has agreed to repeal part of the Oranga Tamariki Act subsequent children provisions, Minister for Children Tracey Martin announced today. “There are times when children need to go into care for their safety – the safety and care of children must always be paramount,” Minister Martin said. “But ...
A $1.5 million boost to grow primary mental health and addiction services for Pacific peoples in Auckland, Hamilton and Canterbury will lead to better outcomes for Pacific communities, Associate Health Minister Jenny Salesa says. Pasifika Futures has received funding to expand services through The Fono, Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest by ...
Twenty-two projects to boost the sustainability and climate resilience of New Zealand’s food and fibres sector have been announced today by Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. The $18m funding will deliver practical knowledge to help farmers and growers use their land more sustainably, meet environmental targets, remain prosperous, and better understand ...
Employment Minister Willie Jackson welcomes an initiative that assists employers to get mature workers into New Zealand small businesses. The disadvantages that older people face in the workplace was highlighted in the whole of Government Employment Strategy. In order to address this, a Mature Workers Toolkit has been developed and ...
New Zealand and Australia reaffirmed today the need for the closest possible collaboration as they tackle a global environment shaped by COVID-19, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said. “In these challenging times, our close collaboration with Australia is more vital than ever,” said Mr Peters. Mr Peters and his Australian ...
The recovery and forensic examination of the loader driven by survivor Russell Smith means the underground team are now moving into an area of the Pike River Mine that has not been seen since the explosion, Minister Responsible for Pike River Re-entry Andrew Little said. “The fifth and last robot ...
The Government has confirmed a community-wide trial of CovidCard technology as it explores options for COVID-19 contact tracing. “Effective contact tracing is a vital part of the COVID-19 response,” Minister of Health Chris Hipkins said. “While manual processes remain the critical component for contact tracing, we know digital solutions can ...
The government is proposing changes to aquaculture legislation to improve the process for allocating and transferring aquaculture assets to iwi. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash has introduced the Maori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement Amendment Bill to Parliament. It proposes a limited new discretionary power for Te Ohu Kaimoana Trustee Limited (ToKM). ...
The Minister of Justice has today introduced the Family Court (Supporting Children in Court) Legislation Bill – the next step in the ongoing programme of work to fix the failed 2014 Family Court reforms led by then Justice Minister Judith Collins. The Bill arises from the report of the Independent ...
A new Department of Conservation (DOC) action plan tackles the impacts of climate change on New Zealand’s biodiversity and DOC managed infrastructure including tracks, huts and cultural heritage. Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage says extreme weather events around the country have really brought home our vulnerability to changing weather patterns. ...
A heavily scaled back international Antarctic season will commence this week, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods have confirmed. “Antarctica is the only continent that is COVID-19 free,” Mr Peters said. “Throughout the global pandemic, essential operations and long-term science have continued at ...
The Government is providing up to $30 million to help fund the NZ Campus of Innovation and Sport in Upper Hutt - an investment that will create 244 jobs. “The sports hub is designed to be a world-leading shared service for a range of sports, offering the level of facilities ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today transport projects currently in construction will continue at pace due to extra Government support for transport projects to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. To keep the $16.9 billion 2018-21 National Land Transport Programme going the Government has allocated funding from the COVID Response and ...
$50 million for further rural broadband digital connectivity has been allocated from the $3 billion infrastructure fund in the COVID Response and Recovery Fund has been announced by Shane Jones, Minister for Infrastructure and Kris Faafoi, Minister for Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media. The investment will go to boosting broadband ...
The Minister for Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media has congratulated the Ultra-fast Broadband (UFB) programme on its major milestone of connecting more than 1 million New Zealand households and businesses to UFB. “This milestone has been 10 years in the making and demonstrates the popularity of the UFB network. “Uptake ...
Landmark legislation passed today puts New Zealand on track to saving thousands of lives and having a smokefree generation sooner rather than later, Associate Health Minister, Jenny Salesa says. The Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Bill regulates vaping products and heated tobacco devices. “There has long been concern ...
A discriminatory law that has been a symbol of frustration for many people needing and providing care and support, has been scrapped by the Government. “Part 4A of the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Amendment Bill (No 2) was introduced under urgency in 2013 by a National Government,” Associate ...
Kiwi motorists are set to reap the benefits of a more competitive fuel market following the passing of the Fuel Industry Bill tonight, Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods says. “This Act is where the rubber meets the road in terms of our response to the recommendations made in the ...
The Government has delivered on its promise to New Zealanders to modernise tenancy laws with the passing of the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill 2020 today, says Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing), Kris Faafoi. “The Residential Tenancies Act 1986 was out-dated and the reforms in the RTA modernise our ...
New rules to protect and restore New Zealand’s freshwater passed into law today. Environment Minister David Parker and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor welcomed the gazetting of the new national direction on freshwater management. “These regulations deliver on the Government’s commitment to stop further degradation, show material improvements within five years and ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced the appointment of Jeremy Clarke-Watson as New Zealand’s new Consul-General in Los Angeles. “New Zealand and the United States share a close and dynamic partnership, based on a long history of shared values and democratic traditions,” Mr Peters said. “Mr Clarke-Watson is a ...
Victims of family violence can end a tenancy with two days’ notice Landlords can terminate tenancies with 14 days’ notice if tenants assault them Timeframe brought forward for limiting rent increases to once every 12 months Extension of time Tenancy Tribunal can hear cases via phone/video conference Reform of New ...
Two employment schemes – one new and one expanded – going live today will help tens of thousands of people continue training on the job and support thousands more into work, the Government has announced. Apprenticeship Boost, a subsidy of up to $12,000 per annum for first year apprentices and ...
The Government is funding a significant infrastructure package at Omokoroa which will create 150 new jobs and help transform the Western Bay of Plenty peninsula, Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford announced today. Phil Twyford says the Government is investing $14 million towards the $28 million roading and water package. This ...
The Bill allowing the Government to recover some costs for managed isolation and quarantine passed its third reading today, with charges coming into force as soon as regulations are finalised. Putting regulations into force is the next step. “The COVID-19 Public Health Response Amendment Bill and its supporting regulations will ...
Today’s unemployment data shows the Government’s plan to protect jobs and cushion the blow for businesses and households against the economic impact of COVID-19 was the right decision, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. Stats NZ said today that New Zealand’s unemployment rate in the June quarter – which includes the ...
Looking for a wonderfully trashy movie to watch? TVNZ OnDemand now have some of Lifetime’s best dramas for your viewing pleasure. In a world of serious and credible television, the arrival of Lifetime to TVNZ OnDemand is joyous news. Lifetime is an American cable channel that churns out emotional drama after emotional drama, ...
The introduction of a $3,100 fee for returning New Zealanders will disadvantage Māori disproportionately, Phoebe Carr (Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tūhoe)and Max Harris argue.The government has once again failed to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi by rushing through legislation to introduce exorbitant managed isolation fees for returning New Zealanders. This ...
7 August 2020: The Team of Six Million, a campaign group established to oppose the imposition of quarantine fees by the New Zealand Government, has expressed disappointment at the Government's urgent passing of the Public Health Response Amendment Bill to ...
In July support for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party was at 53.5% down 1% since June, but still more than double the support for National on 26.5%, down 0.5%, with just over a month to go before the election in mid-September. If ...
Welcome to Election Live for August 7, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other breaking news. For key dates in the election season click here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Policy launching soon. Get in touch ...
After initial concerns about low testing rates in South Auckland, Counties Manukau DHB has the second-highest testing rate in the country. Ōtara Health chief executive Sosefina Paletaoga explains her organisation’s role in achieving this. Covid-19 has affected us all in different ways, and for us in Ōtara, it has highlighted existing ...
Oranga Tamariki's Chief Executive appeared before the Waitangi Tribunal a day after a report from the Chief Ombudsman found the agency had used its draconian powers to uplift babies too readily in many cases A Waitangi Tribunal hearing has seen Oranga Tamariki chief executive Gráinne Moss concede her organisation harmed families during ...
"A resident of the boarding house disappeared the same day Mrs Bethany’s body was discovered": provincial gothic, with astrology, by Auckland writer Mandy McMullin. I moved into the tearooms the day I turned sixteen, 23 December 2006. The same day I met Garth. It was Saturday, a lucky day for ...
The resignation of Westland Milk Products chief executive Tony Brendish almost a year to the day the company was sold to Chinese conglomerate Yili makes a mockery of assurances that there was no conflict of interest in top management preparing ...
*Watch the video in the player below*The wheels of progress turn frustratingly slow in Christchurch’s Red Zone. Frank Film asks, is anything going to happen? Hayley Guglietta is honest about her group’s activities on vacant land bordering Christchurch’s Avon River. She admits the groundwork was commenced without official ...
On this week's Extra Time podcast: After significant investigations into cycling, football and hockey in New Zealand, now gymnastics is in the spotlight around their athletes' welfare. Allegations of multiple New Zealand gymnasts suffering from verbal and physical abuse, bullying and unsafe training methods have surfaced over the past week. And ...
She’s a lone wolf, a team player, a rebel, a leader and the nicest lady around. But what combination of those do you need to survive in government?On a cold July morning, I found myself driving around Totara Park in Manurewa in the dark. I had been invited to a ...
All around the country, people are asking ‘what’s going to happen in the 2020 general election campaign?’ That’s because they haven’t read this guide, which reveals exactly what will happen in the 2020 general election campaign.Someone has finally put this term of parliament out of its misery. We’ve had three ...
The UK car industry has run a good race in the post-Brexit lobbying stakes. But Britain’s chemical industry looks to be making a late run, if recent coverage in the Financial Times is accurate.The issue for the industry is the post-Brexit regulatory regime and how this is to be ...
Latest from the Beehive – We had just finished digesting an outpouring of announcements from the Beehive over the previous 24 hours or so when the Point of Order Trough Monitor shrieked an alert. A new trough had been established. While we were inspecting the contents of this new trough, ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Chart 1, Historical: Australian much lower than Spain, Belgium and Sweden. Chart by Keith Rankin. The known incidences of Covid19 in Spain, Belgium and Sweden are similar, although Sweden lagged for a while before overtaking the other two. In deaths, Sweden is slightly lower than ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The good news in the Reserve Bank’s latest quarterly set of forecasts is that the recession won’t be as steep as it thought last time. The bad news is it ...
Analysis: National entices voters with big infrastructure projects, Judith Collins rips into Jacinda Ardern and Parliament passes a bill that could affect every tenant in the country. ...
By RNZ Pacific France’s new overseas minister Sebastien Lecornu says New Caledonia’s restrictions over the covid-19 pandemic will not affect the preparations for the October referendum on independence. Lecornu gave the assessment during a visit to New Caledonia House in Paris. Paris is expected to send dozens of officials and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julian Meyrick, Professor of Creative Arts, Griffith University National crises, like the pandemics that can provoke them, come in stages. Each stage presents leaders with unique problems that require mental, moral and emotional agility to manage. Change is the only constant, as ...
How is New Zealand faring in during the Covid-19 pandemic? Newsroom is taking a weekly look at the latest numbers related to the virus and the impact on the economy.Excess deaths Overseas the death toll in some countries has risen sharply, with the ...
Justice campaign organisation JustSpeak has outlined a vision for a society without prisons in its 2020 election campaign ‘ Our Justice Our Future ’. The campaign was launched last night in Wellington, to a sold out audience of supporters and volunteers. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vasso Apostolopoulos, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Research Partnerships, Victoria University During the COVID-19 pandemic we’re constantly being reminded to practise good hygiene by frequently washing our hands and regularly cleaning the spaces where we live and work. These practices aim to remove or kill ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra University of Canberra Professorial Fellow Michelle Grattan and University of Canberra Assistant Professor Caroline Fisher discuss the week in politics. This week Michelle and Caroline discuss the closure of ‘non-essential’ businesses in Melbourne under stage ...
Labour's campaign slogan "Let's Keep Moving" is hardly the most inspirational but reflects the conservative game plan - trade on the Covid response and stay on track. ...
By granting a permit to OceanaGold to mine under DOC land in the Coromandel, the government is not only threatening an endangered species, says Catherine Delahunty – it’s threatening future generations.I woke up angry. The government has given a 40-year permit to OceanaGold to mine under DOC land behind Whangamatā. ...
How come, after numerous condemnatory reports, Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss holds on to her job? Aaron Smale wonders if those harmed by her tenure aren't a big enough voting bloc So, what happens when a government department breaks the law and breaches its own policies? Nothing, apparently. The latest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ari Mattes, Lecturer in Communications and Media, University of Notre Dame Australia Review: The Meddler, screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival For movie scholars and enthusiasts, one of the worst things about the COVID-19 pandemic has been the shutting down of ...
The combination of solar panels, electricity storage batteries, smart household gadgets, and a boring looking black box is set to change forever how our electricity system works. But do we need subsidies? ...
The New Zealand Bar Assocation says misinformed criticism of a South Island judge’s sentencing of a sex offender has the potential for disturbing consequences for the justice system and society generally. The Bar Association’s President Kate Davenport ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Royal Commission into Aged-Care Quality and Safety delivered it’s interim report in October 2019. Titled ‘Neglect’, it provided a scathing insight into the aged care industry – finding it centred around transactions not care. ...
By Tom Peters, Socialist Equality Group More than one year after the March 15, 2019 terrorist attack, an official inquiry into the mass shooting that killed 51 people and injured 49 in two Christchurch mosques has still not released any information ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Damien Manuel, Director, Centre for Cyber Security Research & Innovation (CSRI), Deakin University Australia’s long-awaited cybersecurity strategy, released yesterday, pledges to spend A$1.67 billion over the next ten years to improve online protection for businesses, individuals and the country as a whole. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Roxana Diamond, PhD Candidate, Flinders University This article has links that contain graphic content Many industries and employees have been hurt by COVID-19. But sex workers, who face stigma and discrimination at the best of times, have been hit particularly hard by ...
By Lulu Mark in Port Moresby Port Moresby may need to expand its covid-19 isolation facilities quickly and effectively in case a big spike in cases occurs, a doctor says. Rita Flynn isolation facility manager Dr Gary Nou said it would be a disaster if the spread of covid-19 in ...
Paige Tapara is a fast-rising young singer-songwriter whose debut EP explores themes of sexuality, coming of age, mental health and relationships. We asked her how it came together, and why she thinks it’s so important for NZ music to include voices like hers.Paige swoops into the room, a cream doughnut in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cathy Foley, Chief Scientist, CSIRO Universities and other research organisations in Australia have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. In May, a group led by Australia’s Chief Scientist Alan Finkel forecasted severe impacts for our research workforce. These included the loss ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicole Carnt, Scientia Senior Lecturer, School of Optometry and Vision Science, UNSW, Sydney, UNSW You’re rushing and accidentally drop a contact lens on the bathroom floor. Should you: a) run it under the tap and pop it in? b) spit on it ...
The Māori Party is celebrating World Indigenous Day the Māori way, surrounded by friends and whānau at a Meet-the-Candidates at the Third Place Café in Rotorua this weekend. To mark World Indigenous Day, the Māori Party wants to remind Aotearoa ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Wayland, Lecturer, University of Sydney As part of new research into missing persons in Australia, I have been asking people who return after disappearing what they needed or wanted. Mary, who has gone missing four times in the last few years, ...
Forest & Bird is calling for all political parties to back an end to mining conservation land, after a permit was issued to mine the home of a critically-endangered native animal. This week Oceana Gold was granted a 40-year mining permit from the ...
Here’s a snapshot of a single day in parliament. A day where changes were made to laws that govern everything from the milk in your refrigerator to the speed you can drive your car, and to Netflix, and war crimes, and who tests your water. It was a big day.The ...
*This article was first published on RNZ and is republished with permission* Māori leaders say they have no faith in Oranga Tamariki and the chief executive needs to go after the latest report into the organisation found it was routinely taking newborns without whānau consultation. The Chief Ombudsman's report He Take Kōhukihuki, ...
So is the government succeeding in steering the country through the Covid-19 crisis and what it calls a “one-in-100-year shock”. And just what is it costing? These are questions which will be uppermost in the minds of voters when they cast their ballots in next month’s general election. Finance Minister ...
Peddlethorp calls on other businesses that cancelled events due to Covid to donate now when need is greatest Peddlethorp Architects is calling on businesses that cancelled events due to Covid-19 to donate event catering or funding to those in need, if circumstances ...
A poem by Rhian Gallagher from her new collection Far-Flung.At the Boatshedfor Sonja MitchellWe carried the day through the door the harbour had earned its keep light laid its hands on each contourthe shed held abreast with the shore spreading the waves in pleats we carried the day through the ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man by Mary L. Trump ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alistair Sisson, Postdoctoral Research Associate, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW Social and public housing is intensely stigmatised in Australia and has been for several decades. Estates in particular are often labelled “ghettos”, framed as places of danger, drugs and vice. This stigma ...
National is promising to spend $20 million over four years on increasing testing rates and accessibility to clinical trials for gynaecological cancer if elected. ...
The National Party is criticising the government's list of "shovel-ready projects", meant to kickstart the economy, for not generating enough jobs for women. ...
Wedged between punitive commercial law and an ineffective government, a once-thriving business is dying a slow and expensive death.It was one of the most acclaimed backpackers in New Zealand.Perched at the top of the Elliot Stables building in central Auckland, it was voted by Hostelworld as the city’s most popular ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW One of the many things COVID-19 has had a dramatic impact on is the way many of us work. Those fortunate enough to be able to work from home have been able to adapt to this ...
When Covid-19 forced New Zealanders to live most of their lives online it exacerbated the effects of digital exclusion. Jean Teng spoke to the organisations that kept vulnerable communities connected during the pandemic. From job hunting and banking to watching TV and scrolling through the news, there is hardly a ...
Bernard Hickey writes this election's argument over who will repay Government debt faster is a dangerous and pointless replay of a 30-year old debate rendered obsolete by today's financial facts Often the myths and legends of the past are more powerful in the minds of politicians, bureaucrats and voters than the reality. Just the fear ...
Coromandel Watchdog of Hauraki says the Government has utterly betrayed the public by allowing MBIE to grant a 40 year mining permit to Oceana Gold on Dept of Conservation land at Wharekirauponga near Whangamata this week. " It is appalling that this ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Moffat, ARC DECRA Senior Research Fellow in Archaeological Science, Flinders University How did the first person evolve? Mabel, age 7, Anglesea, Victoria. Hi Mabel, what a great question! We know humans haven’t always been around. After all, we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Baker, Professor of Public Health, University of Otago On Sunda Your heading here , New Zealand will mark 100 days without community transmission of COVID-19. From the first known case imported into New Zealand on February 26 to the last case ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deanne Gannaway, Senior Lecturer in Higher Education, The University of Queensland The federal government’s proposed increase in the cost of studying humanities and communications degrees at Australian universities has stirred much debate. One aspect that should not be overlooked is that these ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alistair Sisson, Postdoctoral Research Associate, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW Social and public housing is intensely stigmatised in Australia and has been for several decades. Estates in particular are often labelled “ghettos”, framed as places of danger, drugs and vice. This stigma ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW One of the many things COVID-19 has had a dramatic impact on is the way many of us work. Those fortunate enough to be able to work from home have been able to adapt to this ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Coates, Program Director, Household Finances, Grattan Institute A big part of the Morrison government’s response to COVID-19 has been allowing people early access to their superannuation. Australians who have claimed hardship have applied for A$30.7 billion to date. This has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Phiddian, Professor of English, Flinders University For a long time, the answer has been yes. When Saturday Night Live, John Oliver and the satirical establishment railed at him, the president’s supporters were only strengthened in their belief there was a highbrow ...
Welcome to Election Live for August 7, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other breaking news. For key dates in the election season click here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Policy launching soon. Get in touch ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Preparing for a possible return of the pandemic, SFO prevents JLR document release, and stoush over National candidate selection deepens.I say possible in the headline there, because we can’t know for sure that community transmission of Covid-19 absolutely will come ...
Attention spans were low and hijinks high on Parliament's last sitting day before the September 19 election, as Sam Sachdeva writes “Welcome to the last day of school.” Chris Hipkins’ opening line at his last Covid-19 press conference before the dissolution of Parliament was remarkably fitting - not just because ...
Lockdown highlighted and exacerbated difficulties for young Māori students on the wrong side of the digital divide A lack of access to suitable digital devices, internet connectivity and quality learning resources during the eight weeks of lockdown hindered the learning of rangatahi and tamariki and negatively impacted their mental health and ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford says he's asked NZTA to strike a deal that will reset the clock and give Transmission Gully a clear path to completion. ...
Open Mike 21/03/2018 
National Party leader - Judith CollinsElections often bring out the best and worst in politicians. Some rise to the occasion and provide us with a clear vision for the future. While others wallow in resentment and controversy, over-relying on attack politics to try to attain the interest of voters.That’s been ...2 hours ago
The attempts to sabotage Corbyn's leadership seems likely to do more damage than Corbyn supposedly ever could have done, even if all the stories about him were true: I was reluctant to say anything but this is too important, the full story needs to be told.Don’t let anyone ever tell ...4 hours ago
Good day to everyone. I’ve been asked by Mr Thinks to come here and talk to you all about my concerns regarding the government response to Covid-19. We’ve been living through this pandemic for, what seems like, years. Years and years and years. Why else would the National Party have ...5 hours ago
‘Good Economics for Hard Times’ should be on your reading list. New Zealand does not have a Minister of Labour. It has Ministers of Immigration and Workplace Relations and Safety but there is no minister with responsibility for the labour market. That responsibility was abolished in 2012 when ...19 hours ago
Back in the Kyoto era, the international climate change regime included a Clean Development Mechanism to fund emissions reduction projects in developing nations. Essentially someone would certify that a project - e.g. building a windfarm, or installing energy-efficient lightbulbs - would reduce emissions over and above "business-as-usual". The project would ...1 day ago
By Geoffrey Miller Prominent refugee advocate Murdoch Stephens says he is disappointed by Judith Collins’ reaction to Immigration New Zealand’s decision to grant refugee status to Kurdish-Iranian writer Behrouz Boochani. Judith Collins told media last month that “there’s a lot of concern in New Zealand about what they see as ...1 day ago
That was clearly a huge explosion. Just after the explosion, we see a cloud of ‘fog’ moving outwards at high speed. This is a shockwave, rather similar to that which causes a sonic boom. The ‘fog’ is caused by water condensing from the atmosphere in areas of intense low pressure ...2 days ago
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by Don Franks This talk was given to the Wellington Anti Capitalist Alliance, fifteen years ago. The ultimate weapons of mass destruction so far seen on this planet have been used just twice, 60 years ago this month. August 6 and August 9 1945 witnessed the US atomic bombing ...2 days ago
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This week was the last of the 52nd Parliament: a major milestone for our Government and a great opportunity to look back at all the progress we've made for New Zealanders. This week, we increased support for businesses to take on apprentices, improved access to hospital care in Northland, and ...17 hours ago
The Green Party is strongly opposed to MBIE’s decision to grant mining permits under public conservation land in the Coromandel. ...1 day ago
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Looking for a wonderfully trashy movie to watch? TVNZ OnDemand now have some of Lifetime’s best dramas for your viewing pleasure. In a world of serious and credible television, the arrival of Lifetime to TVNZ OnDemand is joyous news. Lifetime is an American cable channel that churns out emotional drama after emotional drama, ...56 mins ago
By Michael Baker, University of Otago; Amanda Kvalsvig, University of Otago, and Nick Wilson, University of Otago Tomorrow, New Zealand will mark 100 days without community transmission of covid-19. From the first known case imported into New Zealand on February 26 to the last case of community transmission detected on ...2 hours ago
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*This article was first published on RNZ and is republished with permission* Māori leaders say they have no faith in Oranga Tamariki and the chief executive needs to go after the latest report into the organisation found it was routinely taking newborns without whānau consultation. The Chief Ombudsman's report He Take Kōhukihuki, ...1 day ago
So is the government succeeding in steering the country through the Covid-19 crisis and what it calls a “one-in-100-year shock”. And just what is it costing? These are questions which will be uppermost in the minds of voters when they cast their ballots in next month’s general election. Finance Minister ...1 day ago
Bernard Hickey writes this election's argument over who will repay Government debt faster is a dangerous and pointless replay of a 30-year old debate rendered obsolete by today's financial facts Often the myths and legends of the past are more powerful in the minds of politicians, bureaucrats and voters than the reality. Just the fear ...1 day ago
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Attention spans were low and hijinks high on Parliament's last sitting day before the September 19 election, as Sam Sachdeva writes “Welcome to the last day of school.” Chris Hipkins’ opening line at his last Covid-19 press conference before the dissolution of Parliament was remarkably fitting - not just because ...1 day ago
Lockdown highlighted and exacerbated difficulties for young Māori students on the wrong side of the digital divide A lack of access to suitable digital devices, internet connectivity and quality learning resources during the eight weeks of lockdown hindered the learning of rangatahi and tamariki and negatively impacted their mental health and ...1 day ago
Transport Minister Phil Twyford says he's asked NZTA to strike a deal that will reset the clock and give Transmission Gully a clear path to completion. ...1 day ago
RNZ’s Todd Niall takes Auckland Council to task for not handling official information requests properly: http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/352910/lgoima-when-old-news-grows-ripe
Now if only a local activist was aiming at the right target ..
Related – the increasing use of OIA requests about the OIA process: http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2018/03/the-value-of-metaoias.html
According to Hosking in his column we’re travelling down an introspective, small-minded, closed shop road in stopping foreigners buying land here.
Apparently selling foreign land to rich Americans who want to escape their not introspective, small-minded, closed shop country will be great for us.
Don’t panic Mike , we’ve got you and the riches from that enhance our lives more than Julian Robertson, Peter Thiel, Barak Obama or a thousand American billionaires could ever do.
It also keep luxury house prices up, they might fall or sell less like hot cakes if the foreign sales are stopped.
As for US, I think soon it will be billionaires from Asian and Middle East vying for our bolt holes to join the American’s and keep the McMansions getting bigger and our best builders employed for years, in a building shortage.
Personally don’t mind a few foreign sales but clearly many in the world have WAY too much money to spend and countries to influence, and like UK, it just gets out of control.
That has now happened to NZ and places like Queenstown for example are being built for people who don’t live there and no accomodation for people who do.
Not exactly sustainable.
It has to stop and now.
Listening to that ridiculous stuffed shirt Grant Robertson dissemble and divert on RNZ over the issue of Air New Zealand’s abandonment of the provinces made my blood boil this morning. For Christ’s sake man, this should be a BREAD AND BUTTER issue for a left wing politician.
Robertson clearly has no interest in holding the Air NZ board to account. From that, i doubt he has any real intentions beyond what is in the coalition deal of helping Shane Jones and NZ First in their plan for regional renewal.
Robertson might as well fuck off to the National party for all the difference he plans to make as finance minister.
Robertson must go.
Any government strategy about government businesses would be good.
Any time you’re ready Grant.
Sorry to restate the obvious but Roberston isn’t a left wing politician. It’s the same old dilemma for Labour (and Labour members and Labour voters). What can they do?
‘broad church’ etc
In which case we should definitely stop calling Labour a left wing party (I don’t, to me they are centre-left neoliberals).
Labour are centre-right.
Draco – this has already been pointed out to you. The political compass is not evidence of anything.
It is the same as using an anonymous Stuff survey. There is no way to no who did it and how they answered. Basing anything on that is stupid and you should feel stupid
The political compass gives a indication of relative positioning between parties from a reasonably stable view point.
And that’s calling up the typical authoritarian fallacy.
They do it based upon the political parties policies.
Actually, that would be you as you continue to fail to address your ignorance – as all RWNJs do.
Draco – you can’t use an anonymous survey (because that is essentially what it is – an anonymous survey) which doesn’t state it’s methodology or who completed it, what they know about party policy or how they answered the question.
The overwhelming majority of political scientists, commentators and anyone else who puts their name to anything agree Labour is centre-left so how you can argue against that with an anonymous website which doesn’t disclose the methodology behind its results is an extremely poor argument indeed.
It’s like using a Stuff poll which asks “Is the government heading in the right direction” as evidence the government is/isn’t heading in the right direction.
And knock it off with the RW bullshit. I have told you several times I am not RW, never have been and can’t see any reason why I would. Pointing out your poor argument does not make one a RWinger
Except that they do state their methodology and who completes it isn’t important. The latter is just an Appeal to Authority which is a logical fallacy.
[Citation Needed]
But that rings of another logical fallacy: Bandwagon
Then I suggest you stop acting like one.
“Except that they do state their methodology”
Not really no – they doesn’t really give us anymore information at all as to how they got the result they did.
And it isn’t an appeal to authority – it’s the exact opposite because I’m not appealing to any authority – I’m actually asking you where the Political Compass gets the authority to make the claims they are.
Do you really need a citation as to who thinks Labour is centre-left? Given is the leading paradigm I wouldn’t have thought it needed a citation. But fine – I can’t provide you with a list.
I’m not acting like a right-winger – I’m explaining to you why this Political Compass as evidence of Labour being centre-right is extremely poor scholarship for reason listed. Calling you out on that isn’t being right-wing
“Labour are centre-right.”
Relative to what? If we’re talking the Overton Window, then yes Robertson would be too far to the right of traditional left wingness. But in NZ today, on our own spectrum, centre left neoliberalism is a useful way to understand where we are at.
Btw, the political compass you linked to, how come the Greens have been moved to the right?
“Btw, the political compass you linked to, how come the Greens have been moved to the right?”
because this political compass is flawed as evidence and is evidence for nothing
Because their policies have moved to the right. And they actually have done to some degree as they’ve become more ‘business friendly’ over the last few years.
Which policies?
Their pre-election welfare policy put them well to the left.
Generally statements and policies for supporting business.
I’ll take that to be some vague impression that the GP have moved right, but it’s not actual evidence of such.
The Greens building relationships with business has easily been counter balanced by them also building relationships with Māori and the underclasses. It’s also a way of moving business leftwards.
This is why the Greens don’t readily fit into classic L/R framing, but I’m not seeing anything obvious about their policies that account for them having been moved right on that particular compass.
The main one might be the BRR, but that appears to have been a compromise in order to work with Labour rather than an ideological or policy shift. Am open to some actual examples that show different.
Yes labour are a disappointment so far, but a negative poll may spur their lazy ways to actually get up and do the right thing they promised us all before the election or they may need to “waka jump”.
Robertson is a product of his time…he studied politics in the mid nineties and then worked for Foreign Affairs and Trade upon graduation….the height of the neolib era ….Overton window and all that.
Yep. And this isn’t just Labour’s issue, it’s an issue for the whole left.
But Labour is the only party in Parliament that is leaning left!?
You seriously believe the Greens are not?
The operative word is in italics 😉
as in the Greens are already left.
Labour leaning left but hanging onto the centrist Overton windowsill for all their worth. Leaning left, but not actually moving left.
Yep as far as Labour goes.
I don’t think the Greens really fit or suit the label “left” for the same reason I have difficulties labelling myself “left”. But this is just my personal pedantry 😉
True. I think calling them left in this kind of conversation is useful but then it does cause a bit of confusion when we have the neither left nor right conversations.
Also, they’re not traditional left, which is what many people are still expecting Labour to be. Which begs the question of what the left does now given neither Labour nor the Greens are in that role.
To answer your question weka.
Anyone who is a socialist, does not vote.
Because there is no socialists to vote for. Especially party vote, the greens have made it abundantly clear they are not socialist. And the labour party threw out any pretence to social democracy in the 1980’s, and have never looked like taking it up again.
I’m broadly socialist and I vote. I party vote Green because I can see that if they have more power, they will take us in the direction of socialism. That’s what that whole movement wanted and had it been supported more by socialists and left wingers in the past 30 years we might be actually getting somewhere by now. Instead, the only way the Greens have been able to gain ground was by playing the long game and finding the balance point between influencing the mainstream and becoming more mainstream in order to do so.
Not voting doesn’t answer my question, it just cedes the power and the discussion to the Robertsons of the world.
I don’t think Labour/Greens will ever be left enough for many of the regular commenters at The Standard. They would need to abandon middle NZ to do so and struggle to secure 5% of the vote.
They have the votes of the regulars here in the bag. Growing their share of the votes requires being seen to move right, not left.
The Green’s greatest supporter/critics eg: The Chairman, every day he was taking a swipe at their lack of sliding left. It may well be with reluctance but I do feel that those that share his sentiment would never vote Nat/ACT.
@David Mac
I agree that there are those here for whom nothing short of revolution would be regarded as “right wing neoliberalism”, but there are also no shortage of tories who like to encourage those divisions with concern-trolling about whether party A or person B is “left wing enough”.
As for moving right to get votes, I’m not so sure. Arguing that there’s a pool of voters betwixt lab and nat is the same trap as others who attribute votes to policy or simple photogenic leadership.
People vote for complex reasons, and pivoting a party to chase that one thing which will work kind of leaves your dick on the anvil if that one thing turns out to have been a pipe dream.
Hi McFlock, They appear to be aiming for concerns that sit where the left/right Venn diagram overlaps.
The environment, kids’ well-being and education etc.
I think it’s a strategy that makes sense if they don’t want to swap chairs again come 2020.
Leaves us wondering ‘So are they doing this to win the next election or because it’s whats best for NZ?’
Anyone who is a socialist, does not vote.
Putting aside “purity”, still not strictly true. I believe the World Socialist Party (affiliated with the SPGB) has an electoral presence in NZ. 😉
They stand candidates, have no platform, and would not enter parliament.
The idea is that a vote for such a candidate is a vote for oneself.
I guess there was a time when the thought was that a critical mass could be achieved and representative parliamentary democracy side-lined.
At the risk of sounding like a damned hippy, the analogy of the Venn diagram constrains the discussion into the right/left/intersect argument you’re making, rather than simply illustrating it.
For example, the Greens are doing their thing, following through on their commitments as much as they can. Labour are doing their thing, following through on their commitments as much as they can. Actually having honest politicians will increase the pool of voters on the leftish side, not just suck some voters from the nat side. Having tories look like losers will disincentivise some tories from voting, lowering their pool of voters. So labgrn might increase their proportion of votes without ever approaching the middle ground with the tories.
That’s been obvious for awhile. He’s a solid neo-liberal following the same failed policies that has always destroyed economies and societies.
Like most of us, his contribution stands testament to the life he has led. Grant has never been unplugged from the Mother Ship. I think he’d struggle to run a successful lemonade stall at the bottom of his drive.
stand
Similar to English. He was never really a “farmer” (grew up on one but then I have a pool but am not thereby an olympic swimmer) but was a career bureaucrat and then politician but nary a peep from Nats about his lack of real world experience. Then there is the woodwork teacher turned politician who fucked over the people of Christchurch and then EQC and then giving Fletchers immunity from any poor repair work.
Aren’t there restrictions on the directions he can give the board because the govt isn’t sole shareholder? It has to run for profit unless we renationalise.
As much as I like Obama I hate seeing the NZ media fawn over the trip. It is embarrassing
Rich turpitude. But he did the best he could. Not good enough.
The James Shaw Show of giving National the Greens’ questions has now reached Talkback Land and not in a complimentary way. Greens’ members not happy.
For a party that believes in democratic process, they FAILED miserably here just to gain a little notoriety, just hope they don’t go the same way the Aus Greens have, supporting conservative agendas, their polling is already fairly low.
How did they fail in democratic process here?
Did Shaw ASK you if you thought it was a good idea to gift National their questions, my take is that it’s members only heard about this through the media, the strong Green supporters here defended the hell out of it, even though the reality is it is likely to see supporters drift away from an already diminishing base.
I hoped to see the Greens be very successful at promoting the core issues they stand for and put forward policies and ideas that all Kiwis can be proud of, instead they’ve poked a lot of supporters in the eye with a blunt stick to gain a few NEWs headlines.
For me, James Shaw has made some serious mistakes trying to be more relevant, some of the statements he has made in the past just don’t really support the true Values of the Green movement.
1. Shaw didn’t ask each individual member because that is not how the GP works democratically. They have tried and true processes that balance democracy with functionality. The caucus is empowered to make decisions without having to go to the membership each time. Think that through. The amount of work of running a democratic process with the membership on every decision, or even just this one, would be massive.
2. The GP didn’t give their questions to National, they gave them to the Opposition. Think about that.
3. Shaw didn’t do this, the Green Party did. But he fronted it and the rationales I have heard from him fit very well with the principles of the GP. That’s the whole point (which is being missed by many people). If you think that is wrong, please point to the specific values that have been undermined here and explain how they’ve been undermined.
Weka
So the caucus was well informed and approved about his intentions then?
OK, the opposition parties comprise of National and ACT, splitting hairs I think, are there any common policies between these two parties and the Greens?
So you’re still arguing that the Green Party did this but with out informing any of the members of the Green party that this is what they will do.
Weka, I read all the threads on the topic the other day and TBH, could see the search for a suitable reason to justify it (the announcement), and when one was found you all clapped your hands and said Yeah. I understand that improving democratic process is a good thing in a world where everything is skewed by vested interests, but as pointed out, there are many other things that could have been done to achieve a much better and enduring outcome without alienating members of the party.
I want the Greens to successful, but they need to recognize that their base is now only 5%, they need smart policies that the general public will support for the right reasons, staunch Green supporters do not like National, either do I, stop pandering to them, the public aren’t as stupid as some may think.
“So the caucus was well informed and approved about his intentions then?”
I think you really have no idea how the GP works. Shaw didn’t make this decision, the GP did. Which means that the caucus both discussed and made a decision about it.
“OK, the opposition parties comprise of National and ACT, splitting hairs I think, are there any common policies between these two parties and the Greens”
You miss the point. The Greens are offering it to the Opposition, because of the principle that the Opposition should be the ones holding the govt to account. That would apply to whoever was in Opposition including Labour.
“So you’re still arguing that the Green Party did this but with out informing any of the members of the Green party that this is what they will do.”
I’m not arguing that, it’s simply a fact. That’s how the party works, and it has processes built into to increase democracy without having to run extremely time consuming processes around involving the whole membership each time. Do you have much experience with consensus decision making? Or there other processes the Greens use?
“there are many other things that could have been done to achieve a much better and enduring outcome without alienating members of the party.”
Such as? You get that the GP has done some other things too, and has active plans for more in the future right?
“I want the Greens to successful, but they need to recognize that their base is now only 5%, they need smart policies that the general public will support for the right reasons, staunch Green supporters do not like National, either do I, stop pandering to them, the public aren’t as stupid as some may think.”
If you can’t see that this isn’t pandering to National, then I can’t help you. The Greens have a culture and a specific mandate based on core principles. They also have a problem with expressing that (and I’m critical of their comms generally and in this specific instance), but that’s also because of the general misunderstandings in the public about who they are and what they do. So I get that for many people, hating on National is core to the politics. That’s just not how it is for the GP, and for very good reasons.
Weka
I know what question time is like, but everyone seems to think that it’s just the Govt that needs to be held to account, all parties need to be held to account for their actions and statements, opposition parties should be held to the same high standard as the Govt otherwise it’s just a farce.
There are a lot of Green supporters who are a little dismayed at the policy, which is where this thread originated.
I don’t deny the Greens have a robust democratic process, but it still doesn’t mean the policies are palatable for all their members.
I think if you were go back and read ALL the threads on this topic from a few days ago, you might just see the bigger picture that emerged.
I’m going to leave at that, I just don’t see the Greens as a movement benefiting from this policy, either from a membership perspective or popularity.
I know what question time is like, but everyone seems to think that it’s just the Govt that needs to be held to account, all parties need to be held to account for their actions and statements, opposition parties should be held to the same high standard as the Govt otherwise it’s just a farce.
I agree, but how does that apply to QT? Are you saying that the Greens could have used their questions to hold National to account? I don’t think they are allowed to do that. There are other ways to hold the Opposition parties to account though.
“There are a lot of Green supporters who are a little dismayed at the policy,”
Yes. But that has happened before when they do something that lots of people don’t understand and where the MSM do a poor job of explaining it.
“I think if you were go back and read ALL the threads on this topic from a few days ago, you might just see the bigger picture that emerged.”
I haven’t read every comment, but I’ve read most of them, and lots on twitter too. So I have a pretty good idea of the range of response, and the range of arguments for and against. I’m still trying to decide whether to write a post on this, but have been researching a lot in the past few days.
I’m going to leave at that, I just don’t see the Greens as a movement benefiting from this policy, either from a membership perspective or popularity.
I know this still comes as a surprise but the GP operate from principles first. This doesn’t mean they don’t take feedback or notice of dissent, they do. But that alone isn’t a good enough reason to recant on a policy let alone a principle. In this case I expect the party first and foremost to be listening to its active members but also people generally. I hope they take the time to see where the change leads and if people change their minds on it, but I am not supportive of the Greens informing their policies and actions from a ‘we hate National’ position.
I don’t think anybody can ‘delegate’ this to or rely on MSM least of all the Greens.
I’m thinking about a Guest Post on this too if only I find the time 🙁
true. This is why I suggest that to understand the Greens one needs to listen to them directly. One can still disagree but one is then disagreeing from an informed place.
A Guest Post would be welcome! (when the time is right)
I am a Green Party voter and I am not dismayed.
Ah the threshold chestnut again. Go look at their record in every election and except when Labour was imploding they have always been around the threshold. Therefore being around the threshold is evidence of nothing other than that for nearly 20 years it has been enough to get Greens into parliament.
Why don’t you have a look at Question number 6 on March 1, 2018.
This is the last question asked by a Green MP. It is absolutely typical of questions asked by Government MPs of any party. It was not specifically chosen to attempt to embarrass the Green Party.
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/document/HansS_20180301_052350000/6-question-no-6-statistics
Read it right through and then think about whether it served any purpose at all.
If you were Golriz Ghahraman wouldn’t you be totally embarrassed by being required to ask these stupid questions? Wouldn’t you like to be able to refuse to do so?
Actually I quite admire the way she asked the last supplementary.
alwyn, re our earlier conversations, yesterday I re-found this handy little tool on the Parliament website and posted in a reply to someone else.
https://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-NZ/52SCBUDeterminations201711081/8711510daa40c86a56295e2b6e5cbece93abf7da
In case you haven’t seen this tool, it is the Oral Question Roster for the 52nd Parliament drawn up and approved by the Business Committee last Nov 2017 which sets out by sitting day, the number of primary Oral Questions allocated to each party making up the 12 Questions for the day.
The actual sequence of the 12 questions often changes but the numbers don’t. I doubt that this will be rejigged in light of the Greens decision as this is in essence an informal decision by the Greens and their arrangement with National is outside (but not contrary to) the current formal procedures and rules of the House.
Today is Sitting Day 31. This day number is always at the top of the Order Paper for each sitting day – helpful if you lose count as the allocation roster doesn’t state the date of each numbered day.
Today was to have been the only day this week that the Greens had an allocated question (#12) but this allocation seems to have been given to ACT today – whether by the Greens is not clear …
That is certainly a great deal easier than the way I found the questions.
I think you are wrong about being able to find the day on the list from the day on the order paper though.
As you say the day on the order paper is 31. The questions for today are however the ones for day 29 on the table you have linked to.
The questions for day 29 go L,N,A,L,N,N,L,N …….(L=Labour etc) The Greens were not going to have a question.
If you look at the list of questions for today you will see that they are in that same order as day 29. ACT has got question 3.
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/order-paper-questions/list-of-oral-questions/oral-questions-21-march-2018/
I hope what I am saying is clear enough to follow.
Thus the day number on the table you provide is only the days on which there is a Question Time. The difference between 29 and 31 caters, of course, for the fact that there was no Question Time on the first 2 days of the term. I guess keeping track would be like using one of those old desk diaries where you tear off and throw away the sheet for each day.
It would be embarrassing if a party got out of step with the right day wouldn’t it?
You’re right – good spotting. Your explanation makes sense and I should have spotted it.
The value of peer review, yet again. Thanks. Brain has had a bit of a workout this week. Will correct my post of last night on this for the record.
So in fact the Greens were allocated Q10 today and this was used by Nick Smith,Nat. Bit of a hot one today, that one! *
Did you go through Hansard to find those four questions? Do you ever use the Watch On Demand section? It was upgraded over the election break and IMHO is the quickest place to find who has asked questions, spoken on Bills etc as it now has a good filter system whereby you can filter by individual MP, subject, date period, Questions, Bill Debates etc
https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand
For example, if you select Oral questions (rather than All) and then click on the MP box, the drop down box lists them by name, you select who you want, and then press the apply filters box and it will bring up all the questions (with videos) that MP has asked or been involved in with the latest first. Have only had one missed to date so not quite 100%.
Videos are now up very promptly – usually up in about 15 – 20 mins except after about 5pm when they slow, but then quicker again in the evening.
Today was a General Debate day and I have now located a Roster for the General Debates as well.
https://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-NZ/52SCBUDeterminations201711081/c6b688140efe9f486c64112523d39c2f4b40bf12
By my reckoning, today’s roster was No. 7 – would welcome you checking this for me. Based mine on the sequence of the videos using the Watch On Demand link above.
Cheers – just shows that people of different pol leanings can work well together when we have other shared interests and respect one another’s differences!
* From the videos on On Demand, I now see that Q10 was so hot that Smith came back later and made a Personal Explanation.
I would agree that it is Roster number7.
At least it has Seymour at position 7 of the 12 which is right. He only gets 3 turns in the 30 week cycle and the others are at 11 (in week 17) and 4 (in week 24).
That certainly makes him a pretty easy marker.
“Did you go through Hansard to find those four questions”.
I just looked at each day of the last 2 weeks of the questions that were going to be asked. The reference is in my comment above minus the specific date (here 21 March).
I was only looking for some samples and I wasn’t actually interested in the replies or the supplementary questions so it is only a single page per day. I just went until I had 4 from 2 weeks so it seemed a fair sample. It was only later that I bothered to look at the full debate for the last, Census, one.
Actually, while trying to edit it to be more readable I left in an erroneous statement. I said after the bit about the order that the Greens weren’t getting a question. They of course got Q10 as you say.. I left that comment in by accident after changing around chunks of the material.
Poor old Nick. “a” instead of “other”. Good on the Minister for spotting the chance and taking advantage of it. It was a great response. Pity Kelvin Davis isn’t as quick.
I shall have to have a look at some of the things you have suggested. I am just old fashioned and have to date stuck happily to the transcripts.
“people of different pol leanings”
My political leanings are generally right in the centre. I do not think that a Government should last more than 3 terms though, as long as there is someone else prepared to take over. Unfortunately I don’t think Labour were in that position last election which annoyed me greatly. Haven’t changed my mind about it either.
Since 1981 I have voted 7 times National, 5 times Labour and once did not vote. Pretty close to a swinging voter. Could have easily been 6,6,1 if Labour hadn’t, at least in my view, wasted 9 years of opposition.
Newsflash
I note that alwyn has given you the link to Hansard for the transcript of Question 6 on 1 March 2018 – but not the link to the video.
Here is the link to the video as this gives a much better feel for the demeanour of both Golriz Ghahraman and James Shaw in asking and answering both the primary question and the string of supplementary questions on the Census – and the attitude and reaction of the National Party MPs.
https://www.parliament.nz/en/watch-parliament/ondemand?itemId=198774
Do you see any embarrassment on the part of Golriz Ghahraman in asking the primary questions and her first supplementary questions?
I don’t. Nor do I see any embarrassment on Shaw’s part in answering them – initially.
IMO both seem quite eager and to be enjoying themselves. Golriz laughs at about supplementary question 2 and 3, and uses eye and facial expressions to emphasize parts of her questions. She is obviously a little taken aback that she has to wait for Brownlee to ask a question and also raise a Point of Order before she asks her final supplementary which she prefaces with “This is a good one.”
Shaw’s initial enthusiasm dwindles as the barracking from the National Party MPs increases with each question and answer, and he appears quite feed up at the end. Ghahraman’s laughter in the final moments could also be embarrassment.
I can understand that Shaw could well feel p. off that he was being landed with criticism of the Census system and processes set up under the previous National Govt well before he became Minister – and the problems with the process being experienced at the time. This would have been particularly galling coming from the very same National MPs that were previously involved in the setting up of the revised Census procedures etc.
BUT did anyone else make Shaw as Minister of Statistics and Ghahraman choose to use the Green Party Parliamentary Oral Question allocation to attempt to clarify the situation on the Census processes ?
No. That was entirely their decision.
And now they have decided to give some of their primary Oral questions to these very same people – ????
It impressed me.
Here’s a message to the community I just wanted to share….
I’m really enjoying The Standard and engaging with everyone here. While we all have differences in opinion I am enjoying having some robust discussions and interesting conversations with everyone. While I have butted heads with some of the more… colourful individuals (Draco can never back down even when wrong; CV has gone completely round the bend and the less said about LPrent the better) I have also enjoyed these back and forths.
McFlock, Carolyn_nth, Tracey, Weka and Pyscho Milt – you guys are some of my favourite people to talk with and enjoy your contributions.
Keep up the good work!
JS out…
In due course I think you will change your mind about Draco and lprent. Their individual styles take a bit of getting used to, but they both have brilliant brains even if one doesn’t always agree with them.
Their barks are worse than their bites.
Draco just comes out with some pretty easily disproven shit at times and LPrent is just very much in love with himself (yes I know he is the site owner – I’m just calling it like I see it). Also when he thinks he is being clever by insulting people it comes across very poorly.
I don’t think either of them are dumb however and don’t want nor expect them – or anyone for that matter – to change. It all makes up the rich tapestry of life….
No I don’t else you would have been able to disprove it.
Just yesterday you claimed the Great Britain wasn’t a trading nation when in fact they were the largest trading nation of their time.
That one was pretty easy to disprove.
But they weren’t always and their trade was more theft than trade.
Perhaps those centuries of theft is what makes people think that trade makes people wealthy.
Great Britain became great through trade – the whole fucking American Revolution started because of Britain’s trading practices and they owned well over half the worlds trade at one point.
No, they owned well over half the world’s theft at one point. They were wealthy because of stealing resources, not because they were trading fairly for their resources.
yes they stole goods but traded heavily – 3 examples being with China, the Baltic states and the new world/America.
They were a massive trading empire – it’s all available to read and study online and isn’t disputed (except by Draco for some reason)
Here are some links to enjoy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_timber_trade
http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelpregion/asia/china/guidesources/chinatrade/index.html
https://history.libraries.wsu.edu/fall2014/2014/08/29/what-allowed-the-british-empire-expand-rapidly-during-the-1600s/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/trade_empire_01.shtml
It’s all very black and white and not disputed
John where have you come from and would you consider going back there…you don’t appear to be bringing much of any worth to this site
Thanks!
Case of the pot – kettle syndrome, JS. Please ignore. I am enjoying your presence – and definitely think you are adding good value.
What a load of rubbish. Stick around John
No, they became ‘great’ because they built up their local manufacturing and their war machine so that they could conquer other territories and steal the resources of those conquered territories.
I’m saying that we should do the first bit and build up our manufacturing capabilities, knowledge and skills so that we can support ourselves from our own resources rather than being dependent upon trade which actually leaves us poorer.
And to build the war machine they needed….trade! with the baltic states to get the wood needed for their ships.
This isn’t hard – the owned nearly every trade route in the world and traded extensively. It isn’t even disputed.
Your statement at the very beginning said they didn’t need trade when in fact they were the biggest trading nation the world have even seen and one British company, on it’s own, controlled half the worlds trade. These are facts.
More info:
http://www.the-map-as-history.com/demos/tome05/Map-of-the-British-Empire-european-colonization.php
John, you bring a new view point to this site and it is refreshing, so much of the commenting here is SO predictable.
But you know what – fuck it.
If you want to believe Great Britain wasn’t a trading nation (the biggest trading nation of its time) despite everything to the contrary then fine. You’ll note I have provided about 5 – 6 different citations that disagree with your premise while you have provided none – just your opinion.
So despite owning over the half the worlds, opening trading posts all over the world, trading extensively with China, the baltics, the West indies, India and the Orient in general you still hold the position that they did it all themselves without the need for trade.
I stand by my original post – you can’t admit when you got something just plain wrong.
Good day sir
You don’t understand John.
You are arguing from just a small, say one thousand years of history. To disprove DTB’s credo you have to prove that Britain was the leading trading nation at all times and with all other countries.
They weren’t between 1121 and 1123 AD with Inner Mongolia.
Therefore you are totally wrong and you should bow down before the superior knowledge of DTB.
Know your place villein and don’t question the wisdom of your Lord, Baron Draco of Bastard.
Initially the British Empire grew from mercantilism within its borders but from the Industrial Revolution onwards “British control of the oceans proved optimal in creating a liberal free-trade global economy, and helped Britain gain the lion’s share of the world’s carrying trade and financial support services.”
The Poms basically invented international trade…
@Ropata “The Poms basically invented international trade”.
Huh? What was the Silk Road then? Pretty sure that could be defined as international trade.
Solomon and the Queen of Sheba had a good thing going on –
http://bibleandarchaeology.blogspot.co.nz/2011/09/sheba-connected-to-israel.html
I thought the American revolution started because the colonists resented the tax that they had to pay.
As long as I don’t cower I’m for them.
Winter is coming.
LOL …. both in RL and GOT
Closing the Gaps was longer than 10 years ago.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Fonterra CEO Theo Spierings resigns
Thanks (sarcasm) for screwing up Fonterra, cumulating a loss of $348 million.
Maybe next time they cap the salary at 1 million instead of 8 million plus – Fonterra might actually get someone who is less greedy and more interested in the company than screwing it up. Of course they are also giving him a consultancy role so he can keeping milking it…
Maybe think about a Kiwi at the helm too as we keep hearing how important Fonterra is for NZ and therefore needs TPPA, more environmental degradation and the country has to suck it up so they can post loses and pay execs 8 million.
Funny Fonterra is always a Kiwi company when it suits them, but an international one, when it comes to management and their decisions and salaries.
At least if they bother to appoint a Kiwi at the helm, they have to live with their decisions and hopefully have a more long term approach, than make cash and deliver losses… for the 8 million salary and then off to do it again, no doubt somewhere else in the world.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/money/2018/03/ceo-of-fonterra-theo-spierings-resigns.html
Fucking hell. The dairy industry has destroyed NZ’s rivers and sold off half of our farmland to foreign powers, for this.
Dairy farming is toxic, unsustainable, and has way too much political clout for no net benefit to NZ
Dairy farming does not have to be toxic! Clearly getting someone in from Holland which intensively farms animals in barns and specialises in mergers was never a good fit with NZ farming practises. Has not worked out financially either.
Whose bright idea was it to hire him in the first place?
No net benefit? Tell that to the tens of thousands of farmers, farm staff, ancillary industries, and contractual staff who derive an income from the dairy industry.
Not to mention billions into the government’s coffers from the associated income and gst tax.
Local councils love rates income from dairy farms.
You can grizzle about farming and pollution but net benefit….hole in your head with that comment.
Yep, clearly Fonterra team are financial and overseas planning wizards.. (sarcasm)
“But in its interim results on Wednesday, Fonterra said net normalised profit after tax had fallen 36 per cent from its 2017 result, to $248 million.
While revenue was up 6 per cent, the company’s earnings before interest and taxes were down 25 per cent from 2017.
With the one-off payments to Danone, over the botulism contamination scare, and the Beingmate write-off factored in, the cooperative made a loss of $348m, a 183 per cent drop in net profit after tax from the 2017 interim result.”
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/money/2018/03/fonterra-raises-milk-prices.html
With CEO Theo Spierings resigned, I sure hope Fonterra use this as an opportunity to get their shit together, stop losing money, and emphasise the Value over their Volume and Velocity drivers.
Pure comedy gold Ad, pure.
Like cleaner waterways, it’s all just about the PR.
I knew you would get the shit reference.
Can anyone tell me where the big election push for cleaner waterways went, now that they are in power?
Currently, other than through an oblique regulatory lens enabled through a change of legislation, I don’t see any government strategy for engaging with the dairy industry as a whole, let alone Fonterra as our largest locally-owned business.
Do a post, you know you’ll get a smart ass response from me at least. 🙂
Yup. I bet if the Govt just implemented something we would suddenly hear the Rightcsquealing “what? No consultation? No Review? No Working group
Fonterra knew Beingmate sales were declining when they bought them due to on line sales increasing at a rapid pace. They overpaid because it was tipped they were buying them and also they were over valued in the first place, because on line sales were taking the business.
Mistake after mistake.
Fonterra management are dinosaurs and out of touch with modern business.
Surely they could work out, that in a country of billions it is easier to order on line than go through traffic and have to travel in an enormous country to a few retail stores, to get your milk powder?
Surely????
When the evidence was before their eyes at the time in China, retail declining, on line sales increasing?
One would expect the chairman to resign also given that the CEO is presumably carrying out the boards wishes. The board and upper management need an extensive clean out.
Am I qualified to comment, yep, got family who work for them.
If they lower the salaries under 1 million with benefits for CEO under $500k for anyone else and set the board salary at NZ levels, hopefully clean out of the worst Greedies and certainly the board and upper management set the strategy and make the bad decisions so heads should roll.
The reality is that like in the famous add for pineapple lumps the world sees many Kiwis as yokels in business, with good reason and our ability to attract B and C grade overseas executives while thinking we have hit the jackpot seems to have become the new norm.
Fonterra were probably fed fake facts about Bestmate from the Chinese or someone got a backhander to make such a bad error in the first place and over pay. Unless it is just out and out stupidity and laziness?
Similar to treasury apparently blaming a 25% error on their child poverty on the IT guy.
Time also to actually improve the Kiwi business with Kiwi residents who actually understand the culture here and work for NZ and company interests.
Kiwi’s used to be renewed for their ideas and quality not the pen pushing lazies that expect the government to wipe their asses with policy friendly laissez-faire deregulation for short term profits and have an expensive board of ‘names’ to show they are part of the greedy club and have the appropriate nepotism and networking in place.
It’s kinda the opposite of what to expect from a functioning rural co operative in this country.
Now even the holiday makers feel the need for a side line, to import drugs into NZ.
Canadian jailed for smuggling $8m meth into New Zealand
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2018/03/canadian-jailed-for-smuggling-8m-meth-into-new-zealand.html
Gotta love this day and age – In the USA they get to elect the aristocracy, and what charmers they are.
https://www.icij.org/investigations/paradise-papers/paradise-papers-help-reveal-jb-pritzkers-offshore-connections/
Ah factory life, still utter rubbish. Big tanks to Meena for her story. Interesting how employers are getting around equal pay laws – the same in NZ?
https://libcom.org/blog/series-interviews-working-class-women-west-london-part-4-19032018
Good grief. So things haven’t a bit since 1970.
That my take as well Brigid.
Love to get some narratives like this from working women in NZ.
Armed school resource officer stops Maryland High School Shooting
A highly trained sherriffs deputy and school resource officer interrupts and stops a high school shooting.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-03-20/armed-resource-officer-stops-maryland-high-school-gunman
How did you turn from a left winger to a right winger?
Genuine question
Hi John, given the incorrect assumptions embedded in your question, I can’t provide you with any answer to it.
Well, you don’t seem to support the left and seem to get your information from sources like foxnews as well as supporting a right wing US political candidate.
I’m sorry if I have misinterpreted you – I am asking for genuine reasons and not to offend
John, CV works pretty hard at sustaining nuanced and well researched positions.
You will find plenty on here who don’t change their minds, are spectacularly narrow-minded, and spend most of their times in tiresome purity contests with each about how ultra-left and ultra-good they are.
CV is not one of those.
Cheers Ad 😎
+111111
Well said, sir – I second your entire comment.
I don’t think there’s a more narrow-minded commenter than CV on the whole board.
Every single comment is exclusively either anti-Clinton or pro-Trump rhetoric.
Can’t get much more narrow than that.
Yeah, I agree. And anything outside of pro-Trump or pro-Russia is a conspiracy of some kind
Ask him about immunisation……oh the laughs we’ll have !
Oh god, really?
yes…and also please don’t go there the threads always descend into madness.
What “Left” is there to support? The Greens? Labour?
Socialism (or perhaps Communism) as a political economic model?
Post-modern identity politics or perhaps a radical social liberalism which promotes the inversion/destruction of traditional social boundaries and social structures?
Or the Clinton Left which seems to believe that escalating tensions with Russia and proclaiming the sanctity of the FBI/CIA/New York Times as guardians of freedom and democracy is now “Left”?
Or maybe the environmental left which has spent the last week proclaiming that Climate Change is bringing on a global catastrophe of civilisation ending proportions – but the furthest we can possibly go is (an ineffective) ban on oil exploration, but not a ban on actual fossil fuel importation?
Or perhaps the Left which is breathless at the prospects of Hillary and Obama visiting NZ along with their congratulations that NZ Labour carried on with the implementation of the TPP that they championed while in office?
I’m not sure which left. I’m left in that I oppose right wing/social conservatism. Not having a party to always support doesn’t mean I don’t strife against it the right.
Does this mean you have given up on the left as being able to get their shit together rather than “joining the right” as it were?
I decided that a degree of social conservatism and also long standing cultural values have an important place in the every day running of society that too many people have taken for granted.
Arabs, Asians, Indians, Russians, Chinese, Persians, etc. place far, far more value on their own cultures and traditions than Anglo-Saxons do on theirs.
I also decided that both elements on the Left and the Right were far too busy trying to invert morality and present crappy BS as virtuous goods.
The left can’t get its shit together because with the exception of just a few, it doesn’t understand what fitness for the current age is, and it doesn’t understand that because it doesn’t understand the broader operating environment of the current age.
Ok – interesting.
I genuinely wanted to know your position without getting into a shitfight about Russia/trump/Putin so I think that answers it
Now…. back to the shit fights 😉
Yep got my gumboots on heh
And to tack a footnote on that sentiment CV, I’m most interested in building trust across the whole range of people and communities in our society. Not just within New Zealand, but globally.
I understand this is a forbidding goal, but I’d sooner be moving towards a sense of human unity than away from it.
Very forboding especially when some people in some cultures have no concept of or buy in to this kind of openness, and indeed would take the degrees of freedom presented to them in such an open system to throw a spanner in the works for their own short term gain.
As a concrete example, Chinese nationals obtaining NZ citizenship for their elderly parents on family grounds then dumping them here for the Crown to pay for their care and healthcare as they themselves head back to do business overseas is only one example.
And the only answer to that is exactly as you outlined above; we need to value our own cultural values more, and be willing to defend them when we see them betrayed like that.
But of course every modest attempt to do so gets screamed down by someone frantically waving the ‘racist’ card. Depressing.
Unity isn’t about some beige, insipid ‘tolerance’; it’s about understanding who you are, what is important to you, and engaging the world constructively on that basis.
If we want something recognisable left to pass on to our kids and grandkids, we better get the idea real quick.
Must be worth some purity points RL.
If only people saw and did the things you and CV and Ad think they should do what a wonderful world it would be.
Arabs, Asians, Indians, Russians, Chinese, Persians, etc. place far, far more value on their own cultures and traditions than Anglo-Saxons do on theirs.
I also decided that both elements on the Left and the Right were far too busy trying to invert morality and present crappy BS as virtuous goods.
Or to put it more simply, you became an authoritarian nationalist. Thank you though, that explains the right-wing opinions and the support for Trump and Putin nicely.
[RL: 12 month ban for starting a flame war and wasting moderators time.]
[this moderation is being reviewed]
I can’t help your delusional interpretations and poor reading comprehension.
[Read the first and second paragraphs of the Policy. I’m done with trying to explain this to a commenter who now has a 2 year history of causing multiple and serious problems on this site. I spent a lot of effort in the last week dampening down flame wars. Given how much moderation work you have taken up in recent years I am now done with spending any more time on you when, in returning from the past few short bans, you just revert back to the same behaviour and on and on it goes. I see no point in letting this escalate and cause problems in the commentariat. 12 month ban. – weka]
Thank you, Weka.
Sacha…Again…
Expressing your appreciation at the demise of another commentator…is weak and purile…
Perhaps you believe you’re a good person adding value in this life…
However with expressions such as that…in likelihood you’re calling out for a response on some level…
And I’m not referring to my comment..
Raise the bar…
Interesting what you choose to see. I am happy that a moderator has acted decisively before yet another post deteriorates into unreadability.
fuck that sucks , pm is one of the best here
bugger
I agree. He’s acerbic at times but his political insights are remarkable. 12 months is way too harsh in my view but there you go…
Agree – PM is one of the best
” I also decided that both elements on the Left and the Right were far too busy trying to invert morality and present crappy BS as virtuous goods. ”
This is why people get confused by you CV. You adopt the Rights memes designed to silence dissent and preserve the status quo…
Virtue signalling and identity politics and PC are just that and when you sneer them out as a substitute for counter argument and then bask in your superiority that you and some select others are the only ones who see the world for what it is and have all the answers you attract challenge. By all means have your worldview and champion it but it is still just an opinion no matter how fervently and firmly you hold onto it
“I decided that a degree of social conservatism and also long standing cultural values have an important place in the every day running of society that too many people have taken for granted.”
Totally agree with this statement.
Also, It still amazes me how many commenters on this and other sites, as well as within the MSM, believe that conservative = right wing. This is not the case. For example the working class are generally conservative and are (traditionally) mostly left wing leaning
This is why there is a massive disconnect between say the Green Party and the working class. The working class are too busy working to feed their families and trying to get their kids well educated to worry excessively about less important (to them) things.
Yet all they hear from the supposed left is post modernist, intersectionalist, non binary cis gender, virtue signalling, victim claiming, unscientific, fantasyland claptrap. They are looked down upon, discriminated against (in the name of getting rid of discrimination) , told they must feel guilty about their so called mythical white privilege, accept the ‘fact’ that their masculinity is toxic and they’re part of this massive conspiracy called the patriarchy which exists to dis-empower and discriminate against women.
Wonder why Trump won.
I could rant on and on, but I’ve got a family to feed.
How do you know many Green Party members/voters haven’t come from working class backgrounds?
I have certainly come across GP members who are women from working class backgrounds who went to Uni – probably the first in their family.
And I have known a few working class women, strong on class politics who are also explicitly feminists – while perhaps being critical of some middle class feminists.
There are also quite a few working class LGBTI people.
Sarah Smarsh comes from a poor US family – was the first in her family to go to uni, and writes a lot about class, and also feminism.
This article by her from last June last year: “Working-class women are too busy for gender theory – but they’re still feminists “.
The carer in whose name the equal pay challenge was made…
I wonder how many working class are Left voting though. Given the presence of Nat ACT and NZF it seems as though either the percentage in the working class has dropped or they are voting Right.
We constantly have a Nat Government because kwis vote conservatively. And while we have some social liberalism Nats last 2 leaders have been Christian and socially conservative
Trump was elected by Americans.
Equality can feel like Oppression to those who have benefitted from inequality mikes.
That mostly reads to me as a fairly reasonable exposition of, not the left, but liberalism.
That said, I’m not sure I understand what you mean by a socialist or communist political economic model, unless you’re referring to forms of authoritarianism that hi-jacked the terms “socialist” and “communist” for cynical (and somewhat successful) political gain.
Many disenchanted liberals are going to fall to the left or the right in coming years, where “left” is the non-authoritarian counter to various forms of authoritarianism (including some that will masquerade as being left) that will undoubtedly seek ascendancy.
Tradition is a tricky one in my mind. Some traditions are valuable and definitely worth defending and/or fighting for. Some have been forgotten or suppressed. Others simply aren’t worth shit, insofar as they run against our best interests and can easily be used to excuse and/or condone some fairly horrific political machinations. (eg – particularly useful in pushing some forms of authoritarianism).
I’d have liked to have carried on this conversation on the basis of “my reckons” – ie, that you tend to confound the liberalism you’ve become disenchanted with as “left” and so, seeing no space to maneuver, kind of default to the less compassionate side of liberalism.
Maybe in another space…
“where “left” is the non-authoritarian…”
Which planet is your ‘left’ on? Because it seems that the left these days is always authoritarian.
“Left” and “authoritarian” are two mutually exclusive concepts.
“Liberal” and “authoritarian” aren’t.
And liberalism has this dirty habit of claiming to be of the left. Which it can never be in light of the fact it’s synonymous with capitalism – which as economic systems go, is the antithesis of anything “left” (whether in it’s state or command economy setting, it’s liberal market setting, or any point between those poles)
This ^^^^ and the last 2 Nat leaders are NOT liberals.
Or perhaps the Left who aren’t the strong?
Or, for the strong.
Got pissed off his revolution failed and nobody noticed.
That’s gotta be worth 21 purity points ….
How do you see what you posted advance the interest of the labour movement?
There is no evidence from what you posted that it stopped them before they had actually shot someone. So the reality is a stopping took place. Indeed a school shooting did in fact take place, again.
Sad attempt at spin man, sad.
There is no “labour movement” and even if there were, its not my job to advance its interests and agendas.
Yes, people were shot. Yes it was a school shooting. But the shooter was interrupted in his crime by an armed school resource officer before he could continue further.
You have a better idea for how this particular school shooting could have been prevented?
Then you have no interest in this site then? If you have no interest in advancing the interests of the labour movement.
So your comment “Armed school resource officer stops Maryland High School Shooting” is an outright lie then
Feel free to try another Gosman.
Hi adam, firstly I’d ask you to cease your attempts at putting words in my mouth.
Secondly, the armed school resource officer successfully stopped the continuation of the shooting and successfully stopped the perp continuing the shooting incident and his shooting.
I’m sorry that my original comment did not pass your requirements for pedantry.
So you don’t think this site is to improve the interests the labour movement and to question you on that is a pedantry argument. Interesting.
As for words in your mouth, “Armed school resource officer stops Maryland High School Shooting” just quoted you buddy. If that not what you said, I’m all ears.
As for a shooting, one happened. So not really a good propaganda piece for you is it.
How is it my problem if you don’t understand that “a shooting” can be both a noun and a verb, and can have meanings both in a present tense and a past tense?
I have said zero about what I believe the purpose of this site is. Again I ask you to stop putting words into my mouth.
You have to realise your piece, is a piece of crap. People died and you want to claim a victory for violence and stupidity. Can’t put a price on people lives when people want to score political points on it can you. Oh wait, you already did.
You write as if CV has any shame left.
Hi adam, every parent of that Maryland school will be sending gifts, cards and gratitutide to the armed school resource officer which stopped the shooter.
I can understand that even if you cannot.
Stalin got cards too
the verb would be “Y’all, I’m off a-shooting”.
Yay, only two innocent kids and the kid who opened fire got shot, the gun violence problem in the US has been solved!
pistol vs pistol.
Better odds than pistol vs AR15.
Maybe teachers should carry AR15s?
Don’t be stupid McFlock – if the shooter has an AR-15 then teachers need canons and grenades.
Only a matter of time before drones are patroling the US skies… in the name of chikd safety.
At five or six metres range it makes no difference.
Speaking from experience, are you?
Were you holding the AR15 or the pistol?
Let’s get real, you want heavier fire power to take down a AR15
Arm them with a FIM-92 Stinger, that will deal with the situation!
Or a tank, yeah a tank might help.
In a tank, I might feel safe enough to calmy intervene.
Maybe miniturise tankettes even further – armour some motorised wheelchairs for the school resource officers to roam the halls looking like Daleks…
Ah, the ideal school “resource” officer at work lol
hmmm bit dated that one McF – a more up market version here
Finally they gave the cops enough firepower to respond…
Yep – if society allows a situation where a very disturbed person can easily get a bunch of weapons and wander into a place where unarmed people are confined in classrooms and then shoot them up – then it might on average reduce the volume of carnage if there were well-trained sharpshooters in the school to take out the said disturbed person.
Probably lots of people killed still, probably a few innocent people taken out by mistake because the sharpshooter thought they had a gun (or maybe they were black and looked kinda suspicious?) when they didn’t have a gun at all. But it is entirely conceivable that the total body count over a long period of time would be less. Will they trial it and find out do you think?
And you know what? If Americans are still convinced that ease of access to guns is some sort of divinely-conferred right, maybe that’s exactly what they should do? The more the merrier really. I still think it’s nuts, but given that belief system it is possibly quite rational.
There’s lots nuts with their approach to this I agree, the question is as you pointed out what is rational given an irrational environment.
Rationality in an irrational environment appears as irrational. It’s akin to how do you know you’re in a bubble when you’re in a bubble. But it might just work… Clockwork Orange-like. Enough guns and carnage until everyone is just sick of it.
The concept of “Crooked Hillary”
I guess the “Russia Russia Russia” meme was falling down so Hillary needed a new scapegoat.
CA were selling the Crooked Hillary message.
@ 7:43 “The concept of “Crooked Hillary” was promoted widely on social media including Facebook, Google, and YouTube. And then Nix boasts about how the online videos had 30,000,000 million views, but users would’ve been unaware they came from the Trump Campaign.
The Trump campaign was selling their own messages via social media and the Clinton campaign was selling their own messages via social media.
Leaves the Russians (who may only have been intermediaries themselves and nothing to do with the Kremlin), who spent a tiny amount of money on Face Book, and of that mostly after the election, in the dust.
The CEO is doing a continuous sales pitch on how powerful his company supposedly is and how valuable their services are. That’s what a CEO is supposed to do.
Yeah, and after doing such a great job, CA have given him the arse.
?
No his firing/suspension is a purely PR move. (Did you think otherwise, given CA’s business?).
CA is only a shell company and the CEO’s work (and pay) continues unchanged for the parent organisation.
Nah, after big noting, and spilling the beans about CA’s shonky activities, he’s gone.
Link plz. I stand by my comments that the CEO’s suspension/firing is merely for show.
You reckon he gets to keep his when job when his big noting makes it likely CA is going to be dragged through courts on both sides of the Atlantic?.
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/british-data-regulator-wants-to-raid-cambridge-analytics-2018-3?r=UK&IR=T
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/mar/17/cambridge-analytica-non-american-employees-political
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/mar/20/david-carroll-cambridge-analytica-uk-courts-us-professor
CA isn’t a real company as you or I would recognise one – it is merely a legally constituted shell company.
That you cannot understand this even as I am patiently explaining it to you demonstrates how far behind the curve of these corporate operators you are.
h.r.c had enough dirt that it stuck. Rightly or wrongly.
“A lie told once remains a lie but a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth”
Now who said that??
A kernel of truth, always help sell a lie.
But the lie was told 30,000,000 times (so we are now informed). It was always a lie, but now it is a “truth”
Are you trying to say h.r.c. is pure and innocent?
Good luck selling that lie.
Now adam – where did I say Hillary Clinton was pure and innocent? Show me anyone who is pure and innocent (apart from the new born) and I will show you Christ. She is however, far more pure and innocent than the men who smeared her.
If you are to tell me that she is far more corrupt than Trump, (and pizza gate has been shown to be a straight out fabrication) then you are a living example of just how effective the propaganda machine was!
For starters I never said that, all I said and let it sink in a second time.
“h.r.c had enough dirt that it stuck. Rightly or wrongly.”
I also said a long time ago h.r.c. was stupid choice becasue she came with a lot of baggage, and a history which could be used against her. I’m not sure if your one of the people who poo pooed me over that. But I was right, and h.r.c. was a bloody awful candidate on that, and on so many other levels.
trump is the twitter and chief, corrupt, self absorbed, making a village short of their idiot, and as close to a nightmare walking as humanly possible.
The elites lie, they lie with impunity and if you want them gone. Well supporting one faction of the elites over the other will never make that happen. That my take from the last USA election, what was yours?
I think you need to have a look at how strong female candidates from the centre left are treated adam. Not just in the US but almost universally world wide in the western world. Take for instance Julia Gillard in Australia or our own Helen Clark (“Aunty Helen” ring any bells?) – It’s happening now with Jacinda. In the US right now the Democrats Nancy Pelosi is under attack,
yet she has been responsible for helping to advance many of the more progressive legislation in what was a Republican dominated Congress. Elizabeth Warren also – another case in point. Trump insulting her by calling her names because she dares to identify with a native American ancestor.
From the above link:
and
Hillary Clinton may not have been as left as you would have liked – nor was she a Bernie – whom I’m sure many here (including myself) would have preferred – however, when all is said and done, the present daily train wreck that is the current White House administration would never be happening under Hillary. The USA would still be active in the Paris Agreement, along with the rest of the world. Scott Pruitt would not be dismantling the EPA as fast he can rip up every piece of environmental regulation he can, and there would still be essential scientific work studying climate change progressing in the US instead of scientists having to up root and travel to France.
Women would be more safe and the poor would not be enriching the rich as much as the last “Tax reform” has done.
Look how Jill Stein was treated during the election. Some of the male democrats were the absolute worst.
Jill Stein is still being treated like crap in the press and by male democrats. Ask most people, and they will say Stein is crazy and emotional. Seen it here often enough.
As for h.r.c, I’d say the males around here were her biggest problem. Especially her husband with his rape allegations and sexual assaults.
As for her being better, a possum on acid would do better than trump. Not much of an upgrade, and the russio-phobia coming from the democrats is frightening. It’s like some of them have a thing for war, and killing of civilians. Oh wait, they voted to increase the military budget and increase spying powers.
Me I’m over these stupid elites, no matter what side they pretend to be on. I’m really not sure why your backing them.
Tax criminal and banking regulation breacher Westpac Bank seeks a ‘softly-softly’ approach to enforcement against tax avoidance by multinationals.
Westpac loses massive tax case on all counts
‘Very disappointed’ RBNZ increases Westpac NZ’s capital requirements after ‘material failure’ to meet regulatory capital requirements
I sincerely hope they are roundly ignored.
When you don’t listen your baby sitters, they’re going to tell on you.
Of course he ignored it. The Russian election was beset with ballot stuffing, delegitimising the opposition and weird balloons and the like getting in the way of the cameras. For a person (Trump) to congratulate Putin on one hand while screaming about election fraud in his own country (remember he set up the special commission, which has since disbanded, to investigate electoral fraud) is hypocritical in the extreme
How many democracies have results of 70% ?
My guess is none. These kinds of figures are more common in regimes of oppressed opposition and silenced dissent.
Stuff have an opinion piece calling Jacinda Ardern the Helen Key of NZ politics.
To which Barnaby Bennett tweeted,
“If only she was the John Clark…”
😆
Yep he did that.
Giggling
On twaddle instead of on twitter… lolslols
News Hub some people don’t like a common brown man having influence I see it all Mike
The humanity star is a major achivement by Peter Beck and his Team at Rocket lab Kia kaha .
There is hope that Fonterra hires a CEO that understands the local cultures and people of our major trading partners .
Many thanks to DOC and all there staff for doing a great job in releaseing the Takahe into Kahururangi National park + all the other creaters they are bring back from the brink of extinction .Ka kite ano P.S Paddy looks happy
There you go News Hub another tragedy cause by alcohol the Australian punched and in a comer for months is happy to be a live
Many thanks to NZRU for including the Black ferns 7 lady’s rugby team in the Commonwealth Games Kia Kaha ladys .
Congradulations to the NZ Paralympics team Kia kaha people ka kite ano
The Project Mark when I had to take away a service from some people I set them up with another service provider . Eco Maori says Air New Zealand should work with other air lines to keep the flights going to Kapiti this is the way a national airline should behave ka kite ano
Just as the Olympics the NZU has to have a womens team to get their mens team in the competition.
It’s disgraceful that moderation has become emotionally charged. Decisions to ban people for long periods could maybe be decided by all moderators having a back-end vote or something, because today’s fiasco reflects very poorly on moderators and TS IMO.
Good Morning the AM Show I use to read Andrew Horggards post years ago on Fencepost Fonterra web site hes cool.Theo was cool to he did a lot of good things for the Fonterra farmers but his main job is to deliver the best payout he can to farmers .
Farmers are still trying to get over the years of the low pay out they still have dept because of that I recon all councils could make money with a cut and carry system mowing the side of suitable roads they could unload the fresh grass straight into feed bins on farm this would create jobs and could be a ALTERNATIVE to Plam kernal as this is one solution to get our import budget down and there are other reasons but I don’t want to stir the pot we would be able to stack this valuable resource grass for times of drought it can keep for years in a good silage stack this would improve The Dairy Image and keep the bad publicist away. kia kaha Farmers Ka kite ano P.S Paddy good on you m8 the Cicadas sing the beautiful song of mother nature
Kai pai Duncan for promoting the Northen white Rino subspecies that is close to extinction and lets ban set-net fishing in those locations of the Hector and Maui Dolphin ban new oil drilling in those locations we have a objurgation to save OUR wild live just by changing the way we do things .It will be written in our history books as a big win when we save the Maui Dolphin and who ever makes the right choice to save these precious creaters will go into the history books as a Great person. ka kite ano P.S Efeso Colins is right if you can save a dollar its like saveing 2 dollars so every state or council employee should have this in mine taking Economy instead of business is not much to ask to save there people money and this teaches them not to waste anything Ka pai Efeso
The AM Show is it a coincident that the internet cable into Australia is cut broken when we have Obama here . We have to go to the Australian libraries to find the correct story’s on Ngati Porou .There have been some suspicious things going on with some of OUR major infrastructure there are some real raciest people around at the minute . Then there was the O missing in the Countdown sign at the Auckland Air port I won’t say to much except we are ONE RACE THE HUMAN RACE.
Kia Kaha
The Cafe the live below the line challange is a good way to show kiwis that we have it good Mike in Aotearoa compared to many other poor soles in poor countrys this should not be happening in OUR World this day and age .
Brett McGregor trying to feed himself on$280 a day also tells you that we need meat to raise healthy mokopunas full stop kia kaha