Until the Davos crowd fund carbon capture and put their wealth into saving the planet we appear doomed. The deadliest sin… greed. Western culture has not lived with nature respectfully, it has raped and subjugated all the way. This has spread like a virus.
We need to become minimalists very quickly or perish along with the rest of Earths organisms.
David Attenborough is correct…10 short years to change.
This is exactly what Guy McPherson has been hammering for years but he is a ‘nut job’ but as soon as Attenborough comes to the same conclusion it’s now believable.
"The term Nationalists or Nationals (nacionales) was coined by Joseph Goebbels following the visit of the clandestine Spanish delegation led by Captain Francisco Arranz requesting war material on 24 July 1936, in order to give a cloak of legitimacy to Nazi Germany's help to the Spanish rebel military.[2] The leaders of the rebel faction, who had already been denominated as 'Crusaders' by Bishop of SalamancaEnrique Pla y Deniel —and also used the term Cruzada for their campaign— immediately took a liking to it."
In this 2012 ABC Four Corners investigation, reporter Andrew Fowler goes to Sweden for a revealing look at the allegations of sexual crimes hanging over Julian Assange's head. This is compulsory viewing for anyone wanting to look objectively at the events leading to the current saga.
"There is no doubt whatsoever of the injustice and persecution of Assange by the world’s only hyper power, America, because Assange published details of US war crimes and corruption. Its that simple!
Being forced to seek refuge in an Embassy in London is a disgrace for Britain, a Country with a long tradition of fair play and justice.
"If, after watching this documentary, you believe anything else, you are easy pliable fodder for manipulation by what has become, totalitarian States. It means you never read and understood the writings of Aldous Huxley or George Orwell. It means you are ‘a sheeple’. If you can’t see through the fog of disinformation and propaganda, you have no idea of the concept of freedom"
My favourite part is where Assange is interviewed by the Swedish Police and tells the interviewer he's worried that the interview will be leaked to the press. The interviewer assures Assange he's not going to leak anything. Later, the interview is leaked. I expect the irony was totally lost on Assange, but no doubt the cops had a good giggle over the poetic justice of it.
Yes what a giggle , when the state justice system , with all its power ,breaches its own rules and acts against the "accused" who at this point is deemed innocent until proved guilty.
Thus queering the pitch for a fair trial
Oh its quite delicious to see the notion of justice dishonoured in such a way
Yes, it's almost as though the indiscriminate leaking of confidential information might not be an unalloyed good, or something.
That unintended humour in the documentary wasn't really all that funny, but it did lighten the mood a bit after all the rape apologia that preceded it. That stuff wasn't funny at all.
Apart from the point Francesca has made, there's quite a difference between the information the Swedish Police leaked and the information published by Wikileaks.
Quite a difference, yes. In this case, the leak was targeted, rather than a wholesale dump of confidential information that can put people's lives at risk.
Identity and motive(s) of the leaker are unknown (to me at least). Could be they were part of a devious black op to try and discredit Assange, could be someone was annoyed enough at Assange's arrogance to want to poke a needle in his puffed-up self-importance, could be one of them saw the irony in leaking the world champion leaker's confidential info. Could be just about anything.
"Assange, jailed last week after being forcibly removed from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, was awarded the 2019 GUE/NGL Award for Journalists, Whistleblowers & Defenders of the Right to Information."
Which bit? Seems likely the leak of Assange's police interview was targeted rather than a wholesale dump of police interviews to the papers, because there are no news stories about a wholesale dump of Swedish police interviews. Wikileaks, on the other hand, does just dump whatever's handed to it onto the Internet, and there are plenty of news reports of people put at risk by it.
please tell me who has been harmed and put at risk by Wikileaks dumps?
He was prepared to put Afghan contractors and their families in harms way and the prick deliberately smeared the reputation of a murder victim and was more then happy to prolong the family's anguish.
A reporter worried that Assange would risk killing Afghans who had co-operated with American forces if he put US secrets online without taking the basic precaution of removing their names. "Well, they're informants," Assange replied. "So, if they get killed, they've got it coming to them. They deserve it."
With Assange behind it, the Seth Rich hoax moved into the almost-mainstream, spawning a quickly-retracted report on Fox News, and a series of “investigations” by Assange ally Sean Hannity. It also wreaked havoc in the lives of Rich’s surviving family, particularly his anguished parents who later begged perpetrators of the charade “to give us peace, and to give law enforcement the time and space to do the investigation they need to solve our son's murder.”
[…]
In the end, the most charitable interpretation of Assange’s “dissembling” as Mueller calls it, in the Seth Rich hoax is that he genuinely couldn’t rule out the possibility that Rich was his source. The Mueller report demolished that final moral refuge. Rich had been dead four days when Assange received the DNC files.
J90's commentary is sub par as a rule…but that particular comment reeks of someone who needs to get outside more and vary the sources of sites visited…
J90 has linked to snopes article, today…which is a strong signal of how he has arrived at such a perspective where assange is not a whistleblower…but manning is…
Snopes is likely one of his speed dial sites…and is a red flag anytime you see a link to that site…
Bullshit one two – joe is a respected commenter with valuable information and insights – maui and you are not really much truck as commenters imo – just too negative all the time. It is funny watching maui without ed – sad when the organ grinder is missing alright.
Using a hashtag serves to illustrate where you've gone aray…
Here's what I reckon…
As a result of your extremely warped and lopsided reading habits…
Every single one of your social feeds is extremely warped…you get how it functions eh…surely…
So…you trigger fingered an (anti s*mitic smear) reaction and posted the bigtree tweet thread…before you bothered to cross read the background of what was going on to orthodox jewish community in Rockland County…and now elsewhere in NYC…
…because your extremely lopsided reading has warped you into such a twisted state…confirmation bias is unrecognizable to you…
I called you out…you ran…because I knew what you'd done…see above…
yeah Joe is pithy one two – maybe if you didn't spend all your time abusing others you'd have something to say too. It seems like you write a lot of words and say very little. But it takes all sorts…
You're not my bro you racist prick one two – still spilling your bile on people, still trying to be different to your reality, your sadness. Stop blaming others for your stuff one two – own it and it will put you on the track which leads to the road that will set you free. Believe and it will happen.
So…you trigger fingered an (anti s*mitic smear) reaction and posted the bigtree tweet thread…before you bothered to cross read the background of what was going on to orthodox jewish community in Rockland County…and now elsewhere in NYC…
The US Govt had no problem outting one of their own spies, Valerie Plame, and knowingly endangering her entire network just because her husband wrote a paper criticising the bullshit around Iraq.
So PM, please tell me who has been harmed and put at risk by Wikileaks dumps?
Not my job. I said "there are plenty of news reports of people put at risk by [Wikileaks dumping data without checking it first]." You can confirm that for yourself simply by Googling has wikileaks put people at risk.
Not even slightly. My claim was "there are plenty of news reports of people put at risk" and the truth of that is confirmed by a Google search, as I said. The veracity of the news reports is a different matter entirely. Do you dispute the news reports?
I quite liked the bit at 14:10 where A's UK legal advisor talks about red notices vs orange notices. According to her, red notices are just for terrorists, and even ghaddafi only had an orange notice, so totes suss on that.
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpol_notice#Notice_types">Notice colour is about type of notice function, not severity</a>. Notices to provisionally arrest (red notice) are issued by the thousands every year. Ghaddafi was, according to A's "advisor", on an orange notice – imminent threat to public safety. Demanding the provisional arrest of a head of state would we problematic, to say the least.
Not figuring that out makes the report seem a bit gullible.
Rest of it seems to be same old same old – yanks don't like wikileaks, onward extradition, demands for declarations of immunity (in essence), his accusers didn't act in the approapriate way for victims, and so on. Rape apology groundhog day.
"One of the very few advantages to Assange being behind bars in the UK’s version of Guantanamo Bay instead of holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy is that the arguments are so much clearer and more honest now. You can no longer get away with claiming that Assange is just a coward hiding from justice who can “leave whenever he wants” and present yourself as merely a casual observer who just happens to want to share his opinion that the WikiLeaks founder is a fascist Russian spy rapist who smells bad and mistreats his cat, because you will always be entering a discussion involving the fact that Assange is in prison awaiting extradition to the United States."
If he'd never set foot in the embassy, he would have been a free man within a couple of years. Then he might have been able to skip the country when the yanks finally made their move.
He stuffed himself good and proper, because he didn't want to face sexual assault proceedings.
And the Ecuador government grants asylum on the grounds that rape charges are pending .
Really?
Asylum was granted on Ecuadorean recognition that Assange was a political refugee.
Who knew that Obama had qualms about press freedom when he'd jailed more whistleblowers than any previous president.
And Assange's prompt re arrest an hour after the arrest for bail jumping points to the fact that Assange and his legal team were right to fear extradition to the US
As for the US, it does seem Holder decided against going after Assange. So really, yeah – Assange put himself on ice only to be extradited by the guy he helped get elected.
So convinced was she of a landslide victory she didnt bother to campaign in the very states she needed for an electoral college vote
Cant blame Assange for that
So yeah – pretty fucking poetic if you ask me. He gets so far up his own PR spin that he helps get elected the guy who does the thing the Obama administration decided to avoid (for very good reasons – if the hacking evidence is as thin as it looks so far, the extradition is a serious 1st amendment issue).
Gotta say, after almost ten years of this crap I do think it's pretty funny.
He was set to go to Sweden, do his trial, maybe even get found innocent but even if found guilty of rape he wouldn't have spent as long in prison as he spent in the embassy (I don't think Sweden has mandatory minimums, so he'd be on the same scale as every other rapist, just at the lighter end of sentencing). And the yanks didn't have a case in those days. Also – hacking? Wasn't the big fear being charged under the Espionage Act? lol
But no, he locked himself in an apartment for seven years, only to be sold like a secondhand sofa (makes people uncomfortable, is a bit smelly, might as well make some cash) and the guy he helped get elected turned out to have fewer legal scruples that the people he'd been afraid of.
Well, it's not laugh-out-loud material. There's just a pleasing symmettry to the idea that he evaded sexual assault proceedings for so long that the thin excuse he used to justify his evasion ended up becoming reality, brought into actuality by the dictatorial administration he helped get elected.
Maybe I'll feel bad for him if the yanks actually get a hold of him and sentence him to some insane time. But at the moment, everything that's happened has been the result of his own actions <i>even if he didn't do the alleged sexual assaults</i>.
Well, you obviously haven't read any of the threads over the years. Look for the comments preceding the phrase "rape apologist", that'll be a good start.
Because minimising the allegations and casting aspersions on the complainants and anyone who agrees with them is <i>totally</i> like " not screaming rape 20 times a day " 🙄
Facepalm after facepalm. The doco tells how one woman claimed that Assange wouldn't use a condom and pinned her down so he could fuck her without one. The doco maker then spends an inordinate amount of time on the rape apologist meme "The victim's subsequent behaviour doesn't match my expectations of how a victim of sexual violence should behave, therefore I'm implying but carefully not stating explicitly that she's falsely accused this poor chap." Ugly, ugly shit, replicated at length in comments threads on this blog.
Hat tip for noobs at sex: if sex with you results in women feeling they need to talk to a police officer, ur doin it wrong.
Psycho That is pretty unobjective. I would question the value of either the woman or the documentary maker. I wouldn't be prepared to believe either of them. Then you turn your subjective slant on people here. Unreasonable.
Well, of course. I wouldn't say that if I thought my own beliefs or disbeliefs were significant outside my own head.
However, identifying rape apologia when people are peddling it doesn't involve believing or disbelieving anyone, just the ability to parse a sentence and the ability to recognise an argument that's being made.
"Ugly, ugly shit, replicated at length in comments threads on this blog."
Admire the vision of Assange and others who founded WikiLeaks. The pretence that my on-going appreciation of that vision, and concern over the likely outcome of the current Assange extradition process, makes me a ‘rape apologist’ is perverse. And ugly.
I haven't noticed you posting rape apologia on this blog. Admittedly, that could simply be inattention on my part – do you feel that that description applies to your comments?
You might not have noticed. In answer to your question, I have my doubts.
When McFlock commented that widespread public admiration of Saville, Cosby and Assange had helped them to conceal their sexual offending (OK, alleged sexual offending in Assange's case, but let's not quibble), I felt uneasy. Had my admiration for Assange's achievements clouded my judgement, and (much worse) contributed (in a small way) to his ability to evade trial?
Most of us probably admire many people (Cosby was a gifted comedian, IMO), and may have on occasion expressed that admiration. If one of these admired people was subsequently revealed to be a monster, would the admirer(s) be cupable?
I'd prefer that labels such as 'rape apologist' and 'whatever-a-phobe' be applied accurately. IMHO rape apologia labels have been used too frequently for point scoring and in attempts to bolster weak positions or shut down arguments.
Rape apologia labels have certainly enjoyed extensive use on this blog, and not only in posts and comments regarding Assange. A 'tiny' Assange-focused sample can be found in these posts from 2015: https://thestandard.org.nz/all-apologies/ (332 comments) https://thestandard.org.nz/finally/ (500 comments)
"I get that you want to talk about an aspect of the Assange situation without talking about rape culture , but until pro-Assange commenters stop using rape apologies to support their arguments, it’s never going to happen."
Fair enough, but when such terms are 'weaponised', examine motive. The same goes for barbs about mental health, intellectual capacity, etc. etc.
"Does rape culture, rape apology and rape denial have to be central to every discussion related to Julian Assange. Do you think so? I don’t."
The comments in the "Finally" thread included:<blockquote> ..and one of them was a CIA agent….weird that…honey traps? </blockquote>
That looks to me like a spurious denial a rape occurred.
Recently, commenters have referred to deliberatley not wearing a condom (against the partner's wishes), pinning someone to the bed, and penetrating a sleeping person (again, without a condom contrary to the person's expressed wishes on safe sex), as "poor sexual etiquette".
That looks to me like minimisation of what is legally and ethically rape.
To me, spurious denial and minimisation both fit rationally into the description "rape apology"
If/when the evidence (victim statements, etc.) is presented to a court, then it can be evaluated together with other evidence – hopefully the (alleged) victims will not have to attend the trial(s) (if that's how Swedish courts do things) unless they wish to. The victim accounts are persuasive (I believe them), but what I believe is not legally material.
Seems unlikely to me that US interests will let Assange anywhere near a Swedish court prior to extradition to the US, but an arrangment that affords the opportunity to try Assange in Sweden at some point is not out of the question.
"That looks to me like minimisation of what is legally and ethically rape."
Agreed, the comments you describe fit the criteria for rape apology.
If the Swedes reactivate their case, it's an interesting question of whether it takes precedent over any US extradition case.
Assange skipped bail at the end of the extradition proceedings for Sweden, so if there'd been no suspension then he'd just be put on a plane to Stockholm after the absconding charge is dealth with. But the suspension/reactivation maybe means they need to start from scratch.
I'm not familiar with any cases where multiple countries have tried to extradite.the same person. Maybe if goes on a first come, first served basis. I dunno.
As for wanting to know – he's the one who tried as hard as possible to stop that from going to court. His legal team and supporters are the ones who lied from the start, with claims that the sexual assault charges were "sex by surprise", and that bullshit about orange vs red notices. There's also the discrepancies about what his lawyer was told about Assange leaving Sweden, and how Assange's departure related to being informed about the likely result of a second interview.
Personally, I think the CIA and so on sat back in amazement and watched an egotistical jerk completely stuff himself at the height of his global influence and relevance.
Is he a rapist in those two instances? In the absence of a trial, all we can do is believe the women. So, probably.
Not really: Assange is not wikileaks. That's actually the point: the information is distributed without a bona fide source. It's the reaction to the information that shows its legitimacy.
Assange was in contact with Manning, but for all Assange knew, Manning was supplying tainted goods on behalf of the Russians. But the most damaging material was genuine, because the yanks admitted it and the material was unique (ISTR Russia once got caught releasing Call of Duty footage as airstrike footage lol).
What goes to wikileaks' credibility are actions like releasing material that was selectively edited, like the Podesta stuff. Whether that was edited by the Russians or by wikileaks (probably too much material for Assange to do it himself), that's the stuff that hurts Wikileaks' credibility. It goes from being an information distributor to being a biased information filter.
Assange is just a dude, like anyone else. If he did commit rape, wikileaks could still be a net good (despite some real fails in the last few years, showing bias and endangering people e.g. doxxing women voters in turkey).
Most of us probably admire many people (Cosby was a gifted comedian, IMO), and may have on occasion expressed that admiration. If one of these admired people was subsequently revealed to be a monster, would the admirer(s) be cupable?
Nope. The alleged perp may also have done many admirable things and admiring those things isn't rape apology.
Rape apologia consists of attempts to minimise the significance of what occurred, to find reasons to excuse the alleged perpetrator or to try and discredit the complainant. Examples of those things appear in the linked documentary and in The Standard's comments threads about Assange.
Here I was thinking the doco goes over some of the agreed facts of the case, and finds many facets of the allegations raise questions. I think you're confusing common sense with rape apology.
Well, most of the doco was on wikileaks and the yanks. A portion of the doco was on some of the facts of the case, and the rest was on guys saying women didn't act like they reckon someone who was sexually assaulted would act.
The most important of those questions being "If your approach to sexual intercourse results in women feeling the need to attend a police station, is it time to re-think your approach to sexual intercourse?"
However, the secondary one is only slightly less important: "If you find yourself coming up with reasons why women who've laid a complaint about non-consensual sexual activity shouldn't be believed, is it time to re-think your attitude to consent?"
You're forgetting the reason for visiting the police was for an STD check, and when it came to giving evidence over any assault occurring it was refused.
We're talking about one disputed incident of non-consensual sex amongst earlier consensual sex before and after. Which means applying a brain to what is alleged, and looking at all the facts around what happened. Something your argument refuses to do.
You're forgetting the reason for visiting the police was for an STD check, and when it came to giving evidence over any assault occurring it was refused.
I'm not forgetting the two women went to see if the police would force Assange to undergo an STD test after he allegedly fucked both of them without a condom in spite of their demand that he use one, no. That's why I suggested that your sexual activities should not leave women feeling the need to visit a police station.
We're talking about one disputed incident of non-consensual sex amongst earlier consensual sex before and after.
Do you know there's a single word for that weasel phrase "non-consensual sex?" There's a clue in the term "rape apologist." In that one sentence we have two fine examples: minimisation of the alleged crime (not two rapes, just one) and the assumption that prior or subsequent instances of consensual sex rule out the possibility of rape.
You're forgetting the reason for visiting the police was for an STD check
Oh, indeed, whenever I want a piss test or any of my other sexual health needs met, I pop down to the local police station. Because in any developed society, the blue lights show people where they can get the blue pills. [slow gonorrhea clap]
An earlier article, published on the 14th March so lost in the aftermath of events on the 15th, describes the difficulty in accessing supports and the relief of one family when the child's disability was accepted by ACC for cover.
I would love to spend the day here trying to argue the case…so many here simply don't or won't accept that the fightback from disability groups to the End of Life Choice Bill (I am not a member of any of these groups btw) is founded in the absolute fact that non ACC disabled are being slowly starved of funding for vital supports….leading to people feeling that they would be better off without this unbearable suffering.
But I'm busy. Got to get the house ready to sell…need to get enough not only to find a smaller but equally wheelchair friendly house to live in but to also fund vital mobility equipment that we heard this week the agency contracted by the Misery of Health to administer the equipment and modifications budget refuses to fund.
The Ministry of Health Disability Support Services and the successive governments that have backed them really are a bunch of arseholes.
lprent…This Luddite is struggling a bit with the 'easier' system. Very frustrating hitting 'backspace' to correct and losing all my text. My fault entirely…just thought I'd give you good reason to chuckle at the misery of the technologically challenged.
Documents obtained by the New Zealand Disability Support Network (NZDSN) reveal the Ministry was planning to cut up to $10 million from disability support services by June as an initial step towards addressing a $90 million deficit.
IHC Director of Advocacy Trish Grant says it shows the Ministers recognise the impact of cuts on the most vulnerable people with intellectual disabilities as a group that has been left behind for too long.
Thanks for the link Rosemary, sobering reading but again, not batting an eyelid anymore. I can recall about 15-20 years ago when CCDHB suddenly decided a whole lot of disabilities overnight no longer were, at least not when it came to qualifying for any home based support out of them.
What I will never understand is the general logic behind all of this. Is it a case of the individual agencies MoH/DHBs/ACC/MSD only thinking about their own budgets? Why can't they do a serious holistic cost benefit analysis that will inevitably show that cutbacks in one area is just going to increase the cost to another agency, plus extra due to avoidable deterioration. I'm sure even the most supportive general public would object to avoidable cost if they knew it was happening.
Oh I forgot- bureacracy = logic + reason , ha ha, silly me, what was I thinking…
I emailed Kirsty Johnston earlier this morning and asked if it were possible to see the referenced documents, and bless her, within a few minutes they landed in my inbox. I see she has now put most of them as a footer to the Herald article.
Those not familiar with how these pricks think should really read their way through them…reminding themselves every few minutes that it is actual live human beings with sometimes total dependency on hands on help from others that are being discussed.
You and I Kay don't need to read them….because we know…but reading them is reassuring as it confirms our suspicions are well founded.
As a footnote to Kirsty this morning I wrote, ' The cost overruns are due to burdensome bureaucracy and the vile
stupidity of having two state funded and administrated systems
providing the same service for those with permanent impairments.
We are simply not a big enough country to be running two systems.'
Which is saying pretty much along the same lines as you.
Hey, Kay, we should apply for positions as Advisors!
Brigid …the treatment disabled and elderly get from Waikato Disability Support Services.
Yes. DSL. One of the more interesting and ultimately frustrating exercises my partner and I had to go through in the past few years was requesting and receiving his file from DSL. I'd like to think you'd be surprised at the level of incompetence we found…but sadly, you won't be. We learned a few years ago to conduct all communications with them via email…really quite frightening that they are happy to lay their failings out in writing for all to see.
Funding in narrow silos is a well-known problem with our state system. It does not make sense even on the narrowest cost-benefit terms. And that is without considering the huge extra pain and wasted energy.
I was thinking if this is the new way of doing things with kindness from our government, Then I'd really hate to see what it means if they weren't following that doctrine.
That said, when you come to the table tethered to neo-liberalism economics, and the wholesale commodification of human beings – we can't really expect anything less.
It looks like the Minister/s in charge may have quashed this behaviour, probably with promises of Budget increases next month. Fixing the inhuman culture in some managers will take more than that.
Perusing the emails Sacha, it seems there are still a few long term incumbents participating in this exercise. Names that have been attached to emails and mentioned in dispatches since just about forever. So, still aways to go methinks.
I did email (and I'm pretty sure a whole heap of other stirrers did too ) JAG a while back after looking at her diary and seeing who in the disability sector she was meeting with. No! No! I wrote, '…don't confine your discussions to those who have been 'meeting with ministers' over the past 10years or so'….especially those from the Miserly and NZDSN.
How could you possibly bring this article to peoples attention? After all you wouldn't want anyone to think that our kind caring Government won't do anything to look after disabled people. It wouldn't go with the image of a PM they are pushing so hard would it?
When I was reading the article there were a couple of things that stood out. The first was that the spending had risen in the last 5 years but we couldn't afford it any longer and that about $100 million had to be saved. The second was that the Minister talking about it was Julie Anne Genter.
"Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter said decisions about who received support were made by the ministry, and it had not been directed to cut funding by ministers." Well she would claim that it had nothing to do with her wouldn't she?
So we had steady increases from National and a clamp down on the expenditure by the current lot.
Where have I seen this Minister and this amount of money recently? Oh yes, in the Dom/Post we had a story about how the Government, pushed along by Genter, are going to spend that much money on a walk cum cycle way between Ngauranga and Petone. That is about 6 km and goes from nowhere to nowhere.
So she can find a $100 million to allow about 50 cyclists a day, in summer, to pedal along the side of the harbour. There will also be about 50 pedestrians a year doing the same, at least by my estimate. Lets face it. It is about a 2 hour walk and about all you can do at Ngauranga is to be collected by someone in a car or spend another hour walking into the city. In winter of course you might get 50 cyclists a week.
Well so much for spending scarce money on people who need it. Genter's hobbies are much more important.
Thanks Rosemary for that Link – I heard about it independently this morning.
The clear take away from this is that our government needs to raise more revenue to fund the on-going costs of providing services to NZers, and it needs to do it now.
The great tax giveaway by the last govt was always going to be at the expense of those within NZ who were the most vulnerable; and so it proves to be. We cannot even implement a CGT in this country – whereas such a tax is almost universal world wide – because in our heart of hearts, NZ baby boomers, and Gen Xers, are by and large so greedy, that any suggestion we might have to fork out a bit of our "hard earned cash" to help others (or even ourselves in later life) is an anathema.
You did see that the money for this work had risen every year for the last 5 years didn't you? In other words a National Government increased the budget each year and it is only the current mob who are cutting it. But you don't want to believe that do you so you will just ignore the facts of the matter..
Alwyn…I'll be very pissed off if I have to spend precious getting the house ready to sell time finding the documents to back up your claim that National increased the disability spend. Prove it you idle so and so!
As others will tell you…the increase by no means matched the increase in demand and population.
In fact…if I recall it might actually have amounted to less per capita…
Unfortunately Macro it is not just about the money. It is Labour, way back when Annette King birthed the Public Health and Disability Act 2000 who gave the Ministry of Health responsibility for the care of non ACC permanently foobarred. The Ministry of Health promptly contracted out every single aspect of Disability Support Services, including the Needs Assessment and Service Coordination. MOH DSS set policy only…and a pretty poor job they've done of that.
The Misery (because the PHDAct says it has to) 'consults' with stakeholders…who almost inevitably have had some financial relationship with the Ministry (providers, NGOs, 'charities' representing the interests of disabled folk and carers and the like) who have, unsurprisingly been inclined to go along with policy so as not to lose their funding. Snouts in the trough and all rather incestuous.
No wonder we now have this mutant spawn.
MOH bureaucrats are amoung the highest paid in the Public Service and for many years have been lead by a some rather odd types.
It is the bureaucrats that are the biggest waste of money…
Our health outcomes are not so good and this is due to the fact that our health sector has been consistently underfunded for years. So much so that our mental health services are almost non existent in some parts of the country. How does this happen? Because government have over the years pandered to middle class voters who demand more and more tax cuts and yes Labour has some blame to share on this but the past decade has been the result of Bill English's largess with tax cuts to buy the votes from the voting public which quite frankly the country could not afford. Labour have been left with a huge govt deficit and in order to gain sufficient backing inorder to not put off support you will remember that Labour and the Greens signed up to a "Fiscal Responsibility Bill" this has effectively hamstrung the current administration from raising further revenue by way of increasing tax take and the result is just where we are now.
You and I can rail as much as we like! but until there is more money flowing into the governments coffers the situation is only going to stay the same or deteriorate as more elderly become a burden on the Health system.
However, when you look at what our own SSC found when doing the 2017 Performance Improvement Framework Review …there were serious concerns with the upper levels of management at the Misery.
Well that's the whole point Rosemary – if our Health System is considered pretty efficient, but we are still failing in many areas, ( we fall to 7th in health outcomes and access, and 8th for equity for instance) then it has to be something else. And as you have pointed out, while funding has increased in dollar terms, it certainly hasn't kept up with the increasing needs of a growing and ageing population. This as I have pointed out is the major constraint on our failing Health system – we have a very good model – one of the best in the world – but it is not being funded adequately – you can't keep on squeezing a lemon and expecting to get more from it. And the constraint on funding falls directly back on the ability of the government to raise funds. National increased the debt level thru borrowing to fund such things as Health and Education to around $62 B NZ.
But you have to pay that back at some point. And they were forced to do this because they gave away so much in tax "relief" to people who in most cases didn't really need it.
Is there a separate reckoning of disability support services, rather than health? Not the same thing. Most of our health system is indeed efficient and well-managed compared with many other countries.
Yes there are NGO's that provide support services and they source funding both from Govt and elsewhere, but govt funding for disability services is primarily channeled through the Ministry of Health.
Support services are via MoH, yes, but other NZ disability funding cuts across many agencies – all adds up to over $3b/yr. In some countries it’s funded and delivered differently, including via local bodies.
Does the Commonwealth Fund report on disability separately from health?
All the best with the house price. The pictures I see have all the lights on as it gets to late afternoon – makes the place look welcoming.
And there is the idea of baking bread (Not to be confused with breaking bad) – my favourite smell is buns with cumin seed sprinkled on them.
Efficiency and distribution – two different aspects of health budget Macro.
And does that efficiency actually measure what counts.
If it is devised by USA sources even WHO maybe they have a sweet spot for high salaries for the top people as we have in NZ also.
aj.
Thats an illuminating doco
Its incredible to see how media coverage has changed from supporting Assange back in 2010, when the Swedish allegations were widely viewed with suspicion, to where we’re at now with infantile reports of shit -on-the -walls etc and kitty litter, all designed to engender disgust
Since 2012 there has been an extensive campaign of character assassination and journalists have almost universally joined in a hideous blood lust lynching spree to mock, deride and shame one of their own , and thus erode any support for Assange in his life and death struggle for freedom , his and our own
Lets not forget that Ecuador granted him political asylum, not asylum from rape charges
At any rate there was absolutely no reason why Sweden couldn’t have pursued the investigation and charged Assange in absentia, if they were so adamant they couldn’t travel to the UK.After all for over a year and a half, Assange was under house arrest and had made himself available.
As far as the bail jumping goes , his 550 or so days under house arrest , replete with electronic ankle bracelets would surely equal any actual jail time.
Anyone who doesn’t smell the strong reek of geopolitics here has a serious case of anosmia
Francesca, I fail to see why you do not become a stand in for Julian Assange. He has nice ways with women. He is adept at hacking – although he sometimes avoids it in order to hang the blame for stealing information on weaker persons.
He sees himself as the one person in the world who can decide the future of the USA or Australia or Timbuctoo.
He has methods of avoiding police requests to attend Court. On top of which he has massive support from people who believe in the theft of private information.
According to reports within Turkey, he holds virtually complete personal information on nearly every Turkey Female.
(Do you happen to know if John Key and Mr English have handed over all private documents of NZ Citizens to the Government. Key and English did a lot of shuffling.
Well yes, the idea that it was "total exoneration" was always "total bullshit". Looks like someone showed the jellybaby Joffrey the picture-book edition of the Mueller report, and the dummy got spat into orbit.
After a lifetime punching down, tRump has absolutely no idea about how to defend himself. As with most bullies, the prospect of an opponent fighting back terrifies him and his obvious weakness undermines the feigned machismo that his base laps up. Consequently, he's reduced to pissing and moaning and venting his spleen on those closest to him. That's all he's got.
It reminds me of that old WW2 joke: When the Germans bomb, the British duck. When the British bomb the Germans duck. When the American bomb, everyone ducks!
Know any trapped angry Labour voters? Tell them they ain't alone. Recommend stoicism because nothing can be done. Tell them to look on the bright side of life, where an endless supply of helpful platitudes can be found. We have a Labour-led government, for instance.
"Labour had to choose between upsetting their own voters or upsetting the centrist voters who hate the thought of a CGT. Labour chose to burn their own voters. Labour would know their own supporters have nowhere to go apart from the Greens, and what is that if not a vote for a left-wing government led by Labour anyway? Angry Labour voters are trapped."
[Unless] it is god's will. Or, following Hobbes, the will of the leviathan of which we are all part:
"The state of nature is the "war of every man against every man," in which people constantly seek to destroy one another. This state is so horrible that human beings naturally seek peace, and the best way to achieve peace is to construct the Leviathan through social contract." https://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/leviathan/summary/
Internet culture wars are reviving the social darwinism described in the early part of the quote, whereas MMP is our current form of the co-constructed latter design.
So, it is our belief (!) that it is the Circle of Powerlessness, which is even worse than a pyramid. Or just (!) a human (social) construct to keep maintain status quo?
Where does the power of/for change come from?
Does power come from strength or strength from power?
I don't like grandiose statements like 'The state of nature is the "war of every man against every man". It seems self-serving warping of words to excuse some shitty behaviour that is being rationalised.
Leviathan was apparently written in 1651 and we have moved on to neo-liberalism:
The state of Nature is every Man by himself, for himself. The State must stay out of personal affairs and never interfere with the Free Market. There’s no such thing as Society, only individual men and women and their families. There’s no such thing as Social Contract, only the Law, which must be upheld by the State to safeguard Property and Capital of law-abiding citizens.
Easily fixed. Don’t let the3,298,009 eligible voters vote, especially the 2,630,173 voters who don’t vote for the coalition. Then none of them will be disillusioned and disgruntled.
Can someone explain exactly how our PM could have got a CGT passed without Cabinet approval? In other words, without NZF's agreement. It is an MMP government not a one party government (in other words an authoritarian dictatorship). It amazes me that people here think Jacinda can accede to whatever is on their Wishlist. Life is not like that and there always has to be compromise. Instead of moaning about what hasn't or can't be done, think at what has been done. Nothing will ever be perfect and there will always be much more to be done. From my limited knowledge surely a CGT would be very expensive to implement and operate and would be a gold mine for lawyers and accountants. And as they say about universal super, it is straightforward and less expensive to operate, rather than what a means tested super would be.
tRrump insisted on bilateral trade negotiations because he thinks it gives him the whiphand, and then complains when his supposed trading partner two-times him with other nations. Man's an idiot.
TOKYO — America will not let its agricultural exporters be "hurt" by Japanese deals that currently offer better terms to other trade partners, U.S. Ambassador to Japan William Hagerty told Nikkei on Wednesday.
Hagerty cited Japan's economic partnership agreement with the European Union and the revamped Trans-Pacific Partnership, which both took effect in recent months, lowering tariffs on a wide range of goods. "By implementing these agreements before addressing our bilateral trade relationship, Japan is effectively redistributing market share away from its strongest ally, the United States," he said.
Seems aimed at Christianity and tourists going by the timing and places. On looking further it seems that Sri Lanka is not conducting good faith actions towards Tamils and that the grievances after eight years, sufficient time to make change required, have not seen sufficient done to assist the Tamil.
https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2018/10/30/sri-lanka-old-land-issues-and-new-appointment-threaten-reconciliation <em> Hopes for national reconciliation took another blow last week when the country’s president, Maithripala Sirisena, abruptly appointed the controversial former leader who oversaw the 2009 military offensive, Mahinda Rajapaksa, as prime minister. The surprise move has locked Sri Lanka in a political crisis: the ousted prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has vowed to stay in office; government ministers who support him have denounced his dismissal as “an anti-democratic coup”. </em>
Sorry the comment is a dog’s breakfast but I am finding it
hard to cope with the settings etc. I had prepared a quick overview but had to get rid of so much code applying to a map that I deleted it all, worked off-line and brought it back, then had to throw half of that away because it was riddled with coding. Some basic info is left and just readable.
But after reading the reports on Sri Lanka I think there will be more violence. It has got down to what have we got to lose from those with a grievance I think.
Unlike traditional dictators, today’s would-be autocrats typically emerge from democratic settings. Most pursue a two-step strategy for undermining democracy: first, scapegoat and demonize vulnerable minorities to build popular support; then, weaken the checks and balances on government power needed to preserve human rights and the rule of law, such as an independent judiciary, a free media, and vigorous civic groups. Even the world’s established democracies have shown themselves vulnerable to this demagoguery and manipulation.
Autocratic leaders rarely solve the problems that they cite to justify their rise to power, but they do create their own legacy of abuse. At home, the unaccountable government that they lead becomes prone to repression, corruption, and mismanagement. Some claim that autocrats are better at getting things done, but as they prioritize perpetuating their own power, the human cost can be enormous, such as the hyperinflation and economic devastation in once oil-rich Venezuela, the spree of extrajudicial killings as part of the “drug war” in the Philippines, or China’s mass detention of upwards of 1 million Turkic Muslims, primarily Uyghurs.
Todays viewing of RNZ, TV one + 'Nubs hub' showed no care for concerns about the looming climate change disaster that awaits us all.
Pathetic display of our own Dr 'scrooge" grant Robisin claiming "we cant do everything at once, – it will take at least three terms".
He is an idiot as the sea is comming now to claim the coastal areas and will destroy all lives and properties well before his magic time of 9 years or more to change direction.
Shallow man that must be sacked for his wreckless lack of urgency..
Grant its all very well putting laws on social media so long as those laws don't stop free speach there is a big difference between frees speech and Hate speech I know that the state servants want to shut eco Maori down . The big tech companies have to much power to be pushed around to much anyway.
Kiwi buy skeem sounds good but I will wait and see how it goes the Crown keeps part of the value of the house so people can have a small $10. 000 deposit .
With Sri Lanka what a crying shame I didn't get time to edit last night I don't no exactly what going on there but it's a power struggle between religious factions there is no need we are all HUMANS
That old landfill down south that is being washed out to sea its is just the tip of the ice berger there will be more of those situations happening in the near future .
I'm running on a treadmill for half hour a day for the rest of my life the sandflys keeps blocking my music to try and stop my exercise system they don't want Eco Maori to live a minute longer YEA RIGHT I will get a USB stick and put my music on that try and block that muppets.
Mark the reason Earic is sitting across from you is the Thunder and lightning of ECO MAORI .
With the 20 years ago Colombia desaster I say we need to value love more love your nabour love you self love the wild life love the future love our past tipuna ansesters You see the way things are Europeans treat love as a emotion that is suppressed I had a friend who was crying out for love from his mother and father but they didn't get it I was to young to get it he was European and wealthy he passed by his own hands he was my best friend he just needed to loved that is what I see now when I look back on things. I tell my children I love them when ever I can to support there WAIRUA even when they piss me off.
Amda the squirrels were quite cute hope they have a good life.
I agree Sri Lanka has been hit hard by tsunami and now that desaster and there tourists economy is going to be negatively effected . Ka kite ano P.S Ma te wa
Money big money is spent on this shit it is causing a collapse of Maori Mana and taking out a lot of Maori leader once they try it some are hooked up on the shit for life. That substance is PEE crack up A.
WEll not from were Im looking at my WHANAU dropping out of the system some mite think it's a crack up but NOT FUCKEN ECO MAORI.
You see whanau it's the tamariki /children who suffer the most from war from suppression from all the hate that is being served up around the world the tamariki suffering in silence PEE is the same I have said who is pushing that shit and that is the truth
Whanau we have to drop old RARU RARU we have to learn to forgive but not forget. Alot of these RARU RARU were from a time when our tipuna were in charge so Eco Maori says they should be passed on into the back of our minds.
Whanau we have to help each other we have to Tau toko other Maori first and formost not put them down don't shit on OUR OWN help our leaders lead and grow Maori Mana don't behave like eels tuna in a bucket and keep pulling our leaders back down there ladders of Life MAORIDOM need leaders and we need to look after them ourselves.
As you can see from my post that the state system is not doing Maori any favours it is actually tying both of our feet together limiting our climb up our ladder of life Maori needs to build a big Maunga for our Mokopuna future because times are only going to get HARDER is what ECO MAORI sees
Wow those helicopter rescue operators must have been having fun I know how rough Tawhirirmate can be down there on the Auckland island . When I was last down there I lost a friend he was a skipper dragged over board with his fish gear he was trying to recover $50.000 worth.
That's cool that the students got to get there temporary NZ passport back Eco Maori is not against imagination but when it displaces the local tangata mahi that pisses me off like what happened in the dairy industry .
Aotearoa has to adapt to the bigger ships and cruise ships bigger ships are more efficient and will burn less carbon that's good for the environment and the way of the future .
Its about time that more of the truth comes out about Boeing planes faults the truth is power it shows no one is to big to be held accountable .
The tornado water spouts in the Haraki Golf shows how much power a beautiful glory Tawhirirmate HAS.
Happy birthday day to the young fella.
All the best to the expecting couple.
The Kaikoura earthquake as a good one its good to see students learning about Tangaroa and his beautiful creatures we could get a big earthquake like that anytime
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Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result? As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and always answered “yes”, with very few ...
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Hi,If you’ve been digging through the newly launched Webworm store (orders are being dispatched worldwide as I type!) you’ll have noticed the best model we had was Calvin.This is Calvin.Calvin.Calvin is 7, and is the son of my producer over on Flightless Bird, Rob — aka “Wobby Wob”. Rob also ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Climate change is everywhere. And when something's everywhere it can feel like it's nowhere. So how do we get our heads ...
Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
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I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
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A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
A banner notification alerts me to the fact that I’ve received an Instagram message from @felicity.loves. She always comments on my posts. I shouldn’t have opened the message, but clicked on the notification before rationalising this. OMG! Are you in Wellys? X I debate not replying, but Instagram will inform ...
In Melbourne’s hardscrabble western suburbs where AFL – Aussie rules football – is a state religion, Callum Donaldson has been quietly grafting away, four months into an odyssey that he hopes will take him to another promised land: the NRL. It was a solid 2023 for the softly spoken 20-year-old ...
Pacific Media Watch Television New Zealand Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to investigative journalism and Pacific communities in a ceremony at Government House, reports 1News. She has been the Pacific correspondent for 1News since 2002, breaking many ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Tuesday’s budget will respond to the deepening public agitation over Australia’s housing shortages by pouring new money into crisis accommodation for women and children, social housing and infrastructure. A specially-convened national cabinet late Friday ticked ...
By Kaneta Naimatu in Suva Journalists in the Pacific region play an important role as the “eyes and ears on the ground” when it comes to reporting the climate crisis, says the European Union’s Pacific Ambassador Barbara Plinkert. Speaking at The University of the South Pacific (USP) on World Press ...
Aldora Itunu is back in the Black Ferns squad after a three-year absence. The last of her 24 internationals was an underwhelming loss to France (7-29) in Castres to conclude the disastrous 2021 Northern Tour. The powerhouse prop won a Rugby World Cup in 2017 and thought she was done. ...
The fight to control major transport policy and projects in Auckland has burst into the open again, with councillors rejecting Mayor Wayne Brown’s latest attempt to steer things more under his influence. Councillors from the left and right broke ranks on the mayor’s bid to control Auckland Transport more directly ...
Exhausted by the general election campaign, horrified by the twilight zone of coalition negotiations, distracted by the silly season and waiting for the honeymoon to begin, Raw Politics has been in hibernation since October. From today, we’re back. Our weekly political video show and podcast returns for ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk Authorities in the small town of Boulouparis have commemorated Armistice Day on May 8 with a new memorial honouring New Zealand soldiers who were stationed in New Caledonia during World War II. The ceremony took place in the township on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Dehm, Senior lecturer, international migration and refugee law, University of Technology Sydney The High Court unanimously ruled today that the Australian government can keep asylum seekers in immigration detention indefinitely in cases where they do not “voluntarily” cooperate with their own ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Munro, Lecturer, Creative Industries and Digital Media, University of South Australia Twenty-four hours after the release of Macklemore’s pro-Palestine protest song Hind’s Hall on social media on May 7, the video had already notched up over 24 million views. In ...
Failing to anticipate the complexity of the consenting system is being cited as the the current builder's shortcomings, an Infrastructure Commission review says. ...
350 Aotearoa is calling the Environment Select Committee’s decision to allow oral submissions from just 40% of individual, unique submitters who asked to speak to the committee ‘a disgraceful blight to democracy’. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Helal, Assistant Dean (Sustainability), The University of Melbourne Dubai skylineAleksandarPasaric/Pexels Since ancient times, people have built structures that reach for the skies – from the steep spires of medieval towers to the grand domes of ancient cathedrals and mosques. Today ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edward Musole, PhD Law Student, University of New England Girts Ragelis/ShutterstockRecent trends show Australians are increasingly buying wearables such as smartwatches and fitness trackers. These electronics track our body movements or vital signs to provide data throughout the day, with ...
Papua New Guinea experienced a significant earthquake on 24 March in East Sepik and there has also been recent flooding there and in surrounding provinces. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yousuf Mohammed, Dermatology researcher, The University of Queensland Maridav/Shutterstock You wake up, stagger to the bathroom and gaze into the mirror. No, you’re not imagining it. You’ve developed face wrinkles overnight. They’re sleep wrinkles. Sleep wrinkles are temporary. But as your ...
The Environment Select Committee has just announced that 60 percent of individuals who asked to speak at the hearings will not be heard. This equates to almost 700 people who made individual submissions and more than 1000 more who made a form submission. ...
The Royal New Zealand Ballet is performing Swan Lake around the country. What kind of dream does the ballet sell?Before going to see the Royal New Zealand Ballet perform Swan Lake, I had about as much familiarity with the plot of this ballet as could be expected from having ...
A new poem by Auckland poet Eamonn Tee. High Tide at Local Maxima It is only going to get worse. The streams will be narrow and fickle. The week will bend and buckle like a pot-bellied waist. You will make it to the weekend with one ...
The New Zealand entrepreneur behind beauty business Ethique is gearing up to launch a new eco-venture. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Our thirst for a tasty bevvy is insatiable, but it comes with a hefty plastic price for the planet: 580 billion ...
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 James by Percival Everett (Mantle, $38) A retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from ...
By Kamna Kumar in Suva Pacific Islands Forum Secretary-General Henry Puna stressed the importance of media freedom and its link to the climate and environmental crisis at the 2024 World Press Freedom Day event organised by the University of the South Pacific’s journalism programme. Under the theme “A Planet for ...
Tara Ward previews a new local TV series offering alternative visions of motherhood. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. A woman is clambering up the side of her two-story house, clinging desperately to a drainpipe. Nearby, her child is perched on the ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is supportive of the cross-party approach to climate adaptation announced by the Minister of Climate Change today. ...
The Sustainable Business Council (SBC) and Climate Leaders Coalition (CLC) welcome today’s announcement from Government around a bipartisan inquiry into an enduring climate adaptation framework for New Zealand. ...
The Free Speech Union welcomes the decision by the Department of Internal Affairs, and Minister Brooke Van Velden, to abandon proposals to further regulate online speech. ...
Its new building in Wellington will not be nearly big enough for all its records, and it has also run out of money to build its new storage facility in Levin. ...
BusinessNZ is congratulating the Minister of Climate Change for his work in achieving cross-party consensus for a way forward on climate adaptation. ...
Recent research reveals the repeal of smokefree measures is not only bad for our health, but also the economy. The Government has repealed various smokefree measures to ensure it keeps collecting $1.2 billion a year in tobacco taxes, in order to pay for tax cuts already being delivered to ...
The club’s surprisingly good season is built on the desire to prove a random A-League YouTuber wrong… and a few other factors.“There’s no way that Wellington Phoenix play finals this year. I can’t see it happening at all.” Those are the words of Lachlan Raeside, an Australian football content ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By César Albarrán-Torres, Senior Lecturer, Department of Media and Communication, Swinburne University of Technology Apple TV+ As one of billions of bilingual individuals in the world, it disappoints me when a film or TV show with characters of a non-English-speaking background is ...
The under-utilised course is a waste of space, and with a little political will, it could be turned into something better. For the duration of her stay in Wellington, my long-suffering cousin listened to me rant about golf courses. They’re bad for the environment: water intensive and pesticide heavy. They ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Ruppanner, Professor of Sociology and Founding Director of The Future of Work Lab, Podcast at MissPerceived, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock A recent report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows US fertility rates dropped 2% in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amy Corderoy, Medical doctor and PhD candidate studying involuntary psychiatric treatment, School of Psychiatry, UNSW Sydney shop_py/Shutterstock Picture two people, both suffering from a serious mental illness requiring hospital admission. One was born in Australia, the other in Asia. Hopefully, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Treby, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, RMIT University P.j.Hickox, Shutterstock Peatlands store more carbon per square metre than any other ecosystem on Earth. These waterlogged, mossy bogs beat even dense rainforests for their ability to act as carbon reservoirs. Under the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Goss, Adjunct Associate Professor, Health Research Institute, University of Canberra Government spending on health has been growing so rapidly that a decade ago the then health minister Peter Dutton called it “unmanageable” and “unsustainable”. Health spending grew in real terms by ...
New Zealand's largest electricity distributor is warning the country to hurry up with controls around charging electric vehicles or face unnecessary bills running into the billions. ...
New Zealanders have been asked to conserve energy this morning to combat a possible electricity shortfall, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. A call to conserve power New Zealand is facing a possible electricity shortfall, with people up ...
Writer Rebecca K Reilly breaks down the national book awards. What are the Ockhams?The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are our annual national awards for books published for adults, and have existed in this form since 2016. There are four categories: Fiction, Poetry, General Non-fiction and Illustrated Non-fiction. There ...
Wellington City Council should keep its 34% ownership share in Wellington International Airport, argue Unions Wellington spokespeople Finn Cordwell and Ashok Jacob. Insanity, as the saying goes, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Wellington City Council (WCC) is yet again proposing to dispose ...
New Zealand’s largest book publisher has undergone drastic changes this week, leaving its future role in local publishing uncertain. Two of the most recognisable local publishers in New Zealand are among those restructured out of Penguin Random House, it was announced this week. Head of publishing Claire Murdoch will leave ...
In 2021 the Public Interest Journalism Fund launched the Te Rito Journalism project, a $2.4 million initiative to boost diversity in New Zealand’s newsrooms. The initiative was in response to the decades-long shortage of Māori and Pacific journalists in the media industry. It was billed as New Zealand’s ...
The Black Ferns Sevens appeared to be a mile behind Australia at the halfway point of the 2023-24 SVNS international circuit. Winless in three tournaments, a cup quarter-final exit in Perth was one of their worst results. To add insult to injury, talismanic skipper Sarah Hirini had been ruled out ...
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Successive governments have tried, and failed, to count Māori. But with the return of social investment, it’s more important than ever to get good data. The post Government looks for a better way to count Māori appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Experts in financing social investment initiatives say New Zealand is in a prime position to tackle social issues via a social investment approach The post What will Willis’ social investment fund look like? appeared first on Newsroom. ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist A former Tuvalu prime minister says while the New Zealand government’s oil and gas plans show it is concerned about its economy, he is more concerned about the livelihoods and survival of the Tuvalu people. Enele Sopoaga — who still serves as an MP ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Many people who follow federal budgets know about the magnificent “budget tree” in a parliamentary courtyard, which turns a glorious red in time for the May event. This week Treasurer Jim Chalmers posed by ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Bennett, Professor of Music, Australian National University Richard P J Lambert/flickr, CC BY The future belongs to the analogue loyalists. Fuck digital. As a tsunami of CDs, DAT tapes and samplers swept the recording industry in the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Strong, Associate professor, Music Industry, RMIT University This week American rapper Macklemore released a new track, Hind’s Hall, which has gained a lot of attention because of its explicitly political nature. The track is unapologetically pro-Palestine. It declares the artist’s ...
Explainer - The government from 2025 is mandating how state schools teach children to read. But what is structured literacy and how does it compare to other teaching methods? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danica Jenkins, Lecturer in European Studies, University of Sydney On a freezing spring night in March, Georgia’s national soccer team beat Greece in a nail-biter penalty shootout to qualify for the Euro 2024 championships. The atmosphere on the streets of the capital ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam G. Arian, Lecturer (Accounting & Finance), Australian Catholic University Loic Manegarium/Pexels Imagine every ton of carbon dioxide a company emits is slowly inflating its costs — not just in terms of potential fines or fees but in the capital it ...
Until the Davos crowd fund carbon capture and put their wealth into saving the planet we appear doomed. The deadliest sin… greed. Western culture has not lived with nature respectfully, it has raped and subjugated all the way. This has spread like a virus.
We need to become minimalists very quickly or perish along with the rest of Earths organisms.
David Attenborough is correct…10 short years to change.
This is exactly what Guy McPherson has been hammering for years but he is a ‘nut job’ but as soon as Attenborough comes to the same conclusion it’s now believable.
You are correct, but hopefully the Extinction Rebellion is underlining the emergency Kevin.
What's a conservative Nacionalista to do when confronted with a fired-up Jacinda ?
Is that a rhetorical question?
Re. Is that a thetorical question ?
"The term Nationalists or Nationals (nacionales) was coined by Joseph Goebbels following the visit of the clandestine Spanish delegation led by Captain Francisco Arranz requesting war material on 24 July 1936, in order to give a cloak of legitimacy to Nazi Germany's help to the Spanish rebel military.[2] The leaders of the rebel faction, who had already been denominated as 'Crusaders' by Bishop of SalamancaEnrique Pla y Deniel —and also used the term Cruzada for their campaign— immediately took a liking to it."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationalist_faction_(Spanish_Civil_War)
.. interesting how it became fashionable in other parts of the world.
What France has money for
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/19/opinion/notre-dame-fire-protests-gilets-jaunes-yellow-vests.html
Sex, Lies and Julian Assange
In this 2012 ABC Four Corners investigation, reporter Andrew Fowler goes to Sweden for a revealing look at the allegations of sexual crimes hanging over Julian Assange's head. This is compulsory viewing for anyone wanting to look objectively at the events leading to the current saga.
This 46 minute program can be viewed here
From Global Research
"There is no doubt whatsoever of the injustice and persecution of Assange by the world’s only hyper power, America, because Assange published details of US war crimes and corruption. Its that simple!
Being forced to seek refuge in an Embassy in London is a disgrace for Britain, a Country with a long tradition of fair play and justice.
"If, after watching this documentary, you believe anything else, you are easy pliable fodder for manipulation by what has become, totalitarian States. It means you never read and understood the writings of Aldous Huxley or George Orwell. It means you are ‘a sheeple’. If you can’t see through the fog of disinformation and propaganda, you have no idea of the concept of freedom"
My favourite part is where Assange is interviewed by the Swedish Police and tells the interviewer he's worried that the interview will be leaked to the press. The interviewer assures Assange he's not going to leak anything. Later, the interview is leaked. I expect the irony was totally lost on Assange, but no doubt the cops had a good giggle over the poetic justice of it.
Yes what a giggle , when the state justice system , with all its power ,breaches its own rules and acts against the "accused" who at this point is deemed innocent until proved guilty.
Thus queering the pitch for a fair trial
Oh its quite delicious to see the notion of justice dishonoured in such a way
Yes, it's almost as though the indiscriminate leaking of confidential information might not be an unalloyed good, or something.
That unintended humour in the documentary wasn't really all that funny, but it did lighten the mood a bit after all the rape apologia that preceded it. That stuff wasn't funny at all.
Apart from the point Francesca has made, there's quite a difference between the information the Swedish Police leaked and the information published by Wikileaks.
It's a shame you can't see that.
Is there any point in me spelling it out for you?
Probably not.
Quite a difference, yes. In this case, the leak was targeted, rather than a wholesale dump of confidential information that can put people's lives at risk.
Who/what were the ‘Swedish police’ targetting with their leak, and why?
What were they aiming to achieve?
Identity and motive(s) of the leaker are unknown (to me at least). Could be they were part of a devious black op to try and discredit Assange, could be someone was annoyed enough at Assange's arrogance to want to poke a needle in his puffed-up self-importance, could be one of them saw the irony in leaking the world champion leaker's confidential info. Could be just about anything.
"Assange's arrogance"
"his puffed-up self-importance"
"the world champion leaker"
I see where you're coming from…
"narcissist who cannot get beyond his own selfish interests" – Judge Snow
So why all the ‘fuss and bother’ over an arrogant puffed-up self-important selfish narcissist – they’re a dime a dozen, no?
Well, yeah – it's not like I'm the only one who's noticed.
You tell ’em PM; it's not a competition…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Assange#Honours_and_awards
And thanks to francesca for this fair link:
Could be a tabloid slipped a police IT tech a little something for any information on a prominent case.
Psycho
Care to elaborate?
Which bit? Seems likely the leak of Assange's police interview was targeted rather than a wholesale dump of police interviews to the papers, because there are no news stories about a wholesale dump of Swedish police interviews. Wikileaks, on the other hand, does just dump whatever's handed to it onto the Internet, and there are plenty of news reports of people put at risk by it.
So PM, please tell me who has been harmed and put at risk by Wikileaks dumps?
Anyone killed or jailed or tortured?Would be big news if that had happened
I can only name Assange himself as being at risk from Wikileaks dumps, particularly those outing war criminals
He was prepared to put Afghan contractors and their families in harms way and the prick deliberately smeared the reputation of a murder victim and was more then happy to prolong the family's anguish.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/sep/18/julian-assange-wikileaks-nick-cohen
https://www.thedailybeast.com/mueller-report-julian-assange-smeared-seth-rich-to-cover-for-russians?
"a reporter worried"
"Seth Rich" Assange was incredibly tight lipped about that,. He has never exposed a source, he had very little to say
Bill Binney, the architect of NSA who argued for targeted surveillance rather than scoop em all up had and has far more to say about Rich
https://medium.com/@markfmccarty/bill-binney-states-that-the-nsa-has-32-pages-of-communications-between-seth-rich-and-julian-54a2df5a0e5b
As does Seymour Hersh
https://powerhournation.com/investigative-reporter-sy-hersh-says-seth-rich-was-the-dnc-leaker/
If we didn't know it already the election of Trump and subsequent events shows that the truth can be far stranger than fiction.
Thanks for that Joe, always good to get the smears on whistleblowers and journalism out in the open.
Manning blew the whistle, not Assange.
Confirmation bias is the thread for you, joe…
All that time trawling the net has confirmed your bias…
Twisted.
Thank you One Two.
Thanks not necessary , maui…but I hear you…
J90's commentary is sub par as a rule…but that particular comment reeks of someone who needs to get outside more and vary the sources of sites visited…
J90 has linked to snopes article, today…which is a strong signal of how he has arrived at such a perspective where assange is not a whistleblower…but manning is…
Snopes is likely one of his speed dial sites…and is a red flag anytime you see a link to that site…
Bullshit one two – joe is a respected commenter with valuable information and insights – maui and you are not really much truck as commenters imo – just too negative all the time. It is funny watching maui without ed – sad when the organ grinder is missing alright.
All very subjective, eh marty…
Joes insights are most often limited to a single word…or a few words at times…
That possibly appeals to certain folks…
Based on your assessment of joe…how would you assess yourself?
Remember to factor in all of the abuse you've delivered…plenty of it…many many years worth…
Uh marty, heee's baaaaack. At least it looks like it. Check the first comment over on Confirmation Bias.
lol that's sad
Check the first comment over on Confirmation Bias.
Bring back Ed and bring back Paul? Doesn't that cause one of those space/time distortions that create big explosions in scifi movies?
or a few words at times…
Brevity, rather than arcane word salads and unfulfilled ellipses.
You should try it sometime, sport.
brevity you reckon, joe…
I doubt you believe that…I certainly don't…
The comment you made about assange/manning was as bad as your linking to snopes…
Running away from the Bigtree 'scum' question I asked you, spoke to your personality…
Eh…sport…
Bigtree 'scum' question
Proplaguers are scum. All of them.
#Proplaguers
Using a hashtag serves to illustrate where you've gone aray…
Here's what I reckon…
As a result of your extremely warped and lopsided reading habits…
Every single one of your social feeds is extremely warped…you get how it functions eh…surely…
So…you trigger fingered an (anti s*mitic smear) reaction and posted the bigtree tweet thread…before you bothered to cross read the background of what was going on to orthodox jewish community in Rockland County…and now elsewhere in NYC…
…because your extremely lopsided reading has warped you into such a twisted state…confirmation bias is unrecognizable to you…
I called you out…you ran…because I knew what you'd done…see above…
Refute it … go on…go for it…
yeah Joe is pithy one two – maybe if you didn't spend all your time abusing others you'd have something to say too. It seems like you write a lot of words and say very little. But it takes all sorts…
I'm the abuser…
Marty…shall I post your history of abuse back to you…again…
The apologies you used to tend were so contrived…because you need to convince yourself of being a good guy…
Long archived records of abusive insults on this site…you and the angry man club…says you've got it twisted…
So my comments go over your heads…handle it better…
We're not all the same, marty…some of us know more about certain subjects…
Simple 'maths' for you…nothing that warrants the abuse you hurl…bro…
…my comments go over your heads…
We're not all the same, marty…some of us know more about certain subjects…
It's like Clayton Weatherston had access to the Internet. Has anyone checked to make sure he's still serving his sentence?
You're not my bro you racist prick one two – still spilling your bile on people, still trying to be different to your reality, your sadness. Stop blaming others for your stuff one two – own it and it will put you on the track which leads to the road that will set you free. Believe and it will happen.
Edit @ PM – lol
Que?
I don't speak jabberwocky so best you translate.
The US Govt had no problem outting one of their own spies, Valerie Plame, and knowingly endangering her entire network just because her husband wrote a paper criticising the bullshit around Iraq.
So PM, please tell me who has been harmed and put at risk by Wikileaks dumps?
Not my job. I said "there are plenty of news reports of people put at risk by [Wikileaks dumping data without checking it first]." You can confirm that for yourself simply by Googling has wikileaks put people at risk.
As I said, there are plenty of reports in that results list, but this one makes for a representative example: Private lives are collateral damage in Wikileaks' document dumps
" You can confirm that for yourself simply by Googling has wikileaks put people at risk. "
Oh dear
And that the interwebs says it makes it true.
Where the hell did we find the truth before the internet came along. How did we cope??!
And that the interwebs says it makes it true.
Not even slightly. My claim was "there are plenty of news reports of people put at risk" and the truth of that is confirmed by a Google search, as I said. The veracity of the news reports is a different matter entirely. Do you dispute the news reports?
Who lives were at risk from the WikiLeaks dump?
I quite liked the bit at 14:10 where A's UK legal advisor talks about red notices vs orange notices. According to her, red notices are just for terrorists, and even ghaddafi only had an orange notice, so totes suss on that.
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpol_notice#Notice_types">Notice colour is about type of notice function, not severity</a>. Notices to provisionally arrest (red notice) are issued by the thousands every year. Ghaddafi was, according to A's "advisor", on an orange notice – imminent threat to public safety. Demanding the provisional arrest of a head of state would we problematic, to say the least.
Not figuring that out makes the report seem a bit gullible.
Rest of it seems to be same old same old – yanks don't like wikileaks, onward extradition, demands for declarations of immunity (in essence), his accusers didn't act in the approapriate way for victims, and so on. Rape apology groundhog day.
"Rape apology groundhog day."
DrowsyMKram + 1
UK version of gtimo, huh. Lols.
If he'd never set foot in the embassy, he would have been a free man within a couple of years. Then he might have been able to skip the country when the yanks finally made their move.
He stuffed himself good and proper, because he didn't want to face sexual assault proceedings.
And the Ecuador government grants asylum on the grounds that rape charges are pending .
Really?
Asylum was granted on Ecuadorean recognition that Assange was a political refugee.
Who knew that Obama had qualms about press freedom when he'd jailed more whistleblowers than any previous president.
And Assange's prompt re arrest an hour after the arrest for bail jumping points to the fact that Assange and his legal team were right to fear extradition to the US
lol Ecuador got a bargaining chip.
As for the US, it does seem Holder decided against going after Assange. So really, yeah – Assange put himself on ice only to be extradited by the guy he helped get elected.
Quite poetic, really.
But Clinton did win the popular vote.
So convinced was she of a landslide victory she didnt bother to campaign in the very states she needed for an electoral college vote
Cant blame Assange for that
Lucky that's not what I said, then.
But wikileaks' little selective release certainly helped dolt45 get elected. Made a big part of the campaign. <a href="https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/dec/18/john-podesta/its-true-wikileaks-dumped-podesta-emails-hour-afte/">An hour</a> after the "grab 'em by the pussy" tape surfaced, wikileaks announced the podesta email dump. Helpful coincidence, that.
So yeah – pretty fucking poetic if you ask me. He gets so far up his own PR spin that he helps get elected the guy who does the thing the Obama administration decided to avoid (for very good reasons – if the hacking evidence is as thin as it looks so far, the extradition is a serious 1st amendment issue).
"pretty fucking poetic if you ask me" – the schadenfreude is strong in this one.
Gotta say, after almost ten years of this crap I do think it's pretty funny.
He was set to go to Sweden, do his trial, maybe even get found innocent but even if found guilty of rape he wouldn't have spent as long in prison as he spent in the embassy (I don't think Sweden has mandatory minimums, so he'd be on the same scale as every other rapist, just at the lighter end of sentencing). And the yanks didn't have a case in those days. Also – hacking? Wasn't the big fear being charged under the Espionage Act? lol
But no, he locked himself in an apartment for seven years, only to be sold like a secondhand sofa (makes people uncomfortable, is a bit smelly, might as well make some cash) and the guy he helped get elected turned out to have fewer legal scruples that the people he'd been afraid of.
Just "pretty funny"?
You say "smelly", I say 'smeary’.
Several BIG stinks – best put a ‘lid’ on them (hush hush)?
Well, it's not laugh-out-loud material. There's just a pleasing symmettry to the idea that he evaded sexual assault proceedings for so long that the thin excuse he used to justify his evasion ended up becoming reality, brought into actuality by the dictatorial administration he helped get elected.
Ah, "a pleasing symmettry" – how wonderfully abstract.
The delightful plight of the smelly man has barely begun.
Maybe I'll feel bad for him if the yanks actually get a hold of him and sentence him to some insane time. But at the moment, everything that's happened has been the result of his own actions <i>even if he didn't do the alleged sexual assaults</i>.
rape apology groundhog day…
Have you been given a free pass to repeat that statement ad nauseum, flocky?
Or do you enjoy repeating it…
Both…more…something else perhaps…
If you jerks want to keep recycling the rape apology tropes you love, I'll keep recycling the groundhog day reference.
Can't remember many or any tropes being rolled out to be honest. Has anyone been saying "boys will be boys", etc.
Well, you obviously haven't read any of the threads over the years. Look for the comments preceding the phrase "rape apologist", that'll be a good start.
…you just enjoy saying those words…
Some people think if you're not screaming rape 20 times a day then you condone it.
Because minimising the allegations and casting aspersions on the complainants and anyone who agrees with them is <i>totally</i> like " not screaming rape 20 times a day " 🙄
Rape apology groundhog day.
Facepalm after facepalm. The doco tells how one woman claimed that Assange wouldn't use a condom and pinned her down so he could fuck her without one. The doco maker then spends an inordinate amount of time on the rape apologist meme "The victim's subsequent behaviour doesn't match my expectations of how a victim of sexual violence should behave, therefore I'm implying but carefully not stating explicitly that she's falsely accused this poor chap." Ugly, ugly shit, replicated at length in comments threads on this blog.
Hat tip for noobs at sex: if sex with you results in women feeling they need to talk to a police officer, ur doin it wrong.
Psycho That is pretty unobjective. I would question the value of either the woman or the documentary maker. I wouldn't be prepared to believe either of them. Then you turn your subjective slant on people here. Unreasonable.
Do you imagine that whom you believe or disbelieve counts for something outside your own head?
PM
Vice versa mate.
Which is why we have courts.
Well, of course. I wouldn't say that if I thought my own beliefs or disbeliefs were significant outside my own head.
However, identifying rape apologia when people are peddling it doesn't involve believing or disbelieving anyone, just the ability to parse a sentence and the ability to recognise an argument that's being made.
Also, what McFlock said.
"Ugly, ugly shit, replicated at length in comments threads on this blog."
Admire the vision of Assange and others who founded WikiLeaks. The pretence that my on-going appreciation of that vision, and concern over the likely outcome of the current Assange extradition process, makes me a ‘rape apologist’ is perverse. And ugly.
I haven't noticed you posting rape apologia on this blog. Admittedly, that could simply be inattention on my part – do you feel that that description applies to your comments?
You might not have noticed. In answer to your question, I have my doubts.
When McFlock commented that widespread public admiration of Saville, Cosby and Assange had helped them to conceal their sexual offending (OK, alleged sexual offending in Assange's case, but let's not quibble), I felt uneasy. Had my admiration for Assange's achievements clouded my judgement, and (much worse) contributed (in a small way) to his ability to evade trial?
Most of us probably admire many people (Cosby was a gifted comedian, IMO), and may have on occasion expressed that admiration. If one of these admired people was subsequently revealed to be a monster, would the admirer(s) be cupable?
I'd prefer that labels such as 'rape apologist' and 'whatever-a-phobe' be applied accurately. IMHO rape apologia labels have been used too frequently for point scoring and in attempts to bolster weak positions or shut down arguments.
Rape apologia labels have certainly enjoyed extensive use on this blog, and not only in posts and comments regarding Assange. A 'tiny' Assange-focused sample can be found in these posts from 2015: https://thestandard.org.nz/all-apologies/ (332 comments) https://thestandard.org.nz/finally/ (500 comments)
Fair enough, but when such terms are 'weaponised', examine motive. The same goes for barbs about mental health, intellectual capacity, etc. etc.
The comments in the "Finally" thread included:<blockquote> ..and one of them was a CIA agent….weird that…honey traps? </blockquote>
That looks to me like a spurious denial a rape occurred.
Recently, commenters have referred to deliberatley not wearing a condom (against the partner's wishes), pinning someone to the bed, and penetrating a sleeping person (again, without a condom contrary to the person's expressed wishes on safe sex), as "poor sexual etiquette".
That looks to me like minimisation of what is legally and ethically rape.
To me, spurious denial and minimisation both fit rationally into the description "rape apology"
If/when the evidence (victim statements, etc.) is presented to a court, then it can be evaluated together with other evidence – hopefully the (alleged) victims will not have to attend the trial(s) (if that's how Swedish courts do things) unless they wish to. The victim accounts are persuasive (I believe them), but what I believe is not legally material.
Seems unlikely to me that US interests will let Assange anywhere near a Swedish court prior to extradition to the US, but an arrangment that affords the opportunity to try Assange in Sweden at some point is not out of the question.
Agreed, the comments you describe fit the criteria for rape apology.
Is Assange a rapist? I'd like to know.
If the Swedes reactivate their case, it's an interesting question of whether it takes precedent over any US extradition case.
Assange skipped bail at the end of the extradition proceedings for Sweden, so if there'd been no suspension then he'd just be put on a plane to Stockholm after the absconding charge is dealth with. But the suspension/reactivation maybe means they need to start from scratch.
I'm not familiar with any cases where multiple countries have tried to extradite.the same person. Maybe if goes on a first come, first served basis. I dunno.
As for wanting to know – he's the one who tried as hard as possible to stop that from going to court. His legal team and supporters are the ones who lied from the start, with claims that the sexual assault charges were "sex by surprise", and that bullshit about orange vs red notices. There's also the discrepancies about what his lawyer was told about Assange leaving Sweden, and how Assange's departure related to being informed about the likely result of a second interview.
Personally, I think the CIA and so on sat back in amazement and watched an egotistical jerk completely stuff himself at the height of his global influence and relevance.
Is he a rapist in those two instances? In the absence of a trial, all we can do is believe the women. So, probably.
A good many were pretty pleased that the question was out there.
The answer is now largely immaterial in the greater scheme, but I'd still like to know – goes to Assange’s personal credibility (cf. WikiLeaks.)
Not really: Assange is not wikileaks. That's actually the point: the information is distributed without a bona fide source. It's the reaction to the information that shows its legitimacy.
Assange was in contact with Manning, but for all Assange knew, Manning was supplying tainted goods on behalf of the Russians. But the most damaging material was genuine, because the yanks admitted it and the material was unique (ISTR Russia once got caught releasing Call of Duty footage as airstrike footage lol).
What goes to wikileaks' credibility are actions like releasing material that was selectively edited, like the Podesta stuff. Whether that was edited by the Russians or by wikileaks (probably too much material for Assange to do it himself), that's the stuff that hurts Wikileaks' credibility. It goes from being an information distributor to being a biased information filter.
Assange is just a dude, like anyone else. If he did commit rape, wikileaks could still be a net good (despite some real fails in the last few years, showing bias and endangering people e.g. doxxing women voters in turkey).
Most of us probably admire many people (Cosby was a gifted comedian, IMO), and may have on occasion expressed that admiration. If one of these admired people was subsequently revealed to be a monster, would the admirer(s) be cupable?
Nope. The alleged perp may also have done many admirable things and admiring those things isn't rape apology.
Rape apologia consists of attempts to minimise the significance of what occurred, to find reasons to excuse the alleged perpetrator or to try and discredit the complainant. Examples of those things appear in the linked documentary and in The Standard's comments threads about Assange.
Here I was thinking the doco goes over some of the agreed facts of the case, and finds many facets of the allegations raise questions. I think you're confusing common sense with rape apology.
Well, most of the doco was on wikileaks and the yanks. A portion of the doco was on some of the facts of the case, and the rest was on guys saying women didn't act like they reckon someone who was sexually assaulted would act.
So you were only a little bit off.
…many facets of the allegations raise questions.
The most important of those questions being "If your approach to sexual intercourse results in women feeling the need to attend a police station, is it time to re-think your approach to sexual intercourse?"
However, the secondary one is only slightly less important: "If you find yourself coming up with reasons why women who've laid a complaint about non-consensual sexual activity shouldn't be believed, is it time to re-think your attitude to consent?"
You're forgetting the reason for visiting the police was for an STD check, and when it came to giving evidence over any assault occurring it was refused.
We're talking about one disputed incident of non-consensual sex amongst earlier consensual sex before and after. Which means applying a brain to what is alleged, and looking at all the facts around what happened. Something your argument refuses to do.
You're forgetting the reason for visiting the police was for an STD check, and when it came to giving evidence over any assault occurring it was refused.
I'm not forgetting the two women went to see if the police would force Assange to undergo an STD test after he allegedly fucked both of them without a condom in spite of their demand that he use one, no. That's why I suggested that your sexual activities should not leave women feeling the need to visit a police station.
We're talking about one disputed incident of non-consensual sex amongst earlier consensual sex before and after.
Do you know there's a single word for that weasel phrase "non-consensual sex?" There's a clue in the term "rape apologist." In that one sentence we have two fine examples: minimisation of the alleged crime (not two rapes, just one) and the assumption that prior or subsequent instances of consensual sex rule out the possibility of rape.
Oh, indeed, whenever I want a piss test or any of my other sexual health needs met, I pop down to the local police station. Because in any developed society, the blue lights show people where they can get the blue pills. [slow
gonorrheaclap]Julian Assange put through 'hell' at embassy, says former diplomat
Fidel Narvaez says Assange was "100% respectful" but claims he suffered from a government plot to force him out.
Kirsty Johnston again highlights the precarious situation of non ACC disabled New Zealanders in this hard hitting article.
Limited showers, no meal prep: 'Ruthless' plans to cut disabled care revealed
An earlier article, published on the 14th March so lost in the aftermath of events on the 15th, describes the difficulty in accessing supports and the relief of one family when the child's disability was accepted by ACC for cover.
Every hour is questioned' – Advocates say Health Ministry quietly reducing funding for disabled after ruling out big cuts
I would love to spend the day here trying to argue the case…so many here simply don't or won't accept that the fightback from disability groups to the End of Life Choice Bill (I am not a member of any of these groups btw) is founded in the absolute fact that non ACC disabled are being slowly starved of funding for vital supports….leading to people feeling that they would be better off without this unbearable suffering.
But I'm busy. Got to get the house ready to sell…need to get enough not only to find a smaller but equally wheelchair friendly house to live in but to also fund vital mobility equipment that we heard this week the agency contracted by the Misery of Health to administer the equipment and modifications budget refuses to fund.
The Ministry of Health Disability Support Services and the successive governments that have backed them really are a bunch of arseholes.
lprent…This Luddite is struggling a bit with the 'easier' system. Very frustrating hitting 'backspace' to correct and losing all my text. My fault entirely…just thought I'd give you good reason to chuckle at the misery of the technologically challenged.
Sorry to shout.
http://community.scoop.co.nz/2019/04/planned-funding-cuts-paint-a-grim-picture-for-disabled-care/
Documents obtained by the New Zealand Disability Support Network (NZDSN) reveal the Ministry was planning to cut up to $10 million from disability support services by June as an initial step towards addressing a $90 million deficit.
IHC Director of Advocacy Trish Grant says it shows the Ministers recognise the impact of cuts on the most vulnerable people with intellectual disabilities as a group that has been left behind for too long.
Thanks for the link Rosemary, sobering reading but again, not batting an eyelid anymore. I can recall about 15-20 years ago when CCDHB suddenly decided a whole lot of disabilities overnight no longer were, at least not when it came to qualifying for any home based support out of them.
What I will never understand is the general logic behind all of this. Is it a case of the individual agencies MoH/DHBs/ACC/MSD only thinking about their own budgets? Why can't they do a serious holistic cost benefit analysis that will inevitably show that cutbacks in one area is just going to increase the cost to another agency, plus extra due to avoidable deterioration. I'm sure even the most supportive general public would object to avoidable cost if they knew it was happening.
Oh I forgot- bureacracy = logic + reason , ha ha, silly me, what was I thinking…
I emailed Kirsty Johnston earlier this morning and asked if it were possible to see the referenced documents, and bless her, within a few minutes they landed in my inbox. I see she has now put most of them as a footer to the Herald article.
Those not familiar with how these pricks think should really read their way through them…reminding themselves every few minutes that it is actual live human beings with sometimes total dependency on hands on help from others that are being discussed.
You and I Kay don't need to read them….because we know…but reading them is reassuring as it confirms our suspicions are well founded.
As a footnote to Kirsty this morning I wrote, ' The cost overruns are due to burdensome bureaucracy and the vile
stupidity of having two state funded and administrated systems
providing the same service for those with permanent impairments.
We are simply not a big enough country to be running two systems.'
Which is saying pretty much along the same lines as you.
Hey, Kay, we should apply for positions as Advisors!
I like the advisor idea, only if they pay me under the table…that small matter of one can't avoid declaring taxable income to Winz
On the other had, I don't think their poor little bureaucratic minds could cope with us!
I have read some of them. Makes me sick.
Bastards. I know a bit first hand the treatment disabled and elderly get from Waikato Disability Support Services.
Brigid …the treatment disabled and elderly get from Waikato Disability Support Services.
Yes. DSL. One of the more interesting and ultimately frustrating exercises my partner and I had to go through in the past few years was requesting and receiving his file from DSL. I'd like to think you'd be surprised at the level of incompetence we found…but sadly, you won't be. We learned a few years ago to conduct all communications with them via email…really quite frightening that they are happy to lay their failings out in writing for all to see.
Funding in narrow silos is a well-known problem with our state system. It does not make sense even on the narrowest cost-benefit terms. And that is without considering the huge extra pain and wasted energy.
I was thinking if this is the new way of doing things with kindness from our government, Then I'd really hate to see what it means if they weren't following that doctrine.
That said, when you come to the table tethered to neo-liberalism economics, and the wholesale commodification of human beings – we can't really expect anything less.
It looks like the Minister/s in charge may have quashed this behaviour, probably with promises of Budget increases next month. Fixing the inhuman culture in some managers will take more than that.
Perusing the emails Sacha, it seems there are still a few long term incumbents participating in this exercise. Names that have been attached to emails and mentioned in dispatches since just about forever. So, still aways to go methinks.
I did email (and I'm pretty sure a whole heap of other stirrers did too ) JAG a while back after looking at her diary and seeing who in the disability sector she was meeting with. No! No! I wrote, '…don't confine your discussions to those who have been 'meeting with ministers' over the past 10years or so'….especially those from the Miserly and NZDSN.
Clearly it worked. /sarc.
How could you possibly bring this article to peoples attention? After all you wouldn't want anyone to think that our kind caring Government won't do anything to look after disabled people. It wouldn't go with the image of a PM they are pushing so hard would it?
When I was reading the article there were a couple of things that stood out. The first was that the spending had risen in the last 5 years but we couldn't afford it any longer and that about $100 million had to be saved. The second was that the Minister talking about it was Julie Anne Genter.
"Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter said decisions about who received support were made by the ministry, and it had not been directed to cut funding by ministers." Well she would claim that it had nothing to do with her wouldn't she?
"it had increased funding to the $1.268 billion disability support sector each year for five years, but could no do so longer." Instead they want to cut out, by stealth $100 million/year. See https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12223776
So we had steady increases from National and a clamp down on the expenditure by the current lot.
Where have I seen this Minister and this amount of money recently? Oh yes, in the Dom/Post we had a story about how the Government, pushed along by Genter, are going to spend that much money on a walk cum cycle way between Ngauranga and Petone. That is about 6 km and goes from nowhere to nowhere.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/111987243/nzta-approves-funding-for-shared-walkway-and-cycleway-between-petone-and-ngauranga
So she can find a $100 million to allow about 50 cyclists a day, in summer, to pedal along the side of the harbour. There will also be about 50 pedestrians a year doing the same, at least by my estimate. Lets face it. It is about a 2 hour walk and about all you can do at Ngauranga is to be collected by someone in a car or spend another hour walking into the city. In winter of course you might get 50 cyclists a week.
Well so much for spending scarce money on people who need it. Genter's hobbies are much more important.
Thanks Rosemary for that Link – I heard about it independently this morning.
The clear take away from this is that our government needs to raise more revenue to fund the on-going costs of providing services to NZers, and it needs to do it now.
The great tax giveaway by the last govt was always going to be at the expense of those within NZ who were the most vulnerable; and so it proves to be. We cannot even implement a CGT in this country – whereas such a tax is almost universal world wide – because in our heart of hearts, NZ baby boomers, and Gen Xers, are by and large so greedy, that any suggestion we might have to fork out a bit of our "hard earned cash" to help others (or even ourselves in later life) is an anathema.
You did see that the money for this work had risen every year for the last 5 years didn't you? In other words a National Government increased the budget each year and it is only the current mob who are cutting it. But you don't want to believe that do you so you will just ignore the facts of the matter..
Alwyn…I'll be very pissed off if I have to spend precious getting the house ready to sell time finding the documents to back up your claim that National increased the disability spend. Prove it you idle so and so!
As others will tell you…the increase by no means matched the increase in demand and population.
In fact…if I recall it might actually have amounted to less per capita…
yes Rosemary it did
Unfortunately Macro it is not just about the money. It is Labour, way back when Annette King birthed the Public Health and Disability Act 2000 who gave the Ministry of Health responsibility for the care of non ACC permanently foobarred. The Ministry of Health promptly contracted out every single aspect of Disability Support Services, including the Needs Assessment and Service Coordination. MOH DSS set policy only…and a pretty poor job they've done of that.
The Misery (because the PHDAct says it has to) 'consults' with stakeholders…who almost inevitably have had some financial relationship with the Ministry (providers, NGOs, 'charities' representing the interests of disabled folk and carers and the like) who have, unsurprisingly been inclined to go along with policy so as not to lose their funding. Snouts in the trough and all rather incestuous.
No wonder we now have this mutant spawn.
MOH bureaucrats are amoung the highest paid in the Public Service and for many years have been lead by a some rather odd types.
It is the bureaucrats that are the biggest waste of money…
Actually Rosemary by world standards NZ's Health Bureaucracy is one of the most efficient – ranking 2nd in the world behind Australia.
as you can see in this chart here:
https://www.commonwealthfund.org/sites/default/files/images/charts/___media_images_interactives_and_data_chart_maps_chartcart_report_2017_mirror_mirror_image_02.jpg
Our health outcomes are not so good and this is due to the fact that our health sector has been consistently underfunded for years. So much so that our mental health services are almost non existent in some parts of the country. How does this happen? Because government have over the years pandered to middle class voters who demand more and more tax cuts and yes Labour has some blame to share on this but the past decade has been the result of Bill English's largess with tax cuts to buy the votes from the voting public which quite frankly the country could not afford. Labour have been left with a huge govt deficit and in order to gain sufficient backing inorder to not put off support you will remember that Labour and the Greens signed up to a "Fiscal Responsibility Bill" this has effectively hamstrung the current administration from raising further revenue by way of increasing tax take and the result is just where we are now.
You and I can rail as much as we like! but until there is more money flowing into the governments coffers the situation is only going to stay the same or deteriorate as more elderly become a burden on the Health system.
Macro…lookitthat…yet another measuring tool!
However, when you look at what our own SSC found when doing the 2017 Performance Improvement Framework Review …there were serious concerns with the upper levels of management at the Misery.
In fact overall..its a pretty dismal read.
http://www.ssc.govt.nz/sites/all/files/pif-review-health-dec2017.pdf
So if we're 2nd in the world for 'efficiency'….?
Well that's the whole point Rosemary – if our Health System is considered pretty efficient, but we are still failing in many areas, ( we fall to 7th in health outcomes and access, and 8th for equity for instance) then it has to be something else. And as you have pointed out, while funding has increased in dollar terms, it certainly hasn't kept up with the increasing needs of a growing and ageing population. This as I have pointed out is the major constraint on our failing Health system – we have a very good model – one of the best in the world – but it is not being funded adequately – you can't keep on squeezing a lemon and expecting to get more from it. And the constraint on funding falls directly back on the ability of the government to raise funds. National increased the debt level thru borrowing to fund such things as Health and Education to around $62 B NZ.
https://tradingeconomics.com/new-zealand/government-debt
But you have to pay that back at some point. And they were forced to do this because they gave away so much in tax "relief" to people who in most cases didn't really need it.
Is there a separate reckoning of disability support services, rather than health? Not the same thing. Most of our health system is indeed efficient and well-managed compared with many other countries.
Yes there are NGO's that provide support services and they source funding both from Govt and elsewhere, but govt funding for disability services is primarily channeled through the Ministry of Health.
https://www.health.govt.nz/your-health/services-and-support/disability-services
Support services are via MoH, yes, but other NZ disability funding cuts across many agencies – all adds up to over $3b/yr. In some countries it’s funded and delivered differently, including via local bodies.
Does the Commonwealth Fund report on disability separately from health?
Rosemay McD & Macro
All the best with the house price. The pictures I see have all the lights on as it gets to late afternoon – makes the place look welcoming.
And there is the idea of baking bread (Not to be confused with breaking bad) – my favourite smell is buns with cumin seed sprinkled on them.
Efficiency and distribution – two different aspects of health budget Macro.
And does that efficiency actually measure what counts.
If it is devised by USA sources even WHO maybe they have a sweet spot for high salaries for the top people as we have in NZ also.
Grey – our Health System actually stacks up pretty well compared to other countries apart from Aussie wrt administrative efficency
https://www.commonwealthfund.org/sites/default/files/images/charts/___media_images_interactives_and_data_chart_maps_chartcart_report_2017_mirror_mirror_image_02.jpg
aj.
Thats an illuminating doco
Its incredible to see how media coverage has changed from supporting Assange back in 2010, when the Swedish allegations were widely viewed with suspicion, to where we’re at now with infantile reports of shit -on-the -walls etc and kitty litter, all designed to engender disgust
Since 2012 there has been an extensive campaign of character assassination and journalists have almost universally joined in a hideous blood lust lynching spree to mock, deride and shame one of their own , and thus erode any support for Assange in his life and death struggle for freedom , his and our own
Lets not forget that Ecuador granted him political asylum, not asylum from rape charges
At any rate there was absolutely no reason why Sweden couldn’t have pursued the investigation and charged Assange in absentia, if they were so adamant they couldn’t travel to the UK.After all for over a year and a half, Assange was under house arrest and had made himself available.
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201603061035874931-sweden-russian-national-crime/
As far as the bail jumping goes , his 550 or so days under house arrest , replete with electronic ankle bracelets would surely equal any actual jail time.
Anyone who doesn’t smell the strong reek of geopolitics here has a serious case of anosmia
If the USA investigated war crimes with the same venom they pursue whistle blowers they may regain some moral authority. As it is they have none.
A useful stand in
Francesca, I fail to see why you do not become a stand in for Julian Assange. He has nice ways with women. He is adept at hacking – although he sometimes avoids it in order to hang the blame for stealing information on weaker persons.
He sees himself as the one person in the world who can decide the future of the USA or Australia or Timbuctoo.
He has methods of avoiding police requests to attend Court. On top of which he has massive support from people who believe in the theft of private information.
According to reports within Turkey, he holds virtually complete personal information on nearly every Turkey Female.
(Do you happen to know if John Key and Mr English have handed over all private documents of NZ Citizens to the Government. Key and English did a lot of shuffling.
Well yes, the idea that it was "total exoneration" was always "total bullshit". Looks like someone showed the jellybaby Joffrey the picture-book edition of the Mueller report, and the dummy got spat into orbit.
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/20/politics/donald-trump-mueller-report-anger/index.html
After a lifetime punching down, tRump has absolutely no idea about how to defend himself. As with most bullies, the prospect of an opponent fighting back terrifies him and his obvious weakness undermines the feigned machismo that his base laps up. Consequently, he's reduced to pissing and moaning and venting his spleen on those closest to him. That's all he's got.
btw, his legal woes run at 5,200 and 300 ±
…and just because we all need a laugh now and again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76OlqSd_5k8
OMG! How can we have any faith in the Americans?
It reminds me of that old WW2 joke: When the Germans bomb, the British duck. When the British bomb the Germans duck. When the American bomb, everyone ducks!
Read Catch-22 for confirmation.
lol – thanks Rosemary
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-obstinate-lighthouse/
.
That's interesting joe90 thanks and lolo.
snopes
Do you endorse snopes, joe?
Hilarious!
Thanks for that
A perfect joke that describes the Americans perfectly.
Think I’ve heard it before
Brlliant
Know any trapped angry Labour voters? Tell them they ain't alone. Recommend stoicism because nothing can be done. Tell them to look on the bright side of life, where an endless supply of helpful platitudes can be found. We have a Labour-led government, for instance.
"Labour had to choose between upsetting their own voters or upsetting the centrist voters who hate the thought of a CGT. Labour chose to burn their own voters. Labour would know their own supporters have nowhere to go apart from the Greens, and what is that if not a vote for a left-wing government led by Labour anyway? Angry Labour voters are trapped."
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=12223775
It is better to be an enemy than a friend to Labour; If you are their enemy, they will buy you, if you are their friend they will sell you.
As a long time Labour voter, I don't care whether they implement CGT or not, and Labour campaigned at the 2017 election on a working group, not CGT.
The Pyramid of Powerlessness:
4,956,975 residents can do nothing unless they can vote.
3,298,009 eligible voters can do nothing unless they do vote.
2,630,173 voters can do nothing unless they vote for the winning coalition.
120 MPs can do nothing unless they are in Government.
63 CoL MPs can do nothing unless they are Minister.
26 Ministers can do nothing unless they are PM.
1 PM can do nothing unless …
[Unless] it is god's will. Or, following Hobbes, the will of the leviathan of which we are all part:
"The state of nature is the "war of every man against every man," in which people constantly seek to destroy one another. This state is so horrible that human beings naturally seek peace, and the best way to achieve peace is to construct the Leviathan through social contract." https://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/leviathan/summary/
Internet culture wars are reviving the social darwinism described in the early part of the quote, whereas MMP is our current form of the co-constructed latter design.
So, it is our belief (!) that it is the Circle of Powerlessness, which is even worse than a pyramid. Or just (!) a human (social) construct to keep maintain status quo?
Where does the power of/for change come from?
Does power come from strength or strength from power?
Why do we feel weak and fearful?
These are rhetorical questions, BTW.
I don't like grandiose statements like 'The state of nature is the "war of every man against every man". It seems self-serving warping of words to excuse some shitty behaviour that is being rationalised.
Leviathan was apparently written in 1651 and we have moved on to neo-liberalism:
Easily fixed. Don’t let the3,298,009 eligible voters vote, especially the 2,630,173 voters who don’t vote for the coalition. Then none of them will be disillusioned and disgruntled.
I hear you! If democracy no longer sparks joy we should get rid of it and replace it with something better.
BTW, 1,165,150 votes were for the opposition parties and 1,305,333 for the CoL.
You're a sour one Peter. The take you have on comments must reflect your regular viewpoint, which doesn't appear constructive.
Hey lprent: the new system works !!!
Can someone explain exactly how our PM could have got a CGT passed without Cabinet approval? In other words, without NZF's agreement. It is an MMP government not a one party government (in other words an authoritarian dictatorship). It amazes me that people here think Jacinda can accede to whatever is on their Wishlist. Life is not like that and there always has to be compromise. Instead of moaning about what hasn't or can't be done, think at what has been done. Nothing will ever be perfect and there will always be much more to be done. From my limited knowledge surely a CGT would be very expensive to implement and operate and would be a gold mine for lawyers and accountants. And as they say about universal super, it is straightforward and less expensive to operate, rather than what a means tested super would be.
I am proud of our PM and her achievements.
tRrump insisted on bilateral trade negotiations because he thinks it gives him the whiphand, and then complains when his supposed trading partner two-times him with other nations. Man's an idiot.
https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/1119589161776947200
https://asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks/Interview/US-seeks-level-playing-field-in-Japan-trade-talks-ambassador-says
Sir Dave rings the bell.
So bad – the haters keep hating and innocent people keep being murdered.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/112184313/at-least-20-dead-after-easter-bombings-in-sri-lanka
It isn't over, a seventh explosion just happened and the death toll is now at 156.
Horrible murderers.
Nothing on Sri Lankan BC's English language service.
http://220.247.227.20:8000/RSLstream
http://www.slbc.lk/index.php/stations/coverage
Seems aimed at Christianity and tourists going by the timing and places. On looking further it seems that Sri Lanka is not conducting good faith actions towards Tamils and that the grievances after eight years, sufficient time to make change required, have not seen sufficient done to assist the Tamil.
https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2018/10/30/sri-lanka-old-land-issues-and-new-appointment-threaten-reconciliation <em> Hopes for national reconciliation took another blow last week when the country’s president, Maithripala Sirisena, abruptly appointed the controversial former leader who oversaw the 2009 military offensive, Mahinda Rajapaksa, as prime minister. The surprise move has locked Sri Lanka in a political crisis: the ousted prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has vowed to stay in office; government ministers who support him have denounced his dismissal as “an anti-democratic coup”. </em>
Sorry the comment is a dog’s breakfast but I am finding it
hard to cope with the settings etc. I had prepared a quick overview but had to get rid of so much code applying to a map that I deleted it all, worked off-line and brought it back, then had to throw half of that away because it was riddled with coding. Some basic info is left and just readable.
But after reading the reports on Sri Lanka I think there will be more violence. It has got down to what have we got to lose from those with a grievance I think.
https://www.brookings.edu/research/sri-lankas-presidential-elections-progress-regression-or-paralysis/
Christian and Muslim clerics standing together says something about the possible origins of the extremists.
https://twitter.com/mohammedlsm/status/1119574107610320896
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Methodist-Church-attacked-in-Anuradhapura%3B-bishop-held-hostage-with-the-faithful-46790.html
BBC reporter in Colombo
https://twitter.com/AzzamAmeen/status/1119894480050692096
Sounds pretty right.
https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2019/keynote/autocrats-face-rising-resistance
Unlike traditional dictators, today’s would-be autocrats typically emerge from democratic settings. Most pursue a two-step strategy for undermining democracy: first, scapegoat and demonize vulnerable minorities to build popular support; then, weaken the checks and balances on government power needed to preserve human rights and the rule of law, such as an independent judiciary, a free media, and vigorous civic groups. Even the world’s established democracies have shown themselves vulnerable to this demagoguery and manipulation.
Autocratic leaders rarely solve the problems that they cite to justify their rise to power, but they do create their own legacy of abuse. At home, the unaccountable government that they lead becomes prone to repression, corruption, and mismanagement. Some claim that autocrats are better at getting things done, but as they prioritize perpetuating their own power, the human cost can be enormous, such as the hyperinflation and economic devastation in once oil-rich Venezuela, the spree of extrajudicial killings as part of the “drug war” in the Philippines, or China’s mass detention of upwards of 1 million Turkic Muslims, primarily Uyghurs.
Todays viewing of RNZ, TV one + 'Nubs hub' showed no care for concerns about the looming climate change disaster that awaits us all.
Pathetic display of our own Dr 'scrooge" grant Robisin claiming "we cant do everything at once, – it will take at least three terms".
He is an idiot as the sea is comming now to claim the coastal areas and will destroy all lives and properties well before his magic time of 9 years or more to change direction.
Shallow man that must be sacked for his wreckless lack of urgency..
Kia ora Newshub.
Grant its all very well putting laws on social media so long as those laws don't stop free speach there is a big difference between frees speech and Hate speech I know that the state servants want to shut eco Maori down . The big tech companies have to much power to be pushed around to much anyway.
Kiwi buy skeem sounds good but I will wait and see how it goes the Crown keeps part of the value of the house so people can have a small $10. 000 deposit .
With Sri Lanka what a crying shame I didn't get time to edit last night I don't no exactly what going on there but it's a power struggle between religious factions there is no need we are all HUMANS
That old landfill down south that is being washed out to sea its is just the tip of the ice berger there will be more of those situations happening in the near future .
I'm running on a treadmill for half hour a day for the rest of my life the sandflys keeps blocking my music to try and stop my exercise system they don't want Eco Maori to live a minute longer YEA RIGHT I will get a USB stick and put my music on that try and block that muppets.
Mark the reason Earic is sitting across from you is the Thunder and lightning of ECO MAORI .
With the 20 years ago Colombia desaster I say we need to value love more love your nabour love you self love the wild life love the future love our past tipuna ansesters You see the way things are Europeans treat love as a emotion that is suppressed I had a friend who was crying out for love from his mother and father but they didn't get it I was to young to get it he was European and wealthy he passed by his own hands he was my best friend he just needed to loved that is what I see now when I look back on things. I tell my children I love them when ever I can to support there WAIRUA even when they piss me off.
Amda the squirrels were quite cute hope they have a good life.
I agree Sri Lanka has been hit hard by tsunami and now that desaster and there tourists economy is going to be negatively effected . Ka kite ano P.S Ma te wa
Whanau there is one substance that is the scrounge of some tangata whenua O Atoearoa here are some of the phenomenon linked to this poison. 1
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/101231280/fact-check-disparities-between-mori-and-pkeh
Well that link shows a few stats that are linked to colonialism and the substance. 2
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2018/10/maori-over-represented-in-prisons-due-to-colonisation-report.amp.html
Its a crying shame what I see happening to my WHANAU. 3
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2018/10/maori-over-represented-in-prisons-due-to-colonisation-report.amp.html
I wish I could do more to help our Mokopuna but I'm battleing to keep my immediate whanau and Mokopuna SAFE.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/07/29/169208/deafening-silence-on-racial-wealth-gap
Money big money is spent on this shit it is causing a collapse of Maori Mana and taking out a lot of Maori leader once they try it some are hooked up on the shit for life. That substance is PEE crack up A.
WEll not from were Im looking at my WHANAU dropping out of the system some mite think it's a crack up but NOT FUCKEN ECO MAORI.
https://youtu.be/fKopy74weus
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute
https://youtu.be/jNZcf8WtBiY
You see whanau it's the tamariki /children who suffer the most from war from suppression from all the hate that is being served up around the world the tamariki suffering in silence PEE is the same I have said who is pushing that shit and that is the truth
<blockquote>You see whanau it's the tamariki /children who suffer the most from war </blockquote>
Yeah, nah, pretty sure it's the servicepeople getting shot up and blown up and killed and maimed who have it the worst.
Whanau we have to drop old RARU RARU we have to learn to forgive but not forget. Alot of these RARU RARU were from a time when our tipuna were in charge so Eco Maori says they should be passed on into the back of our minds.
Whanau we have to help each other we have to Tau toko other Maori first and formost not put them down don't shit on OUR OWN help our leaders lead and grow Maori Mana don't behave like eels tuna in a bucket and keep pulling our leaders back down there ladders of Life MAORIDOM need leaders and we need to look after them ourselves.
As you can see from my post that the state system is not doing Maori any favours it is actually tying both of our feet together limiting our climb up our ladder of life Maori needs to build a big Maunga for our Mokopuna future because times are only going to get HARDER is what ECO MAORI sees
Ka kite ano.
https://youtu.be/FM7MFYoylVs
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.
https://youtu.be/FotCW5OIFZc
This is a better waiata for the above post
Kia ora Newshub.
Wow those helicopter rescue operators must have been having fun I know how rough Tawhirirmate can be down there on the Auckland island . When I was last down there I lost a friend he was a skipper dragged over board with his fish gear he was trying to recover $50.000 worth.
That's cool that the students got to get there temporary NZ passport back Eco Maori is not against imagination but when it displaces the local tangata mahi that pisses me off like what happened in the dairy industry .
Aotearoa has to adapt to the bigger ships and cruise ships bigger ships are more efficient and will burn less carbon that's good for the environment and the way of the future .
Its about time that more of the truth comes out about Boeing planes faults the truth is power it shows no one is to big to be held accountable .
The tornado water spouts in the Haraki Golf shows how much power a beautiful glory Tawhirirmate HAS.
Happy birthday day to the young fella.
All the best to the expecting couple.
The Kaikoura earthquake as a good one its good to see students learning about Tangaroa and his beautiful creatures we could get a big earthquake like that anytime
Ka kite ano
https://youtu.be/qQfetkoGrpU