It's so hard, creating common ground amongst left-wingers. Each of them knows they're right, therefore the others must be wrong. Consequently their default modus operandi is arguing with each other rather than reaching accord. That seems evident in the formation of the axis of evil in Oz currently:
The $10bn Housing Australia future fund will not pass parliament this week, after the Greens and Coalition teamed up in the Senate to delay the bill until October, prompting warnings of a double dissolution election.
A Greens motion proposing to delay the bill until 16 October to “allow time for national cabinet to progress reforms to strengthen renters’ rights” was voted up 37 votes to 23 about noon on Monday. A bid by Labor to vote on the bill on Tuesday was defeated.
The Greens party room met on Monday morning, after which Senator Sarah Hanson-Young stood in the Senate announcing the planned delay. Hanson-Young said the Greens “would like for us to postpone that bill until the prime minister can show what he is going to do to relieve real pressure on one-third of Australian households” who rent. She said after “months of being told there was nothing the government could do”, Labor had found “a bit of cash stashed down the back of the couch”, promising $2bn over the weekend.
Dan Farrell, Labor’s deputy Senate leader, in the chamber labelled the Greens and the Coalition the “axis of evil”.
Only a Labour politician would be silly enough to imply that those who care about the third of aussies who pay rent are evil. The foot fits in the mouth more easily due to the lack of brain creating more room at the back in there.
The Greens leader, Adam Bandt:
It’s wall-to-wall Labor across the mainland, so rent rises are their responsibility.”
In question time, Albanese labelled the Greens and Coalition an “unholy alliance” and argued that a rent freeze would “destroy supply”.
He means landlords would refrain from putting tenants in their houses. Has that ever happened?? If he was clever, he would cite the NZ Labour innovative use of legal doctrine, and point out that since he'd predicted that happening, it had immediately happened. Oz parliament would exhibit universal stunned mullet syndrome.
Oz online media would then be likely to credit the PM with brilliant legal manoeuvering, with no mention of the kiwi antecedent, because they always steal from us.
It has been a priority for them to embed in our political culture as capable practitioners of democratic process and having ministerial roles is the best way to exhibit competence. Having been part of the Green movement since 1968, I watched Green values being rubbished by the establishment thro the '70s & '80s.
Now Green values are established, both on the left and on the right. Even business leaders now embrace them. Focus has switched to how they are best implemented in social & political processes. Greens in parliament are more effectively part of that trend while they have leverage.
That said, I don't disagree with how you feel – in fact I'd prefer them to mix critical stances in a lot more than they have done so far…
From the USA to Israel and now New Zealand there are politicians concerned about the influence of the courts.
In the USA the GOP organised a long term campaign – involving the blocking of the appointment of Garland in 2016 to win control of the Supreme Court. The object of which appears to be to allow a conservative group control over social policy (unwind civil liberties at the federal level and allow social conservative states their own legislative agency) and in return receive control over state electoral law (a form of return of Jim Crow).
In Israel an alliance (the most right wing government in the nations history) seeks control of appointments to their Supreme Court and to assert parliamentary dominance over ultimate decision-making – to over-ride human rights constraint on government power by their Supreme Court.
Here we have David Seymour
If ACT has its way following next year’s election, the party would pass a law defining the principles of the Treaty during the next term of Parliament.
He wants his party to decide the meaning of the TOW. Part of doing this is insisting on a referendum as a price for coalition with National. The purpose of which is to demonstrate the principle of popular majority authority over the Treaty and the courts, including the WT.
In this he follows after Don Brash – 2005 leader of National and then ACT. Principally known for his kiwi or iwi campaign and then his association with One New Zealand.
No mention of iwi property rights and chieftainship in article 2 – the role of WT in redress and how in lieu of claim to property now in public estate might come co-governance of that. Nor any mention of UNDRIP which National signed us up to. Nor of the role of Maori partners in delivery of services to Maori (when whanau ora was set up when National was in government and ACT was a support partner).
David Seymour also wants to end the Human Rights Commission.
This speaks of a deliberate play on the right for what might be termed the racist nationalist vote against some other, not of their nation – secular liberals, non Jews and Maori.
Economists, by and large, are not in the knowledge game, but, are, rather, ideological warriors who seek to advance the interests of the capitalist class, knowing they can glean well-paid consultancies from that class for services rendered.
Unsurprisingly the deputy of ACT realised her calling when studying economics – I remember saying to a student who asked the Professor about why there was no study of alternatives to the market system till the third year – no one spends three years learning something only to question its value (it's a form of cult grooming where one gets paid for it in employment).
Rabid socialists attack banks? Luke Malpass, on Labour cynicism:
These market studies, a big Labour thing, use the technocratic power of the state and the supposedly impressive investigatory powers of the Commerce Commission to root out cases of non-competition or lacking competition.
Banking sector dude the other day declared there were 16 players in our banking market, so why Labour felt the need to provide a gravy train for lawyers & consultants to – determine if 16 players in a market is non-competitive – ain't all that clear really. All Blacks use 15 players – they seem rather competitive. Usually.
Still, if the gravy train determines that the 16 are operating as a cartel, I'll tip my non-hat to the PM's initiative on the issue. It would be serious evidence that the few rabid socialists left alive are not alone.
Luke Malpass shows his true colours yet again. According to Chloe and the Greens a 10% excess profit tax on the banks would raise $500m. Sounds like a good reason to investigate the banks to me.
“The bottom line remains: the big banks are fleecing New Zealanders and should be taxed to help pay for the cyclone clean up. The only thing standing in the way is political willpower,” says Chlöe Swarbrick.
Can't fault your logic at all, but I get why he sees Labour's deferral of the issue until the pre-campaign onset as cynical. It is! Still, it's an opportunity.
Since nobody in my lifetime has provided evidence that any Labourer is a member of Labour, could be Labour members have realised they have an authenticity problem and are preparing to resign en masse to join The Opportunities Party. That would be cool: leftists & centrists in neolib harmony…
I am not quite sure why people are still handwringing over Labour's lack of movement on banks-supermarkets-fuel industry….Labour have made no secret that their economic ideology is laissez faire Free Market Capitalism…I mean seriously, just like National and ACT they are serious free market fundamentalists, end of story.
If citizens want a political party that would actually rein in those industries..then they better start start looking somewhere else cos it is obvious that Labour ain't never doing it….and unfortunately when push comes to shove The Greens have proved that under it's present leadership, they have the backbone of a jellyfish…which leaves us in rather a pickle really.
But we all know that some of the excess profit was due to the reserve bank lifting interest rates to transfer economic spending in the market to paying increased money to the banks through higher interest rates i.e. it was deliberately engineered government policy.
What were they expecting to happen to bank incomes and profits when they engineered it thus.
Yes, especially after Meng Foon having to resign over a conflict of interest. I just don't think there was any option other than for Wood to resign.
Obviously on a different side of the political fence to me. But, it is a bit sad to see someone's career end over such trivial and easily solveable issues in the scheme of things.
Hipkins subtly twisting the knife, after Woods had spent 931 days inserting it into himself. I'll just focus on the first part of his statement: Woods failed to explain it to his boss because he couldn't think of any plausible reason to do so.
"The New Zealand justice minister, Judith Collins, has resigned from her portfolios amid a scandal about her ties to a controversial blogger.
With only three weeks to go before the general election, her resignation may affect the chances of the prime minister, John Key, returning for a third term in office"
how hard it is to instruct your sharebroker to provide a list of all investments? That’s not meant to be a rhetorical question, so let me rephrase. Is it difficult for a sharebroker to provide a list of all investments?
We have a few shares, and they are purchased and sold online quickly and easily. Not sure how that would work with shares that were aquired before all the online stuff. But, I imagine a broker should be able to discover all that fairly easily. Back in the day it just used to involve putting in a buy or sell order to a broker.
He only owned a few equities (unless there's more) so he should just know what he had without having to ask. He was both trustee and beneficiary so to not know would be be somewhere in the spectrum of incompetent to negligent. Whatever, it doesn't show the sort of attention to detail required of a senior minister.
his trust lawyer no doubt manages it all because he's busy. That's not unreasonable. The issue is more how difficult it is for whoever is managing the shares to provide details.
He shouldn't be allowed to just resign. He should be totally expelled – including from the Labour Party. This BS makes me really angry – and I'm a lifetime Labour voter. Why should I bother?
So that is why he ended any limit on numbers on skilled migrants allowed in, he's off to become an immigration consultant (anyone skilled in compliance checks please see Labour Party HQ and the PM's department for advertised jobs).
So politicians shouldn’t own any shares at all or just ones that potentially affect their portfolio? Or is the problem the lack of declaration rather than the conflict of interest? By this rational should they be landlords? That is a massive conflict of interest that affects a third of our population in the pocket more than say a migration minister having shares in Chorus etc.
I just listened to Lisa Owen interviewing Hipkins on Checkpoint & something he said about all the rigmarole he's instituting or has already put in place made me wonder if it would be easier to just create a Minister for Conflicts of Interest.
So the other ministers could run their shareholdings by someone briefed to know what to do about them, I mean. The PM did say, in response to Lisa asking if it was defiance or just dumbness (Wood's problematic behaviour), that he'd had `several meetings with Michael about this in recent weeks but he seemed unable to explain why it had happened'.
Could be neither defiance nor idiocy, but genuine lack of compehension. Some folks just haven't got the faintest clue why they do things.
Obvious to us but appears not to be obvious to the politicians. Same as Luxon’s hypocrisy over the Tesla debacle. I’m sick of the self serving, do as I say not as I do, nature of politicians.
Having defended Wood throughout even I have to admit this is just way too careless and lazy-he had to go.
I do, however, believe Wood when he says none of these shareholdings have had any influence on his behaviour or decisions as a minister. I also doubt that he has profited in any meaningful way.
Does anyone out there know the value of the Chorus, Spark and NAB shareholdings he has just "found" in the trust?
Based on Hipkins' struggle to understand why Wood was unable to give him a reasonable explanation for his lack of oversight, I suspect Wood might be covering up for someone. It would account for the apparent procrastination in his handling of the matter.
Seems so strange for someone who has demonstrated his competency in all of his former portfolios to mess up like he has over a personal financial matter.
#UPDATE Iceland's government said Tuesday it was suspending this year's whale hunt until the end of August due to animal welfare concerns, likely bringing the controversial practice to a historic end.
Great to see others concerned with the way the new Dunedin Hospital has been mis managed all for austerity to save a few $$ and to achieve a hospital that will be inferior and not fit for purpose or what the region deserves.
"the new dunedin hospital is going from a state of the art tertiary hospital that could serve the region for generations to… a cheap imitation that will end up probably needing extensions and remediations within a generation but it’s ok because that cost isn’t incurred today?????
It could easily lose Labour the election. They have a couple of months to get out of their Wellington bubble and do something about this….a couple of hundred million extra for the hospital and a minister anouncing this in to he Octagon in Dunedin would go a long way…time is running out.
Carmel Sepuloni will become the Minister of Auckland and Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety, Andrew Little will be Immigration Minister, David Parker will cover Transport, and Kiri Allan will become the Associate Finance Minister.
Some will be disappointed, some will be angry, some will be nonchalant and some, like you, will be rubbing their sweaty little hands with glee. Sorry couldn't be bothered thinking up another emotion for your 5th question mark.
Damn shame. Wood had a glittering career ahead of him. Among the top most competent ministers – a leader in waiting.
How could he have been so stupid.
I hate to say it, but to me its a form of arrogance that seems to go with many at the top end of the political scale. Example: For all his matiness, John Key became too arrogant for his own good. To be fair though he saw his demise coming and got out.
I had hoped Mr Wood was an old school Labourite–and with his input into substantial Bus Driver pay rises and Coastal Shipping–it looked rather promising.
Michael did this to him self ultimately. Rationalising? thinking a family trust took him out of the frame? who knows…but sad none the less.
For almost 40 years now personal shareholdings in Finance Capital have been promoted as a very good thing indeed for all non ‘losers’ in society to participate in. There may well be a few slippery, more skilled at hiding the dosh Nats thinking tonight–“phew, glad it wasn’t me”.
You bet there are! There will be a rush on share-brokers tomorrow.
I'm starting to wonder if he arranged for someone to manage his shares/finances for him so he could attend fulltime to his portfolios and they bungled it. I watched the questions and answer session after Hipkin's press conference earlier today, and he made it clear "he does not understand Wood's explanation".
'Nats thinking tonight–“phew, glad it wasn’t me”.'
No there won't, the Nats are not in government.
It was not the fact Micheal had shares that got him in trouble it was the failure to declare them and the potential conflicts of interest whilst in Minister it's bizarre.
I know Michael and get along quite well with him despite being on the different side of the fence politically – I just don't understand how this could happen.
Here's $250K. Take me to the most hostile environment on the planet!.
Another issue of contention was the submarine’s viewport—that is, the front window out of which passengers can see the ocean. According to Lochridge’s allegations, he was repeatedly “denied” information by other members of the team about the submarine’s viewport. Eventually, Lochridge attended a meeting where he was given full information about the viewport, and it did not go well…
At the meeting Lochridge discovered why he had been denied access to the viewport information from the Engineering department—the viewport at the forward of the submersible was only built to a certified pressure of 1,300 meters, although OceanGate intended to take passengers down to depths of 4,000 meters. Lochridge learned that the viewport manufacturer would only certify to a depth of 1,300 meters due to experimental design of the viewport supplied by OceanGate, which was out of the Pressure Vessels for Human Occupancy (“PVHO”) standards. OceanGate refused to pay for the manufacturer to build a viewport that would meet the required depth of 4,000 meters.
In other words, according to the lawsuit, the Titan’s viewport really wasn’t built for the depths at which the vehicle was traveling. Indeed, the sub was in the midst of a dive to the site of the Titanic wreckage on Sunday when it disappeared—which is said to be some 13,000 feet below the surface of the ocean.
Lochridge’s lawsuit did not proceed particularly far and the former employee and the company swiftly settled.
Jeez. In this hi-tech world one expects systems to be better designed than this. Bit of a cowboy enterprise, it seems. But I hope they get rescued soon.
“You know, at some point, safety just is pure waste. I mean, if you just want to be safe, don’t get out of bed. Don’t get in your car. Don’t do anything.”
In some ways, Dr Gallo is not surprised this incident has occurred.
"Anyone in the exploration business of the deep sea expected this to happen – not at this particular time, but we knew this was going to happen at some point," he said.
"We knew darn well it would and we knew all the difficulties there would be: how do you recover from that if the sub is stuck on a shipwreck, if they lose batteries and nothing was done about it?
"There's no policies, there's no plan, there's nothing."
He continued: "It just frustrates me that now begins the scramble to try to get the right things in the right place at the right time and it's just an unnecessary step because we did know at some point that this was going to happen.
"And it happened and I think all of us in the community are stunned."
Is there something about deep sea travel that means there is little regulation?
I guess a lot of people are about to lose their jobs too, presumably the company won't survive the lawsuits.
There's five people with far more money than sense, and then there's actual badass hero Pia Klemp, who faces a 20-year prison sentence for helping to rescue more than 1,000 migrants from drowning in the Mediterranean Sea. #OceanGate#FreePia
Day after day, week after week, it feels like a labour minister or a labour appointee has been caught out in a conflict of interest they haven't declared.
Will the remaining mps quadruple check their investments and if they have a single conflict declare it immediately.
Going forward any further mps, especially cabinet ministers caught out like this should be sacked from the party all together.
National has armies of people looking over labour mps conflicts, if they don't come out and say it now they are gonna get caught out regardless.
Sad to see Wood go, unlike most of Labours cabinet he actually achieved a few social democratic wins, still there can be no tolerance for this shit.
If there's anyone else, and they STILL haven't owned up, throw them under buses and end their parliamentary careers.
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Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Asia Pacific Report A score of Palestine solidarity protesters draped themselves in white shrouds with mock blood in a sombre “die-in” demonstration at Te Komitanga Square — the heart of Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city — today as speakers urged people to take a stronger boycott against Israeli products. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Tackling violence against women will be the sole agenda item for a national cabinet meeting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has convened for Wednesday. The meeting, held remotely, follows thousands of Australians attending rallies across ...
The protest outside the White House correspondents’ dinner hotel. Image: Anatolu video screenshot APR More than two dozen Palestinian journalists had called for a boycott of the dinner, writing an open letter urging their American colleagues not to attend. “You have a unique responsibility to speak truth to power and ...
“Our exporters should, therefore, be deeply concerned that the Fast-track Approvals Bill was not assessed for consistency with any of our free trade commitments prior to being introduced to the House,” says Gary Taylor, Chief Executive of the Environmental ...
NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff is calling on all political parties to support the new Member’s Bill from Labour’s workplace relations and safety spokesperson Camilla Belich MP that would ensure negligent companies are held accountable when their employees ...
A historian with a track record of predicting US election winners tells RNZ's Sunday Morning that President Biden looks to be on track for another term, but things could still go wrong for him. ...
A historian with an uncanny track record of predicting US election winners tells RNZ's Sunday Morning that President Biden looks to be on track for another term, but things could still go very wrong for him. ...
Ngaio Marsh House is one of Christchurch’s best kept secrets – and contains more than a few mysteries of its own.Trust Ngaio Marsh to leave more than a few mysteries scattered through her house long after her departure. For a start, there’s the curious concrete portal in the garden, ...
Appointment viewing has been lost to the mists of time, but memories of Montana Sunday Theatre can still be conjured by hitting play on a particular piece of classical music. “You’re not going to be able to sell it.” Over 30 years on, Karen Bieleski still recalls how the task ...
Performance Review King Luxon sat behind His massive polished oak desk. It is Performance Review time. There is a knock on the door. “Enter!” says the King. In steps Minister of Disabilities and Carer Pedicures, Penny Simmonds. “I can explain everything …” she begins. “Fine,” says King Luxon, pressing the ...
The pair opened their first fully collaborative exhibition, Nina for Flowers, last Saturday. Gabi Lardies visited their studio to find out who Nina is and what working together was like.‘It didn’t start out like, ‘This is a show about Nina,’” says Josephine Jelicich, gripping a thermos of peppermint tea. ...
Thank you, Dr Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner, for your brilliant invention. I’m another mid-20s Kiwi who had an OE last year. I hopped on my bicycle where France meets the Atlantic and cycled east. I pedalled through the Loire Valley, down rivers lined with willows and ancient wisteria-draped chateaus. I relished ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
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Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
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The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
It's so hard, creating common ground amongst left-wingers. Each of them knows they're right, therefore the others must be wrong. Consequently their default modus operandi is arguing with each other rather than reaching accord. That seems evident in the formation of the axis of evil in Oz currently:
Only a Labour politician would be silly enough to imply that those who care about the third of aussies who pay rent are evil. The foot fits in the mouth more easily due to the lack of brain creating more room at the back in there.
The Greens leader, Adam Bandt:
The PM trotted out the standard neolib line:
He means landlords would refrain from putting tenants in their houses. Has that ever happened?? If he was clever, he would cite the NZ Labour innovative use of legal doctrine, and point out that since he'd predicted that happening, it had immediately happened. Oz parliament would exhibit universal stunned mullet syndrome.
Oz online media would then be likely to credit the PM with brilliant legal manoeuvering, with no mention of the kiwi antecedent, because they always steal from us.
If the greens could achieve more green gains by sitting on the cross benches..I would have no problem with that..
In fact would encourage it..
It has been a priority for them to embed in our political culture as capable practitioners of democratic process and having ministerial roles is the best way to exhibit competence. Having been part of the Green movement since 1968, I watched Green values being rubbished by the establishment thro the '70s & '80s.
Now Green values are established, both on the left and on the right. Even business leaders now embrace them. Focus has switched to how they are best implemented in social & political processes. Greens in parliament are more effectively part of that trend while they have leverage.
That said, I don't disagree with how you feel – in fact I'd prefer them to mix critical stances in a lot more than they have done so far…
From the USA to Israel and now New Zealand there are politicians concerned about the influence of the courts.
In the USA the GOP organised a long term campaign – involving the blocking of the appointment of Garland in 2016 to win control of the Supreme Court. The object of which appears to be to allow a conservative group control over social policy (unwind civil liberties at the federal level and allow social conservative states their own legislative agency) and in return receive control over state electoral law (a form of return of Jim Crow).
In Israel an alliance (the most right wing government in the nations history) seeks control of appointments to their Supreme Court and to assert parliamentary dominance over ultimate decision-making – to over-ride human rights constraint on government power by their Supreme Court.
Here we have David Seymour
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/03/24/act-party-wants-referendum-on-co-governance-with-maori/
He wants his party to decide the meaning of the TOW. Part of doing this is insisting on a referendum as a price for coalition with National. The purpose of which is to demonstrate the principle of popular majority authority over the Treaty and the courts, including the WT.
In this he follows after Don Brash – 2005 leader of National and then ACT. Principally known for his kiwi or iwi campaign and then his association with One New Zealand.
The intellect of Don Brash on display.
https://www.bassettbrashandhide.com/post/don-brash-new-zealand-is-reaching-a-crisis-point
No mention of iwi property rights and chieftainship in article 2 – the role of WT in redress and how in lieu of claim to property now in public estate might come co-governance of that. Nor any mention of UNDRIP which National signed us up to. Nor of the role of Maori partners in delivery of services to Maori (when whanau ora was set up when National was in government and ACT was a support partner).
David Seymour also wants to end the Human Rights Commission.
This speaks of a deliberate play on the right for what might be termed the racist nationalist vote against some other, not of their nation – secular liberals, non Jews and Maori.
On the actual and fictional issues relating to retirement and pensions.
Demographic retirement shifts
Unsurprisingly the deputy of ACT realised her calling when studying economics – I remember saying to a student who asked the Professor about why there was no study of alternatives to the market system till the third year – no one spends three years learning something only to question its value (it's a form of cult grooming where one gets paid for it in employment).
I commented yesterday on van Velden's maiden speech in Parliament, where she said studying economics at Auckland Uni turned her ACT-ward.
Rabid socialists attack banks? Luke Malpass, on Labour cynicism:
Banking sector dude the other day declared there were 16 players in our banking market, so why Labour felt the need to provide a gravy train for lawyers & consultants to – determine if 16 players in a market is non-competitive – ain't all that clear really. All Blacks use 15 players – they seem rather competitive. Usually.
Still, if the gravy train determines that the 16 are operating as a cartel, I'll tip my non-hat to the PM's initiative on the issue. It would be serious evidence that the few rabid socialists left alive are not alone.
Luke Malpass shows his true colours yet again. According to Chloe and the Greens a 10% excess profit tax on the banks would raise $500m. Sounds like a good reason to investigate the banks to me.
https://www.greens.org.nz/when_even_the_nats_agree_bank_profits_are_out_of_control_it_s_time_for_an_excess_profits_tax
“The bottom line remains: the big banks are fleecing New Zealanders and should be taxed to help pay for the cyclone clean up. The only thing standing in the way is political willpower,” says Chlöe Swarbrick.
Can't fault your logic at all, but I get why he sees Labour's deferral of the issue until the pre-campaign onset as cynical. It is! Still, it's an opportunity.
Since nobody in my lifetime has provided evidence that any Labourer is a member of Labour, could be Labour members have realised they have an authenticity problem and are preparing to resign en masse to join The Opportunities Party. That would be cool: leftists & centrists in neolib harmony…
TOP could waste 4.9% of the Left's votes, putting Luxon in power.
Defect at your peril.
I think Dennis was being pointed. TOP are the new neolib black.
I am not quite sure why people are still handwringing over Labour's lack of movement on banks-supermarkets-fuel industry….Labour have made no secret that their economic ideology is laissez faire Free Market Capitalism…I mean seriously, just like National and ACT they are serious free market fundamentalists, end of story.
If citizens want a political party that would actually rein in those industries..then they better start start looking somewhere else cos it is obvious that Labour ain't never doing it….and unfortunately when push comes to shove The Greens have proved that under it's present leadership, they have the backbone of a jellyfish…which leaves us in rather a pickle really.
But we all know that some of the excess profit was due to the reserve bank lifting interest rates to transfer economic spending in the market to paying increased money to the banks through higher interest rates i.e. it was deliberately engineered government policy.
What were they expecting to happen to bank incomes and profits when they engineered it thus.
Shit. Wood has gone after it was revealed that there were more undeclared shares. I didn't see that coming.
Very sloppy from Wood.
Similar downfall to Nash. The initial issue was just the tip and once it was drilled into there was multiple failings of the cabinet manuel.
Chippy had no choice really.
Its very frustrating as they were two of the better ministers in this government.
Yes, especially after Meng Foon having to resign over a conflict of interest. I just don't think there was any option other than for Wood to resign.
Obviously on a different side of the political fence to me. But, it is a bit sad to see someone's career end over such trivial and easily solveable issues in the scheme of things.
Character is destiny. Centuries of continuously recycling this ancient saying – tending always to accompany evidence that it's true.
Hipkins subtly twisting the knife, after Woods had spent 931 days inserting it into himself. I'll just focus on the first part of his statement: Woods failed to explain it to his boss because he couldn't think of any plausible reason to do so.
Michael Wood is still an mp. It is a bit premature to claim that his political career is over.
In 2012, Nick Smith was forced to resign for errors of judgement. He was returned to the cabinet in 2013.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/6608670/Nick-Smith-resigns-ministerial-portfolios
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/126157/smith-returns-to-cabinet-in-reshuffle
"The New Zealand justice minister, Judith Collins, has resigned from her portfolios amid a scandal about her ties to a controversial blogger.
With only three weeks to go before the general election, her resignation may affect the chances of the prime minister, John Key, returning for a third term in office"
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/30/judith-collins-resigns-as-nz-justice-minister-over-ties-to-blogger
Feeley: Collins clearance 'inevitable'
"the Chisholm inquiry's terms of reference were very narrow"
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/feeley-collins-clearance-inevitable/H6OGQ4JV2IRQLBCDPHJQMIBI64/
In 2015 Judith Collins was returned to the cabinet and despite a heavy loss as National party leader in 2020, she remains in parliament.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/john-key-cabinet-reshuffle-judith-collins-to-return-as-corrections-and-police-minister/J42HLBSI4DD6LZPDRCO53FR7DQ/
@ j simpson..
Nash was a 'better' minister..?
Would love to see any evidence of that..
how hard it is to instruct your sharebroker to provide a list of all investments? That’s not meant to be a rhetorical question, so let me rephrase. Is it difficult for a sharebroker to provide a list of all investments?
John Key got around the issue by having a blind trust – even though he gave away wine from the winery he didn't know he owned
Maybe all MP's should have blind trusts.
I think blind trusts would simplify things quite a lot, because, I imagine an MP would only need to disclose the fact that the trust existed.
If the trust is completely unaccessable to the MP, then they have no way of knowing what assets are in the trust at any particular time.
Did you miss DoS's point?
John Key's interest was in a winery he should not have known he owned, yet he became well-known for giving away bottles from that winery.
If the blind trust system is that unreliable, it should be abolished.
We have a few shares, and they are purchased and sold online quickly and easily. Not sure how that would work with shares that were aquired before all the online stuff. But, I imagine a broker should be able to discover all that fairly easily. Back in the day it just used to involve putting in a buy or sell order to a broker.
He only owned a few equities (unless there's more) so he should just know what he had without having to ask. He was both trustee and beneficiary so to not know would be be somewhere in the spectrum of incompetent to negligent. Whatever, it doesn't show the sort of attention to detail required of a senior minister.
his trust lawyer no doubt manages it all because he's busy. That's not unreasonable. The issue is more how difficult it is for whoever is managing the shares to provide details.
In whatever case Wood will have been aware the trust existed. So, there isn't really much of a defence.
I'm not interested in defending him, I'm interested in informed debate.
LOL. Yes you did!
I probably thought he should resign. But, I thought it had died a natural death. I didn't expect more shares to show up.
He shouldn't be allowed to just resign. He should be totally expelled – including from the Labour Party. This BS makes me really angry – and I'm a lifetime Labour voter. Why should I bother?
Who on earth is this comment directed at?
The Reply button is there for a reason…
So that is why he ended any limit on numbers on skilled migrants allowed in, he's off to become an immigration consultant (anyone skilled in compliance checks please see Labour Party HQ and the PM's department for advertised jobs).
Seems obvious, eh? Worked well for Aussie Malcom 30 or more years back. Last one out of the Labour cabinet turn off the light…
Seymour: “I guess he could have a pretty good future as a stockbroker.” But then he’d forget where all the shares were stashed.
So politicians shouldn’t own any shares at all or just ones that potentially affect their portfolio? Or is the problem the lack of declaration rather than the conflict of interest? By this rational should they be landlords? That is a massive conflict of interest that affects a third of our population in the pocket more than say a migration minister having shares in Chorus etc.
They should declare it all both as an MP and as a Minister whether it is in their portfolio or not. Obviously.
I just listened to Lisa Owen interviewing Hipkins on Checkpoint & something he said about all the rigmarole he's instituting or has already put in place made me wonder if it would be easier to just create a Minister for Conflicts of Interest.
So the other ministers could run their shareholdings by someone briefed to know what to do about them, I mean. The PM did say, in response to Lisa asking if it was defiance or just dumbness (Wood's problematic behaviour), that he'd had `several meetings with Michael about this in recent weeks but he seemed unable to explain why it had happened'.
Could be neither defiance nor idiocy, but genuine lack of compehension. Some folks just haven't got the faintest clue why they do things.
Obvious to us but appears not to be obvious to the politicians. Same as Luxon’s hypocrisy over the Tesla debacle. I’m sick of the self serving, do as I say not as I do, nature of politicians.
Having defended Wood throughout even I have to admit this is just way too careless and lazy-he had to go.
I do, however, believe Wood when he says none of these shareholdings have had any influence on his behaviour or decisions as a minister. I also doubt that he has profited in any meaningful way.
Does anyone out there know the value of the Chorus, Spark and NAB shareholdings he has just "found" in the trust?
Based on Hipkins' struggle to understand why Wood was unable to give him a reasonable explanation for his lack of oversight, I suspect Wood might be covering up for someone. It would account for the apparent procrastination in his handling of the matter.
Seems so strange for someone who has demonstrated his competency in all of his former portfolios to mess up like he has over a personal financial matter.
Agreed Anne-it is all a little weird.
Finally.
AFP
#UPDATE Iceland's government said Tuesday it was suspending this year's whale hunt until the end of August due to animal welfare concerns, likely bringing the controversial practice to a historic end.
https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1671152168907288576
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/iceland-suspends-whale-hunt-animal-134954135.html
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/04/iceland-to-end-whaling-in-2024-demand-dwindles
Great to see others concerned with the way the new Dunedin Hospital has been mis managed all for austerity to save a few $$ and to achieve a hospital that will be inferior and not fit for purpose or what the region deserves.
"the new dunedin hospital is going from a state of the art tertiary hospital that could serve the region for generations to… a cheap imitation that will end up probably needing extensions and remediations within a generation but it’s ok because that cost isn’t incurred today?????
https://twitter.com/MorganGodfery/status/1669842291643801602?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1669842291643801602%7Ctwgr%5E0174bbb027af0be1cac9504f4348da17daba5087%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.kiwiblog.co.nz%2F
that's incredibly depressing.
'Scuse the scratched record, but this story brings my two hobby horses together.
Labour's squandering the opportunity of generational reform and neo-libs gotta neo-lib.
It could easily lose Labour the election. They have a couple of months to get out of their Wellington bubble and do something about this….a couple of hundred million extra for the hospital and a minister anouncing this in to he Octagon in Dunedin would go a long way…time is running out.
The PM has already re-arranged his deckchairs:
Too close to the election now to do anything else.
How will the good people of Mount Roskill feel about todays turn of events?????
Some will be disappointed, some will be angry, some will be nonchalant and some, like you, will be rubbing their sweaty little hands with glee. Sorry couldn't be bothered thinking up another emotion for your 5th question mark.
Damn shame. Wood had a glittering career ahead of him. Among the top most competent ministers – a leader in waiting.
How could he have been so stupid.
I hate to say it, but to me its a form of arrogance that seems to go with many at the top end of the political scale. Example: For all his matiness, John Key became too arrogant for his own good. To be fair though he saw his demise coming and got out.
I had hoped Mr Wood was an old school Labourite–and with his input into substantial Bus Driver pay rises and Coastal Shipping–it looked rather promising.
Michael did this to him self ultimately. Rationalising? thinking a family trust took him out of the frame? who knows…but sad none the less.
For almost 40 years now personal shareholdings in Finance Capital have been promoted as a very good thing indeed for all non ‘losers’ in society to participate in. There may well be a few slippery, more skilled at hiding the dosh Nats thinking tonight–“phew, glad it wasn’t me”.
Nats thinking tonight–“phew, glad it wasn’t me”.
You bet there are! There will be a rush on share-brokers tomorrow.
I'm starting to wonder if he arranged for someone to manage his shares/finances for him so he could attend fulltime to his portfolios and they bungled it. I watched the questions and answer session after Hipkin's press conference earlier today, and he made it clear "he does not understand Wood's explanation".
'Nats thinking tonight–“phew, glad it wasn’t me”.'
No there won't, the Nats are not in government.
It was not the fact Micheal had shares that got him in trouble it was the failure to declare them and the potential conflicts of interest whilst in Minister it's bizarre.
I know Michael and get along quite well with him despite being on the different side of the fence politically – I just don't understand how this could happen.
hooboy
https://twitter.com/Pogue/status/1670821849863802880
Here's $250K. Take me to the most hostile environment on the planet!.
Another issue of contention was the submarine’s viewport—that is, the front window out of which passengers can see the ocean. According to Lochridge’s allegations, he was repeatedly “denied” information by other members of the team about the submarine’s viewport. Eventually, Lochridge attended a meeting where he was given full information about the viewport, and it did not go well…
In other words, according to the lawsuit, the Titan’s viewport really wasn’t built for the depths at which the vehicle was traveling. Indeed, the sub was in the midst of a dive to the site of the Titanic wreckage on Sunday when it disappeared—which is said to be some 13,000 feet below the surface of the ocean.
Lochridge’s lawsuit did not proceed particularly far and the former employee and the company swiftly settled.
https://news.yahoo.com/company-behind-missing-tourist-sub-053000248.html
Jeez. In this hi-tech world one expects systems to be better designed than this. Bit of a cowboy enterprise, it seems. But I hope they get rescued soon.
I don't think they'll be rescued.
“You know, at some point, safety just is pure waste. I mean, if you just want to be safe, don’t get out of bed. Don’t get in your car. Don’t do anything.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/stockton-rush-titanic-submarine-oceangate-ceo-b2360988.html
edit:
https://news.sky.com/story/titanic-submersible-missing-craft-may-have-imploded-and-shattered-into-pieces-expert-says-12906486
the Sky link,
Is there something about deep sea travel that means there is little regulation?
I guess a lot of people are about to lose their jobs too, presumably the company won't survive the lawsuits.
Regulate rich people? Nah.
Meanwhile, perspective.
Emily Schooley
@EmilySchooley
There's five people with far more money than sense, and then there's actual badass hero Pia Klemp, who faces a 20-year prison sentence for helping to rescue more than 1,000 migrants from drowning in the Mediterranean Sea. #OceanGate #FreePia
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/node/71822
https://twitter.com/EmilySchooley/status/1671403745106599938
A disaster waiting to happen.
@FridaGhitis
This short clip will help you understand why the Titanic mini sub is missing and why this was an accident waiting to happen.
https://twitter.com/FridaGhitis/status/1671120043126423553
Good grief.
Day after day, week after week, it feels like a labour minister or a labour appointee has been caught out in a conflict of interest they haven't declared.
Will the remaining mps quadruple check their investments and if they have a single conflict declare it immediately.
Going forward any further mps, especially cabinet ministers caught out like this should be sacked from the party all together.
National has armies of people looking over labour mps conflicts, if they don't come out and say it now they are gonna get caught out regardless.
Sad to see Wood go, unlike most of Labours cabinet he actually achieved a few social democratic wins, still there can be no tolerance for this shit.
If there's anyone else, and they STILL haven't owned up, throw them under buses and end their parliamentary careers.