National had used the Treasury's budget update to calculate that the party would "save" $19.1 billion by scrapping contributions to the NZ Super Fund. But, National should have been using the Pre-Election Economic and Fiscal Update (Prefu) – which showed that the "saving" would have been $15 billion over 10 years.
Irritating, he said. Like accidentally wearing his underpants outside his suit when he showed up at work, rather than on the inside. Such small irritations can happen to anyone anytime. If he'd done that instead of using the wrong facts to do his numbers, Judith would have also said it was
"a little error," "entirely inconsequential" and something "not many people are worried about".
But it would have given the Nat launch more pizzazz, eh? Fashion reporters would have been able to grab timeslots on the tv news to praise his innovative style.
As it was, Goldsmith fronted the tv cameras like an angry dormouse, whiskers intensely quivering, gimlet eyes staring down the slavering pack of journos: "You'll never get me! Scum!"
What a bugger though, when you're born to rule. Technical glitches in cerebral process. He could've done a Trump: "No, no, never happened. Fake news." "Look over there!" Well, over there is Michael Reddell:
the way that all societies look to be materially poorer than they would have thought just a few months ago, it is difficult to be very optimistic about the likely pace of sustained economic rebounds anywhere. https://croakingcassandra.com/
So Goldsmith can toke away on his growth spliff until he goes cross-eyed, but his promises will be as ephemeral as the smoke haze…
I thought about doing so. I just felt a different perspective on a new day was appropriate. Coming here as a radical centrist (albeit somewhat of a leftist fellow-traveller) I tend to find the sectarian polemic bandwagon-jumping effect more than just a little moronic, so felt the other had a `been there, done that' feel to it – plus being a little like a polluted stream.
If that doesn't make sense to you, it'll be due to a mix of innate sensitivity and too many nuances on my part, so I don't blame you!
My natural tendency is to find the right more worthy of criticism most of the time but I can't exhibit that here due to too many others doing it. So this morning seemed a good opportunity to take a fresh look at the situation. I found the Nat positioning on it deserving of severe criticism due to being both inept and an insult to the public, so I wrote on their behalf.
Thanks for explanation DF. I like your approach which brings another perspective. It fits with my recurring thought that everything we have been doing in the past has been only partly successful or a complete failure. Old cold potatoes on the gravy train is not a viable dish now.
On a day when the party was meant to be revving up the troops at its Covid-disrupted campaign launch, Goldsmith was instead explaining how he and his team had overlooked a $4 billion gap in the calculations for its fiscal plan.
There will be high-profile tests of the party’s popularity this week, with at least one television network expected to release a poll and the first leaders’ debate between Ardern and Collins taking place on Tuesday evening, via TVNZ.
The idea that there is any achievement in a lower debt level if it is realised by less money in the NZSF is absurd. A smaller NZSF means greater fiscal pressure on future government budgets.
As one would expect the actual stakes in this contentious political issue are extremely low. Ultimately we are just asking where in the govt budget pension expenditure will come from.
Labour argue more for, fund it now, launder it through the govt investment side for a bit (so it doesn't look as much like govt funding when spent), we have a huge budget deficit going already which the public are not challenging. National argue instead for fund it from the budget at the time and lower the deficit now and probably to try to get to surplus sooner.
But govts ability to fund pensions rests only on the countries ability to produce sufficient physical goods for pensioners (without them contributing to production themselves). The govt can always pay sufficient income to purchase those goods one way or another at that point.
The govt doesn't face a financial constraint, it faces an inflation constraint. The inflation constraint means the govt should balance its spending (and taxation) with the total economic activity level to avoid instigating more activity than there is capacity to undertake (as doing so may be inflationary). That always means balancing your govt deficit/surplus level against the present economic state regardless of its investment levels or during which time frame the expenditure was added to the govt forecast (e.g the budget). So the minutae of how this happens or even the state of the govt books is pretty much irrelevant.
As you said "Worker numbers to those on super is an important factor in its affordability." Or, there need to be enough goods to distribute.
I don't think either party is proposing OMF at this stage, not that that regime performs any differently.
As I said its a very low stakes debate point being worked over here.
I think inflation/capacity constraints are both visible and important to the public. Most recently impacting the Kiwibuild policy when it was discovered the cost of new builds (shortage of builders) would be impacted by the govts house building program (at which point they very rapidly backed off their election promises).
Well that leads to the likelihood that National in not prefunding Super is preparing the way to change super settings in the future (as soon as baby boomer numbers start to die off/as electoral demographics change).
With KiwiBuild, land was the cost issue and pitching new build housing as affordable homes for first home buyers was a rookie mistake (mismatch with available buyers – who required 20% deposits). If it was a cost of building or market supply constraint they would not have ramped up state house construction as quickly as they did to compensate.
If KiwiBuild was set up properly they would have soon got migrant workers in – as they did in Christchurch for the post earthquake rebuild.
The govt doesn't face a financial constraint, it faces an inflation constraint. The inflation constraint means the govt should balance its spending (and taxation) with the total economic activity level to avoid instigating more activity than there is capacity to undertake (as doing so may be inflationary).
Refreshing to see some actual facts, instead of the usual "government budget is like a household budget" nonsense that both Labour and National parrot.
unfortunately much of that needed isnt provided in that currency.
Which doesn't matter. The government can still purchase those things using its own currency and the people accepting the NZ$ can then buy what they want from NZ. Or they can just sell it on to those that want to buy from NZ.
Note that allowing migration places inflationary pressure on existing housing supply – both in rent cost and land values (time lag to new housing supply), but the labour supply reduces wages immediately.
And do we measure land cost in inflation statistics …
Stuff's photos of both major party leaders breaking the social distance rule reveal a bipartisan consensus. Seymour, predictably, only accused one of them. Guess which?
Stuff''s reporter sensibly refrained from claiming the rule had actually been broken by either. In postmodernia, nobody is meant to know if rules are real, so if they get broken that may just be the random perception of the random observer, not a fact.
Pretty funny boasting that you are the party that are good with numbers and can manage the economy better, and then finding you have an irritating $4bn error in your numbers!
Provincial growth is good. Pushing that is great. Helping put Northland on the map is excellent.
Being a smart arse is just being a smart arse. If, as is most likely, he and his party are stuffed after the election, will the political eulogies mention that there are a lot of country folk, who don't like smart arses? Or come across like that. In an electorate like Northland especially.
The hard yards here are won in the hearts not on the edges of logorrhoea and misplaced perceptions of the power of mellifluousness.
how does that help NZF? If they get under 5%, the Greens being in parliament or not won't have anything to do with it. Any Green vote will go to Labour. I would have thought the Greens polling above 5% would mean some shift from Labour to NZF to stop Labour going leftwards next term.
.
Probably believes it'll go down well with NZF's target audience.
As various iterations of the NZ Election Study have highlighted, the Party's current & recent voters sit at the opposite end of the Cultural-Moral spectrum from Green Party supporters … (while, at the same time, positioned reasonably close to each other on the traditional Left-Right Economic spectrum … although the 2017 Election does seem to have tilted NZF’s constituency in a somewhat Bluer direction than previously).
So critiquing the Greens & the Woke to push Culture Wars onto the campaign agenda (squeezing it in between the massive COVID-19 Elephant doing plops all over the place), & advertising their credentials as the key 'conservative' force in that battle … in the hope of winning back as many previous supporters as poss, while concurrently looking attractive to segments of National’s & Labour’s voting bases.
Dell in 2003. I bet Jon sussed that he was in the wrong room months ago. "Goddam contract blues. Okay, gotta ride this one out. Can't retreat to academia until it's all over, rover. So when surrounding by primadonnas in the land of the wrong off-white crowd, think again, huh?"
Unfortunately many people couldn't see through him or past him. He had to be put in a place where he could demonstrate all his talents to people's heart's content. Now he has had his turn in the spotlight can we replace him with someone capable of deeper thought advancing the well-thought-out practical policies in an effective manner, going forward?
Furrell is also furious that most of those found responsible for wetland destruction have received little more than a slap on the wrist. In one example in 2012, relatives of former Cabinet minister Shane Jones were caught digging for swamp kauri in an indigenous wetland on their Far North property. The regional council did stop work at the site, and the logs were left on the side of State Highway 1.
Green Party primary industries spokesperson Eugenie Sage said Mr Guy had been forced to backtrack on his earlier assertions that there were no major problems with how exports of swamp kauri were policed.
"We want the minister, Shane Jones, to answer this … does he consider it's okay for his officials to thumb their noses at a Supreme Court ruling? Because that is what they are doing," Ms Furrell said.
Both the MPI and Shane Jones have been approached for comment.
…and here, way Up North, Uncle Shane is a bit of a joke. He may have purchased support with the bucketloads of putea that has been thrown at local projects but he is going to have to work a bit harder. Spread some charm. Heh.
Two leading contenders at the moment seem to be the Green Party candidate Darlene Tana Hoff-Nielsen and newboy Billy Te Kahika.
It seems that the Green School's application for $1m from the Provincial Growth Fund ro market the school as a tourist attraction had been turned down prior to them then applying for $11.7m (grant or loan) from the Covid Recovery Fund – granted by Shaw.
Oh dear, this issue just doesn't go away. The change.org petition to reduce this latter grant now stands at over 14,100 signatures
The original application didn't meet the approval of the panel, but the second one did? Is that the news?
Pretty stale, in my view. Those who are looking for a stick with which to beat the Greens will always find one conveniently-placed nearby. Oh! Shane Jones was here!
Why is electoral debate centred around the long term level of government debt, and not on the amount of debt the government now has that is not owed to anyone at all?
Because the politicians and business people don't want the people to realise that we don't need capitalists to fund things. We can do it all on our own through our democratic administration.
The reason why they don't want us to realise that is because then it would eliminate the bludging that is the sole purpose of capitalism.
It is. It's owed to us. It's paid back to us by providing us with what ever it was the funds were issued for, e.g. State housing, thousands of acres of pine trees, excellent health care, schools, railway network etc etc
National’s troops online have resorted to outright lies about the missing $4 billion. They are claiming that Robertson has pretty much nicked it out of the Super Fund without telling anybody. This bullshit is getting peddled about by sitting MPs. They have lost the plot.
The Key Governments discontinuing of payments to the Cullen fund was financial stupidity – right in the same league as selling off 49% of SOE electricity generators -ideologically driven financial vandalism. National are economic incompetents.
that is the other side of the coin, one creates a surplus (which is essentially only tax revenue not spend on the people) and then the other wins and creates a tax cuts for those that are in the correct income group (like the ones that created the surplus 🙂 ). Then everyone screams that the bank is empty and the people will have to sell their very few belongings to pay the bills.
Rinse repeat, rinse repeat. The ones with money are good with it as they can buy up the countrys silver cutlery, and the ones without money move to a ditch nearby.
Yes Sabine my bad what I regarded as stupidity may simply simply be greed, malevolence and dishonesty – after all it is the National Party we are talking about
Judith is on Morning Report claiming that Goldsmith couldn’t understand the PREFU docs because Treasury had written them so badly. We’re entering the Twilight Zone now.
edit
How National dares to open its mouth about finance stumps me. Many will have seen this but seeing things are so fast-moving it pays to check back for ‘holes’ in the argument. This from a few days ago:
Sep,18/20 National plans to raise those brackets, so every dollar you earn up to $20k would be taxed at 10.5 percent, and $20k to $64k at 17.5 percent. The 30 percent bracket would include every dollar between $64k to $90k, and every dollar above $90k would be taxed at 33 percent.
…National says that's because it wants to target middle-income earners who may be more likely to spend-up.
(Me: What!! Middles, 'may be more likely to spend up'. Anyone with economic nous knows that the poor spend 100%+ of their income, just to meet basic costs. Pay them more and they will still need to spend it all also borrow, as their income is so far behind what is needed! Those near $20,000 are at break-even point, far from the $64,000 level, and will be returning tax to the government of about 32.50% of their meagre income in taxes of 17.5% for income and 15% GST. I have forgotten if the gummint charges GST on rent, which would reduce the GST paid by that amount. About a third from basic needs, is different than from a wealthier person's discretionary income.)
If you're on $30k a year, National's policy would put $560 in your back pocket over the 16-month period for which it's proposed. But if you're on $90k a year, you'd pocket $4026 over that same period. National's policy explains: "Middle-income earners receive the largest benefit as a proportion of their income. As a proportion of income, the largest benefit is for someone on the average income of $64,000. There are no further tax savings for incomes over $90,000."
The policy is expected to cost $4.7 billion over the 16-month period and National plans to pay for it by reducing Government debt by suspending Super Fund contributions, and axing policies like KiwiBuild and the first year of free university.
Government contributions to the Super Fund were suspended by the previous National-led Government between 2009 and 2017, but they were resumed under the current Government at a cost of $7.7 billion over five years.
Seems that Gnats have many people so confused that they don't know whether Peter or Paul are being robbed or not, and who is paying. Maybe the manner in which they intone the words 'tax cuts' arouses visions of heavenly dispensation in the heads of spiritual believers and non-beis, alike.
Unless the company refused to pay that wage subsidy out to its staff i don't see how they could make a 'windfall'.
And i would like to point out that for the last two extentions you actually have to proof that you have a loss of revenue of 40% to the year prior (not 39% or less but 40%) to even be able to apply for it.
Can you link to anything that would support your point, just for interest sake.
Law firms qualified and then repaid it back (they did not have to do that). Briscoes paid a dividend after taking a wage subsidy. An insolvency firm also claimed it – yet their business will be booming.
For some, a temporary dip, eligibility for wage subsidy, then pent up demand results in a business boom.
Here in Aotearoa, we might look to what helped us out of the Great Depression. From 1935 to 1940, Michael Joseph Savage introduced welfare, free health care and universal superannuation. The Reserve Bank was brought under government control and the money printer went brrr. Income tax was 42.9% and 57% for unearned income such as rent, interest or dividends. Savage used those funds to start construction on thousands of state homes which created more jobs and places for people to live.
She doesn't, quite, get it.
The money printer went brrr as she says and thus the taxes weren't needed for the funds.
So, why the high taxes on large incomes? A couple of reasons:
To contain inflation by keeping the money in circulation low
To keep incomes down – no point in having high incomes if most of it is just going to go to the government
To discourage bad behaviour such as speculation and rent seeking
Why don't Aucklanders put a tunnel through their underwater harbour lava field?
[Why have you changed your user name and e-mail address yet again? That’s one particularly annoying habit of yours and I’ve already permanently banned one of your other aliases. Please give me a good reason why I should not permanently ban this one too – Incognito]
Imagine bosses paying the space, the electricity, the broadband, the heating and all that is involved with working for home, for a start. Is there any legislation in the works that would actually assure that or is that the price of work that needs to be paid by the worker in order to be considered for the job?
Imagine if public transport were free to the users – we could potentially not even meet demand. Is there any legislation that would promote this, or is that too much of a hassle and besides on the rich can have free shit, the poor need to pay for it?
Imagine if in this country all areas had the same good broadband that some areas currently enjoy. Imagine, not only could you use your mobile from home rather then go out on the open street, but your kids could learn from home and you could work from home. Is there any legislation in the works that would assure that broadband will go to the very rural areas that are currently underserved?
Imagine all the shit that all the previous governments of all stripes have ignored for so long, and then just continue to imagine how our future and current government will do exactly the same.
Imagine if public transport were free to the users – we could potentially not even meet demand.
I'm pretty sure that one of the reasons why we ended up with personal cars is because it creates more jobs than public transport. A couple of hundred mechanics maintaining a fleet of buses or thousands of mechanics maintaining a fleet of personal vehicles. Then the fleet of personal vehicles also needs gas stations and their attendants and more tanker drivers and more fuel and more…
You get the idea. More consumption producing more jobs.
Looks good at the start because more jobs but is completely uneconomic.
And now, of course, everyone has their personal vehicles and doesn't want to give them up despite all the evidence that we need to.
Or just make use of the Northern Busway free for 6 weeks? Sure, you might overload it, or overload the carparks round the bus stations – but it may have some short-term ameliorating effect, as well as change some long-term habits. See how it goes – and if it works, make it permanent and gradually extend to all PT.
The constraint is number of buses available – they would need to hire extra buses and run a peak time level of frequency of service for a longer time period.
that is a different issue then the lack of resources.
As i said, we have the resources, now we just need "the Will" and that could actually come from government, you know the current lot who runs the world. And they could excuse their 'interference into local government' as one of these job creating shovel ready programs, they could provide funds to make it palatable to the former Minister of Transport and Labour MP, and above all they could make it attractive to Aucklanders who could pressure their council into going along with it.
Ahh, will – the want to change – is the only thing needed and that is what is not there, in government local and national.
Could be a tipping point looming when the population of road cones in Ak passes the population of Aucks. I'm waiting for an evangelical to point out to parishioners that this divine retribution is due to Aucks voting for left/right govts that persisted in jamming the city with immigrants and not building infrastructure to match the increase.
Could be a decent contagion effect out of that as the gnosis spreads. Too bad road cones are still unable to vote. A growing minority group, but lacking political heft. Discriminated against.
"As infrastructure increases in scale and complexity, the costs of maintenance rise to equal and exceed the available economic surplus; the period of prosperity ends in political and economic failure, and infrastructure falls into ruin as its maintenance costs are no longer paid."
'Money' is not the issue, merely a measure.
Consider the recent calls for billions to be spent on maintaining roads that have suffered from deferred maintenance for years past, the failing 3 waters, the lack of public transport etc…all these have (and are) occurred BECAUSE we as a society cannot resource the required maintenance of the existing, let alone any additional…..it may not be recognised but catabolic collapse isnt something to worry about in the future, it is all around us.
occurred BECAUSE we as a society cannot resource the required maintenance of the existing
But we could if we had a more economical model than what we use now.
I've calculated before that if we only produced enough food for ourselves we'd free up ~150,000 workers. How many workers do we need to maintain our infrastructure? I don't know but I'm pretty sure that it would be less than 150,000. We'd probably have enough people still spare afterwards that we could have more doctors and other health workers to maintain us, more telecommunications techs, more researchers, etcetera.
The problem we have is that our economic model, one that's been in use for thousands of years, is uneconomic.
No, I calculated that we could free up 150,000 people if we dropped the amount of farming down to only feeding NZ. Those 150,000 could then be put to other uses to support and develop our society.
They would use our resources to make what was needed such as using our iron to build tractors, and ships, and the machinery to build and maintain bridges etcetera.
Those extra 150,000 people in farming are a waste of resources.
And, yes, both statements can be, and are, correct.
Due to money, people have lost sight of the economy.
See, you're problem is that you've just been told that it can't be done and you're believing that despite all the evidence that we actually do have the resources and people to maintain what we build. If we didn't we wouldn't have been able to build it in the first place.
The problem is the failed economic system that says that if we grow lots of cows then we can just buy the maintenance from other countries. This results in the over allocation of people into farming and then, when we do need the maintenance, we find that we can't buy it. That we need to provide more than just money like housing etcetera and we find that we can't do it, that we can no longer afford to maintain our infrastructure.
But if we hadn't over allocated our resources and people into farming then we could, quite easily, maintain our infrastructure and much else as well.
cant 'calculate' the number huh…your problem is you have an ideology that dosnt fit the facts…we dont do those things because it is beyond our resources (uneconomic if you like)….the '150,000' farm workers' (many of whom we currently import) are not able or sufficient to create the production you attribute to them
It's not a question of me calculating it precisely – but showing how it could be done which I have.
You and the idiot Arch Druid (Really, he's on record of saying that work before industrialisation didn't leave any time for having a break) have specified that we can't.
we dont do those things because it is beyond our resources (uneconomic if you like)
That's just it – its not beyond our resources. The problem is our socio-economic system that has massively miss-allocated the resources that we do have.
the '150,000' farm workers' (many of whom we currently import) are not able or sufficient to create the production you attribute to them
Yes they are – even without the imported seasonal workers which I'm pretty sure my source didn't include – although they'll probably need to have their education ramped up. Modern production is so efficient it really doesn't use that many people:
Vehicle assembly ceased at the plant in 2002, but it continues as a major production site with capacity to assemble 1.4 million engines a year.
Following the change to only building engines it now employs around 2,000 people.
I don't think we need a million engines per year so maybe only hire 200.
When everything including creating jobs is linked to something else but until it's in your own backyard…
Interesting meters ticking over :-
Environmental impacts of Steel production.
" Steel production is one of the most energy-consuming and CO2 emitting industrial activities in the world.
The mining of iron ore ( to produce steel) is highly energy intensive and causes air pollution – and water pollution.
The making of steel from the mined iron ore is also highly energy demanding. Production of steel is the most energy-consuming and CO2 emitting industrial activity in the world. "
More of those interesting meters .. of " catabolic collapse "
" If you compare Earth's history to a calendar year then we (humans) have only have existed for about 37 minutes – and we have used 33% of Earth's entire natural resources in the last 0.2 seconds! "
79 years until rainforests are gone.
27 years until seafood runs out.
At the time of this posting over 290 million tons of hazardous waste has been discarded this year so far.
We don't mine iron ore in NZ and the power is mostly renewable meaning that Glenbrook's production of it has far less Co2 incorporated into it than that of other nations.
And, yes, the over use of resources by capitalism is thousands of years old as well.
We can do something about that to but only by getting rid of capitalism.
With a maintenance rate of 3% in a little over 23 years maintenance exceeds construction…..you can apply it at any level you like, individual or societal and in any form, monetary or time.
Its not that we produce more than we can maintain but that the rich don't want to pay to maintain it and, as their the ones in control, things don't get maintained and thus we get collapse.
Alcohol causes more harm than marijuana, not even those voting no in the drug referendum deny that.
The only argument put forward is that young people (teens) adversely impacted by its use, would still be adversely impacted by it should there be legal sales to adults (those over 20).
One such admits that the only thing wrong with legalising sales to those not harmed by use of the drug is that this normalises it when teens would still be harmed by its use.
But makes no case whatsover that normalising use by adults would have any impact on teen use.
Countered by the opening up of the data and facts to scrutiny, the injection of funds into tagged health responses to "teen use", the removal of much of the secrecy and associated dishonesty and paranoia that goes with illegality – the scales will be tipped heavily in favour of a safer, healthier society.
It is still true that most ideas to change society get a good working over in academia and policy think tanks before they surface in the mainstream media. For example, mainstream media discussion of the concept of “degrowth” is recent and introductory, even if the academic discourse and activism in this field has been intense for nearly twenty years.
Retrosuburbia provides the patterns and models that need to be replicated across our residential heartlands to achieve a scale of impact. By replacing a fair slab of the current household consumption activity (currently about 55% of GDP in Australia) with downsized and much more efficient ways to provide basic needs in the household and community non-monetary economies, society could radically reduce greenhouse gas emissions beyond the 8% reductions resulting from the pandemic.
so i had an interesting experience with the council.
Thanks to covid the inspections of lisenced food premises now is 'remote'. Which involved in taking pictures of every delivery docket, every temperature sheet, every dairy sheet, any training documents, etc , which then needed to be downloaded, named and safed and then emailed to the 'inspector', plus a set up for a zoom meeting.
The inspector was quite unhappy that i was the only one going along with it – and that the others put up a bit of a stink and wanting to wait for level 1 to have a physical inspection.
Now frankly, after having spend the better part of three days, photographing hundreds of bits of papers, downloading them, saving them, attaching them to several tens of emails, i can understand. That is a loss of time, extra work no one needs.
But i guess its the future. It all went well, no recommendations, in fact she will propose some of my Covid rules and promote these to some of the businesses that have a similar set up. She really did like my plague door. Thanks, but heck that was a lot of extra work that i could have done without.
The rapid rise in online shopping has prompted NZ Post to lease a $100 million-plus yet-to-be-built premises the size of three rugby fields in south Auckland.
The state-owned enterprise said the 3.3ha planned new building would be in addition to its planned new Wellington "super depot".
why not more local depots to serve a region rather then 'super depots' that will have to be closed down because someone comes down with covid LOL and nothing happens, like literally the last lockdown 3 in AKL let to delays of weeks in some cases if not outright 'lost', and rather create a few smaller depots that could serve the regions. IF i want to send something for a customer to Taupo via post it goes to AKL first. Cause sure it does. It is actually easier for us to just drive to taupo and deliver it ourself, at least we know it will arrive.
Local depots cost more to maintain than a large, single depot.
That said, there should be a computer algorithm being used to determine the best places to put the depots in relation to transportation routes and minimising transportation use.
Chief medical officer Sue Nightingale said it has severely reduced their ability to provide specialist assessments and follow up appointments.
"Currently all new appointment requests, and appointments for patients already in the system, have been reprioritised… to ensure those in the greatest need are seen soonest."
This process will continue for the next few weeks, and 275 appointments are likely to be affected.
Cancer survivor Tracey Stevenson was due to see an oncologist on October 2, but her appointment at Christchurch Hospital has been cancelled.
She had a stage-3 tumour removed in June.
"I had a scan a few weeks ago and the radiologist told me there was a lymph node that was of concern to him, and that I'd need to be seen a little bit sooner.
"The cancer nurse tried to get me an earlier appointment, but that wasn't able to be done."
Stevenson was told to wait until October, but last week she got a call informing her of the cancellation.
"They couldn't give me any indication of when I'd get a new appointment."
The situation is particularly frightening for her, because if her cancer comes back it will most likely kill her.
"It's very scary knowing there's potentially some cancer growing in you that's not being dealt with.
can we please increase the benefits of people, can we please provide lunches for all kids, can we please stop the bullshit?
As a nation you’re measured by how you look after your children, how you look after your elderly and how you look after your most vulnerable,” Swann said. “And if we’re not doing a good job of that, then as a nation we’re failing ourselves.”
Those hungry mouths are not going away with more than 100 schools and early childhood centres on the waiting list, said Kidscan chief executive Julie Chapman.
The organisation is making a push to raise money to feed those going hungry.
“There were plenty of families struggling before the effects of Covid-19 set in, and this has only been exacerbated with incomes being reduced and some parents losing jobs altogether,” Chapman said.
and above all can we please stop with the added insult of 'teaching the value of work' to beneficiaries who often times have jobs? Or desperatly apply for anything that comes up just to no avail, and above all
Can we please start acknowledging that the last crisis and this current crisis has hit women the hardest? It is women who loose their jobs, and it is women who get very little to next to nothing from this current kinder and gentler government. Or is that too upsetting for the dears? Because the dears in their expensive suits n shoes are failing us.
Child poverty is a complex issue that's going to take time to fix, but one thing we can do straight away is to make sure kids get at least one decent meal a day.
We have already rolled out our programme to 31 schools, delivering free and healthy lunches to 7,000 children. We’ve deliberately targeted areas that will help inform how to work differently in different contexts – from big urban primary schools to small rural area schools.
By 2021, it’ll be rolled out to 120 schools and 20,000 students.
The free school lunch programme would be extended to 200,000 children by mid-2021, as announced in the Budget in May, at a cost of $220 million.
So are we to understand that Covid cost 180.000 kids to fall into poverty, or were they simply not enough poor enough in February 2020 to be included in the budget?
Excuse me but that just feel very cynical. An election lolly on the backs of the poorest. Say it ain't so.
And what about the kids that will have to wait till mid 2021 – about a year to be precise – to be included. They will just have to tighten their belts or hope kids can and a teacher might drop some lunch.?
Considering that we had this issues for the many years under National i guess we can say thanks to a global pandemic that the kids of this country – the very wretched poor ones – finally get one feed a day that they can count on. When of course the program is rolled out in their schools. YEI Covid!
The amounts beneficiaries can earn before abatement at 70 cents in the dollar have gone up a lot. For a single person it goes from $90 to up to $160 a week and for a person with others (children) it goes up to $250 a week.
The Training Incentive Allowance is being restored. It’s set at $113 per week.
National really dropped the ball 2008-2017 (and since), keeping the amount before abatement at $80 and $120 prevented beneficiaries getting ahead through work.
And now more are on benefits, this extra income sans abatement is going to be vital.
There is still a lot to do.
1. Allowing partners to claim support for up to one year (allows people to intern or retrain).
2. Allowing those under 25 to have UI if not in FT study or FT work. This supports the gig/casual/part-timers (reduces WINZ paperwork)
3. Government support for divorced couples to maintain housing for children after a separation
4. End the repayment of grants out of benefits, taking it out of paid work income as for tertiary loans. And expand this to include re-finance of debt incurred while employed.
And how are we going to do that when the capacity to do it doesn't exist and will take time to build?
This is the major problem with people. They see a good idea and immediately think that it should be done now and think nothing of the physical apparatus that needs to be in place to achieve it. This results in things like this:
The organisation is making a push to raise money to feed those going hungry.
That's not likely to happen no matter how much money is raised because the infrastructure isn't there to do it.
Due to money, people have lost sight of the economy.
We've always been at that point. Very few seem to have asked how we could feed everyone and even fewer have tried to do so. The most notable was the 1st Labour government but it only lasted a couple of decades before the stresses began to show and then only another couple before complete collapse in the 1980s.
Over the last 72hrs I’ve been trying to write a post to be submitted to The Standard, but all I can get out of my head at what happened to me at 0200Hrs some 21yrs ago with this.
At 0200 21yrs ago, this humble working class lad from Hornby CHCH ran off back of a RAAF C130 at Dili Airport East Timor as a part of the INTERFET a Chap 7 Peacekeeping Mission. Which would turn my life upside down for ever as I wandered aimlessly around the RAAF for 18yrs before my med discharge after a horror trip back to the Sandpit.
I’m still seeking answers at why humanity & politics of both left & right could allow this to happen? Ever today most people couldn’t give a rats ass about West Papua including those on left who supported the founding father of Modern day Indonesia annexation of West Papua from the Dutch & in NZ the current state of the NZDF if had to mount similar Chap7 Mission to West Papua or the NZ Timor-Leste Veterans especially my mate’s who were in both NZ Batt1 &2 Battle Group who are still struggling today.
Both the NZ Greens and NZ Labour refuse to discuss the NZDF lessons learnt from Timor-Leste even when Ron Mark drags them into reality but they still scream about the cost at equipping & the rising, training and more importantly sustaining the NZDF for UN Peacekeeping Missions or the long term reality of CC trends and finally the ongoing effects of NZ Veterans expose to the Peacekeeping Missions or in the Gan?
i was hoping to add some pictures of before during and after of me so everyone could see the psychological & psychical changes to me from the NZ Army days through to the RAAF Ground Defence days and to my current situation post discharge.
Unfortunately it’s unlikely to happen anytime soon and probably not in my or your lifetime due the Australian- Indonesian Lombok Treaty. Also Australia is chasing a FTA with Indonesian as well. So the sods in West Papua are going to be hung out to dry if Indonesian can achieve it. Unfortunately there will be little that NZ can do either via Diplomatic or by Military means apart from waffle, fluff & BS at various international meetings or at a local.
Not surprising from those in Oz – these are the first world nation people who block East Timor access to mineral rights to resources in their economic zone.
What really gives me the shits about West Papua from my left wing POV is people like Marie who supported the Indonesia annexation of Dutch West Papua in the 60's when the founding Father of Indonesia was a socialist/communist and who also booted out the Dutch post WW2.
There is a enough evidence to suggest that the Dutch were planning to return West Papua to PNG when Australia under a Labour Government would grant PNG its independence which did happen in 75. But the Dutch hand was forced under the then POTUS JKF as a means of stopping Indonesia from coming a Communist/ Socialist Country in SEA. While at the same time forcing the Brits, Oz, NZ and the Dutch to stay out of it, needless to say against all advice from it Allies who hand a better understanding at what was happening on the ground especially during the Confrontation.
Dunno, but I do empathise, so I'll guess. Both the NZ Greens and NZ Labour refuse to discuss the NZDF lessons learnt from Timor-Leste due to having higher priorities.
PTSD? If so, does it get diagnosed by the military nowadays? I would agree to taxpayer-funded treatment – does that already happen to suffering soldiers?
Peacekeeping is trad leftist idealism. I know that because I had to operate as peacemaker in civil society somewhat when young due to fighting being the norm, then make love not war came along & got traction, but the quakers had been standing for peace amongst the mainstream long previously (until Nixon destroyed them from within), and mustn't forget Archie Baxter & the torture of conscientious objectors to war in WWI. So leftist politicos are big on peace as a basis of civilisation, but could be they are insufficiently practical re managing the consequences, eh?
The problem i have with the NZ Greens & Labour is that they still fail to recognise or understand just how close we came to an all out shooting war with the TNI and the INTERFET Mission was the biggest NZDF Deployment probably since J Force or WW2. Where the NZ Army did an over the Beach Landing at Suai since the 3rd NZ Div in the Solly's during WW2. This over the beach landing by NZBATT1 went tits up, while at the same time the RNZN Type 12 Frigate the Canterbury was actively pursuing a TNI Sub inside Timor- Leste's water near Suai. NZ was very lucky that the TNI didn't decide to make a point against NZ and sooner or later the law of military averages will come home to roost with NZ.
Because NZ's politicians are all talk, but no actions when it comes to Peacekeeping or providing the necessary capital adequately equip the NZDF to Raise, Train and Sustain a Peacekeeping Force like the one that the NZ Deployed to Timor- Leste unlike the Australian Government who heavily invested in the ADF and the Lessons Learnt by the ADF which a massive investment in Airlift, Sealift capabilities, two extra Infantry Battalion Groups and investment in the Army's Rotay Wing units including Gunship attack Helicopters since the NZG decided to disband its Maritime Strike/ Close Air Support Wing.
Mental Health of Veterans is the biggest cost to the Government be it PTSD, Moral Trauma from Peacekeeping or HADR Missions and sometimes members do not get diagnosed until they have the forces or in some cases booted out for discipline reasons. Before we even start talking about other injuries that have happen during Peacetime Training or on Operations. Most Veterans don't trust their Government to look after them because the Politicians are all talk no action and will do anything to avoid or cut cost to Veterans welfare just they do to the NZDF with equipment upgrades, cuts to Capabilities also with poor pay & conditions etc.
Yes there is a big disconnect from the left and our so-called leftest politicians IRT the theoretical side of Peacekeeping and the what actually happens on the ground. This is not entirely new either as we have seen in Bosnia, Rwanda and even as far back as the Congo in the 60's. And yet you would think by now politicians and the public of all stripes and colours would understand this by now, but us poor sods in the Military are constantly having to re-learnt lessons learnt because our stupid politicians and public refuse to fund an adequate NZDF to Raise, Train & Sustain Peacekeeping which also flows onto the Veterans health/ Welfare cost needs into the future.
Okay, I get the picture. Thanks for that description. My diagnosis: you're right, almost certainly, but what we lack is politicos with your field experience. Particularly those who, like you, can deduce general principles from particular situations. Situation won't change unless such folk enter politics, eh?
Well NZ Labour won't have me back as i'm too working class for them aka too left wing for social, economic issues and too right wing on defence issues including the use of Lethal Force to enforce the Southern Ocean and enforcing NZ EEZ IRT to overseas fishing boats conduction illegal fishing.
I probably won't last 5mins in the Greens because of the Locke Family and their fellow travellers. I should vote Green, but because of the Locke's and their Defence Policy i don't. For the record and disclosure reasons i've voted Labour & NZF in that order.
Veterans should receive adequate, fair, and appropriate support. This includes income support, and treatment and compensation for injuries, psychological and emotional health problems, and occupational diseases.
The Greens defence policy is a hell of a lot better than it used to be. Not perfect, still got too many ideologues getting the way, but a hell of a lot better and seems to be based upon actual facts and the world situation (except the bit (3.1) about not searching for submarines, I mean, really, WTF?).
But Gorlz did SFA in pushing NZ Greens Veterans policies through this term with Ronnie! Heck even Ronnie does like almost of the NZ Greens Veterans Policy. So what the F*** was Gorlz doing FFS, well she was bitching about the P3 replacement, the C130 replacement, the Dive Ship replacement. Then banging on about the future cost of the two landing ships and the future Southern Ocean Patrol Vessel without realising that Ronnie is trying to future proof the NZDF IRT to CC and CC related events including possible wars/ conflicts if plan A fails or plan B fails. All this is also on top of the NZDF current NZG madated tasks that has to fulfil atm as CC adds another layer of complexity because politicians at or levels of govenment including other issue motivated groups and sections of the public refuse to believe in the science of CC.
The Anti Sub Warfare of the NZGreens is just dumb and stupid. Considering NZ had Jap and German Subs operate in its waters during WW2, NZ economy aka its exports and imports are heavily reliant of international shipping routes aka freedom of navigation on the open seas (FONOS) for its economic wealth and finally the TNI Submarine activities during INTERFET which was under a Chap7 UN Peacekeeping Mandate.
I did say it was better, not perfect. That was not their policy going in last term which was pretty much three paragraphs on how they were going to gut the defence forces completely.
I think the Green Caucus has learned a lot about what our defence forces need but they still answer to the party membership and there's too many members who believe that we don't need a defence force at all. And, yes, it is better that caucus answers to the members but we need caucus to now inform the members as to why we need a capable defence force that we look after and then have a discussion about it.
Politics, unfortunately, takes time.
As for 3.2 and the policy against installing sub-hunting gear in our aircraft, IMO, that looks like someone's pet peeve that's been installed into the policy without anyone really understanding it as, in 2.5, the policy says this:
Ensure that Aotearoa New Zealand has sufficient maritime surveillance capabilities, including airplanes, to properly monitor the waters around New Zealand, and to assist South Pacific island states.
Which 3.2 completely contradicts. To properly monitor the seas around NZ requires the anti-submarine capability.
My apologies for my reply yesterday even after 21 odd yrs, the events of East Timor and Lenny's death 20 odd yrs ago are still raw and its like it happen only yesterday. Trying to write up a post for The Standard is bloody hard for me because i find it to keep my emotions under control which effect my ability to keep a fair and balance post.
It one of the reasons why avoid social policy issues, because of what happen to our family in the 90's under the National Government.
Anyway back to tropic, i also see the NZ Greens have drop their opposition to purpose design Amphibious Landing Ship. Obvious someone or persons have read the Coles Report into the L421 Canterbury and the issues with the 2 OPV's which are no long fit for purpose in the South Ocean.
It will be interesting to see what happens after this election as the next 3-4 major capital equipment items that need to brought are going to be:-
The New Southern Ocean Patrol Vessel a cost of anywhere from $300m-$600m
The first of the 2 Landing Ships with a docking well a cost of anywhere from $300m- $600m
New Ship borne Helicopters these won't come cheap either probably nudging the $1B plus mark
Long Range Aerial UAV's again these are not cheap either because of the intial start up costs involved like the start ups with the P8's.
You are not responsible for political decisions when on a deployment. You followed orders due to your youth and being in the defence force trying to make a difference.
It is always differcult when the desired outcome of a peace keeping mission or combat is not met. From time to time I think of the young men who fought in Vietnam because of the politicians who sent them there.
Those in the NZDF need to be looked after better than they are when on deployment and when no longer in service.
If Scud is trying to get a post together on the subject for The Standard could any of you knowledgeable people here assist if there are technical aspects needing advice? Could someone offer in case that is holding him up?
It's more to with my Mental Health as even after 21 odd yrs, the events of East Timor and Lenny's death 20 odd yrs ago are still raw and its like it happen only yesterday. Trying to write up a post for The Standard is bloody hard for me because i find it to keep my emotions under control which effect my ability to keep a fair and balance post.
I've a got of ideals for two posts, one the Next 4yrs NZMoD/ NZDF policy advice which has some interesting bits from CC, Covid19 and Hybrid warfare/ Non State Actors etc.
The other is a Book probably the best read this yr and no its not to with Defence and it also explains why i got miss diagnosed with a funky tropical vector borne diseased that i picked up in East Timor during INTERFET which wasn't probably diagnosed in late 07-08
Yes and that's how my mate got killed in action 20 odd yrs ago in East Timorhttps://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-24-07-2020/#comment-1733871 because the stupid c***s in the Labour/ Alliance Government change the NZBATT2 ROE and OFOF against the wishes of the NZDF HQ, BATT2 CO, ANZAC Brigade HQ in the Border Region, NZ's Senior Officer and UN Military HQ in Timor Leste. All Because the of stupidity and arrogance of their political ideology of what Peacekeeping should be as they believe the ROE's and OFOF was too Gung Ho for their liking.
After Lenny was KIA the NZBATT2's ROE and OFOF was changed back to the original set. Also the deep cuts to the NZDF during the 90's also played a part as well as those of us who were a part 3 Land Force Group the Sth Is would know our training budget was to cut by 80-90% in order to keep the RF in 2LFG at some sort of readiness.
Even the 8mths of training for NZBATT2 couldn't make up for the lost yrs of the 90's for both the RF units/personal or the South Is TF units/personal who deployed to ET in 2000. Alot of old hands have said it was probably the most poor trained formed body of troops leave NZ Shores since WW2 and we all point the fingers at the NZ Politicians Post Cold War aka 1991 onwards and their various travellers from either side of the political spectrum who want cuts to the NZDF.
Where there is organisational failure this needs to be addressed.
The Abuse into Care Royal Commission of Inquiry is at its most important phase.
The Limitations Act is not fit for purpose when it comes to an historical abuse case. The now adults who were then the abused children are being silenced again due to the Limitations Act time having run out for action to be taken against those who are responsible for covering up the offending.
I want to see everyone affected by trauma to be able to be processed with fit for purpose legislation. This would enable people to be processed without unnecessary delays and a verbal fight which just drains a person who is already drained.
I no longer waste my energy having anger for the thick bastards who should know better. I try to stay strong one day at a time. I have my numb days and I go for long walks.
Thank you for the sound advice Treetop, even after 21 odd yrs, the events of East Timor and Lenny's death 20 odd yrs ago are still raw and its like it happen only yesterday. Trying to write up a post for The Standard is bloody hard for me because i find it to keep my emotions under control which effect my ability to keep a fair and balance post.
I usual try and spend time outside working, but our Nth'ern Wet Season rains and the resulting humidity have come two mths early than normal (this time last yr we had 3 massive running bush fires where i was involved with one of those fires) bloody CC.
I usually head off and spend time building my 1/700 model ships in my man cave while listening to ABC Classical Radio until the my Cricket of Cricket starts on ABC Sport Grandstand which sort've keeps me grounded.
Like you from the sounds of it, we both hate the today's modern political class who will not resigned from office unless they are pushed if they did something or acted against advice of their Portfolio Advisors and later to be find in the wrong when it all goes to shit.
Have you looked into the aboriginal way of burning off to protect against bush fires? It sounds just odd enough to be the right thing to do, because it is so different to whatever the norm is. And there were people with standing buildings not affected by the fires who swear by it.
Sounds like you were between a rock and a hard place. The pollies making noises for the benefit of sensitive voters, but also placating our so-called allies; not easy, but you deserved to be readied and backed with effective resources.
That reminds me I have a copy of Peter Winter's book on NZ in Crete and what he thought about taking part in the defence of it against superior German offensive. Very critical of our Forces leaders and was too hot to publish for a while. He thought that if the general involved and leaders had been better in touch with the troops, they could have been more effective with fewer casualties. They were not well-led. So good luck with your book and recollections. The advice from people who have had trauma is that as you write, the emotion connected is felt again but then lessened, and sort of goes into the words on the page and out of your mind. So a little bit at a time, and perhaps some tears on the way, will ease the weight of the memories when you have set it all down.
I have bought some interesting books lately about past wars, and they make compelling reading. So I hope you can keep up with yours, we get more out of the ones from individuals and researchers, than the recitations in the official histories.
On the RNZ politics discussion just now Trish Sherson made the observation that Jacinda can never claim that Labour is a transformational government after its timid, safety-first policy announcements to date in the campaign.
To her credit (because she speaks from the Right) Sherson praised the Greens for a series of green and anti-poverty policies that much better fit the transformational label. She mentioned the Ocean policy just released.
Agree 100%. Well worth a listen (RNZ at 11.05 today).
"encourage a moral and ethically based set of political belief(s), policies and candidates"
Moral and ethical and (or versus) the National Party of New Zealand
You what? Get away with y', my laddy.
They need that like a hole in the head!
But all the same, I have found no reference which affirmatively states that the National Party of NZ are vehemently opposed to morals and ethics in politics, it is just that they don’t really wish to make mention of them too often.
I would think that they might be used sparingly by National, but only if and when absolutely necessary.
After all, they wouldn't wish to be seen as attempting to drastically alter their core identity.
I guest they've still got some chance of insinuating that that have a few morals and ethics to throw here and there from time to time, but they need to be very careful. Using such tools as ethics could be very dangerous for them, especially if incorrectly applied.
Like any addict, they've got to really want to change their behavior pattern so as to adopt political morality and ethics, but where would be the incentive for the National Party of New Zealand to want to change?
It gets a lot of support from many shit bags.
Hell, I'd even vote for them if I believed that it would be lucrative enough for me to make it worth my while.
This probably reflects how many of their supporters feel.
My least favourite whingers. "Our yachts need to escape French Polynesia's pretty much non existent cyclones."
Radio NZ is not really providing balanced news here. Why are they not pushing back on the one sided aspect of this? They should be asking( apart from the cyclones)
– Is someone paying this bloke?
– are only members of his club to be allowed in?
– If there is a more general exemption what is to stop masses of yachts from say Hawaii California and other states from setting sail to NZ and how on earth would we control that.
-if they are really rich or very large why do they not sail for home/put their yacht on a container ship to take it home.
Really this is starting to feel very close to fake news.
What abart the workers then. How many workers? And are you suggesting that we go on selling off bits of NZ at a cost to us all? It isn't moronic to note that there is likely to be a hole in the dyke, as we let in some comfortably off, setting a precedent for others. Letting in more and more wealthy who will cause costs to our health services and our disease control over the country, introducing arrogant, self-centred people who don't give a stuff for us apart from some public gesture to appear concerned.
Sorry but you really have the wrong end of the stick on this. The large majority of people in these yachts are ordinary middle class folk who have swapped a life onshore for one on the sea. Their boat is their home. It may look like an expensive toy to you, but in reality it's small complex machine that provides it's own shelter, transport, power, utilities for a family. But overall it's price is not dissimilar to the home they might have if they lived on land. Often cheaper.
All the communal services you take for granted by living onshore, these people provide for themselves in their own independent home. They have some good times, but there is a lot of hard work involved as well. It's a different life to the one most of us are accustomed to, but on the whole it's neither more or less privileged than most others in the developed world.
The really wealthy types on superyachts are able to pay to solve any COVID related problems so they aren't the concern here. But yachties are a very diverse community, and most only just balance their budget each year.
There has only been one documented death among the entire global sailing community I'm aware of, and that was in South Africa. By and large these people are responsible, risk averse, generally healthy people who will follow the rules wherever possible. They generally get plenty of sunshine and Vit D. After a 7 – 10 day passage on a small vessel with only 2 -8 people on board, either everyone has caught COVID or none at all. It's a trivial matter to require them to quarantine once they arrive in Opua on board for another week and undergo a couple of tests.
And while FP may not have a lot of cyclones at the moment, marine insurance policies usually require the boat to outside of the tropical zones during the season. This is a pretty big deal for most boat owners.
Someone in the Ministry is being stupidly political on this one.
FP rarely has cyclones and parts of the islands are never hit.A quick google will explain. It's a 21 day passage now which has a number of dangers as they can't island hop – because islands are closed. And would you want to develop covid en route? And we get cyclones here and in Australia sometimes too.
But my point remains – these people are in no particular danger now or in the next six months( insurance isn't really our issue or coverage could be extended by extra premiums-use that and anyone paying health insurance could make a case for coming here) so they have no need to make the passage. And the MSM can stop beating it up
And how would we control this? Only members of the club that can be joined for 50 pounds? How would we know that an influx would not come from WCNA or Hawaii or somewhere to take advantage of this – just staging through FP.
And if the issue is visa expiry in FP them maybe the problem is Boris dropping out of the EU or something else – but we should not have to make up that gap.
I have to wonder at the motivation behind your objection here. This is a relatively small group of people, who can be easily managed with a booking and quarantine system, and who have compelling reasons to get to NZ. They represent a miniscule risk on any objective scale, and they traditionally bring a steady flow of good business to the local industry.
Yet because they're perceived to be 'rich pricks' the reflexive left wing response is to fuck them over if at all possible. Pathetic.
You really have no clue on this. Sailing people all over the world have been treated appallingly by many countries during this crisis, and you seem determined to add NZ to that list of shame.
Again this is a limited group of people who represent a very low risk. The only possible motivation to keep the out of NZ at this time is based in a certain mean spirited resentment of people you perceive as rich pricks. I’m quite certain of this, there really is no other obvious explanation.
Long term weather data shows that the bottom half of FP does not get hit with cyclones. There are 5 island groups. NZ also gets hit with cyclones and hurricanes. Do you want to guarantee that will not happen here? Thought not. But hey these are weather facts readily available.
My point is the MSM should stop promoting an essentially fake narrative – that NZ is going to let people be at the mercy of killer cyclones – when statistically it may be a lot riskier for them to undertake a 21 day blue water passage and we should not encourage such irresponsibility. Imagine going down with covid en route. A severe bout on land would be close to a death sentence at sea.
Plus the articles I have read do not say it is a small group. And I see a lot of potential for this group to be increased by loophole seekers.
At this point I'll agree to differ. The facts available don't support the MSM narrative. NZ is correct to not see this as compelling reasons to take people from FP.
As to the rich pricks comment see below- that seems to exist only with you. This is about having a compelling need to come here.
when statistically it may be a lot riskier for them to undertake a 21 day blue water passage and we should not encourage such irresponsibility.
They've already done a passage of similar length to get to FP from say the Galapagos any how. It's what they're set up to do.
As for coming down with COVID enroute, that's exceedingly unlikely. They're probably as a age group more at risk from heart attacks and stroke. This is a risk they assume and manage voluntarily every time they go to sea.
And managing 'loopholers' is trivial, just implement a booking and permit system. Anyone who arrives without permission would face substantial penalties. I really don't see this as a problem; they are a bone fide group of people who are all well known to each other, anyone trying to free ride the exemption would be called out real fast.
As for your insistence that FP is some kind of hurricane free zone; I’ve checked in the past hour with a more experienced friend … he just laughed.
I'm actually not saying they are rich pricks – as Poisson says they don't have compelling safety reasons and the length of passage from FP has its own downsides. So the MSM could report that accurately which is my main beef.
But this small (?) group would have the potential to be an exploitable loophole whereby FP suddenly acquires a boatload of people coming from all over the place then on to NZ.
The rich pricks seem to be holed up in Fiji's blue lanes initiatives. But I don't doubt that if exemptions were given they would be down here in a heartbeat.
I think your thinking tends to be linear Red Logix. They are rich enough to have a boat and please themselves. I know that the wealthy can always find people with more money than themselves to compare with, so they can say we're not rich. But the broad mass of people in NZ have limited funds, and everyone at the top has to start expecting the world on a plate.
There is a shrinking of what is there to go round, and a continual expanding of old people wanting their share and a bit of others' as well. Plus the natural increase even in countries with diminishing population rates. So we all have to grow a little to match the lessening of our opportunities.
RL, genuinely don't envy any of them myself – no "stinking resentment" here.
And if you got "stinking resentment" from greywarshark's quoted comment, then your threshold of detection for "stinking resentment" is set too low, IMHO – but whatever floats your boat
I've been around here long enough to see people swearing blind they don't 'envy the rich', yet over and over it's the only rational explanation for their behaviour.
Again yachties are a very mixed bunch, and only a small handful would qualify as the 'super rich'. Most are ordinary people who have just swapped a life on land for one on water with pretty similar budgets. The cost of the boat is usually less than the cost of the house they no longer live in. It looks like an expensive toy to the lefties here, it isn't, it's their home.
But it was a way of life that was predicated on relatively easy movement between nations, and that has been understandably curtailed for a period. But hurricane season is another force of nature that doesn't wait around either and small chance or not, getting caught in one is catastrophic for them.
NZ cannot seal itself off from the world forever, the lockdowns and travel bans were temporary measures to buy us time to organise other defenses in depth. Nine months later we're much better at tracking and treating COVID now, and managing a few hundred yachties who represent a trivial risk, is well within our capacity.
As pointed out above, it's a three week passage from FP (which is well within their capacity) and this alone ensures quarantine on a small boat. And while the risk of cyclones in FP is not high, it's not damn zero either.
"I've been around here long enough to see people swearing blind they don't 'envy the rich', yet over and over it's the only rational explanation for their behaviour."
RL, hope that doesn’t include me, although if you are then it would be interesting to know what behaviour(s) gave me away
“We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are”
Regarding the yatchies, if they’re NZ citizens or permanent residents then personally I would have a problem with them making arrangements to come home, as long as they’re happy to go through managed isolation on arrival, just like everyone else.
What I'm seeing here is people looking at all the yachts in marinas and thinking 'rich pricks', and then lazily generalises this to anyone who has a boat.
For a typical sailing family on a monohull the boat will be worth around NZ$200-400k, double that for a catamaran. This is probably less than a house they might live in. Their costs are going to be in the NZ$30-80k pa range. Many work very hard in all sorts of ways to make it work. Again these are fairly middle class numbers, nothing all that startling.
What baffles me is that the left doesn't seem to know what it wants. On one had we claim to advocate for the poor and vulnerable and argue that poverty is a bad thing. Yet when people DO escape poverty and make it into the middle class, we treat them as entitled rich pricks to be sneered at and fucked over whenever possible.
Sure we can reduce inequality by making everyone equally poor, but that's a trivial solution. Anyone with a destructive bent can achieve that. I've always held that it's far more interesting to see just how prosperous and flourishing we could make everyone, and each according to their unique temperament, interests and capacity.
A month back I met a couple who had been caught at sea in the worst of the SE Asian lockdowns at the beginning of the COVID crisis. They got bounced from place to place around SE Asia with diminishing resources until they finally made it to Darwin after 73 days at sea with literally no water or food left on board. Crazy story. NZ doesn't need to be on the same shameful list of countries whose bureaucrats found it easier to say 'no' than to apply some basic common sense.
"What I'm seeing here…" – and why do you think you're seeing that?
"Yet when people DO escape poverty and make it into the middle class, we treat them as entitled rich pricks to be sneered at and fucked over whenever possible."
"Fucked over"? Maybe you've discovered 'Entitled Rich Pricks Delusion Syndrome' – come one (NZ citizen or resident), come all, poor or rich; just don't expect preferential treatment.
Must be especially tough to be “a rich prick” in a global pandemic.
There are so many bad assumptions embedded in that comment I really don't know where to begin.
Up until February this year many people lived perfectly legitimate lives based on the perfectly reasonable presumption that they could travel between countries. For the past nine months this has been disrupted and everyone understands why. Yet it comes at a real cost for the many people whose lives were arranged around that freedom of travel. People who have commitments in multiple countries are being affected in all sorts of ways, and for the most part we're just putting up with it and hoping for the best.
For example, I'm in the awkward position of needing to be in NZ to apply for NZ Super, but if I do I cannot get back to my life here in Australia. So I'm just having to forgo it for the time being. You probably think of me as some kind of middle class rich prick, but yesterday I worked 20 hours as a deckhand doing a very unglam job in a marine setting. It's what I'm doing to get through.
But the COVID restrictions are not going to be permanent and sooner or later we are going to start unwinding them in a controlled fashion. These yachties are caught in a problem not of their own making and I really can see no good reason to keep making it worse for them.
Other than 'lets just fuck them over because they're rich pricks and COVID gives us a bit of moral authority to do so'.
@ RL – already said I wouldn't have a problem (apart from the typo – that's my problem) with citizens and permanent residents returning home to NZ, subject to managed isolation/quarantine capacity constraints. They can fly, sail, canoe or swim for all I care, and I wish them all well – just go through the standard processing on entry into NZ in these unusual and uncertain times.
If they're not NZ citizens or permanent residents, then they should also go through the usual channels, no? I'm not understanding why they should be treated any differently because of their (perfectly valid) lifestyle choices. We've already had a few too many 'visitor exceptions' IMHO. I’d prefer not to make exceptions, even for ‘poors‘.
Brisbane’s (~2800 km) not much further from Fiji than Auckland (~2100 km), so that’s always an option too.
I'm not understanding why they should be treated any differently because of their (perfectly valid) lifestyle choices.
Probably because you don't understand living at sea much.
All they are asking is to be allowed to arrive in NZ as they committed to do a year ago, and undergo all the required entry procedures as necessary. It’s not hard, it’s not risky, and I still cannot see the motivation to say no.
Hm, what's the "motivation" for denying entry into NZ now? Good question. What's the Aussie government's own position on the issue?
I don’t understand living at sea at all – my personal puzzlement is likely due to being susceptible to very unpleasant bouts of sea-sickness. Still cannot understand why 'yachties' should be entitled to priority entry over other non-residents simply because of their lifestyle choices/plans. If they're currently suffering significant hardshipand/or risk (as opposed to inconvenience), then that's another matter and certainly deserves consideration on a case-by-case basis. But open slather? No way, IMHO. Still, money talks – watch this space.
People who have commitments in multiple countries are being affected in all sorts of ways, and for the most part we're just putting up with it and hoping for the best.
For example, I'm in the awkward position of needing to be in NZ to apply for NZ Super, but if I do I cannot get back to my life here in Australia. So I'm just having to forgo it for the time being.
Caring and reciprocity are words that should be in our NZ template for what we want and expect of 'citizens'. RL wants us to be caring about people who aren't citizens. We also don't expect reciprocity from them except the laws of the sea when they are at sea.
A pleasant life for them, but freedom comes with a cost. No-one has forced them out of their country have they? They aren't boat people. Let them offer enough money for a haven in Australia which is primarily interested in that, and they can have their RandR there, instead of us being told by you RL to include them in what needs to be a nation under the aegis of CandR. You have a yacht RL, have friends with that lifestyle?
Look at it from the other way, they would be one of the very few groups who would not be adversely impacted if we did let them in.
Consider the refugees who are not getting any settlement any time soon, for example.
I get the middle class people suffering hardship empathy, even Collins has it for farmers, those with jobs and rental properties.
Garner taking their side did them no good, he earlier wanted borders closed to those returning or people paying for their managed isolation – and they were fellow citizens/residents. Why the empathy for this group?
The ground has shifted. Six months ago it made sense to keep the borders as tight as possible; now we know a lot more about treating and managing this disease. We know how to run quarantine (originally a marine idea of course) effectively.
There is no special virtue in keeping the world out indefinitely, we have to start opening up in a controlled and gradual fashion.
they would be one of the very few groups who would not be adversely impacted if we did let them in.
As for this group … well as has been said over and again … the seasons are not going to wait. It’s a bad assumption on your part to think they are not being adversely affected.
@ RL – despite now knowing "a lot more about treating and managing this disease", globally the number of active Covid-19 infections (currently ~7.5 million, i.e. 1 in every 1,000) continues to rise.
I have no opinion on whether there is a "special virtue in keeping the world out indefinitely", but the idea that "we have to start opening up in a controlled and gradual fashion" is not a new one. Personally I would prefer that the global number of active Covid-19 cases was at least stable before NZ opened up, so it's too soon to open up, IMHO.
Well most yachties who arrive here from the Pacific spend a reasonable amount with the local marine industry. It's not massive overall, but it's important to those businesses that depend on it for continutity.
NZ does have an innovative and thriving marine industry, there is a good business case to help it wherever it's reasonable to do so. Ad made this point more forcefully earlier.
What I see happening here is some on the left exploiting COVID as a reason to impose their own agenda in ways that I see as mean spirited and ungenerous. There is nothing virtuous about the lockdowns and travel bans except that they bought us some time to learn how to live with this virus long term.
@ RL – the Covid-19 case fatality rate may be decreasing, but because the global number of active cases is increasing the daily tally of Covid-19 deaths remains stubbornly stable, and really quite high somewhere north of 5,000 per day (7-day moving average).
It's purely arbitrary, but I'd prefer that daily Covid-19 deaths dropped below 50% of the April 18 peak (7,063 deaths per day, 7-day moving average) before NZ made the call to ‘open up‘, and that would probably still be too soon tbh.
Well that is kind of my point, overall this pandemic is not racing out of control and I believe we are now closer to the end of it than the beginning.
And just to put this into perspective, some 150,000 people die each day from all causes in all countries.
I'm not minimising this. Six months ago we really had no idea how COVID was going to play out as a pandemic. And with so many gross fumbles and mistakes being made it looked bad. Well the good news is that collectively humanity seems to have muddled it's way through to some sort of stable place where, while COVID remains a real problem, it isn't going to sycthe through hundreds of millions of people as the initial data suggested it could.
NZ has certainly done remarkably well in keeping it bay, but now we face a new challenge in how to manage in a world where COVID is going to be endemic for some time to come. Locking the borders forever is not the solution.
they would be one of the very few groups who would not be adversely impacted if we did let them in.
As for this group … well as has been said over and again … the seasons are not going to wait. It’s a bad assumption on your part to think they are not being adversely affected.
What assumption? I said, if we let them in they would be one of the few groups in the world not adversely affected.
"I believe we are now closer to the end of it than the beginning."
Your belief is not infectious, and is a poor response to a global pandemic. IMHO we will not be "closer to the end than the beginning" of this pandemic until the global number of active cases begins to decline.
We might be close to that turn around, and then again we might not – after all, officially only ~0.4% of the global population have been infected so far, compared to an estimated one-third of the world’s population being infected by the 1918 ‘Spanish’ flu pandemic.
As to the business case for letting them in. We are balancing the economic return with the risk.
There are some yachts being allowed in now – based on the economic return. There are the 10% places in MI allocated for skilled workers.
The political problem here is possibly this is the case most like the alternative private arrangements (arrival without government organised MI) sought by some businesses (tourist lodges/universities/horticultural companies and for profit tourism Air N B etc) – they would be staying on yacht and yet associate with supply delivery onshore contact etc. There would be nationwide ports of entry and bio security issues (30 days thing) as well.
they would be staying on yacht and yet associate with supply delivery onshore contact etc.
We are talking about a very low risk outdoor settings where COVID hardly ever transmits. Ideally they would be at anchor, but even in a marina it's still easy to isolate. They've already quarantined for at least a week, if not three, and arranging for a test on a dock on arrival, then say another at six days, should be more than sufficient to ensure effective management.
Delivering a food and water without contact is trivial. A small craft take the supplies out, puts them in the yacht tender and leaves. Safer than anything done on land. You'd only have to do this once or twice per boat.
None of them would have urgent family reasons to try and break quarantine. As a group they are very accustomed to much more complex procedures around arriving and departing countries than you’d imagine. (Typically there is a stack of paperwork involved and it can take some days work to organise entry to many places.)
My judgement call is that yachties overall present a risk profile an order of magnitude lower than people arriving by plane.
officially only ~0.4% of the global population have been infected so far, compared to an estimated one-third of the world’s population being infected by the 1918 ‘Spanish’ flu pandemic.
Yes, but this is a different virus and it isn't 1918 either. Martenson has made the case that while it's a novel virus it may well be the case that large fractions of the population are either already generically immune, or partially so, to COVID. This is suggested by the interesting observation that in many countries the shape of the case rate curve is similar, despite wildly differing responses by these countries.
Absolutely it remains worthwhile to flatten the curve as much as possible, but supposing that if we did nothing it would result in an out of control spiral into hundreds of millions of deaths doesn't seem justified either. We still have some way to go to properly understand the epidemiology of this virus.
Plus of course we are now treating it far more effectively than back in April. And there is good reason to expect we will only get better at it. After all in 1918 we barely understood what virus's were, and we had no idea how they interacted with RNA and DNA.
RL, I really hope that you're proven correct in your stated belief that we are closer to the end of the Covid-19 pandemic (whatever 'the end' might look like) than the beginning, but don't share your belief.
Scientific advances nowithstanding (in 1918 scientists didn't know what DNA or RNA was), I think we're nowhere near the halfway point in the timeline of this particular pandemic.
“<We still have some way to go to properly understand the epidemiology of this virus.“
it is getting more infectious, and that will impact in the north – Sept-Feb (autumn winter indoors) as they go through flu season while trying to resume education. I do not envy them that, is it flu or coronavirus health management problem.
Remember what happened in Sept-Dec 1918 (the more vulnerable younger population being active got hid hard – this time they will be the ones spreading to those who would be hit hard)
On immunity – the bmj did a recent look at a few reports indicating there might be historic immunity in the population (not from infection with this coronavirus) and this might make a 50% effective vaccine still useful.
(2009 Swine flu – those born pre 1949 seemed to have immunity).
Scott Morrison suggested a potential bubble could work between regions that have no known outbreaks, with travellers from the South Island landing in Australia without having to be quarantined.
An extra 2000 people will be allowed to enter Australia from next Friday, which could help more Australians return home from New Zealand. Caps were made on the number of arrivals to limit the amount of people headed to quarantine facilities.
Because Oz doesn't give a f… about Kiwis deep in their hearts, it would be unwise for us to rely on them making sure that those coming here had been thoroughly screened as if they had not come from a low Covid state.
But we could try for a 1 for 1 flight from NZ with returning Australians having first option, and the same in Australia, which would include no doubt Kiwis they are chucking out – and those people would have to go into 14 day managed isolation, with the new post isolation checks now being recommended.
And tourism lobby be damned, let's have visas between our two friendly nations, the Ossies wanted visas citing the reason that so many furriners got in through the NZ back door which dates back to when we were all for better relations. I think we now have had all the advantage of that arrangement, and are past the tipping-point for change. Special visas will no doubt be given to special business people as with the Chinese; we must not be unfair and show preference in this matter.
And the tourist industry here can run down their drive-yourself business to poor tourists. And we can do what other nations do and that is ensure that people have a return ticket paid for, and a letter from the bank stating the person has sufficient funds to support themselves while in the country. We now have to reduce numbers here, to people who spend more per day, and are not so hard on the countryside and public facilities. In the 1970s there were guidebooks on managing travel on $10 a day, and amazingly this is not all in the past. There are good hints for that low budget traveller which we have to be wary of.
I suggest that we support Woofers (Willing workers on organic farms) which is a way for genuine travellers to get to know people though being low budget through also working with farmers who provide accommodation in this system.
I feel extremely sorry for people sailing from Africa trying to get to Greece. It is so hard for them, and hard for Greece too. Probably they are forced to flee after years of chaos caused by western political interference and competition to get resources there which causing friction and fighting. Those in flight drown in quite big numbers and then it is hard to live when they do get to land and a more peaceful situation. There are millions? of people on the move in the world having to run away to save their lives.
These yachties choose to be at sea, go round sampling countries and lifestyles away from their origin, avoiding a deep commitment to land for much of the year. It is their lifestyle, they don't have to live on their boats as do many poorer people. Now it suits the yachties to make demands on us citing their safety. We also have safety concerns, and must look after our own. The yacht owners should have made practical arrangements at their home ports. They seem to have made themselves virtual stateless persons which is not now convenient for them.
Get real, lad! That's not how things are done in NYC! Daddy taught him to just put the word out on the street. Those with the expertise normally call to discuss the contract. Is he too young to have seen/read The Godfather?? Does he not watch crime shows on tv?
Probably get so many takers there'd be a queue around the Trump Tower block, at which point he'd have a bright idea. Use a recruiting agency to do the interviews, and inform each contestant as they left that they may be starring in an upcoming reality tv show. Local gangs would think that ever so cool. Pros, of course, wouldn't show up in the queue, but would be pissed off at so much competition. Gang war in NYC ensuing could be a useful distraction to the media, allowing the Don a smoother campaign.
From the Nats and kiwi blog but facts never the less Why so much faith in labour is beyond me, if past is a good indicator of the future
[Why so much faith in anything that comes from PDF/KB is beyond me. If the past is a good indicator of the future then it was just a matter of time before you did something as stupid as a cross-posting of PDF’s misleading BS asserting they are “facts never the less” [sic]. I can easily spot one lie: the Government never promised to actually fund the planting of one billion trees. In addition, 258,475,000 trees have been planted as of 7 September 2020, not a measly 36,822,000 directly funded by the One Billion Trees Fund as implied by PDF and you.
As other commenters have already pointed out many of those promises are long-term goals and projects going as far as 2050, which means at least 10 election cycles away. If PDF and you think that you can predict that far out and declare failure today then you are not only disturbingly dishonest but also stupendously stupid.
I can’t say I haven’t warned you. PDF’s post has attracted 86 comments so far so you’ll be banned for 86 days for spreading lies and misleading BS – Incognito]
Even if I were to make the mistake of taking all that at face value, I would still prefer the bumbling good intentions shown there over the competent malignance which is the best that is ever on offer from the Nats. But at the moment all the Nats are offering is malignant incompetence.
F F f ffffffuck off with your facts. Most that are listed have yet to reach the year stated. Stick to that sicko blog. The fact is the Nats are a stinking sinking ship overburdened by lies and misleading narratives.
Numbers and targets like these you tend to look at the trends towards target and on any measure or political persuasion ( if your intellectually honest) they are poor No point going into denial, it is what it is not a great score card
I'd also like to point out that the new Dunedin Public Hospital has indeed had "0 bricks laid".
Firstly, I suspect it will be mostly of poured concrete and steel, rather than brick construction. It's a hospital, not a house for a little piggy.
Secondly, prior to this government the hospital project was stuck in a Wakari/Central City committee limbo. Fuckall was happening. Since the change in government, the project has:
selected the site
negotiated and completed the purchase of the required land
done geologic surveys of the property
put together the master plan for phased construction
National in government: "There is NO housing crisis".
National in opposition: "Why haven't you solved the housing crisis?".
Rinse and repeat for a range of policies from health to climate change.
Or to put it another way …
If you promise your partner that you will do 10 household chores and you do only 5, are you better or worse than the lazy slob who doesn't offer to do anything?
"Avoid failing by not trying" – National's new slogan.
The point is about labour’s performance and promises, not the Nats, they had their chance and on your count failed The above indicates labour at their bumbling best are not much scratch either They set these goals and targets not national, so not sure why they are then projected on to national, labour needs to own them
Yeah KiwiBuild – hard to bring in builders to build them via local companies when there are not enough first home buyers who can afford them. If they do not allow young couples who own flats or apartments to buy them when starting families or boomers trading down from their 1/4 acre section home to buy, this is going to fail.
A growing waiting list for state houses is not evidence people are homeless, it’s that private sector rents are going up (see above) and more people are being helped via motels. But sure, if they are not going to sort out KiwiBuild they will need to build 10,000 state houses a year, not the 3 or 4,000 they currently do.
Shane Jones could not even get the PGF money allocated and spent, so achieving a trees target was way beyond his munificence.
National promised the Dunedin hospital rebuild three elections in a row, and Labour not getting the building going until the second term is cited? I hope those in Napier are not holding their breath for either a National win or any delivery (not this decade under National).
Labour has moved the target of 100% renewable forward to 2030.
15% more in tertiary, if there was free fees first year – based on Treasury modelling? But it’s no ones fault if jobs are so much easier to come by on leaving school when Labour is in office.
Which also explains the bleating by employers about needing more migrant labour. The economy going too good for this promise to be kept is not something National should be publicising. Own goal.
Peters preferred rail not light rail. Coalitions huh.
Not achieving immediate progress towards reaching longer term goals is not as important as delivering pathways – which Labour did on emissions.
Child poverty is an interesting one, moves to improve rental quality and food in schools will make a difference, as will allowing sole parents to keep more money earned from part-time work.
Then there have been the higher higher MW – over a dolllar increases 2020 (and again 2021). expansion of the living wage and prospect of industry awards this coming term.
Impact of Government policy changes on Child Poverty
The Government introduced its Families Package in July 2018 (changes to the Accommodation Supplement came into force earlier). The 2018/19 HES was conducted over 12 months from July 2018 to June 2019 and collected annual income for the 12 months prior to the interview.
This means that the incomes of households interviewed in 2018 include some income from 2017, and only the very last households interviewed include income from the entire 2018/19 year.
As such, it will take at least one more survey before these income-related policy changes will have close to their full effect on the reported annual income of all households interviewed.
Agree some reasonable mitigating ( I would have even have accepted Twyford as an overarching Reasonable excuse ) but not exoneration for a pretty poor effort on delivery
if they are not going to sort out KiwiBuild they will need to build 10,000 state houses a year, not the 3 or 4,000 they currently do.
It's more depressing than I outlined, they're building 3000-4000 over a three year term – getting to 10,000 over a three year term may be the hoped for level …
"Yeah KiwiBuild – hard to bring in builders to build them via local companies when there are not enough first home buyers who can afford them. If they do not allow young couples who own flats or apartments to buy them when starting families or boomers trading down from their 1/4 acre section home to buy, this is going to fail."
I accept some of your other arguments, but you have to admit Kiwibuild was a bit of a downer.
Even Megan Woods has admitted 100,000 was "overly ambitious"
"Housing Minister Megan Woods said the 100,000 target was overly ambitious and had led to "contracts being signed in places where there was little first-home buyer demand"."
Basically they are still unable to admit that trying to build a lot of new homes while restricting sales to first home buyers, and while the RBG was requiring a 20% deposit, was so so wrong. Thus it will now never get going and the number of state house builds being so low will result in what it already has, waiting lists that grow and grow.
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For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Pacific Media Watch Earthwise hosts Lois and Martin Griffiths. Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths on Plains FM 96.9 community radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region. David talks about the struggle to raise awareness ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
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 Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
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So there "was a "basic error" that National's finance spokesman Paul Goldsmith quickly admitted to." https://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=12366421
Irritating, he said. Like accidentally wearing his underpants outside his suit when he showed up at work, rather than on the inside. Such small irritations can happen to anyone anytime. If he'd done that instead of using the wrong facts to do his numbers, Judith would have also said it was
But it would have given the Nat launch more pizzazz, eh? Fashion reporters would have been able to grab timeslots on the tv news to praise his innovative style.
As it was, Goldsmith fronted the tv cameras like an angry dormouse, whiskers intensely quivering, gimlet eyes staring down the slavering pack of journos: "You'll never get me! Scum!"
What a bugger though, when you're born to rule. Technical glitches in cerebral process. He could've done a Trump: "No, no, never happened. Fake news." "Look over there!" Well, over there is Michael Reddell:
So Goldsmith can toke away on his growth spliff until he goes cross-eyed, but his promises will be as ephemeral as the smoke haze…
"So Goldsmith can toke away on his growth spliff until he goes cross-eyed"
Hey no need to denigrate the mighty weed or it's users by associating it and them with the incompetent and malevolent National Party!
DF Why didn't you put this on Micky Savage's site already up, so the comments were all together? It would have assisted wide discussion I think.
I thought about doing so. I just felt a different perspective on a new day was appropriate. Coming here as a radical centrist (albeit somewhat of a leftist fellow-traveller) I tend to find the sectarian polemic bandwagon-jumping effect more than just a little moronic, so felt the other had a `been there, done that' feel to it – plus being a little like a polluted stream.
If that doesn't make sense to you, it'll be due to a mix of innate sensitivity and too many nuances on my part, so I don't blame you!
My natural tendency is to find the right more worthy of criticism most of the time but I can't exhibit that here due to too many others doing it. So this morning seemed a good opportunity to take a fresh look at the situation. I found the Nat positioning on it deserving of severe criticism due to being both inept and an insult to the public, so I wrote on their behalf.
Thanks for explanation DF. I like your approach which brings another perspective. It fits with my recurring thought that everything we have been doing in the past has been only partly successful or a complete failure. Old cold potatoes on the gravy train is not a viable dish now.
Sam Sachdeva, Newsroom's political editor, was underwhelmed: https://www.newsroom.co.nz/politics/nationals-fiscal-stumble-blunts-campaign-launch
Astonishingly, David Farrar hasn't caught up with the news! Blissfully unaware (it seems) he's not posted on Goldsmith's "irritation".
He'll be going through his 'pre-poll' phase busily outlining what he's going to say on the next announcement.
The investment of time more recently has been well spent. Ending in him not saying anything and given his followers exercise in writing 'rouge.'
The idea that there is any achievement in a lower debt level if it is realised by less money in the NZSF is absurd. A smaller NZSF means greater fiscal pressure on future government budgets.
Short-sighted greed is that party's pitch. Jam today!
As one would expect the actual stakes in this contentious political issue are extremely low. Ultimately we are just asking where in the govt budget pension expenditure will come from.
Labour argue more for, fund it now, launder it through the govt investment side for a bit (so it doesn't look as much like govt funding when spent), we have a huge budget deficit going already which the public are not challenging. National argue instead for fund it from the budget at the time and lower the deficit now and probably to try to get to surplus sooner.
But govts ability to fund pensions rests only on the countries ability to produce sufficient physical goods for pensioners (without them contributing to production themselves). The govt can always pay sufficient income to purchase those goods one way or another at that point.
Pre funding it while the numbers on super are lower has appeal.
And while doing it when in deficit is not ideal, there is value to doing so while debt is really cheap and asset values are rising.
And 85% is invested offshore with the associated benefits
The govt doesn't face a financial constraint, it faces an inflation constraint. The inflation constraint means the govt should balance its spending (and taxation) with the total economic activity level to avoid instigating more activity than there is capacity to undertake (as doing so may be inflationary). That always means balancing your govt deficit/surplus level against the present economic state regardless of its investment levels or during which time frame the expenditure was added to the govt forecast (e.g the budget). So the minutae of how this happens or even the state of the govt books is pretty much irrelevant.
Worker numbers to those on super is an important factor in its affordability.
And low cost of debt and investment return on money allocated is about realising wealth creation (net gain to all Kiwis).
For the rest, the issue is not so much inflation capacity – but whether debt should even accrue to government for printing money during a pandemic.
As you said "Worker numbers to those on super is an important factor in its affordability." Or, there need to be enough goods to distribute.
I don't think either party is proposing OMF at this stage, not that that regime performs any differently.
As I said its a very low stakes debate point being worked over here.
I think inflation/capacity constraints are both visible and important to the public. Most recently impacting the Kiwibuild policy when it was discovered the cost of new builds (shortage of builders) would be impacted by the govts house building program (at which point they very rapidly backed off their election promises).
Well that leads to the likelihood that National in not prefunding Super is preparing the way to change super settings in the future (as soon as baby boomer numbers start to die off/as electoral demographics change).
With KiwiBuild, land was the cost issue and pitching new build housing as affordable homes for first home buyers was a rookie mistake (mismatch with available buyers – who required 20% deposits). If it was a cost of building or market supply constraint they would not have ramped up state house construction as quickly as they did to compensate.
If KiwiBuild was set up properly they would have soon got migrant workers in – as they did in Christchurch for the post earthquake rebuild.
Refreshing to see some actual facts, instead of the usual "government budget is like a household budget" nonsense that both Labour and National parrot.
the government dosnt face a financial constraint 'in its issued currency.'…unfortunately much of that needed isnt provided in that currency.
Which doesn't matter. The government can still purchase those things using its own currency and the people accepting the NZ$ can then buy what they want from NZ. Or they can just sell it on to those that want to buy from NZ.
Note that allowing migration places inflationary pressure on existing housing supply – both in rent cost and land values (time lag to new housing supply), but the labour supply reduces wages immediately.
And do we measure land cost in inflation statistics …
Yes, the RBNZ and Treasury consider house prices in their analysis. This includes land costs.
Stuff's photos of both major party leaders breaking the social distance rule reveal a bipartisan consensus. Seymour, predictably, only accused one of them. Guess which?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/122824985/election-2020-david-seymour-criticises-jacinda-arderns-lack-of-social-distancing-in-selfie-while-on-the-campaign-trail
Stuff''s reporter sensibly refrained from claiming the rule had actually been broken by either. In postmodernia, nobody is meant to know if rules are real, so if they get broken that may just be the random perception of the random observer, not a fact.
And this is the Seymour that believes that we should already be at Level 1 outside of Auckland.
Pretty funny boasting that you are the party that are good with numbers and can manage the economy better, and then finding you have an irritating $4bn error in your numbers!
AND the shadow min of finance has admitted he can't read/ understand treasury docs!!!!
Jones: ""I'm going to do everything in my power to ensure the Greens do not survive," "
Charming fella.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/09/nz-election-2020-shane-jones-concedes-nz-first-can-t-rely-on-northland-seat-vows-to-kill-off-green-party.html
Provincial growth is good. Pushing that is great. Helping put Northland on the map is excellent.
Being a smart arse is just being a smart arse. If, as is most likely, he and his party are stuffed after the election, will the political eulogies mention that there are a lot of country folk, who don't like smart arses? Or come across like that. In an electorate like Northland especially.
The hard yards here are won in the hearts not on the edges of logorrhoea and misplaced perceptions of the power of mellifluousness.
how does that help NZF? If they get under 5%, the Greens being in parliament or not won't have anything to do with it. Any Green vote will go to Labour. I would have thought the Greens polling above 5% would mean some shift from Labour to NZF to stop Labour going leftwards next term.
or a shift from National to NZF to prevent the Greens from being the only option in the event Labour dont have a majority alone
Ummm….pure spite? Out-of-control envy? The just-released Green policy on oceans has stirred his cod-pot!
.
Probably believes it'll go down well with NZF's target audience.
As various iterations of the NZ Election Study have highlighted, the Party's current & recent voters sit at the opposite end of the Cultural-Moral spectrum from Green Party supporters … (while, at the same time, positioned reasonably close to each other on the traditional Left-Right Economic spectrum … although the 2017 Election does seem to have tilted NZF’s constituency in a somewhat Bluer direction than previously).
So critiquing the Greens & the Woke to push Culture Wars onto the campaign agenda (squeezing it in between the massive COVID-19 Elephant doing plops all over the place), & advertising their credentials as the key 'conservative' force in that battle … in the hope of winning back as many previous supporters as poss, while concurrently looking attractive to segments of National’s & Labour’s voting bases.
.
Least ways, that's how I sees it, says I.
Logorrhea? 'a tendency to extreme loquacity.' Shane J won't understand that, probably would think it about his forestry policy.
It also is reminiscent of diarrhoea. It certainly is an apt and protean word!
Shane thinks he is, Winston thinks he is, but Jon Johansen knows he is. Try to never be the smartest person in the room. And, if you are, I suggest you invite smarter people… or find a different room. https://michaelsseaver.com/leadership/its-okay-to-be-the-smartest-person-in-the-room/
Dell in 2003. I bet Jon sussed that he was in the wrong room months ago. "Goddam contract blues. Okay, gotta ride this one out. Can't retreat to academia until it's all over, rover. So when surrounding by primadonnas in the land of the wrong off-white crowd, think again, huh?"
What SurpyDurpy Tally Doesn't want, the Pompous Prince of the Provinces doesn't want.
He's a petty, incompetent creature. Whanau must be embarrassed at how he has turned out after all that investment in him.
Unfortunately many people couldn't see through him or past him. He had to be put in a place where he could demonstrate all his talents to people's heart's content. Now he has had his turn in the spotlight can we replace him with someone capable of deeper thought advancing the well-thought-out practical policies in an effective manner, going forward?
A charming fellow who has an axe, so to speak, to grind over those pesky conservationist types.
There's history….
https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/swamp-kauri/
Furrell is also furious that most of those found responsible for wetland destruction have received little more than a slap on the wrist. In one example in 2012, relatives of former Cabinet minister Shane Jones were caught digging for swamp kauri in an indigenous wetland on their Far North property. The regional council did stop work at the site, and the logs were left on the side of State Highway 1.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11480306
Green Party primary industries spokesperson Eugenie Sage said Mr Guy had been forced to backtrack on his earlier assertions that there were no major problems with how exports of swamp kauri were policed.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/395167/kauri-log-export-conservation-group-accuses-mpi-of-ignoring-supreme-court-ruling
"We want the minister, Shane Jones, to answer this … does he consider it's okay for his officials to thumb their noses at a Supreme Court ruling? Because that is what they are doing," Ms Furrell said.
Both the MPI and Shane Jones have been approached for comment.
…and here, way Up North, Uncle Shane is a bit of a joke. He may have purchased support with the bucketloads of putea that has been thrown at local projects but he is going to have to work a bit harder. Spread some charm. Heh.
Two leading contenders at the moment seem to be the Green Party candidate Darlene Tana Hoff-Nielsen and newboy Billy Te Kahika.
Robert, you must have missed the related article also on Newshub in the last 24 hours re the Taranaki Green School, ie
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/09/green-school-previously-turned-down-for-provincial-growth-fund-cash.html
It seems that the Green School's application for $1m from the Provincial Growth Fund ro market the school as a tourist attraction had been turned down prior to them then applying for $11.7m (grant or loan) from the Covid Recovery Fund – granted by Shaw.
Oh dear, this issue just doesn't go away. The change.org petition to reduce this latter grant now stands at over 14,100 signatures
https://www.change.org/p/james-shaw-reduce-the-green-school-grant?source_location=petitions_browse
The original application didn't meet the approval of the panel, but the second one did? Is that the news?
Pretty stale, in my view. Those who are looking for a stick with which to beat the Greens will always find one conveniently-placed nearby. Oh! Shane Jones was here!
I see National are promising a charter school…
"The National Party has promised a $1.29b boost for the tech sector, with scholarships and a charter school"
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300112183/election-2020-live-national-unveils-129b-plan-to-double-tech-sector
KilroyShane J was here!Would you expect anything less from Shane Jones?
Why is electoral debate centred around the long term level of government debt, and not on the amount of debt the government now has that is not owed to anyone at all?
Because the politicians and business people don't want the people to realise that we don't need capitalists to fund things. We can do it all on our own through our democratic administration.
The reason why they don't want us to realise that is because then it would eliminate the bludging that is the sole purpose of capitalism.
Whys it called debt if it's not owed to anyone?
So they will not be seen as challenging the neo-liberal capitalist order.
It is. It's owed to us. It's paid back to us by providing us with what ever it was the funds were issued for, e.g. State housing, thousands of acres of pine trees, excellent health care, schools, railway network etc etc
We being New Zealand.
National’s troops online have resorted to outright lies about the missing $4 billion. They are claiming that Robertson has pretty much nicked it out of the Super Fund without telling anybody. This bullshit is getting peddled about by sitting MPs. They have lost the plot.
Wrong. They didn't have a plot – past working out who the next leader is to be.
The right-wing lying about things because they didn't go their way is par for the course.
The right-wing have to lie because reality never conforms to their beliefs.
The Key Governments discontinuing of payments to the Cullen fund was financial stupidity – right in the same league as selling off 49% of SOE electricity generators -ideologically driven financial vandalism. National are economic incompetents.
its only stupid if you don't profit off it.
that is the other side of the coin, one creates a surplus (which is essentially only tax revenue not spend on the people) and then the other wins and creates a tax cuts for those that are in the correct income group (like the ones that created the surplus 🙂 ). Then everyone screams that the bank is empty and the people will have to sell their very few belongings to pay the bills.
Rinse repeat, rinse repeat. The ones with money are good with it as they can buy up the countrys silver cutlery, and the ones without money move to a ditch nearby.
Yes Sabine my bad what I regarded as stupidity may simply simply be greed, malevolence and dishonesty – after all it is the National Party we are talking about
yup they knew exactly what they're doing. Calling it 'best practice' at the time had an ironic twist from a taxpayer/consumer perspective.
Judith is on Morning Report claiming that Goldsmith couldn’t understand the PREFU docs because Treasury had written them so badly. We’re entering the Twilight Zone now.
Being reality to her will, the Donald would be so proud of his new protege.
And she’s now banging on about Labour’s so-called $11 billion hole at the last election. She’s digging a HUGE hole!
Did you hear the up-beat, irrepressible, we're going to win this by a country-mile, "post-campaign-launch" verve and bounce in Judith's voice?
Me neither.
edit
How National dares to open its mouth about finance stumps me. Many will have seen this but seeing things are so fast-moving it pays to check back for ‘holes’ in the argument. This from a few days ago:
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/09/nz-election-2020-national-s-promising-tax-cuts-so-how-would-they-affect-you.html
Sep,18/20 National plans to raise those brackets, so every dollar you earn up to $20k would be taxed at 10.5 percent, and $20k to $64k at 17.5 percent. The 30 percent bracket would include every dollar between $64k to $90k, and every dollar above $90k would be taxed at 33 percent.
…National says that's because it wants to target middle-income earners who may be more likely to spend-up.
(Me: What!! Middles, 'may be more likely to spend up'. Anyone with economic nous knows that the poor spend 100%+ of their income, just to meet basic costs. Pay them more and they will still need to spend it all also borrow, as their income is so far behind what is needed! Those near $20,000 are at break-even point, far from the $64,000 level, and will be returning tax to the government of about 32.50% of their meagre income in taxes of 17.5% for income and 15% GST. I have forgotten if the gummint charges GST on rent, which would reduce the GST paid by that amount. About a third from basic needs, is different than from a wealthier person's discretionary income.)
If you're on $30k a year, National's policy would put $560 in your back pocket over the 16-month period for which it's proposed. But if you're on $90k a year, you'd pocket $4026 over that same period.
National's policy explains: "Middle-income earners receive the largest benefit as a proportion of their income. As a proportion of income, the largest benefit is for someone on the average income of $64,000. There are no further tax savings for incomes over $90,000."
The policy is expected to cost $4.7 billion over the 16-month period and National plans to pay for it by reducing Government debt by suspending Super Fund contributions, and axing policies like KiwiBuild and the first year of free university.
Government contributions to the Super Fund were suspended by the previous National-led Government between 2009 and 2017, but they were resumed under the current Government at a cost of $7.7 billion over five years.
Seems that Gnats have many people so confused that they don't know whether Peter or Paul are being robbed or not, and who is paying. Maybe the manner in which they intone the words 'tax cuts' arouses visions of heavenly dispensation in the heads of spiritual believers and non-beis, alike.
A good article explaining why more tax of the right type (not tax on lower incomes or GST, though) is a good thing, rather than less tax / tax cuts.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/21-09-2020/the-case-for-tax-more-of-it-much-more/
Perhaps Laura O'Connell Rapira (the author of the piece) should be the next fnance minister? She can't do worse than Paora Goldsmith, anyway!
There is also the case for a windfall tax on companies which made a profit after receiving the wage subsidy.
Unless the company refused to pay that wage subsidy out to its staff i don't see how they could make a 'windfall'.
And i would like to point out that for the last two extentions you actually have to proof that you have a loss of revenue of 40% to the year prior (not 39% or less but 40%) to even be able to apply for it.
Can you link to anything that would support your point, just for interest sake.
Law firms qualified and then repaid it back (they did not have to do that). Briscoes paid a dividend after taking a wage subsidy. An insolvency firm also claimed it – yet their business will be booming.
For some, a temporary dip, eligibility for wage subsidy, then pent up demand results in a business boom.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/122797339/time-to-tax-big-companies-who-made-windfall-off-wage-subsidy
She doesn't, quite, get it.
The money printer went brrr as she says and thus the taxes weren't needed for the funds.
So, why the high taxes on large incomes? A couple of reasons:
It's a pity that we lost that wisdom.
"She doesn't, quite, get it."
Explain it to her. @laura_oc_rapira
With a bit more knowledge she might make a half decent journalist.
@Robert Guyton 9.1
Jane Clifton said yesterday that it was like somebody had taken out her batteries. You can hear the dull sound of defeat in her every word now.
The credibility of all the shills for National on Newstalk ZB is taking hit after hit.
Poor bunny!
Why don't Aucklanders put a tunnel through their underwater harbour lava field?
[Why have you changed your user name and e-mail address yet again? That’s one particularly annoying habit of yours and I’ve already permanently banned one of your other aliases. Please give me a good reason why I should not permanently ban this one too – Incognito]
See my Moderation note @ 9:09 AM.
Auckland needs an additional harbour crossing we are told (among so many other things)
"The central idea of catabolic collapse is that human societies pretty consistently tend to produce more stuff than they can afford to maintain."
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2011-01-20/onset-catabolic-collapse/#:~:text=The%20central%20idea%20of%20catabolic,they%20can%20afford%20to%20maintain.
Again, I support your position on this, Pat.
you would appear to be one of the very few….it appears a topic studiously ignored
Civilisation brooks no dissent!
Imagine if the current bridge already had biking lanes added on to it.
Bike sales would be up.
Or if people decided to use broadband at home during peak road congestion periods and then take a bus to work.
Imagine bosses paying the space, the electricity, the broadband, the heating and all that is involved with working for home, for a start. Is there any legislation in the works that would actually assure that or is that the price of work that needs to be paid by the worker in order to be considered for the job?
Imagine if public transport were free to the users – we could potentially not even meet demand. Is there any legislation that would promote this, or is that too much of a hassle and besides on the rich can have free shit, the poor need to pay for it?
Imagine if in this country all areas had the same good broadband that some areas currently enjoy. Imagine, not only could you use your mobile from home rather then go out on the open street, but your kids could learn from home and you could work from home. Is there any legislation in the works that would assure that broadband will go to the very rural areas that are currently underserved?
Imagine all the shit that all the previous governments of all stripes have ignored for so long, and then just continue to imagine how our future and current government will do exactly the same.
I'm pretty sure that one of the reasons why we ended up with personal cars is because it creates more jobs than public transport. A couple of hundred mechanics maintaining a fleet of buses or thousands of mechanics maintaining a fleet of personal vehicles. Then the fleet of personal vehicles also needs gas stations and their attendants and more tanker drivers and more fuel and more…
You get the idea. More consumption producing more jobs.
Looks good at the start because more jobs but is completely uneconomic.
And now, of course, everyone has their personal vehicles and doesn't want to give them up despite all the evidence that we need to.
Or just make use of the Northern Busway free for 6 weeks? Sure, you might overload it, or overload the carparks round the bus stations – but it may have some short-term ameliorating effect, as well as change some long-term habits. See how it goes – and if it works, make it permanent and gradually extend to all PT.
+1
free public transport, or at the very least so cheap that the car is no longer a viable option. Like a dollar per ride.
The constraint is number of buses available – they would need to hire extra buses and run a peak time level of frequency of service for a longer time period.
and that would literally not be a problem considering that many bus tour businesses that previously catered to tourists are now not working.
We have busses, we have the drivers and chances are they would all jump at the opportunity of staying in business and keeping these jobs alive.
We have the resources, it appears we don't have the will.
The Auckland Mayor would rather have gridlock than find the money …
that is a different issue then the lack of resources.
As i said, we have the resources, now we just need "the Will" and that could actually come from government, you know the current lot who runs the world. And they could excuse their 'interference into local government' as one of these job creating shovel ready programs, they could provide funds to make it palatable to the former Minister of Transport and Labour MP, and above all they could make it attractive to Aucklanders who could pressure their council into going along with it.
Ahh, will – the want to change – is the only thing needed and that is what is not there, in government local and national.
Sure it is more likely to be funded by central government – and possibly sold as a way to get Auckland back moving at Level 2.
Could be a tipping point looming when the population of road cones in Ak passes the population of Aucks. I'm waiting for an evangelical to point out to parishioners that this divine retribution is due to Aucks voting for left/right govts that persisted in jamming the city with immigrants and not building infrastructure to match the increase.
Could be a decent contagion effect out of that as the gnosis spreads. Too bad road cones are still unable to vote. A growing minority group, but lacking political heft. Discriminated against.
"As infrastructure increases in scale and complexity, the costs of maintenance rise to equal and exceed the available economic surplus; the period of prosperity ends in political and economic failure, and infrastructure falls into ruin as its maintenance costs are no longer paid."
'Money' is not the issue, merely a measure.
Consider the recent calls for billions to be spent on maintaining roads that have suffered from deferred maintenance for years past, the failing 3 waters, the lack of public transport etc…all these have (and are) occurred BECAUSE we as a society cannot resource the required maintenance of the existing, let alone any additional…..it may not be recognised but catabolic collapse isnt something to worry about in the future, it is all around us.
But we could if we had a more economical model than what we use now.
I've calculated before that if we only produced enough food for ourselves we'd free up ~150,000 workers. How many workers do we need to maintain our infrastructure? I don't know but I'm pretty sure that it would be less than 150,000. We'd probably have enough people still spare afterwards that we could have more doctors and other health workers to maintain us, more telecommunications techs, more researchers, etcetera.
The problem we have is that our economic model, one that's been in use for thousands of years, is uneconomic.
So which is it?
"Yeah, he's wrong."
or
"The problem we have is that our economic model, one that's been in use for thousands of years, is uneconomic."
Both.
We can maintain things – we just don't due to a failed economic model.
lol…as Greer says the model is inherently unsustainable both statements cannot be correct.
So you 'calculate' we can successfully maintain our infrastructure with 150,000 individuals….what will they use?
No, I calculated that we could free up 150,000 people if we dropped the amount of farming down to only feeding NZ. Those 150,000 could then be put to other uses to support and develop our society.
They would use our resources to make what was needed such as using our iron to build tractors, and ships, and the machinery to build and maintain bridges etcetera.
Those extra 150,000 people in farming are a waste of resources.
And, yes, both statements can be, and are, correct.
Due to money, people have lost sight of the economy.
and how many do you 'calculate' would be required to develop industries to produce sufficient of those items to enable that maintenance?
The same way any business prepares a quote?
See, you're problem is that you've just been told that it can't be done and you're believing that despite all the evidence that we actually do have the resources and people to maintain what we build. If we didn't we wouldn't have been able to build it in the first place.
The problem is the failed economic system that says that if we grow lots of cows then we can just buy the maintenance from other countries. This results in the over allocation of people into farming and then, when we do need the maintenance, we find that we can't buy it. That we need to provide more than just money like housing etcetera and we find that we can't do it, that we can no longer afford to maintain our infrastructure.
But if we hadn't over allocated our resources and people into farming then we could, quite easily, maintain our infrastructure and much else as well.
cant 'calculate' the number huh…your problem is you have an ideology that dosnt fit the facts…we dont do those things because it is beyond our resources (uneconomic if you like)….the '150,000' farm workers' (many of whom we currently import) are not able or sufficient to create the production you attribute to them
It's not a question of me calculating it precisely – but showing how it could be done which I have.
You and the idiot Arch Druid (Really, he's on record of saying that work before industrialisation didn't leave any time for having a break) have specified that we can't.
That's just it – its not beyond our resources. The problem is our socio-economic system that has massively miss-allocated the resources that we do have.
Yes they are – even without the imported seasonal workers which I'm pretty sure my source didn't include – although they'll probably need to have their education ramped up. Modern production is so efficient it really doesn't use that many people:
I don't think we need a million engines per year so maybe only hire 200.
We already produce over half a million tonnes of steel to build stuff from.
When everything including creating jobs is linked to something else but until it's in your own backyard…
Interesting meters ticking over :-
Environmental impacts of Steel production.
" Steel production is one of the most energy-consuming and CO2 emitting industrial activities in the world.
The mining of iron ore ( to produce steel) is highly energy intensive and causes air pollution – and water pollution.
The making of steel from the mined iron ore is also highly energy demanding. Production of steel is the most energy-consuming and CO2 emitting industrial activity in the world. "
https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/planet-earth/mining/environmental-impact-of-steel-production/story
More of those interesting meters .. of " catabolic collapse "
" If you compare Earth's history to a calendar year then we (humans) have only have existed for about 37 minutes – and we have used 33% of Earth's entire natural resources in the last 0.2 seconds! "
79 years until rainforests are gone.
27 years until seafood runs out.
At the time of this posting over 290 million tons of hazardous waste has been discarded this year so far.
https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges
We don't mine iron ore in NZ and the power is mostly renewable meaning that Glenbrook's production of it has far less Co2 incorporated into it than that of other nations.
And, yes, the over use of resources by capitalism is thousands of years old as well.
We can do something about that to but only by getting rid of capitalism.
the calculation is simple…rule of 70
With a maintenance rate of 3% in a little over 23 years maintenance exceeds construction…..you can apply it at any level you like, individual or societal and in any form, monetary or time.
something has to give.
Yeah, he's wrong.
Its not that we produce more than we can maintain but that the rich don't want to pay to maintain it and, as their the ones in control, things don't get maintained and thus we get collapse.
Oh goody, another party invite from Gfoffloffle pending.
Alcohol causes more harm than marijuana, not even those voting no in the drug referendum deny that.
The only argument put forward is that young people (teens) adversely impacted by its use, would still be adversely impacted by it should there be legal sales to adults (those over 20).
One such admits that the only thing wrong with legalising sales to those not harmed by use of the drug is that this normalises it when teens would still be harmed by its use.
But makes no case whatsover that normalising use by adults would have any impact on teen use.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=12353424
Countered by the opening up of the data and facts to scrutiny, the injection of funds into tagged health responses to "teen use", the removal of much of the secrecy and associated dishonesty and paranoia that goes with illegality – the scales will be tipped heavily in favour of a safer, healthier society.
Permaculture co-founder on facets of societal re-think: https://www.resilience.org/stories/2020-09-15/can-changing-habits-for-self-reliance-and-resilience-help-society-avoid-the-worst-of-unfortunate-futures/
so i had an interesting experience with the council.
Thanks to covid the inspections of lisenced food premises now is 'remote'. Which involved in taking pictures of every delivery docket, every temperature sheet, every dairy sheet, any training documents, etc , which then needed to be downloaded, named and safed and then emailed to the 'inspector', plus a set up for a zoom meeting.
The inspector was quite unhappy that i was the only one going along with it – and that the others put up a bit of a stink and wanting to wait for level 1 to have a physical inspection.
Now frankly, after having spend the better part of three days, photographing hundreds of bits of papers, downloading them, saving them, attaching them to several tens of emails, i can understand. That is a loss of time, extra work no one needs.
But i guess its the future. It all went well, no recommendations, in fact she will propose some of my Covid rules and promote these to some of the businesses that have a similar set up. She really did like my plague door. Thanks, but heck that was a lot of extra work that i could have done without.
For now, yes, but how would you set up to this in a permanent way?
Think of all the things you did and what needs to change if/when it becomes the way:
Etcetera.
Then think about how you could use that data to make your business better.
This, after all, is what IT is for.
this is bullshit. like seriously why the fuck why?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12365490
why not more local depots to serve a region rather then 'super depots' that will have to be closed down because someone comes down with covid LOL and nothing happens, like literally the last lockdown 3 in AKL let to delays of weeks in some cases if not outright 'lost', and rather create a few smaller depots that could serve the regions. IF i want to send something for a customer to Taupo via post it goes to AKL first. Cause sure it does. It is actually easier for us to just drive to taupo and deliver it ourself, at least we know it will arrive.
Local depots cost more to maintain than a large, single depot.
That said, there should be a computer algorithm being used to determine the best places to put the depots in relation to transportation routes and minimising transportation use.
and then this.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12366493
and this
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/300110964/financial-strain-from-covid19-leaves-pupils-hungry
can we please increase the benefits of people, can we please provide lunches for all kids, can we please stop the bullshit?
and above all can we please stop with the added insult of 'teaching the value of work' to beneficiaries who often times have jobs? Or desperatly apply for anything that comes up just to no avail, and above all
Can we please start acknowledging that the last crisis and this current crisis has hit women the hardest? It is women who loose their jobs, and it is women who get very little to next to nothing from this current kinder and gentler government. Or is that too upsetting for the dears? Because the dears in their expensive suits n shoes are failing us.
The Free School Lunches programme is under Labour being expanded to 200,000 Students.
Announced last week.
well that took them three years and many articles like the one i posted today about.
So essentially three years and many shamings late.
Because in February 2020 they said this https://www.labour.org.nz/lunchesinschools
now they are saying this:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300107419/election-2020-labour-promises-more-school-lunches-wont-extend-feesfree-programme
So are we to understand that Covid cost 180.000 kids to fall into poverty, or were they simply not enough poor enough in February 2020 to be included in the budget?
Excuse me but that just feel very cynical. An election lolly on the backs of the poorest. Say it ain't so.
And what about the kids that will have to wait till mid 2021 – about a year to be precise – to be included. They will just have to tighten their belts or hope kids can and a teacher might drop some lunch.?
Considering that we had this issues for the many years under National i guess we can say thanks to a global pandemic that the kids of this country – the very wretched poor ones – finally get one feed a day that they can count on. When of course the program is rolled out in their schools. YEI Covid!
The amounts beneficiaries can earn before abatement at 70 cents in the dollar have gone up a lot. For a single person it goes from $90 to up to $160 a week and for a person with others (children) it goes up to $250 a week.
The Training Incentive Allowance is being restored. It’s set at $113 per week.
All true under Labour.
Susan StJohn still makes good points in this area.
National really dropped the ball 2008-2017 (and since), keeping the amount before abatement at $80 and $120 prevented beneficiaries getting ahead through work.
And now more are on benefits, this extra income sans abatement is going to be vital.
There is still a lot to do.
1. Allowing partners to claim support for up to one year (allows people to intern or retrain).
2. Allowing those under 25 to have UI if not in FT study or FT work. This supports the gig/casual/part-timers (reduces WINZ paperwork)
3. Government support for divorced couples to maintain housing for children after a separation
4. End the repayment of grants out of benefits, taking it out of paid work income as for tertiary loans. And expand this to include re-finance of debt incurred while employed.
And how are we going to do that when the capacity to do it doesn't exist and will take time to build?
This is the major problem with people. They see a good idea and immediately think that it should be done now and think nothing of the physical apparatus that needs to be in place to achieve it. This results in things like this:
That's not likely to happen no matter how much money is raised because the infrastructure isn't there to do it.
Due to money, people have lost sight of the economy.
I think the question should be how did we even get to the point in New Zealand where we have to argue about how to feed hungry children????
We've always been at that point. Very few seem to have asked how we could feed everyone and even fewer have tried to do so. The most notable was the 1st Labour government but it only lasted a couple of decades before the stresses began to show and then only another couple before complete collapse in the 1980s.
Over the last 72hrs I’ve been trying to write a post to be submitted to The Standard, but all I can get out of my head at what happened to me at 0200Hrs some 21yrs ago with this.
At 0200 21yrs ago, this humble working class lad from Hornby CHCH ran off back of a RAAF C130 at Dili Airport East Timor as a part of the INTERFET a Chap 7 Peacekeeping Mission. Which would turn my life upside down for ever as I wandered aimlessly around the RAAF for 18yrs before my med discharge after a horror trip back to the Sandpit.
I’m still seeking answers at why humanity & politics of both left & right could allow this to happen? Ever today most people couldn’t give a rats ass about West Papua including those on left who supported the founding father of Modern day Indonesia annexation of West Papua from the Dutch & in NZ the current state of the NZDF if had to mount similar Chap7 Mission to West Papua or the NZ Timor-Leste Veterans especially my mate’s who were in both NZ Batt1 &2 Battle Group who are still struggling today.
Both the NZ Greens and NZ Labour refuse to discuss the NZDF lessons learnt from Timor-Leste even when Ron Mark drags them into reality but they still scream about the cost at equipping & the rising, training and more importantly sustaining the NZDF for UN Peacekeeping Missions or the long term reality of CC trends and finally the ongoing effects of NZ Veterans expose to the Peacekeeping Missions or in the Gan?
i was hoping to add some pictures of before during and after of me so everyone could see the psychological & psychical changes to me from the NZ Army days through to the RAAF Ground Defence days and to my current situation post discharge.
Is there much talk in Oz of any UN Peacekeeping move into West Papua?
Unfortunately it’s unlikely to happen anytime soon and probably not in my or your lifetime due the Australian- Indonesian Lombok Treaty. Also Australia is chasing a FTA with Indonesian as well. So the sods in West Papua are going to be hung out to dry if Indonesian can achieve it. Unfortunately there will be little that NZ can do either via Diplomatic or by Military means apart from waffle, fluff & BS at various international meetings or at a local.
Not surprising from those in Oz – these are the first world nation people who block East Timor access to mineral rights to resources in their economic zone.
For others a backgrounder.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/author/marie-leadbetter/
What really gives me the shits about West Papua from my left wing POV is people like Marie who supported the Indonesia annexation of Dutch West Papua in the 60's when the founding Father of Indonesia was a socialist/communist and who also booted out the Dutch post WW2.
There is a enough evidence to suggest that the Dutch were planning to return West Papua to PNG when Australia under a Labour Government would grant PNG its independence which did happen in 75. But the Dutch hand was forced under the then POTUS JKF as a means of stopping Indonesia from coming a Communist/ Socialist Country in SEA. While at the same time forcing the Brits, Oz, NZ and the Dutch to stay out of it, needless to say against all advice from it Allies who hand a better understanding at what was happening on the ground especially during the Confrontation.
Dunno, but I do empathise, so I'll guess. Both the NZ Greens and NZ Labour refuse to discuss the NZDF lessons learnt from Timor-Leste due to having higher priorities.
PTSD? If so, does it get diagnosed by the military nowadays? I would agree to taxpayer-funded treatment – does that already happen to suffering soldiers?
Peacekeeping is trad leftist idealism. I know that because I had to operate as peacemaker in civil society somewhat when young due to fighting being the norm, then make love not war came along & got traction, but the quakers had been standing for peace amongst the mainstream long previously (until Nixon destroyed them from within), and mustn't forget Archie Baxter & the torture of conscientious objectors to war in WWI. So leftist politicos are big on peace as a basis of civilisation, but could be they are insufficiently practical re managing the consequences, eh?
The problem i have with the NZ Greens & Labour is that they still fail to recognise or understand just how close we came to an all out shooting war with the TNI and the INTERFET Mission was the biggest NZDF Deployment probably since J Force or WW2. Where the NZ Army did an over the Beach Landing at Suai since the 3rd NZ Div in the Solly's during WW2. This over the beach landing by NZBATT1 went tits up, while at the same time the RNZN Type 12 Frigate the Canterbury was actively pursuing a TNI Sub inside Timor- Leste's water near Suai. NZ was very lucky that the TNI didn't decide to make a point against NZ and sooner or later the law of military averages will come home to roost with NZ.
Because NZ's politicians are all talk, but no actions when it comes to Peacekeeping or providing the necessary capital adequately equip the NZDF to Raise, Train and Sustain a Peacekeeping Force like the one that the NZ Deployed to Timor- Leste unlike the Australian Government who heavily invested in the ADF and the Lessons Learnt by the ADF which a massive investment in Airlift, Sealift capabilities, two extra Infantry Battalion Groups and investment in the Army's Rotay Wing units including Gunship attack Helicopters since the NZG decided to disband its Maritime Strike/ Close Air Support Wing.
Mental Health of Veterans is the biggest cost to the Government be it PTSD, Moral Trauma from Peacekeeping or HADR Missions and sometimes members do not get diagnosed until they have the forces or in some cases booted out for discipline reasons. Before we even start talking about other injuries that have happen during Peacetime Training or on Operations. Most Veterans don't trust their Government to look after them because the Politicians are all talk no action and will do anything to avoid or cut cost to Veterans welfare just they do to the NZDF with equipment upgrades, cuts to Capabilities also with poor pay & conditions etc.
Yes there is a big disconnect from the left and our so-called leftest politicians IRT the theoretical side of Peacekeeping and the what actually happens on the ground. This is not entirely new either as we have seen in Bosnia, Rwanda and even as far back as the Congo in the 60's. And yet you would think by now politicians and the public of all stripes and colours would understand this by now, but us poor sods in the Military are constantly having to re-learnt lessons learnt because our stupid politicians and public refuse to fund an adequate NZDF to Raise, Train & Sustain Peacekeeping which also flows onto the Veterans health/ Welfare cost needs into the future.
Okay, I get the picture. Thanks for that description. My diagnosis: you're right, almost certainly, but what we lack is politicos with your field experience. Particularly those who, like you, can deduce general principles from particular situations. Situation won't change unless such folk enter politics, eh?
Well NZ Labour won't have me back as i'm too working class for them aka too left wing for social, economic issues and too right wing on defence issues including the use of Lethal Force to enforce the Southern Ocean and enforcing NZ EEZ IRT to overseas fishing boats conduction illegal fishing.
I probably won't last 5mins in the Greens because of the Locke Family and their fellow travellers. I should vote Green, but because of the Locke's and their Defence Policy i don't. For the record and disclosure reasons i've voted Labour & NZF in that order.
Greens Defence Policy:
Full document.
The Greens defence policy is a hell of a lot better than it used to be. Not perfect, still got too many ideologues getting the way, but a hell of a lot better and seems to be based upon actual facts and the world situation (except the bit (3.1) about not searching for submarines, I mean, really, WTF?).
But Gorlz did SFA in pushing NZ Greens Veterans policies through this term with Ronnie! Heck even Ronnie does like almost of the NZ Greens Veterans Policy. So what the F*** was Gorlz doing FFS, well she was bitching about the P3 replacement, the C130 replacement, the Dive Ship replacement. Then banging on about the future cost of the two landing ships and the future Southern Ocean Patrol Vessel without realising that Ronnie is trying to future proof the NZDF IRT to CC and CC related events including possible wars/ conflicts if plan A fails or plan B fails. All this is also on top of the NZDF current NZG madated tasks that has to fulfil atm as CC adds another layer of complexity because politicians at or levels of govenment including other issue motivated groups and sections of the public refuse to believe in the science of CC.
The Anti Sub Warfare of the NZGreens is just dumb and stupid. Considering NZ had Jap and German Subs operate in its waters during WW2, NZ economy aka its exports and imports are heavily reliant of international shipping routes aka freedom of navigation on the open seas (FONOS) for its economic wealth and finally the TNI Submarine activities during INTERFET which was under a Chap7 UN Peacekeeping Mandate.
I did say it was better, not perfect. That was not their policy going in last term which was pretty much three paragraphs on how they were going to gut the defence forces completely.
I think the Green Caucus has learned a lot about what our defence forces need but they still answer to the party membership and there's too many members who believe that we don't need a defence force at all. And, yes, it is better that caucus answers to the members but we need caucus to now inform the members as to why we need a capable defence force that we look after and then have a discussion about it.
Politics, unfortunately, takes time.
As for 3.2 and the policy against installing sub-hunting gear in our aircraft, IMO, that looks like someone's pet peeve that's been installed into the policy without anyone really understanding it as, in 2.5, the policy says this:
Which 3.2 completely contradicts. To properly monitor the seas around NZ requires the anti-submarine capability.
Draco,
My apologies for my reply yesterday even after 21 odd yrs, the events of East Timor and Lenny's death 20 odd yrs ago are still raw and its like it happen only yesterday. Trying to write up a post for The Standard is bloody hard for me because i find it to keep my emotions under control which effect my ability to keep a fair and balance post.
It one of the reasons why avoid social policy issues, because of what happen to our family in the 90's under the National Government.
Anyway back to tropic, i also see the NZ Greens have drop their opposition to purpose design Amphibious Landing Ship. Obvious someone or persons have read the Coles Report into the L421 Canterbury and the issues with the 2 OPV's which are no long fit for purpose in the South Ocean.
It will be interesting to see what happens after this election as the next 3-4 major capital equipment items that need to brought are going to be:-
The New Southern Ocean Patrol Vessel a cost of anywhere from $300m-$600m
The first of the 2 Landing Ships with a docking well a cost of anywhere from $300m- $600m
New Ship borne Helicopters these won't come cheap either probably nudging the $1B plus mark
Long Range Aerial UAV's again these are not cheap either because of the intial start up costs involved like the start ups with the P8's.
You are not responsible for political decisions when on a deployment. You followed orders due to your youth and being in the defence force trying to make a difference.
It is always differcult when the desired outcome of a peace keeping mission or combat is not met. From time to time I think of the young men who fought in Vietnam because of the politicians who sent them there.
Those in the NZDF need to be looked after better than they are when on deployment and when no longer in service.
If Scud is trying to get a post together on the subject for The Standard could any of you knowledgeable people here assist if there are technical aspects needing advice? Could someone offer in case that is holding him up?
Sorry Grey,
It's more to with my Mental Health as even after 21 odd yrs, the events of East Timor and Lenny's death 20 odd yrs ago are still raw and its like it happen only yesterday. Trying to write up a post for The Standard is bloody hard for me because i find it to keep my emotions under control which effect my ability to keep a fair and balance post.
I've a got of ideals for two posts, one the Next 4yrs NZMoD/ NZDF policy advice which has some interesting bits from CC, Covid19 and Hybrid warfare/ Non State Actors etc.
The other is a Book probably the best read this yr and no its not to with Defence and it also explains why i got miss diagnosed with a funky tropical vector borne diseased that i picked up in East Timor during INTERFET which wasn't probably diagnosed in late 07-08
Yes and that's how my mate got killed in action 20 odd yrs ago in East Timorhttps://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-24-07-2020/#comment-1733871 because the stupid c***s in the Labour/ Alliance Government change the NZBATT2 ROE and OFOF against the wishes of the NZDF HQ, BATT2 CO, ANZAC Brigade HQ in the Border Region, NZ's Senior Officer and UN Military HQ in Timor Leste. All Because the of stupidity and arrogance of their political ideology of what Peacekeeping should be as they believe the ROE's and OFOF was too Gung Ho for their liking.
After Lenny was KIA the NZBATT2's ROE and OFOF was changed back to the original set. Also the deep cuts to the NZDF during the 90's also played a part as well as those of us who were a part 3 Land Force Group the Sth Is would know our training budget was to cut by 80-90% in order to keep the RF in 2LFG at some sort of readiness.
Even the 8mths of training for NZBATT2 couldn't make up for the lost yrs of the 90's for both the RF units/personal or the South Is TF units/personal who deployed to ET in 2000. Alot of old hands have said it was probably the most poor trained formed body of troops leave NZ Shores since WW2 and we all point the fingers at the NZ Politicians Post Cold War aka 1991 onwards and their various travellers from either side of the political spectrum who want cuts to the NZDF.
Where there is organisational failure this needs to be addressed.
The Abuse into Care Royal Commission of Inquiry is at its most important phase.
The Limitations Act is not fit for purpose when it comes to an historical abuse case. The now adults who were then the abused children are being silenced again due to the Limitations Act time having run out for action to be taken against those who are responsible for covering up the offending.
I want to see everyone affected by trauma to be able to be processed with fit for purpose legislation. This would enable people to be processed without unnecessary delays and a verbal fight which just drains a person who is already drained.
I no longer waste my energy having anger for the thick bastards who should know better. I try to stay strong one day at a time. I have my numb days and I go for long walks.
Thank you for the sound advice Treetop, even after 21 odd yrs, the events of East Timor and Lenny's death 20 odd yrs ago are still raw and its like it happen only yesterday. Trying to write up a post for The Standard is bloody hard for me because i find it to keep my emotions under control which effect my ability to keep a fair and balance post.
I usual try and spend time outside working, but our Nth'ern Wet Season rains and the resulting humidity have come two mths early than normal (this time last yr we had 3 massive running bush fires where i was involved with one of those fires) bloody CC.
I usually head off and spend time building my 1/700 model ships in my man cave while listening to ABC Classical Radio until the my Cricket of Cricket starts on ABC Sport Grandstand which sort've keeps me grounded.
Like you from the sounds of it, we both hate the today's modern political class who will not resigned from office unless they are pushed if they did something or acted against advice of their Portfolio Advisors and later to be find in the wrong when it all goes to shit.
Have you looked into the aboriginal way of burning off to protect against bush fires? It sounds just odd enough to be the right thing to do, because it is so different to whatever the norm is. And there were people with standing buildings not affected by the fires who swear by it.
Sounds like you were between a rock and a hard place. The pollies making noises for the benefit of sensitive voters, but also placating our so-called allies; not easy, but you deserved to be readied and backed with effective resources.
That reminds me I have a copy of Peter Winter's book on NZ in Crete and what he thought about taking part in the defence of it against superior German offensive. Very critical of our Forces leaders and was too hot to publish for a while. He thought that if the general involved and leaders had been better in touch with the troops, they could have been more effective with fewer casualties. They were not well-led. So good luck with your book and recollections. The advice from people who have had trauma is that as you write, the emotion connected is felt again but then lessened, and sort of goes into the words on the page and out of your mind. So a little bit at a time, and perhaps some tears on the way, will ease the weight of the memories when you have set it all down.
I have bought some interesting books lately about past wars, and they make compelling reading. So I hope you can keep up with yours, we get more out of the ones from individuals and researchers, than the recitations in the official histories.
On the RNZ politics discussion just now Trish Sherson made the observation that Jacinda can never claim that Labour is a transformational government after its timid, safety-first policy announcements to date in the campaign.
To her credit (because she speaks from the Right) Sherson praised the Greens for a series of green and anti-poverty policies that much better fit the transformational label. She mentioned the Ocean policy just released.
Agree 100%. Well worth a listen (RNZ at 11.05 today).
She'll be disappointed that Labour haven't driven a chunk of voters into the cold embrace of the right, by announcing dancing cossack policies.
Labour are eating the National, Green, and NZFirst vote.
Plus the right is splintering.
Trish can stick it in her ear.
National can try again in 2026… if its convincing
"Flowers of Scotland" comes to mind for me when I think of what the coming election result might well mean for National.
"And sent them homeward
Tae think again."
That is what National needs. To think again. To develop and encourage a moral and ethically based set of political belief, policies and candidates.
Power for its own sake attracts the wrong sort, as we have seen them select time and again.
Can't happen as National is immoral and ethically deficient. They are the embodiment of power for its own sake.
"encourage a moral and ethically based set of political belief(s), policies and candidates"
Moral and ethical and (or versus) the National Party of New Zealand
You what? Get away with y', my laddy.
They need that like a hole in the head!
But all the same, I have found no reference which affirmatively states that the National Party of NZ are vehemently opposed to morals and ethics in politics, it is just that they don’t really wish to make mention of them too often.
I would think that they might be used sparingly by National, but only if and when absolutely necessary.
After all, they wouldn't wish to be seen as attempting to drastically alter their core identity.
I guest they've still got some chance of insinuating that that have a few morals and ethics to throw here and there from time to time, but they need to be very careful. Using such tools as ethics could be very dangerous for them, especially if incorrectly applied.
Like any addict, they've got to really want to change their behavior pattern so as to adopt political morality and ethics, but where would be the incentive for the National Party of New Zealand to want to change?
It gets a lot of support from many shit bags.
Hell, I'd even vote for them if I believed that it would be lucrative enough for me to make it worth my while.
This probably reflects how many of their supporters feel.
Major tax increases or new taxes appear to be off the table. The government still needs to reduce inequality.
So they are raising the minimum wage and will implement Fair Pay agreements. If you can't take it from the top, add it onto the bottom!
My least favourite whingers. "Our yachts need to escape French Polynesia's pretty much non existent cyclones."
Radio NZ is not really providing balanced news here. Why are they not pushing back on the one sided aspect of this? They should be asking( apart from the cyclones)
– Is someone paying this bloke?
– are only members of his club to be allowed in?
– If there is a more general exemption what is to stop masses of yachts from say Hawaii California and other states from setting sail to NZ and how on earth would we control that.
-if they are really rich or very large why do they not sail for home/put their yacht on a container ship to take it home.
Really this is starting to feel very close to fake news.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/426508/foreign-yachties-say-lives-now-at-risk-from-nz-decision
It's the ZOMG, the rich have been inconvenienced, please save them which is par for the course in the MSM.
Hundreds of workers in marine refits needed those boats here.
It was the uplift in business they desperately needed.
There are boats coming here for a refit. They make a business case.
You have no idea what you are talking about.
You probably don't even know the names of the agencies they need to deal with.
You're just part of the moronic left that sees whole employment sectors destroyed through the pandemic and celebrates it.
What abart the workers then. How many workers? And are you suggesting that we go on selling off bits of NZ at a cost to us all? It isn't moronic to note that there is likely to be a hole in the dyke, as we let in some comfortably off, setting a precedent for others. Letting in more and more wealthy who will cause costs to our health services and our disease control over the country, introducing arrogant, self-centred people who don't give a stuff for us apart from some public gesture to appear concerned.
Ad knows everything and all about everyone. All hail Ad.
Personal ad hominem from someone in position of power is an abuse of power.
Are they some kind of travelling boat party?
Sorry but you really have the wrong end of the stick on this. The large majority of people in these yachts are ordinary middle class folk who have swapped a life onshore for one on the sea. Their boat is their home. It may look like an expensive toy to you, but in reality it's small complex machine that provides it's own shelter, transport, power, utilities for a family. But overall it's price is not dissimilar to the home they might have if they lived on land. Often cheaper.
All the communal services you take for granted by living onshore, these people provide for themselves in their own independent home. They have some good times, but there is a lot of hard work involved as well. It's a different life to the one most of us are accustomed to, but on the whole it's neither more or less privileged than most others in the developed world.
The really wealthy types on superyachts are able to pay to solve any COVID related problems so they aren't the concern here. But yachties are a very diverse community, and most only just balance their budget each year.
There has only been one documented death among the entire global sailing community I'm aware of, and that was in South Africa. By and large these people are responsible, risk averse, generally healthy people who will follow the rules wherever possible. They generally get plenty of sunshine and Vit D. After a 7 – 10 day passage on a small vessel with only 2 -8 people on board, either everyone has caught COVID or none at all. It's a trivial matter to require them to quarantine once they arrive in Opua on board for another week and undergo a couple of tests.
And while FP may not have a lot of cyclones at the moment, marine insurance policies usually require the boat to outside of the tropical zones during the season. This is a pretty big deal for most boat owners.
Someone in the Ministry is being stupidly political on this one.
Correction – Someone in the Ministry is being
stupidlywisely political on this one.Love the detailed reasoning there. /sarc
FP rarely has cyclones and parts of the islands are never hit.A quick google will explain. It's a 21 day passage now which has a number of dangers as they can't island hop – because islands are closed. And would you want to develop covid en route? And we get cyclones here and in Australia sometimes too.
But my point remains – these people are in no particular danger now or in the next six months( insurance isn't really our issue or coverage could be extended by extra premiums-use that and anyone paying health insurance could make a case for coming here) so they have no need to make the passage. And the MSM can stop beating it up
And how would we control this? Only members of the club that can be joined for 50 pounds? How would we know that an influx would not come from WCNA or Hawaii or somewhere to take advantage of this – just staging through FP.
And if the issue is visa expiry in FP them maybe the problem is Boris dropping out of the EU or something else – but we should not have to make up that gap.
I have to wonder at the motivation behind your objection here. This is a relatively small group of people, who can be easily managed with a booking and quarantine system, and who have compelling reasons to get to NZ. They represent a miniscule risk on any objective scale, and they traditionally bring a steady flow of good business to the local industry.
Yet because they're perceived to be 'rich pricks' the reflexive left wing response is to fuck them over if at all possible. Pathetic.
and who have compelling reasons to get to NZ.
What reasons ?
Safety is not one of them as the risk of cyclones decrease in FP in a La nina phase
https://niwa.co.nz/news/la-ni%C3%B1a-shifts-pattern-tropical-cyclones-season
You aren't out there with your home and family at risk.
Nor are they
You really have no clue on this. Sailing people all over the world have been treated appallingly by many countries during this crisis, and you seem determined to add NZ to that list of shame.
Again this is a limited group of people who represent a very low risk. The only possible motivation to keep the out of NZ at this time is based in a certain mean spirited resentment of people you perceive as rich pricks. I’m quite certain of this, there really is no other obvious explanation.
And are you absolutely guaranteeing there will be no cyclones in FP this year? Because any small boats caught in a bad one will stand no chance.
Long term weather data shows that the bottom half of FP does not get hit with cyclones. There are 5 island groups. NZ also gets hit with cyclones and hurricanes. Do you want to guarantee that will not happen here? Thought not. But hey these are weather facts readily available.
My point is the MSM should stop promoting an essentially fake narrative – that NZ is going to let people be at the mercy of killer cyclones – when statistically it may be a lot riskier for them to undertake a 21 day blue water passage and we should not encourage such irresponsibility. Imagine going down with covid en route. A severe bout on land would be close to a death sentence at sea.
Plus the articles I have read do not say it is a small group. And I see a lot of potential for this group to be increased by loophole seekers.
At this point I'll agree to differ. The facts available don't support the MSM narrative. NZ is correct to not see this as compelling reasons to take people from FP.
As to the rich pricks comment see below- that seems to exist only with you. This is about having a compelling need to come here.
when statistically it may be a lot riskier for them to undertake a 21 day blue water passage and we should not encourage such irresponsibility.
They've already done a passage of similar length to get to FP from say the Galapagos any how. It's what they're set up to do.
As for coming down with COVID enroute, that's exceedingly unlikely. They're probably as a age group more at risk from heart attacks and stroke. This is a risk they assume and manage voluntarily every time they go to sea.
And managing 'loopholers' is trivial, just implement a booking and permit system. Anyone who arrives without permission would face substantial penalties. I really don't see this as a problem; they are a bone fide group of people who are all well known to each other, anyone trying to free ride the exemption would be called out real fast.
As for your insistence that FP is some kind of hurricane free zone; I’ve checked in the past hour with a more experienced friend … he just laughed.
I'm actually not saying they are rich pricks – as Poisson says they don't have compelling safety reasons and the length of passage from FP has its own downsides. So the MSM could report that accurately which is my main beef.
But this small (?) group would have the potential to be an exploitable loophole whereby FP suddenly acquires a boatload of people coming from all over the place then on to NZ.
The rich pricks seem to be holed up in Fiji's blue lanes initiatives. But I don't doubt that if exemptions were given they would be down here in a heartbeat.
I think your thinking tends to be linear Red Logix. They are rich enough to have a boat and please themselves. I know that the wealthy can always find people with more money than themselves to compare with, so they can say we're not rich. But the broad mass of people in NZ have limited funds, and everyone at the top has to start expecting the world on a plate.
There is a shrinking of what is there to go round, and a continual expanding of old people wanting their share and a bit of others' as well. Plus the natural increase even in countries with diminishing population rates. So we all have to grow a little to match the lessening of our opportunities.
They are rich enough to have a boat and please themselves.
There … the stinking resentment of anyone doing better than yourself.
RL, genuinely don't envy any of them myself – no "stinking resentment" here.
And if you got "stinking resentment" from greywarshark's quoted comment, then your threshold of detection for "stinking resentment" is set too low, IMHO – but whatever floats your boat
I've been around here long enough to see people swearing blind they don't 'envy the rich', yet over and over it's the only rational explanation for their behaviour.
Again yachties are a very mixed bunch, and only a small handful would qualify as the 'super rich'. Most are ordinary people who have just swapped a life on land for one on water with pretty similar budgets. The cost of the boat is usually less than the cost of the house they no longer live in. It looks like an expensive toy to the lefties here, it isn't, it's their home.
But it was a way of life that was predicated on relatively easy movement between nations, and that has been understandably curtailed for a period. But hurricane season is another force of nature that doesn't wait around either and small chance or not, getting caught in one is catastrophic for them.
NZ cannot seal itself off from the world forever, the lockdowns and travel bans were temporary measures to buy us time to organise other defenses in depth. Nine months later we're much better at tracking and treating COVID now, and managing a few hundred yachties who represent a trivial risk, is well within our capacity.
As pointed out above, it's a three week passage from FP (which is well within their capacity) and this alone ensures quarantine on a small boat. And while the risk of cyclones in FP is not high, it's not damn zero either.
RL, hope that doesn’t include me, although if you are then it would be interesting to know what behaviour(s) gave me away
“We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are”
Regarding the yatchies, if they’re NZ citizens or permanent residents then personally I would have a problem with them making arrangements to come home, as long as they’re happy to go through managed isolation on arrival, just like everyone else.
What I'm seeing here is people looking at all the yachts in marinas and thinking 'rich pricks', and then lazily generalises this to anyone who has a boat.
For a typical sailing family on a monohull the boat will be worth around NZ$200-400k, double that for a catamaran. This is probably less than a house they might live in. Their costs are going to be in the NZ$30-80k pa range. Many work very hard in all sorts of ways to make it work. Again these are fairly middle class numbers, nothing all that startling.
What baffles me is that the left doesn't seem to know what it wants. On one had we claim to advocate for the poor and vulnerable and argue that poverty is a bad thing. Yet when people DO escape poverty and make it into the middle class, we treat them as entitled rich pricks to be sneered at and fucked over whenever possible.
Sure we can reduce inequality by making everyone equally poor, but that's a trivial solution. Anyone with a destructive bent can achieve that. I've always held that it's far more interesting to see just how prosperous and flourishing we could make everyone, and each according to their unique temperament, interests and capacity.
A month back I met a couple who had been caught at sea in the worst of the SE Asian lockdowns at the beginning of the COVID crisis. They got bounced from place to place around SE Asia with diminishing resources until they finally made it to Darwin after 73 days at sea with literally no water or food left on board. Crazy story. NZ doesn't need to be on the same shameful list of countries whose bureaucrats found it easier to say 'no' than to apply some basic common sense.
"What I'm seeing here…" – and why do you think you're seeing that?
"Fucked over"? Maybe you've discovered 'Entitled Rich Pricks Delusion Syndrome' – come one (NZ citizen or resident), come all, poor or rich; just don't expect preferential treatment.
Must be especially tough to be “a rich prick” in a global pandemic.
@gw 10:18am
There are so many bad assumptions embedded in that comment I really don't know where to begin.
Up until February this year many people lived perfectly legitimate lives based on the perfectly reasonable presumption that they could travel between countries. For the past nine months this has been disrupted and everyone understands why. Yet it comes at a real cost for the many people whose lives were arranged around that freedom of travel. People who have commitments in multiple countries are being affected in all sorts of ways, and for the most part we're just putting up with it and hoping for the best.
For example, I'm in the awkward position of needing to be in NZ to apply for NZ Super, but if I do I cannot get back to my life here in Australia. So I'm just having to forgo it for the time being. You probably think of me as some kind of middle class rich prick, but yesterday I worked 20 hours as a deckhand doing a very unglam job in a marine setting. It's what I'm doing to get through.
But the COVID restrictions are not going to be permanent and sooner or later we are going to start unwinding them in a controlled fashion. These yachties are caught in a problem not of their own making and I really can see no good reason to keep making it worse for them.
Other than 'lets just fuck them over because they're rich pricks and COVID gives us a bit of moral authority to do so'.
@DMK
Must be especially tough to be “a rich prick” in a global pandemic.
So I'm still not getting the motives here. Why the insistence that these people must be kept out?
It's not the risk of COVID, that's tiny and completely manageable. It's almost certainly less than the risk of ordinary returnees arriving by plane.
So what is it?
@ RL – already said I wouldn't have a problem (apart from the typo – that's my problem) with citizens and permanent residents returning home to NZ, subject to managed isolation/quarantine capacity constraints. They can fly, sail, canoe or swim for all I care, and I wish them all well – just go through the standard processing on entry into NZ in these unusual and uncertain times.
If they're not NZ citizens or permanent residents, then they should also go through the usual channels, no? I'm not understanding why they should be treated any differently because of their (perfectly valid) lifestyle choices. We've already had a few too many 'visitor exceptions' IMHO. I’d prefer not to make exceptions, even for ‘poors‘.
Brisbane’s (~2800 km) not much further from Fiji than Auckland (~2100 km), so that’s always an option too.
I'm not understanding why they should be treated any differently because of their (perfectly valid) lifestyle choices.
Probably because you don't understand living at sea much.
All they are asking is to be allowed to arrive in NZ as they committed to do a year ago, and undergo all the required entry procedures as necessary. It’s not hard, it’s not risky, and I still cannot see the motivation to say no.
Hm, what's the "motivation" for denying entry into NZ now? Good question. What's the Aussie government's own position on the issue?
I don’t understand living at sea at all – my personal puzzlement is likely due to being susceptible to very unpleasant bouts of sea-sickness. Still cannot understand why 'yachties' should be entitled to priority entry over other non-residents simply because of their lifestyle choices/plans. If they're currently suffering significant hardship and/or risk (as opposed to inconvenience), then that's another matter and certainly deserves consideration on a case-by-case basis. But open slather? No way, IMHO. Still, money talks – watch this space.
I presume this covers your circumstance.
https://www.cab.org.nz/article/KB00001999
You should write to an MP/Minister, and ask for some exemption from return from Oz to claim (for the duration of the MI regime).
Oops – that should read "wouldn't have a problem"; my bad.
Caring and reciprocity are words that should be in our NZ template for what we want and expect of 'citizens'. RL wants us to be caring about people who aren't citizens. We also don't expect reciprocity from them except the laws of the sea when they are at sea.
A pleasant life for them, but freedom comes with a cost. No-one has forced them out of their country have they? They aren't boat people. Let them offer enough money for a haven in Australia which is primarily interested in that, and they can have their RandR there, instead of us being told by you RL to include them in what needs to be a nation under the aegis of CandR. You have a yacht RL, have friends with that lifestyle?
Look at it from the other way, they would be one of the very few groups who would not be adversely impacted if we did let them in.
Consider the refugees who are not getting any settlement any time soon, for example.
I get the middle class people suffering hardship empathy, even Collins has it for farmers, those with jobs and rental properties.
Garner taking their side did them no good, he earlier wanted borders closed to those returning or people paying for their managed isolation – and they were fellow citizens/residents. Why the empathy for this group?
At the moment, our approach is locals first and the business case in relation to others.
For yachties – its this.
https://www.nzmarine.com/news/item/superyacht-and-other-vessel-entry-criteria-for-americas-cup-released
The ground has shifted. Six months ago it made sense to keep the borders as tight as possible; now we know a lot more about treating and managing this disease. We know how to run quarantine (originally a marine idea of course) effectively.
There is no special virtue in keeping the world out indefinitely, we have to start opening up in a controlled and gradual fashion.
they would be one of the very few groups who would not be adversely impacted if we did let them in.
As for this group … well as has been said over and again … the seasons are not going to wait. It’s a bad assumption on your part to think they are not being adversely affected.
@ RL – despite now knowing "a lot more about treating and managing this disease", globally the number of active Covid-19 infections (currently ~7.5 million, i.e. 1 in every 1,000) continues to rise.
I have no opinion on whether there is a "special virtue in keeping the world out indefinitely", but the idea that "we have to start opening up in a controlled and gradual fashion" is not a new one. Personally I would prefer that the global number of active Covid-19 cases was at least stable before NZ opened up, so it's too soon to open up, IMHO.
@SPC
Well most yachties who arrive here from the Pacific spend a reasonable amount with the local marine industry. It's not massive overall, but it's important to those businesses that depend on it for continutity.
NZ does have an innovative and thriving marine industry, there is a good business case to help it wherever it's reasonable to do so. Ad made this point more forcefully earlier.
What I see happening here is some on the left exploiting COVID as a reason to impose their own agenda in ways that I see as mean spirited and ungenerous. There is nothing virtuous about the lockdowns and travel bans except that they bought us some time to learn how to live with this virus long term.
@DMK
Personally I would prefer that the global number of active Covid-19 cases was at least stable before NZ opened up, so it's too soon to open up, IMHO.
At the same time the case fatality rate is dropping. John Campbell has been reporting this for weeks; it's quite a remarkable turnaround.
@ RL – the Covid-19 case fatality rate may be decreasing, but because the global number of active cases is increasing the daily tally of Covid-19 deaths remains stubbornly stable, and really quite high somewhere north of 5,000 per day (7-day moving average).
It's purely arbitrary, but I'd prefer that daily Covid-19 deaths dropped below 50% of the April 18 peak (7,063 deaths per day, 7-day moving average) before NZ made the call to ‘open up‘, and that would probably still be too soon tbh.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#coronavirus-deaths-daily
Well that is kind of my point, overall this pandemic is not racing out of control and I believe we are now closer to the end of it than the beginning.
And just to put this into perspective, some 150,000 people die each day from all causes in all countries.
I'm not minimising this. Six months ago we really had no idea how COVID was going to play out as a pandemic. And with so many gross fumbles and mistakes being made it looked bad. Well the good news is that collectively humanity seems to have muddled it's way through to some sort of stable place where, while COVID remains a real problem, it isn't going to sycthe through hundreds of millions of people as the initial data suggested it could.
NZ has certainly done remarkably well in keeping it bay, but now we face a new challenge in how to manage in a world where COVID is going to be endemic for some time to come. Locking the borders forever is not the solution.
they would be one of the very few groups who would not be adversely impacted if we did let them in.
What assumption? I said, if we let them in they would be one of the few groups in the world not adversely affected.
Your belief is not infectious, and is a poor response to a global pandemic. IMHO we will not be "closer to the end than the beginning" of this pandemic until the global number of active cases begins to decline.
We might be close to that turn around, and then again we might not – after all, officially only ~0.4% of the global population have been infected so far, compared to an estimated one-third of the world’s population being infected by the 1918 ‘Spanish’ flu pandemic.
As to the business case for letting them in. We are balancing the economic return with the risk.
There are some yachts being allowed in now – based on the economic return. There are the 10% places in MI allocated for skilled workers.
The political problem here is possibly this is the case most like the alternative private arrangements (arrival without government organised MI) sought by some businesses (tourist lodges/universities/horticultural companies and for profit tourism Air N B etc) – they would be staying on yacht and yet associate with supply delivery onshore contact etc. There would be nationwide ports of entry and bio security issues (30 days thing) as well.
they would be staying on yacht and yet associate with supply delivery onshore contact etc.
We are talking about a very low risk outdoor settings where COVID hardly ever transmits. Ideally they would be at anchor, but even in a marina it's still easy to isolate. They've already quarantined for at least a week, if not three, and arranging for a test on a dock on arrival, then say another at six days, should be more than sufficient to ensure effective management.
Delivering a food and water without contact is trivial. A small craft take the supplies out, puts them in the yacht tender and leaves. Safer than anything done on land. You'd only have to do this once or twice per boat.
None of them would have urgent family reasons to try and break quarantine. As a group they are very accustomed to much more complex procedures around arriving and departing countries than you’d imagine. (Typically there is a stack of paperwork involved and it can take some days work to organise entry to many places.)
My judgement call is that yachties overall present a risk profile an order of magnitude lower than people arriving by plane.
officially only ~0.4% of the global population have been infected so far, compared to an estimated one-third of the world’s population being infected by the 1918 ‘Spanish’ flu pandemic.
Yes, but this is a different virus and it isn't 1918 either. Martenson has made the case that while it's a novel virus it may well be the case that large fractions of the population are either already generically immune, or partially so, to COVID. This is suggested by the interesting observation that in many countries the shape of the case rate curve is similar, despite wildly differing responses by these countries.
Absolutely it remains worthwhile to flatten the curve as much as possible, but supposing that if we did nothing it would result in an out of control spiral into hundreds of millions of deaths doesn't seem justified either. We still have some way to go to properly understand the epidemiology of this virus.
Plus of course we are now treating it far more effectively than back in April. And there is good reason to expect we will only get better at it. After all in 1918 we barely understood what virus's were, and we had no idea how they interacted with RNA and DNA.
RL, I really hope that you're proven correct in your stated belief that we are closer to the end of the Covid-19 pandemic (whatever 'the end' might look like) than the beginning, but don't share your belief.
https://covid19.healthdata.org/global?view=infections-testing&tab=trend&test=infections
Scientific advances nowithstanding (in 1918 scientists didn't know what DNA or RNA was), I think we're nowhere near the halfway point in the timeline of this particular pandemic.
Amen to that!
While that is plausible, there is still this
it is getting more infectious, and that will impact in the north – Sept-Feb (autumn winter indoors) as they go through flu season while trying to resume education. I do not envy them that, is it flu or coronavirus health management problem.
Remember what happened in Sept-Dec 1918 (the more vulnerable younger population being active got hid hard – this time they will be the ones spreading to those who would be hit hard)
On immunity – the bmj did a recent look at a few reports indicating there might be historic immunity in the population (not from infection with this coronavirus) and this might make a 50% effective vaccine still useful.
(2009 Swine flu – those born pre 1949 seemed to have immunity).
https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3563
"doing better"?
Orstrylia. Where orstriches come from. Head in sand as usual.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/426504/how-far-off-a-trans-tasman-bubble-are-we-now
Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we….
Scott Morrison suggested a potential bubble could work between regions that have no known outbreaks, with travellers from the South Island landing in Australia without having to be quarantined.
An extra 2000 people will be allowed to enter Australia from next Friday, which could help more Australians return home from New Zealand. Caps were made on the number of arrivals to limit the amount of people headed to quarantine facilities.
Because Oz doesn't give a f… about Kiwis deep in their hearts, it would be unwise for us to rely on them making sure that those coming here had been thoroughly screened as if they had not come from a low Covid state.
But we could try for a 1 for 1 flight from NZ with returning Australians having first option, and the same in Australia, which would include no doubt Kiwis they are chucking out – and those people would have to go into 14 day managed isolation, with the new post isolation checks now being recommended.
And tourism lobby be damned, let's have visas between our two friendly nations, the Ossies wanted visas citing the reason that so many furriners got in through the NZ back door which dates back to when we were all for better relations. I think we now have had all the advantage of that arrangement, and are past the tipping-point for change. Special visas will no doubt be given to special business people as with the Chinese; we must not be unfair and show preference in this matter.
And the tourist industry here can run down their drive-yourself business to poor tourists. And we can do what other nations do and that is ensure that people have a return ticket paid for, and a letter from the bank stating the person has sufficient funds to support themselves while in the country. We now have to reduce numbers here, to people who spend more per day, and are not so hard on the countryside and public facilities. In the 1970s there were guidebooks on managing travel on $10 a day, and amazingly this is not all in the past. There are good hints for that low budget traveller which we have to be wary of.
I suggest that we support Woofers (Willing workers on organic farms) which is a way for genuine travellers to get to know people though being low budget through also working with farmers who provide accommodation in this system.
Travel advice examples:
A modern guide: https://medium.com/nomadicwandering/10-ways-to-travel-on-10-a-day-2dc767c1f199
About Frommer and the guide books beloved by we early world travellers after WW2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Frommer
https://www.amazon.com/Arthur-Frommer-Reproduction-1905-07-14-Paperback/
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https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/426508/foreign-yachties-say-lives-now-at-risk-from-nz-decision
I feel extremely sorry for people sailing from Africa trying to get to Greece. It is so hard for them, and hard for Greece too. Probably they are forced to flee after years of chaos caused by western political interference and competition to get resources there which causing friction and fighting. Those in flight drown in quite big numbers and then it is hard to live when they do get to land and a more peaceful situation. There are millions? of people on the move in the world having to run away to save their lives.
These yachties choose to be at sea, go round sampling countries and lifestyles away from their origin, avoiding a deep commitment to land for much of the year. It is their lifestyle, they don't have to live on their boats as do many poorer people. Now it suits the yachties to make demands on us citing their safety. We also have safety concerns, and must look after our own. The yacht owners should have made practical arrangements at their home ports. They seem to have made themselves virtual stateless persons which is not now convenient for them.
Rightist lawyer Liam Hehir speculates on this possible future:
Get real, lad! That's not how things are done in NYC! Daddy taught him to just put the word out on the street. Those with the expertise normally call to discuss the contract. Is he too young to have seen/read The Godfather?? Does he not watch crime shows on tv?
Probably get so many takers there'd be a queue around the Trump Tower block, at which point he'd have a bright idea. Use a recruiting agency to do the interviews, and inform each contestant as they left that they may be starring in an upcoming reality tv show. Local gangs would think that ever so cool. Pros, of course, wouldn't show up in the queue, but would be pissed off at so much competition. Gang war in NYC ensuing could be a useful distraction to the media, allowing the Don a smoother campaign.
From the Nats and kiwi blog but facts never the less Why so much faith in labour is beyond me, if past is a good indicator of the future
[Why so much faith in anything that comes from PDF/KB is beyond me. If the past is a good indicator of the future then it was just a matter of time before you did something as stupid as a cross-posting of PDF’s misleading BS asserting they are “facts never the less” [sic]. I can easily spot one lie: the Government never promised to actually fund the planting of one billion trees. In addition, 258,475,000 trees have been planted as of 7 September 2020, not a measly 36,822,000 directly funded by the One Billion Trees Fund as implied by PDF and you.
As other commenters have already pointed out many of those promises are long-term goals and projects going as far as 2050, which means at least 10 election cycles away. If PDF and you think that you can predict that far out and declare failure today then you are not only disturbingly dishonest but also stupendously stupid.
I can’t say I haven’t warned you. PDF’s post has attracted 86 comments so far so you’ll be banned for 86 days for spreading lies and misleading BS – Incognito]
Even if I were to make the mistake of taking all that at face value, I would still prefer the bumbling good intentions shown there over the competent malignance which is the best that is ever on offer from the Nats. But at the moment all the Nats are offering is malignant incompetence.
F F f ffffffuck off with your facts. Most that are listed have yet to reach the year stated. Stick to that sicko blog. The fact is the Nats are a stinking sinking ship overburdened by lies and misleading narratives.
Numbers and targets like these you tend to look at the trends towards target and on any measure or political persuasion ( if your intellectually honest) they are poor No point going into denial, it is what it is not a great score card
I'd also like to point out that the new Dunedin Public Hospital has indeed had "0 bricks laid".
Firstly, I suspect it will be mostly of poured concrete and steel, rather than brick construction. It's a hospital, not a house for a little piggy.
Secondly, prior to this government the hospital project was stuck in a Wakari/Central City committee limbo. Fuckall was happening. Since the change in government, the project has:
Thanks McFlock for info that people way up in the North Island may not know.
I suspect that 'Red' is concealing the second half of his pseudonym, which would be '-neck.'
So to sum up:
National in government: "There is NO housing crisis".
National in opposition: "Why haven't you solved the housing crisis?".
Rinse and repeat for a range of policies from health to climate change.
Or to put it another way …
If you promise your partner that you will do 10 household chores and you do only 5, are you better or worse than the lazy slob who doesn't offer to do anything?
"Avoid failing by not trying" – National's new slogan.
The point is about labour’s performance and promises, not the Nats, they had their chance and on your count failed The above indicates labour at their bumbling best are not much scratch either They set these goals and targets not national, so not sure why they are then projected on to national, labour needs to own them
Yeah KiwiBuild – hard to bring in builders to build them via local companies when there are not enough first home buyers who can afford them. If they do not allow young couples who own flats or apartments to buy them when starting families or boomers trading down from their 1/4 acre section home to buy, this is going to fail.
A growing waiting list for state houses is not evidence people are homeless, it’s that private sector rents are going up (see above) and more people are being helped via motels. But sure, if they are not going to sort out KiwiBuild they will need to build 10,000 state houses a year, not the 3 or 4,000 they currently do.
Shane Jones could not even get the PGF money allocated and spent, so achieving a trees target was way beyond his munificence.
National promised the Dunedin hospital rebuild three elections in a row, and Labour not getting the building going until the second term is cited? I hope those in Napier are not holding their breath for either a National win or any delivery (not this decade under National).
Labour has moved the target of 100% renewable forward to 2030.
15% more in tertiary, if there was free fees first year – based on Treasury modelling? But it’s no ones fault if jobs are so much easier to come by on leaving school when Labour is in office.
Which also explains the bleating by employers about needing more migrant labour. The economy going too good for this promise to be kept is not something National should be publicising. Own goal.
Peters preferred rail not light rail. Coalitions huh.
Not achieving immediate progress towards reaching longer term goals is not as important as delivering pathways – which Labour did on emissions.
Child poverty is an interesting one, moves to improve rental quality and food in schools will make a difference, as will allowing sole parents to keep more money earned from part-time work.
Then there have been the higher higher MW – over a dolllar increases 2020 (and again 2021). expansion of the living wage and prospect of industry awards this coming term.
Impact of Government policy changes on Child Poverty
The Government introduced its Families Package in July 2018 (changes to the Accommodation Supplement came into force earlier). The 2018/19 HES was conducted over 12 months from July 2018 to June 2019 and collected annual income for the 12 months prior to the interview.
This means that the incomes of households interviewed in 2018 include some income from 2017, and only the very last households interviewed include income from the entire 2018/19 year.
As such, it will take at least one more survey before these income-related policy changes will have close to their full effect on the reported annual income of all households interviewed.
https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/child-poverty-statistics-year-ended-june-2019
Agree some reasonable mitigating ( I would have even have accepted Twyford as an overarching Reasonable excuse ) but not exoneration for a pretty poor effort on delivery
It's more depressing than I outlined, they're building 3000-4000 over a three year term – getting to 10,000 over a three year term may be the hoped for level …
"Yeah KiwiBuild – hard to bring in builders to build them via local companies when there are not enough first home buyers who can afford them. If they do not allow young couples who own flats or apartments to buy them when starting families or boomers trading down from their 1/4 acre section home to buy, this is going to fail."
I accept some of your other arguments, but you have to admit Kiwibuild was a bit of a downer.
Even Megan Woods has admitted 100,000 was "overly ambitious"
"Housing Minister Megan Woods said the 100,000 target was overly ambitious and had led to "contracts being signed in places where there was little first-home buyer demand"."
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/09/labour-s-flagship-policy-where-did-kiwibuild-go-wrong.html
Basically they are still unable to admit that trying to build a lot of new homes while restricting sales to first home buyers, and while the RBG was requiring a 20% deposit, was so so wrong. Thus it will now never get going and the number of state house builds being so low will result in what it already has, waiting lists that grow and grow.
100 reasons to vote Labour.
https://www.labour.org.nz/100reasons
Anyone feeling adventurous could put some of those side by side with the National critique. It would be a useful post.
See my Moderation note @ 3:55 PM.