No I don't think so,Looking at the results from the election at the bottom of each electorate their is a count party informal/candidate informal, it seems if you google that it states invlaid.
Just looking at a couple of electorates from this time around, no the numbers don't look high. An informal vote might be where they haven't voted for a party and/or electorate candidate, or the voting intent was otherwise unclear, such as voting for two candidates or parties.
For instance, in Whangarei 2017, there were 348 informals in the ordinary votes (advance and on the day), this time 504. Sure, that's a lot more than the current winning margin, but the variation from 2017 to 2020 doesn't look suspicious to me.
For the purposes of subsection (2), the following votes must be set aside as informal:
(a) any party votes that do not clearly indicate the party for which the voter desired to vote:
(b) any electorate votes that do not clearly indicate the candidate for whom the voter desired to vote.
For those who remember the 2000 US presidential election and "hanging chads", NZ law gives the Returning Officer some leeway in ascertaining the voter's intention.
Rewrote the election authorisation footer and shoved into the theme functions. Something that I have to dust off every three years. I really need to make that into a plugin – it seems to come around ever faster these days. In this case I was late putting it up and slow to remember to take it down.
I guess it is just that I seem to be ever more busy. I really just need to put in the date of the election. Then the notice can go up on the site automatically at the appropriate number of weeks before, the comments can lock down automatically on the day, and everything can turn off at the correct time.
The site has been running since August 2007 – more than 13 years ago. This was its 5th election.
Oh well – time to shower and get ready for doing a days work, get on the e-bike, avoid the homicidal drivers of cars, and then try to bring some order to code.
Indeed. Especially since today's particular bit of code started life in the 1990s and is on its 4th major iteration. I'm slowly removing some of its inherent 1990s assumptions.
Lots of credit to the three firms in the article. Joined three lots of seasonal work around vineyards into year long permanent job – instead of moaning
Peter Davis has some clear valuable ideas on sorting out the Health system. His final point has merit:
Finally, your support partner. The Green Party has proposed an extension of ACC into the area of illness.
The year 2023 will be the 50th anniversary of ACC, and yet, after half a century, it remains unmodified and fixated on injury. Extending levies beyond injury to other illness-causing commercial activities in the areas of tobacco, alcohol, sugar, saturated fats and other harmful consumption products would not only extend health cover for New Zealanders beyond injury, but also reduce harmful consumption and improve health outcomes such as cancer, obesity, diabetes, particularly for our most vulnerable populations.
I'm glad to see the media are using [Professor] Peter Davis more often. I think he may be retired now but his knowledge and experience in both the health and social policy areas are enormous. He is also a well rounded, down to earth individual – qualities that are lacking in some of our noisier media commentators.
ACC required an overhaul after 3 terms of national as far too many people get ejected with 'pre-existing' conditions, many from DHB ineptitude in initial diagnosis.
Like missing broken bones in feet because only 1 x-ray was deemed required, (hope you got a good radiographer !) then months later, hey presto it's 'pre-existing' so not claimable under ACC.
Many fall between these cracks national opened up which started with their BS scaremongering about the fund back in 2008 being in 'crisis' etc etc
There is mention in the Labour manifesto of investigating inequities in ACC vs health/welfare systems:
As part of the welfare overhaul, Labour will examine
inequities between support through ACC and the
welfare and health system for disabled people and
people with health conditions.
The policy platform also has expanding ACC to include illness. Although that didn't make it into the manifesto this election, it might still be picked up by a new minister.
Side note – both of those items were my policy remits in 2018 which successfully made it into the policy platform, so it's gratifying to see one of the two has made it into the manifesto for further work.
Well it seems Russians … if it is fishing . Funny that, I thought Sealords was half owned by Maori now , who were delighted with that because it would bring work to their people. Should I be confused ?
@Janet I can't find the link but there was a Morning Report interview asking this exact question. The gist of the reply was it takes an awful lot of training to get the qualifications these guys have and will take a very long time to train up NZers.
But yes, we should be confused, given just how long Sealords has been in said ownership.
Sealords are part owned by another company – Japanese. I should think they are managed to the same business practices that other leading fishing companies in NZ are. One Maori fishing company in the early days of quota failed. Sealord Maori business interests would not want this happening to them.
Additionally when there was a program to train Maori to be fisher-people, Sanford management threatened to take them to court for racism or something. No wonder Janet is confused. People don't realise how hard it is for Maori to make their way in the harsh neolib environment.
Established in 1961, in Nelson, Sealord is half owned by the Maori people of New Zealand, through Moana New Zealand (Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd), and half owned by global seafood company Nippon Suisan Kaisha, Ltd (Nissui).
Yes it does take some time to train to be an officer on a fishing vessel, a person has to have enough sea time clocked up as well as having the relevant qualifications.
You're right about that Draco, it sure doesn't take decades.
When I was in the industry, we would regularly contact the fishing school for cadets to come and do a trip. Then if they liked it and the skipper was happy we would offer them a job at the end of their course.
If any employee who worked on our trawlers, wanted to get a ticket, we would bond them for 2 years and pay for the required courses. And when they were studying they would still get their retainer. Sometimes we would even co-ordinate vessel survey or major repair/up grade work to coincide with relevant ticket exams and courses.
It is always valuable to have extra ticket holders onboard a vessel should a crew member need to be airlifted off due to injury v's a massive cost to cease fishing, head to port and pick up another crew member with the correct ticket.
With unticketed crew, like factory crew etc, those were the ones who would do two trips on one trip off,for them it wouldn't take long before they would clock up the necessary sea time to upskill and gain a ticket.
Sealord has been using foreign crew for years decades, rather than up-skilling kiwi's for the same roles.
In the end it's absolutely all about the money for Sealord.
As a past Director of Training for the RNZN I can confirm that it does take a year or two to train up for a Bridge Watchkeeping Ticket, but it is not decades, and most of these new arrivals will not be watchkeeping they are the filleters and gutters engineers cooks and deckhands etc. It doesn't take 200+ watchkeepers to drive a ship. This wholesale importation of labour is an absolute disgrace when we have able bodied unemployed who could easily adapt to the task with a little on-job-training.
The same goes for the bleating I heard this morning WRT the forthcoming harvesting season. Farmers are bleating that there is no one available to drive the headers! FFS! I worked on headers during my university hols for my bro-in-law in what was then (and still is) one of the largest agri contracting businesses in the southern hemisphere. Admittedly, the headers then were not as sophisticated as they are now – but now the task is more about monitoring the on board computers than actual driving. Any reasonably competent person could manage that, with a little guidance and tuition.
The NZ business sector have never wanted to accept the responsibility for training the people they employ, and this lack of investment in personnel is coming back to bite them big time. Its always been far cheaper to hire someone – even from overseas – and not take the time and effort to invest in training – which is why we have such an back log of unemployed. It's about time they were made to face up to their responsibilities in this regard and stop the free loading off others.
The same goes for the bleating I heard this morning WRT
…and most of these new arrivals will not be watchkeeping they are the filleters and gutters engineers cooks and deckhands etc. It doesn't take 200+ watchkeepers to drive a ship.
Thank you Macro. Along with "Bullshit!!!" this is along the lines of what I was yelling at the wireless this morning.
Yet that guy they were interviewing sounded soooo plausible.
Developing the economy costs and, it seems, neither business nor government want to cover those costs. They seem to think that people with no money can pay for them instead and thus produce a profit for shareholders as well.
It's not just the training – you have to get past the racist poms in MSA. I spent half my working life trying to get tickets that folk in Hong Kong could get without hassles by the age of 19.
That NZ doesn't fully staff its fishing fleet with locals is down to corporate and government dysfunction – plenty of keen young kiwis out there, but the companies don't want them, and periodically go broke through incompetence.
NZ has no aquaculture comparable with Australian silver & yellow perch or barramundi either – it's like we're not even trying.
They will never want NZ crew while they have cheaper foreigners on tap. I worked all those 116 hour weeks for nothing – successive governments pissed away my career, and plenty of my former colleagues, having nothing to fall back on, topped themselves.
Corrupt ministers like Fafoi and Nash before him, who rubber stamp the work permits for these slave fishermen, live in infamy.
“It shows that we are serious about the fair treatment of fishing crews, the safety of vessels and New Zealand’s international reputation for ethical and sustainable fishing practices.”
The new law will give government agencies full jurisdiction over areas including employment and labour conditions on fishing vessels.
“It will help ensure fair standards for all fishing crews working in our waters,” Guy said.
The bill was partially opposed by the Maori Party and several iwi, who use FCVs to fish their Treaty of Waitangi quotas.
This was just a PR exercise – the boats are registered in NZ, and, as any lawyer can tell you, thereby subject to NZ law in its entirety. Never enforced of course.
More than likely but the laws are there and we have, supposedly, a government that has some concern for the workers and so they should be looking to enforce it better – especially now that the handbrake has left the building.
We've had a few positions for the boats advertised locally in Nelson/Tasman, but bugger all compared to the volume of crew being flown in. Wonder if they even asked the fishing school if they knew of any potential crew?
I was under the understanding that if vessel is foreign owned (half of Sealord is) and crew is foreign, then NZ employment law does not apply. Would have to double check to be certain.
Pity they didn,t also require all fish caught in NZ waters be processed in NZ too. So we have Russians catching it and Thais and other Asian countries packing it into tins then sending some of it back for us to eat. Once I could not find NZ caught and processed tinned fish I stopped buying it. Some years ago now. These are the kind of practises that are killing NZ, slowly.
Iwi upset why? Was it because NZ waters only applied to those within our 12 mile limit?
New Zealand's territorial sea is the area extending from the coast to the 12 nautical mile limit. However, we have rights and responsibilities for a much larger marine area, extending from 12 to 200 nautical miles from the coast, referred to as the exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
As 'punishments' go, that's both infantile and vindictive. So, business as usual for the IDF then. Between burning olive groves and running interference for rampaging settlers, they're really busy these days.
An 80-year-old retired humanitarian worker and a presbyterian minister have had their homes raided by police over a donation used to purchase personal protective equipment (PPE) in North Korea.
.
The GCSB provides world-class intelligence, information assurance, and cyber security services to the New Zealand Government.
We employ New Zealand's top talent and many of our people are recognised as world leaders in their field of expertise. Our team is intelligent, curious and tech-savvy. We find ways to do things better, faster and smarter, and we have fun along the way. We have a strong team spirit, a sense of unity towards a common goal, and huge pride to know we work for a world-class organisation at the heart of national security.
The DPRK Friendship Society are obviously a bunch of idiots. The DPRK are obviously going to be capable of making their own PPE gear and so don't need donations for them.
Not sure we'd want to cut the vacancy rate. They're still at ~60% occupancy, which isn't too bad. Gives wriggle room if they want to standardise business/labour immigration (the russian sailor counter-example notwithstanding).
1 day ago — Hawa Abdi, who has died aged 73, was a pioneering Somali doctor whose one-room clinic grew into a 400-bed hospital; she provided sanctuary to 90,000 …
As it licks its wounds, let’s hope the National Party can still find time to look back with some pride at what it has achieved in Epsom. The Act Party’s nationwide success on Saturday night has been a tribute to National’s foresight, and to its ability to pick winners. Others would have looked at the dying remnants of the old Act Party and written it off. Yet National needed an MMP partner and it saw the potential where no-one else did. And so it re-grew the Act Party in a petri dish in Epsom, and carefully nurtured it back to life…
expect nat strategists to want to do the same with nzfirst. labour strategists should be getting there first. one owner political party, huge potential for growth, all assets for sale.
Among a lot of things that annoy me about importing Russian sailors is that the health conditions for the sailors coming here were obviously not met.
All the sailors that tested positive for covid-19 should be sent home at the end of their quarantine period – there have to be consequences for not following the health protocols or else what's the point.
If not, then all that will happen is that more and more of them will try to get around the rules and that puts all of us at risk.
But is it their fault? Or their recruiting agency?
Seems to me it's the basic flaw in the system that ISTR the nat's wanted for everyone: test before leaving country of origin. 5% positive rate in this batch suggests pre-departure testing is of little value to NZ immigration.
I think the urgency for getting these guys, and the large number of them to be transported quickly and effectively meant that the tourist and returning protocols were too difficult to meet. We can't be dogmatic about this, but the fishing company/s should be paying a large part of the costs involved.
Uh huh. But the government passed the regulations, and in neolib land the gummint mainly serves business interests, and the country pays for the privilege.
Last night (Tuesday,Oct.20/20) about 10 pm – part moon, starry sky, and then from a westerly direction, a line of lights at regular spaces, might have been 20. I ran inside for family and came straight out again but gone. Seemed to be going east-south-east.
You saw one of the Starlink chains.There's more than 800 individual Starlink satellites in orbit now with thousands to come.
They are released in batches. A batch of 60 odd were launched 3 days ago, the 18th launch of 2020. Once released in space they are then unpredictable in where their orbits may eventuate but can be tracked.
SpaceX has permission to launch as many as 12,000 satellites so far but the company has indicated it will see approval to launch as many as 30,000.
This site below tracks the potential path of the visible chains that you saw. So eg. starlink ( chain) 12 has been in a visible orbit this week in parts of NZ.
They're amazing to watch but this Space X tracker site is a bit like a schmoozing, buy-in for the public to make Musk's unregulated space takeover acceptable. He estimates they will bring him $30billion a year once all operational.
Can you see that starving kid under a night sky grateful for Musk's internet to remote regions ?
Co-author of the study, Professor John Boland, at Trinity College in Ireland, told Morning Report the team were surprised by the large quantities found while preparing new bottles of formula using WHO guidelines.
"What we found is you have at least a million microplastics and in fact many trillion nano-plastics actually."
Particle shedding accelerated at higher temperatures, and shaking bottles also increased their release, he said
"But even if you reduce the temperature of the water down to room temperature, it turns out you get at least a hundred thousand or several hundred thousand microplastics."
The return of the Napier-Wairoa line was promised as a saviour for Hawke's Bay and the forestry industry. Now KiwiRail is keeping quiet about when exactly it will restart again.
Following a $6.2 million investment from the provincial growth fund, the line was reopened by the then regional economic development minister Shane Jones in June last year. But logging trains only began running on 26 January 2020.
A week later, and after just six return trips, the trains were brought to a halt. KiwiRail said it shut because of Covid-19's impact on the forestry industry.
Federated Farmers Wairoa branch chairman Allan Newton said some in rural communities were concerned at the taxpayer spending. "When they work out that their hard-earned tax dollars have gone into such a project that has achieved so little at this stage, they are concerned," he said.
One wonders if those farmers even went to primary school. What is spent out of taxation is for the benefit of the country, or should be. This is strategic spending, not gifts to the country from generous farmers. And do they take out insurance? When they don't ever claim, do they ask for their money back? It goes into a pool for the use of others if you don't have a call on it yourself. The rail line is appropriate expenditure for now, and there will be logs to put on it even if there aren't any farmers in that area. That's how things are these days, you have to think in the round, to the future, not in straight lines to your personal pocket now.
I think we have to give signals by raising money from road users, all of us. And the heavy trucks will have a special price on what shows up on their odometers. The payments should be checked against their trips every now and then to prevent the habit of understating which if it starts with one bad apple will be adopted by them all.
"When they work out that their hard-earned tax dollars have gone into such a project that has achieved so little at this stage, they are concerned," he said.
Their hard earned tax dollars had nothing to do with it. Taxes simply don't work that way.
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New Zealand is supposed to have a progressive tax system, which taxes people according to their ability to pay. But it turns out that the rich are cheating: The wealthiest New Zealanders pay just 12 per cent of their total income in tax on average, according to research from ...
Ground truths on warming When we think about rapid climate change of the kind we've accidentally unleashed and the warming of Earth systems inherent in the process, we tend to focus on phenomena in order of their immediate tangibility, their drama. Sea ice loss in the Arctic, atmospheric and ocean ...
by Daphna Whitmore The Department of Corrections has called in the police over a pamphlet that supports protests at Waikeria Prison, saying the material might incite another riot. The group People Against Prisons Aotearoa denies it advocates for riots and has said it “encourages persistent, peaceful protest action such as striking from ...
One theme in the literature dedicated to democratic theory is the notion of a “tyranny of the minority.” This is where the desire to protect the interests of and give voice to electoral minorities leads to a tail wagging the dog syndrome whereby minorities wind up having disproportionate influence in ...
I've just lodged my fourth complaint to the Ombudsman for deemed refusal of an OIA request by police this year. That brings their total to four for four - every request I have sent them has not been answered within the legal timeframe, even when they extend it to give ...
Will the health reforms proposed for the Labour Government make the system better or worse? Health commentator Ian Powell (formerly the Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists) gives his analysis of what change is most necessary, and what should be avoided. The review of the Health ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections An off-course polar vortex meandered toward the Mexican border, bringing with it frigid Arctic air rarely seen as far south as Texas. Frozen equipment rendered power generation systems in the state inoperable, forcing grid operators to begin rolling blackouts to customers then left to fend ...
Just as National once produced a “rock star economy” that Grant Robertson rejected as being only for the rich, the Labour Government has produced an economic “bounce back” that leaves out the poor. Branko Marcetic argues for a rise in benefit levels to give the poor a real bounce back. ...
Virginia has voted to abolish the death penalty: State lawmakers gave final approval on Monday to a bill that will end capital punishment in Virginia, a dramatic turnaround for a state that has executed more people than any other. The legislation repealing the death penalty now heads to the ...
Yesterday a New Zealand Judge issued a formal finding that the Department of Corrections had treated prisoners in a cruel, degrading and inhumane manner, illegally detaining them, using excessive force, denying them basic necessities unless they performed degrading rituals of submission first. Some of the conduct appears to be criminal: ...
The Green Party are calling on the Government to assess how the COVID-19 leave support scheme can be better improved, distributed and enforced so that workers can properly take leave when self-isolating. ...
We know that when our rural communities do well, all of New Zealand benefits. Labour is committed to supporting our regions so that, together, we can achieve even more. Here are just some of the ways we’re backing rural communities. ...
Government data today shows that the wealthiest New Zealanders aren’t paying their fair share of tax, whilst everyone else chips in, Green Party spokesperson on Finance Julie Anne Genter said today. ...
The Green Party welcomes the change in the Reserve Bank’s remit to consider the impacts on housing when making financial decisions, but housing affordability shouldn’t be left to the Reserve Bank, Green Party Co-leader and Housing spokesperson Marama Davidson said today. ...
The Green Party welcomes the passing of the Local Electorate Act Māori Wards Amendment Bill which ensures Māori have a say on local issues across Aotearoa New Zealand. ...
New UMR research reveals that 69 percent of New Zealanders agree that the government should increase the amount if income support paid to those on low incomes or not in paid work. ...
The Green Party are celebrating the Labour Government bringing forward the timeline to ban conversion therapy, and will push to ensure any draft bill properly protects all of our Rainbow communities. ...
The Green Party is joining the call for ‘brave policy action’ to address rapidly increasing inequality in New Zealand, which is likely to be exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. ...
Health Minister Andrew Little welcomes the Initial Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission’s assessment that transformation of New Zealand’s approach to mental health and addiction is underway. “This is an important step in the Government’s work to provide better and equitable mental health and wellbeing outcomes for all people in New ...
The Government’s Consumer Travel Reimbursement Scheme has helped return over $352 million of refunds and credits to New Zealanders who had overseas travel cancelled due to COVID-19, Consumer Affairs Minister David Clark says. “Working with the travel sector, we are helping New Zealanders retrieve the money owed to them by ...
An additional 88,000 students in 322 schools and kura across the country have started the school year with a regular lunch on the menu, thanks to the Government’s Ka Ora, Ka Ako Healthy School Lunches programme. They join 42,000 students already receiving weekday lunches under the scheme, which launched last ...
New Zealand’s economic recovery has again been reflected in the Government’s books, which are in better shape than expected. The Crown accounts for the seven months to the end of January 2021 were better than forecast in the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU). The operating balance before gains ...
More than half of New Zealand’s estimated 12,000 border workforce have now received their first vaccinations, as a third batch of vaccines arrive in the country, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says. As of midnight Tuesday, a total of 9,431 people had received their first doses. More than 70 percent ...
The Government is significantly increasing its investment in restoring Central Otago’s waterways while at the same time delivering jobs to the region hard-hit by the economic impact of Covid-19, says Land Information Minister, Damien O’Connor. Mr O’Connor says two new community projects under the Jobs for Nature funding programme will ...
The Government has confirmed details of COVID-19 support for business and workers following the increased alert levels due to a resurgence of the virus over the weekend. Following two new community cases of COVID-19, Auckland moved to Alert Level 3 and the rest of New Zealand moved to Alert Level ...
The Government remains committed to hosting the Women’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand in 2022 should a decision be made by World Rugby this weekend to postpone this year’s tournament. World Rugby is recommending the event be postponed until next year due to COVID-19, with a final decision to ...
Community and social service support providers have again swung into action to help people and families affected by the current COVID-19 alert levels. “The Government recognises that in many instances social service, community, iwi and Whānau Ora organisations are best placed to provide vital support to the communities impacted by ...
The Government is following through on an election promise to conduct an independent review into PHARMAC, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Health Minister Andrew Little announced today. The Review will focus on two areas: How well PHARMAC performs against its current objectives and whether and how its performance against these ...
Some of the country’s most forward-thinking early-career conservationists are among recipients of a new scholarship aimed at supporting a new generation of biodiversity champions, Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. The Department of Conservation (DOC) has awarded one-year postgraduate research scholarships of $15,000 to ten Masters students in the natural ...
I acknowledge our whānau overseas, joining us from Te Whenua Moemoeā, and I wish to pay respects to their elders past, present, and emerging. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you all today. I am very pleased to be part of the conversation on Indigenous business, and part ...
Social Development and Employment Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced today that main benefits will increase by 3.1 percent on 1 April, in line with the rise in the average wage. The Government announced changes to the annual adjustment of main benefits in Budget 2019, indexing main benefit increases to the average ...
A Deed of Settlement has been signed between Ngāti Maru and the Crown settling the iwi’s historical Treaty of Waitangi claims, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little announced today. The Ngāti Maru rohe is centred on the inland Waitara River valley, east to the Whanganui River and its ...
With a suite of Government income support packages available, Minister for Social Development and Employment Carmel Sepuloni is encouraging people, and businesses, connected to the recent Auckland COVID-19 cases to check the Work and Income website if they’ve been impacted by the need to self-isolate. “If you are required to ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has expressed her condolences at the passing of long-serving former Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare. “Our thoughts are with Lady Veronica Somare and family, Prime Minister James Marape and the people of Papua New Guinea during this time of great ...
E te tī, e te tā Tēnei te mihi maioha ki a koutou Ki te whenua e takoto nei Ki te rangi e tū iho nei Ki a tātou e tau nei Tēnā tātou. It’s great to be with you today, along with some of the ministerial housing team; Hon Peeni Henare, the ...
The Government is backing a new project to use drone technology to transform our understanding and protection of the Māui dolphin, Aotearoa’s most endangered dolphin. “The project is just one part of the Government’s plan to save the Māui dolphin. We are committed to protecting this treasure,” Oceans and Fisheries ...
Major water reform has taken a step closer with the appointment of the inaugural board of the Taumata Arowai water services regulator, Hon Nanaia Mahuta says. Former Director General of Health and respected public health specialist Dame Karen Poutasi will chair the inaugural board of Crown agency Taumata Arowai. “Dame ...
The newly completed Hibiscus Coast Bus Station will help people make better transport choices to help ease congestion and benefit the environment, Transport Minister Michael Wood and Auckland Mayor Phil Goff said today. Michael Wood and Phil Goff officially opened the Hibiscus Coast Bus Station which sits just off the ...
New funding announced by Conservation Minister Kiri Allan today will provide work and help protect the unique values of Northland’s Te Ārai Nature Reserve for future generations. Te Ārai is culturally important to Te Aupōuri as the last resting place of the spirits before they depart to Te Rerenga Wairua. ...
Today the Government has taken a key step to support Pacific people to becoming Community Housing providers, says the Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio. “This will be great news for Pacific communities with the decision to provide Pacific Financial Capability Grant funding and a tender process to ...
Conservation Minister Kiri Allan is encouraging New Zealanders to have their say on a proposed marine mammal sanctuary to address the rapid decline of bottlenose dolphins in Te Pēwhairangi, the Bay of Islands. The proposal, developed jointly with Ngā Hapū o te Pēwhairangi, would protect all marine mammals of the ...
Attorney-General David Parker today announced the appointment of three new District Court Judges. Two of the appointees will take up their roles on 1 April, replacing sitting Judges who have reached retirement age. Kirsten Lummis, lawyer of Auckland has been appointed as a District Court Judge with jury jurisdiction to ...
Government announces list of life-shortening conditions guaranteeing early KiwiSaver access The Government changed the KiwiSaver rules in 2019 so people with life-shortening congenital conditions can withdraw their savings early The four conditions guaranteed early access are – down syndrome, cerebral palsy, Huntington’s disease and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder An alternative ...
The Reserve Bank is now required to consider the impact on housing when making monetary and financial policy decisions, Grant Robertson announced today. Changes have been made to the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee’s remit requiring it to take into account government policy relating to more sustainable house prices, while working ...
The Labour Government will invest $6 million for 70 additional adult cochlear implants this year to significantly reduce the historical waitlist, Health Minister Andrew Little says. “Cochlear implants are life changing for kiwis who suffer from severe hearing loss. As well as improving an individual’s hearing, they open doors to ...
The Local Electoral (Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Bill passed its third reading today and will become law, Minister of Local Government Hon Nanaia Mahuta says. “This is a significant step forward for Māori representation in local government. We know how important it is to have diversity around ...
The Government has added 1,000 more transitional housing places as promised under the Aotearoa New Zealand Homelessness Action Plan (HAP), launched one year ago. Minister of Housing Megan Woods says the milestone supports the Government’s priority to ensure every New Zealander has warm, dry, secure housing. “Transitional housing provides people ...
A second batch of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines arrived safely yesterday at Auckland International Airport, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says. “This shipment contained about 76,000 doses, and follows our first shipment of 60,000 doses that arrived last week. We expect further shipments of vaccine over the coming weeks,” Chris Hipkins said. ...
The Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Carmel Sepuloni has today announced $18 million to support creative spaces. Creative spaces are places in the community where people with mental health needs, disabled people, and those looking for social connection, are welcomed and supported to practice and participate in the arts ...
Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Andrew Little today welcomed Moriori to Parliament to witness the first reading of the Moriori Claims Settlement Bill. “This bill is the culmination of years of dedication and hard work from all the parties involved. “I am delighted to reach this significant milestone today,” Andrew ...
22,400 fewer children experiencing material hardship 45,400 fewer children in low income households on after-housing costs measure After-housing costs target achieved a year ahead of schedule Government action has seen child poverty reduce against all nine official measures compared to the baseline year, Prime Minister and Minister for Child Poverty ...
It’s time to recognise the outstanding work early learning services, kōhanga reo, schools and kura do to support children and young people to succeed, Minister of Education Chris Hipkins says. The 2021 Prime Minister’s Education Excellence Awards are now open through until April 16. “The past year has reminded us ...
Three new Jobs for Nature projects will help nature thrive in the Bay of Plenty and keep local people in work says Conservation Minister Kiri Allan. “Up to 30 people will be employed in the projects, which are aimed at boosting local conservation efforts, enhancing some of the region’s most ...
The Government has accepted all of the Holidays Act Taskforce’s recommended changes, which will provide certainty to employers and help employees receive their leave entitlements, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Wood announced today. Michael Wood said the Government established the Holidays Act Taskforce to help address challenges with the ...
The Government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and faster than expected economic recovery has been acknowledged in today’s credit rating upgrade. Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) today raised New Zealand’s local currency credit rating to AAA with a stable outlook. This follows Fitch reaffirming its AA+ rating last ...
Tena koutou e nga Maata Waka Ngai Tuahuriri, Ngai Tahu whanui, Tena koutou. Nau mai whakatau mai ki tenei ra maumahara i te Ru Whenua Apiti hono tatai hono, Te hunga mate ki te hunga mate Apiti hono tatai hono, Te hunga ora ki te hunga ora Tena koutou, Tena ...
The Minister of Justice has reaffirmed the Government’s urgent commitment, as stated in its 2020 Election Manifesto, to ban conversion practices in New Zealand by this time next year. “The Government has work underway to develop policy which will bring legislation to Parliament by the middle of this year and ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage and Social Development Hon Carmel Sepuloni today launched a new Creative Careers Service, which is expected to support up to 1,000 creatives, across three regions over the next two years. The new service builds on the most successful aspects of the former Pathways to ...
New Zealand’s COVID-19 response highlights the need to centre children’s rights in all government planning, especially if we are to be prepared for future shocks and crises, Commissioner for Children Andrew Becroft says. A report from the Children’s ...
The people who clean managed isolation facilities are doing an essential frontline service. But many are making little more than minimum wage, reports Michael Neilson for the NZ Herald. Tina Eitiare works at the frontline of New Zealand’s Covid-19 response while supporting her family, and yet earns just 25c an hour ...
All the major news events, which will hopefully not be too many. Auckland is now at alert level three, NZ at level two. Get in touch at info@thespinoff.co.nz Help keep The Spinoff alive and kicking. Click here to learn how you can support The Spinoff from as little as $1.8.30am: The ...
Times like these call for an enormous great slice of carrot cake – and this is an absolute beauty. It seems appropriate, as the seasons shift and the leaves start to turn from green to orange and from orange to brown, that I share this recipe for carrot cake. I love ...
Dispatches from a bike trail through the regions, discovering the small communities that have prospered – and those that haven't Big country, small column. I revel in the first, and apologise for the second. The odds on me writing a long column receded during the week as I cycled halfway ...
Vroom vroom, beep beep, get in losers! Drag Race Down Under is coming to TVNZ later this year, and today the 10 Australian and New Zealand competitors have been revealed.The wiggiest show this side of Real Housewives is finally making its way to the southern hemisphere. That’s right, RuPaul’s Drag ...
Three years ago clinical psychologist and culture warrior Jordan Peterson rode a bestseller to equal parts adulation and excoriation. Danyl Mclauchlan reviews a sequel that sprang from chaos. Since publishing his mega-bestselling self-help guide 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos in 2018, Jordan Peterson has led an existence ...
Asia Pacific Report Papua New Guinea’s Supreme and National Courts in Port Moresby will be partially closed for a week beginning yesterday after a judge has been tested positive for the covid-19, reports The National. Registrar Ian Augerea said in a statement the closure was to prevent any further infections ...
By RNZ News Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says it is hard not to feel like New Zealand is having a run of bad luck, with residents waking up today to a tsunami alert amid the covid-19 restrictions. The tsunami alert was triggered after three quakes overnight – the first of ...
Asia Pacific Report The Australia West Papua Association (AWPA) has called on the Australian government to stop trying to keep Papua off the agenda at the Pacific Islands Forum and “strenuously support” Pacific leaders in urging Jakarta to allow a PIF fact-finding mission to the territory. Congratulating the PIF Secretary-General ...
Did you sense the roads were busier in this Auckland lockdown than previous ones? Google mobility data indicates that you’re right.More people were going to work, and more heading out shopping, during the current lockdown in Auckland than during the August equivalent, which also took place under alert level three ...
The only statement to emerge from the Beehive in the past two days was cheery in tone but foreshadowed further increases in the funding devoted to mental health. The statement was issued by Health Minister Andrew Little, who welcomed the Initial Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission’s assessment that transformation ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is condemning Wellington City Council’s refusal to consult on the privatisation of the central library as undemocratic. “Wellingtonians threatened with a 13.5 percent rate hike deserve a full menu of cost-saving options ...
This morning the Māori Party confirmed their new National Executive including Che Wilson, Fallyn Flavell, John Tamihere and Kaiarahi Takirua: Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. Wilson returns for a second term as President and the two new members ...
New Zealand is now two weeks into the largest immunisation programme ever undertaken here, with border and managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) workers first in line. “We are so proud of our people for doing the right thing by stepping up and being ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Camilo López-Aguirre, PhD Candidate, UNSW Scientists have found another piece in the puzzle of how echolocation evolved in bats, moving closer to solving a decades-long evolutionary mystery. All bats — apart from the fruit bats of the family Pteropodidae (also called flying ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jordy Meekes, Research Fellow, Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research, The University of Melbourne That Australian women earn less than Australian men is well-known. The latest calculation put the gap – the extent to which the average female full-time wage is ...
All the major news events, which will hopefully not be too many. Get in touch at info@thespinoff.co.nz Help keep The Spinoff alive and kicking. Click here to learn how you can support The Spinoff from as little as $1.8.00am: The day aheadThere are a couple of things we’ll be looking out ...
In this week's Critic's Choice review, Guy Somerset watches I Care a Lot on Amazon Prime and wonders if kindness has its limits Do you think Jacinda Ardern has been watching I Care a Lot? It would explain a lot, As Newsroom political editor Jo Moir wrote earlier this week, ...
By Ramzy Baroud At a glance, it may appear that the split of Arab political parties in Israel is consistent with a typical pattern of political and ideological divisions which have afflicted the Arab body politic for many years. This time, however, the ...
Discovering that her favourite summer drink is apparently an offence against wine, Charlotte Muru-Lanning sets out to uncover whether it’s actually so awful to serve red wine on the rocks.After many summers spent pouring red wine over ice without much thought, it recently struck me that maybe this combination was, ...
LISTEN: Extra Time examines two big issues in women's sport this week - postponing the Rugby World Cup and the Silver Ferns' battle for the crown that eludes them. Poised at one game a piece, can the Silver Ferns overcome a spirited young Australian Diamonds side and end a nine-year drought without netball's ...
"If Maggie said she was going to bake a cake, Lois always turned up with one that was bigger, more chocolatey and with fancier icing": a shaggy cake story by Shani Naylor. It was 2am. Maggie opened her eyes and lay still in bed. She could hear her husband Ken's ...
The art world is being bombarded with something called ‘non-fungible tokens’. We asked artist and crypto expert Simon Denny to help us explain what they are.At first glimpse, a gif of Nyan Cat is nothing special. It’s a bit cute, a bit nostalgic. So why did one sell for US$450,000? ...
Journalists avoid his calls, editors loathe it when he highlights mistakes. But he reckons he’s not scary at all. Chris Schulz meets RNZ’s Mr Mediawatch, Colin Peacock.Over his summer holidays, Colin Peacock tried to switch off. For much of the previous 12 months, the 52-year-old host of Radio ...
While it has since been deleted and apologised for, an op-ed by former Labour MP Michael Bassett published by the Northland Age and the NZ Herald this week caused an uproar for its racist cherry-picking and false reporting of historical facts. Historian Scott Hamilton sets the record straight.Michael Bassett is ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Deaths, West Europe still not “out of the woods”. Chart by Keith Rankin. Deaths, East Europe remains a major concern. Chart by Keith Rankin. At first glance through our rear-vision mirror, western Europe had a substantial spring outbreak of Covid19, and further outbreaks in spring and ...
A starter’s list for the national Aotearoa museum of the sporting damned. Richard Irvine confronts the demons.The sunGenerally it’s hard to make an argument against the giver of all life, as it provides photosynthesis, vitamin D and enables a wide range of recreational activities. But when it runs rampant around ...
Auckland can breathe a sigh relief knowing at 6am on Sunday the region will move down to Alert Level 2 after another seven long days in lockdown. Government and health officials are now turning their minds to lessons learnt, following a week of mixed messaging, rule-breaking and blame and shame, writes political ...
Three future scenarios after today’s large offshore earthquakes.A trio of serious earthquakes saw parts of Aotearoa shaken, tsunami threats triggered, and tens of thousands of people heading inland after evacuation instructions.Of the magnitude-7-plus events, the first, shortly before 2.30am, was centered off East Cape. Measuring 7.1, it was felt across ...
Analysis - The prime minister came down hard on lockdown rule-breakers but were they clearly told what they had to do? Peter Wilson looks into the reports as another crisis lurks in the background. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Gleeson, Associate professor, La Trobe University News of the blockage of a shipment of 250,000 COVID-19 vaccines from Europe to Australia has caused concern and outrage. The immediate problem will probably be quickly solved through diplomatic channels. Even if it is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Stern, Professor of Geophysics, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington The Tonga Kermadec subduction zone stretches between New Zealand and south of Samoa.USGS, CC BY-SA A sequence of three major offshore earthquakes, including a magnitude 8.1 quake near ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra University of Canberra Professorial Fellow Michelle Grattan and Director of the Institute for Governance & Policy Analysis Dr Laine Dare discuss the week in politics. This week the pair discuss some of the 148 recommendations ...
The minister responsible for the country's spy agencies says they can't constantly monitor the internet to identify terror threats and instead rely on the public to raise the alarm. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Collins, Laureate Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Newcastle Celebrity testimonials abound for pills, potions and creams that purport to make you look younger. This time collagen supplements are in the spotlight, after Jennifer Aniston became the face of one ...
Have the government’s Covid-related messages been getting through to Pacific and non-Pacific ethnic communities in South Auckland? Justin Latif tried to find out.John Pulu is one of the best-known television and radio personalities in New Zealand’s Pacific community. He not only fronts TVNZ’s Tagata Pasifika Saturday morning show, but also hosts ...
James Elliott tries to work out what made Mike Hosking and Brian Tamaki tick everyone off this week. The week started with Aucklanders back under Alert level 3 and Mike Hosking on Alert Level 6. “Mike’s Minute” on NewstalkZB on Monday, which as usual lasted significantly longer than a minute, ...
Fonterra has confirmed what most analysts had been predicting and lifted its 2020/21 forecast farmgate milk price range to $7.30 – $7.90 kg/MS, up from $6.90 – $7.50. This should send a further surge of confidence across NZ’s rural regions, hopefully in a wave strong enough to encourage farmers to ...
A Financial Times leader delivers advice that Finance Minister Grant Robertson should (but probably won’t) consider. Essentially, the advice is to resist the temptation to involve the central bank in the challenge of slowing the rise in house prices. Changing regulation and reforming planning law is a smarter way to ...
The NZ Superannuation Fund has divested from five Israeli banks due to their suspected involvement in illegal settlement construction. Michael Andrew reports.The Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation, an autonomous crown entity and manager of the multi-billion NZ Super Fund, has divested from five Israeli banks due to their funding of ...
A contestant on the new season of The Bachelor has apologised for ‘controversial’ social media posts comparing mask wearing to ‘slavery’ and for questioning the scientific consensus around Covid-19. Stewart Sowman-Lund reports.Shivani Pragji is – according to her LinkedIn profile – a solicitor working for the Ministry of Business, Innovation ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, PhD, Media and Politics, Deakin University A couple of days ago, the musician Grimes sold some animations she made with her brother Mac on a website called Nifty Gateway. Some were one-offs, while others were limited editions of a few ...
Analysis: We are able to send a blaring alert to the phone of every New Zealanders to warn of Covid lockdowns, yet we still struggle to warn them of the danger of a tsunami This coming week, it will be 10 years since Japan was hit by the Tohoku earthquake, one ...
Moa brewery sold in February for $1.9m, leaving behind an unsavoury legacy. Michael Andrew speaks to the new owner about how the brewery plans to move forward, while at the same time returning to its Marlborough roots.Moa Brewing Company’s new owner Stephen Smith has criticised the company’s old marketing strategy, ...
By RNZ News An 8.0 earthquake has struck near the Kermadec Islands, hours after a 7.4 quake near the Kermadecs and a 7.1 off the North Island coast, A 7.4 quake struck near the Kermadec Islands earlier this morning. The islands are 800km to 1000km from New Zealand. National Emergency ...
National Parks are being closed off to allow fallow deer to be bombarded with 1080 poison. The proposal has drawn strong criticism from the Australian hunting public and also New Zealand’s Sporting Hunters Outdoor Trust. Laurie Collins, spokesman ...
In the fallout from the Dirty Politics defamation hearing, how can the Food and Grocery Council and its chief continue to deny involvement in attacks on public health academics? Tim Murphy explains its stance. The middleman has 'fessed up. So where does that leave the two prominent players on either side ...
Mike Hosking is a king of breakfast radio, a lover of blazers, and deliverer of opinions via his long-running online video series, Mike’s Minute. José Barbosa absorbed three months’ worth of those opinions in one go, and lived to tell the tale. Just. To be honest, I hadn’t thought about ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (Bloomsbury, $25)This 2011 bestseller set during the Trojan War has ...
A new poem from Melbourne-based poet Grace Yee.I have heardthat the price of a pound of gold has gone grey over the last couple of monthsthat the first sovereign lord beheaded his grandsonthat chinese market gardeners in suburbia shipped out after decades of fastingand purificationthat evil-intentioned hooligans penetrated the palace ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dave Parry, Professor of Computer Science, Auckland University of Technology Although international travel restrictions for Australia have been extended to at least June, there may still be potential for a trans-Tasman bubble with New Zealand (and maybe some other countries), according to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jamie Triccas, Professor of Medical Microbiology, University of Sydney The United States’ drug regulator, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said last week COVID vaccines updated for variants won’t need to go through full randomised controlled clinical trials. The booster shots will ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Milte, Matthew Flinders Senior Research Fellow, Flinders University The final report from the aged care royal commission this week was damning. Speaking of a system in crisis, it calls for an urgent overhaul. The Morrison government has been facing difficult questions ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David John Eldridge, Professor of Dryland Ecology, UNSW After 200 years of European farming practices, Australian soils are in bad shape – depleted of nutrients and organic matter, including carbon. This is bad news for both soil health and efforts to address ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Zoe Vaill, PhD Candidate Faculty of Education, Queensland University of Technology Students are heading off to universities around Australia, whether for the first time or as returning students, with expectations of a year of learning, making friends and enjoyable socialising. For some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jan Thomas, Vice-Chancellor, Massey University As first-year students flooded onto campuses around the country this week, gripped with uncertainty and curiosity about their new lives, I too returned to university to learn. For the first time since what feels like forever, but ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW After years of repeatedly missing its inflation target through too timid monetary policy, in the past week the Reserve Bank has decided to get tough. Not only did it hold its closely watched cash rate target ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter McNeil, Distinguished Professor of Design History, UTS, University of Technology Sydney It’s Sydney Lesbian and Gay Mardi Gras festival time. LGBTQI people are enjoying what some call “gay or lesbian Christmas”. It’s not quite the same in the era of COVID, ...
A tech expert is warning the government could face multiple stumbling blocks if it makes QR code scanning mandatory - in particular when dealing with tech giants like Apple and Google. ...
*This story first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. A tsunami alert has been issued after a 7.4 earthquake near the Kermadec Islands. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) says it expects strong and unusual currents and unpredictable surges at the shore. It says the threat is from ...
Live coverage of the snap lockdown and the search for a source of the latest infection. Auckland is now at alert level three, NZ at level two. Get in touch at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.50am: Two major earthquakes strike; tsunami warning in placeTwo major earthquakes have struck off the coast of New Zealand ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Cabinet to decide on lifting lockdown today, questions raised about the stability of the housing market, and people instinctively respond to tsunami threat after earthquake.A decision will be made today on whether or not Auckland will come out of level ...
The military is showing little sign of backing down, but the coup could have the unintended consequence of unifying Myanmar society in opposition, across significant ethnic divisions. A month ago, citing dubious claims of electoral fraud in the November 2020 election, Myanmar’s military deposed the country’s democratically elected National League for Democracy ...
Rio Olympian Helena Gasson may be one of the oldest Kiwi swimmers still at the top of their game, but she's found a new gear - breaking 20 NZ records in the past 18 months. Even in the year of Covid, with her plans abruptly changed and her training schedule interrupted, Helena ...
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Who is going to do the work?
Those who are paid sufficiently?
how is that determined?
Living wage with an annual COLA. Cost of living adjustment.
While we are at it, have the living wage be at level that a family can be raised on one income at 30 hours a week.
But that's not how it works.
Its mostly about people being forced to work for others through poverty so that those others don't have to work at all.
That is the heart of capitalism.
Good morning folks,
Can somebody school me with regards to informal votes from the weekend, are those numbers high and/or is it a result of monkey wrenching.
Do you mean the special votes Left for dead? I think they were around 500,000 which is in my opinion, on the high side.
No I don't think so,Looking at the results from the election at the bottom of each electorate their is a count party informal/candidate informal, it seems if you google that it states invlaid.
Note to weka, still no spellcheak.
Just looking at a couple of electorates from this time around, no the numbers don't look high. An informal vote might be where they haven't voted for a party and/or electorate candidate, or the voting intent was otherwise unclear, such as voting for two candidates or parties.
For instance, in Whangarei 2017, there were 348 informals in the ordinary votes (advance and on the day), this time 504. Sure, that's a lot more than the current winning margin, but the variation from 2017 to 2020 doesn't look suspicious to me.
Here's the numbers for 2017:
https://archive.electionresults.govt.nz/electionresults_2017/statistics/candidate-votes-and-turnout-by-electorate.html
I haven't found a summary for 2020 yet, so you need to pull up each electorate individually:
https://www.electionresults.govt.nz/electionresults_2020_preliminary/electorate-details-64.html
Thanks, an ODT special has a break down,though all the electorates but not sure if it's online.
through that should be and with out ,
Informal votes are ones that can't be counted for some reason including but not limited to:
Thanks Draco, I've learnt something today, excellent 🙂
From Section 174 of the Electoral Act:
For the purposes of subsection (2), the following votes must be set aside as informal:
(a) any party votes that do not clearly indicate the party for which the voter desired to vote:
(b) any electorate votes that do not clearly indicate the candidate for whom the voter desired to vote.
For those who remember the 2000 US presidential election and "hanging chads", NZ law gives the Returning Officer some leeway in ascertaining the voter's intention.
Cheers folks, as I thought,a shame though that the people can't get it right their are a few there.
Rewrote the election authorisation footer and shoved into the theme functions. Something that I have to dust off every three years. I really need to make that into a plugin – it seems to come around ever faster these days. In this case I was late putting it up and slow to remember to take it down.
I guess it is just that I seem to be ever more busy. I really just need to put in the date of the election. Then the notice can go up on the site automatically at the appropriate number of weeks before, the comments can lock down automatically on the day, and everything can turn off at the correct time.
The site has been running since August 2007 – more than 13 years ago. This was its 5th election.
Oh well – time to shower and get ready for doing a days work, get on the e-bike, avoid the homicidal drivers of cars, and then try to bring some order to code.
then try to bring some order to code.
Hah … a whimsical fantasy to fill your days with.
Indeed. Especially since today's particular bit of code started life in the 1990s and is on its 4th major iteration. I'm slowly removing some of its inherent 1990s assumptions.
13 years – a lucky number for all, and we run to keep up. Great going lprent.
Lots of credit to the three firms in the article. Joined three lots of seasonal work around vineyards into year long permanent job – instead of moaning
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/123103444/vine-to-wine-turning-seasonal-work-into-full-time-employment
Yes, good thinking.
+100
Eradicate foreign cheap labour.
Ah, so they've finally figured out how true economies of scale work.
Peter Davis has some clear valuable ideas on sorting out the Health system. His final point has merit:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/peter-davis-advice-to-the-incoming-minister-of-health/UDA3OBRW4WKS6VWE7PPIQW45DQ/
I'm glad to see the media are using [Professor] Peter Davis more often. I think he may be retired now but his knowledge and experience in both the health and social policy areas are enormous. He is also a well rounded, down to earth individual – qualities that are lacking in some of our noisier media commentators.
Yes. Peter has a measured way of writing and the ideas quoted from others he has distilled into sane reasonable looking directions.
I heard Grant R mention the ACC/insurance idea for people with illness during the campaign.
ACC required an overhaul after 3 terms of national as far too many people get ejected with 'pre-existing' conditions, many from DHB ineptitude in initial diagnosis.
Like missing broken bones in feet because only 1 x-ray was deemed required, (hope you got a good radiographer !) then months later, hey presto it's 'pre-existing' so not claimable under ACC.
Many fall between these cracks national opened up which started with their BS scaremongering about the fund back in 2008 being in 'crisis' etc etc
There is mention in the Labour manifesto of investigating inequities in ACC vs health/welfare systems:
The policy platform also has expanding ACC to include illness. Although that didn't make it into the manifesto this election, it might still be picked up by a new minister.
Side note – both of those items were my policy remits in 2018 which successfully made it into the policy platform, so it's gratifying to see one of the two has made it into the manifesto for further work.
Thanks Craig H for your work in keeping these matters before the government.
Pat asked above "Who is going to do the work?"
Well it seems Russians … if it is fishing . Funny that, I thought Sealords was half owned by Maori now , who were delighted with that because it would bring work to their people. Should I be confused ?
@Janet I can't find the link but there was a Morning Report interview asking this exact question. The gist of the reply was it takes an awful lot of training to get the qualifications these guys have and will take a very long time to train up NZers.
But yes, we should be confused, given just how long Sealords has been in said ownership.
Actually, I think it may have been on Checkpoint last night. I'll have to look for the link later.
Sealords are part owned by another company – Japanese. I should think they are managed to the same business practices that other leading fishing companies in NZ are. One Maori fishing company in the early days of quota failed. Sealord Maori business interests would not want this happening to them.
Additionally when there was a program to train Maori to be fisher-people, Sanford management threatened to take them to court for racism or something. No wonder Janet is confused. People don't realise how hard it is for Maori to make their way in the harsh neolib environment.
Established in 1961, in Nelson, Sealord is half owned by the Maori people of New Zealand, through Moana New Zealand (Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd), and half owned by global seafood company Nippon Suisan Kaisha, Ltd (Nissui).
Our Business – Sealord International
Yes it does take some time to train to be an officer on a fishing vessel, a person has to have enough sea time clocked up as well as having the relevant qualifications.
Yes, but it doesn't take decades to so.
You're right about that Draco, it sure doesn't take decades.
When I was in the industry, we would regularly contact the fishing school for cadets to come and do a trip. Then if they liked it and the skipper was happy we would offer them a job at the end of their course.
If any employee who worked on our trawlers, wanted to get a ticket, we would bond them for 2 years and pay for the required courses. And when they were studying they would still get their retainer. Sometimes we would even co-ordinate vessel survey or major repair/up grade work to coincide with relevant ticket exams and courses.
It is always valuable to have extra ticket holders onboard a vessel should a crew member need to be airlifted off due to injury v's a massive cost to cease fishing, head to port and pick up another crew member with the correct ticket.
With unticketed crew, like factory crew etc, those were the ones who would do two trips on one trip off,for them it wouldn't take long before they would clock up the necessary sea time to upskill and gain a ticket.
Sealord has been using foreign crew for
yearsdecades, rather than up-skilling kiwi's for the same roles.In the end it's absolutely all about the money for Sealord.
As a past Director of Training for the RNZN I can confirm that it does take a year or two to train up for a Bridge Watchkeeping Ticket, but it is not decades, and most of these new arrivals will not be watchkeeping they are the filleters and gutters engineers cooks and deckhands etc. It doesn't take 200+ watchkeepers to drive a ship. This wholesale importation of labour is an absolute disgrace when we have able bodied unemployed who could easily adapt to the task with a little on-job-training.
The same goes for the bleating I heard this morning WRT the forthcoming harvesting season. Farmers are bleating that there is no one available to drive the headers! FFS! I worked on headers during my university hols for my bro-in-law in what was then (and still is) one of the largest agri contracting businesses in the southern hemisphere. Admittedly, the headers then were not as sophisticated as they are now – but now the task is more about monitoring the on board computers than actual driving. Any reasonably competent person could manage that, with a little guidance and tuition.
The NZ business sector have never wanted to accept the responsibility for training the people they employ, and this lack of investment in personnel is coming back to bite them big time. Its always been far cheaper to hire someone – even from overseas – and not take the time and effort to invest in training – which is why we have such an back log of unemployed. It's about time they were made to face up to their responsibilities in this regard and stop the free loading off others.
The same goes for the bleating I heard this morning WRT
…and most of these new arrivals will not be watchkeeping they are the filleters and gutters engineers cooks and deckhands etc. It doesn't take 200+ watchkeepers to drive a ship.
Thank you Macro. Along with "Bullshit!!!" this is along the lines of what I was yelling at the wireless this morning.
Yet that guy they were interviewing sounded soooo plausible.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018769309/covid-19-eleven-fishermen-test-positive-in-christchurch-14-more-under-investigation
Developing the economy costs and, it seems, neither business nor government want to cover those costs. They seem to think that people with no money can pay for them instead and thus produce a profit for shareholders as well.
It's not just the training – you have to get past the racist poms in MSA. I spent half my working life trying to get tickets that folk in Hong Kong could get without hassles by the age of 19.
That NZ doesn't fully staff its fishing fleet with locals is down to corporate and government dysfunction – plenty of keen young kiwis out there, but the companies don't want them, and periodically go broke through incompetence.
NZ has no aquaculture comparable with Australian silver & yellow perch or barramundi either – it's like we're not even trying.
They will never want NZ crew while they have cheaper foreigners on tap. I worked all those 116 hour weeks for nothing – successive governments pissed away my career, and plenty of my former colleagues, having nothing to fall back on, topped themselves.
Corrupt ministers like Fafoi and Nash before him, who rubber stamp the work permits for these slave fishermen, live in infamy.
No. It's all about profit after all:
This was just a PR exercise – the boats are registered in NZ, and, as any lawyer can tell you, thereby subject to NZ law in its entirety. Never enforced of course.
More than likely but the laws are there and we have, supposedly, a government that has some concern for the workers and so they should be looking to enforce it better – especially now that the handbrake has left the building.
I got a legal opinion on it, back in the day.
We've had a few positions for the boats advertised locally in Nelson/Tasman, but bugger all compared to the volume of crew being flown in. Wonder if they even asked the fishing school if they knew of any potential crew?
I was under the understanding that if vessel is foreign owned (half of Sealord is) and crew is foreign, then NZ employment law does not apply. Would have to double check to be certain.
The last National government changed the law so that all ships operating in NZ waters are operating under NZ law. Many iwi were upset about it.
Pity they didn,t also require all fish caught in NZ waters be processed in NZ too. So we have Russians catching it and Thais and other Asian countries packing it into tins then sending some of it back for us to eat. Once I could not find NZ caught and processed tinned fish I stopped buying it. Some years ago now. These are the kind of practises that are killing NZ, slowly.
Iwi upset why? Was it because NZ waters only applied to those within our 12 mile limit?
New Zealand's territorial sea is the area extending from the coast to the 12 nautical mile limit. However, we have rights and responsibilities for a much larger marine area, extending from 12 to 200 nautical miles from the coast, referred to as the exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
https://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/marine-environmental-reporting/our-marine-environment-2016-introduction-our-marine
Seemingly, because they would make less profit.
DTB Prejudiced and simplistic.
In what way?
They really did complain and, IIRC, it was about costs.
Lol
Israeli Defence Forces were stopped from demolishing a Palestinian home. Now they want to pour cement into his room instead.
When is Jacinda Ardern going to speak about this illegal and brutal occupation?
https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/israeli-military-to-pour-concrete-into-a-palestinian-s-room-as-punishment-40631
As 'punishments' go, that's both infantile and vindictive. So, business as usual for the IDF then. Between burning olive groves and running interference for rampaging settlers, they're really busy these days.
Norman Finkelstein describes the IDF as the most cowardly army in the world.
How does never sound Morrissey?
Palestinians are invisible to most centrist Politicians.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/428836/new-zealand-north-korea-friendship-society-raided-over-donations
GCSB – Great Concern Spy Brouhaha?
An 80-year-old retired humanitarian worker and a presbyterian minister have had their homes raided by police over a donation used to purchase personal protective equipment (PPE) in North Korea.
.
https://www.gcsb.govt.nz/working-for-us/
The GCSB provides world-class intelligence, information assurance, and cyber security services to the New Zealand Government.
We employ New Zealand's top talent and many of our people are recognised as world leaders in their field of expertise. Our team is intelligent, curious and tech-savvy. We find ways to do things better, faster and smarter, and we have fun along the way. We have a strong team spirit, a sense of unity towards a common goal, and huge pride to know we work for a world-class organisation at the heart of national security.
The DPRK Friendship Society are obviously a bunch of idiots. The DPRK are obviously going to be capable of making their own PPE gear and so don't need donations for them.
Can we improve on this without spoiling our present good system?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/428832/thousands-of-managed-isolation-vacancies-every-week-since-july
Not sure we'd want to cut the vacancy rate. They're still at ~60% occupancy, which isn't too bad. Gives wriggle room if they want to standardise business/labour immigration (the russian sailor counter-example notwithstanding).
Yes, we need capacity available and to keep good isolation and
lowno fraternisation!This is the sort of woman that old-time feminists praised and honoured.
https://www.pressreader.com/new-zealand/the-press/20201020/282209423339146
1 day ago — Hawa Abdi, who has died aged 73, was a pioneering Somali doctor whose one-room clinic grew into a 400-bed hospital; she provided sanctuary to 90,000 …
This is so dry from Gordon Campbell – Werewolf at Scoop – that it would curl the lips of hardened Gnats as they sucked in the content.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL2010/S00128/on-national-being-shafted-by-its-own-creation.htm
As it licks its wounds, let’s hope the National Party can still find time to look back with some pride at what it has achieved in Epsom. The Act Party’s nationwide success on Saturday night has been a tribute to National’s foresight, and to its ability to pick winners. Others would have looked at the dying remnants of the old Act Party and written it off. Yet National needed an MMP partner and it saw the potential where no-one else did. And so it re-grew the Act Party in a petri dish in Epsom, and carefully nurtured it back to life…
expect nat strategists to want to do the same with nzfirst. labour strategists should be getting there first. one owner political party, huge potential for growth, all assets for sale.
lol woodart
Being sold as is, where is due to some issues with the foundation.
Among a lot of things that annoy me about importing Russian sailors is that the health conditions for the sailors coming here were obviously not met.
All the sailors that tested positive for covid-19 should be sent home at the end of their quarantine period – there have to be consequences for not following the health protocols or else what's the point.
If not, then all that will happen is that more and more of them will try to get around the rules and that puts all of us at risk.
But is it their fault? Or their recruiting agency?
Seems to me it's the basic flaw in the system that ISTR the nat's wanted for everyone: test before leaving country of origin. 5% positive rate in this batch suggests pre-departure testing is of little value to NZ immigration.
I think the urgency for getting these guys, and the large number of them to be transported quickly and effectively meant that the tourist and returning protocols were too difficult to meet. We can't be dogmatic about this, but the fishing company/s should be paying a large part of the costs involved.
Yes, the isolation is paid for by the company.
But given the arseholery of international maritime labour, that probably just means the workers are in heavy debt to a Russian intermediary.
As for the protocols, everything seems to have been followed okay at this end. One queries the testing in Russia, though.
'But given the arseholery of international
maritime labour'… you name it.BAU then. It's the story of our time – we have reached our potential level on the Peter's Principle rule.
We can't be dogmatic about this, but the fishing company/s should be paying ALL of the costs involved.
Uh huh. But the government passed the regulations, and in neolib land the gummint mainly serves business interests, and the country pays for the privilege.
Granny, as usual, has shonky John pimping it up on behalf of the banks who are soooo hard done by wanting capital requirements delayed….diddums.
Last night (Tuesday,Oct.20/20) about 10 pm – part moon, starry sky, and then from a westerly direction, a line of lights at regular spaces, might have been 20. I ran inside for family and came straight out again but gone. Seemed to be going east-south-east.
Explanation? Eion Musk or whom or what?
Yeah, Musk. The tool is screwing up astronomy good and proper.
You saw one of the Starlink chains.There's more than 800 individual Starlink satellites in orbit now with thousands to come.
They are released in batches. A batch of 60 odd were launched 3 days ago, the 18th launch of 2020. Once released in space they are then unpredictable in where their orbits may eventuate but can be tracked.
SpaceX has permission to launch as many as 12,000 satellites so far but the company has indicated it will see approval to launch as many as 30,000.
This site below tracks the potential path of the visible chains that you saw. So eg. starlink ( chain) 12 has been in a visible orbit this week in parts of NZ.
They're amazing to watch but this Space X tracker site is a bit like a schmoozing, buy-in for the public to make Musk's unregulated space takeover acceptable. He estimates they will bring him $30 billion a year once all operational.
Can you see that starving kid under a night sky grateful for Musk's internet to remote regions ?
https://findstarlink.com/#1036;3
Oh noooos.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/428848/babies-ingesting-microplastics-from-bottles-study-shows
Co-author of the study, Professor John Boland, at Trinity College in Ireland, told Morning Report the team were surprised by the large quantities found while preparing new bottles of formula using WHO guidelines.
"What we found is you have at least a million microplastics and in fact many trillion nano-plastics actually."
Particle shedding accelerated at higher temperatures, and shaking bottles also increased their release, he said
"But even if you reduce the temperature of the water down to room temperature, it turns out you get at least a hundred thousand or several hundred thousand microplastics."
edit
Different oh nooos.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/428838/much-lauded-restart-of-napier-wairoa-railway-line-only-ran-for-a-week
The return of the Napier-Wairoa line was promised as a saviour for Hawke's Bay and the forestry industry.
Now KiwiRail is keeping quiet about when exactly it will restart again.
Following a $6.2 million investment from the provincial growth fund, the line was reopened by the then regional economic development minister Shane Jones in June last year.
But logging trains only began running on 26 January 2020.
A week later, and after just six return trips, the trains were brought to a halt.
KiwiRail said it shut because of Covid-19's impact on the forestry industry.
Federated Farmers Wairoa branch chairman Allan Newton said some in rural communities were concerned at the taxpayer spending.
"When they work out that their hard-earned tax dollars have gone into such a project that has achieved so little at this stage, they are concerned," he said.
One wonders if those farmers even went to primary school. What is spent out of taxation is for the benefit of the country, or should be. This is strategic spending, not gifts to the country from generous farmers. And do they take out insurance? When they don't ever claim, do they ask for their money back? It goes into a pool for the use of others if you don't have a call on it yourself. The rail line is appropriate expenditure for now, and there will be logs to put on it even if there aren't any farmers in that area. That's how things are these days, you have to think in the round, to the future, not in straight lines to your personal pocket now.
I think we have to give signals by raising money from road users, all of us. And the heavy trucks will have a special price on what shows up on their odometers. The payments should be checked against their trips every now and then to prevent the habit of understating which if it starts with one bad apple will be adopted by them all.
Their hard earned tax dollars had nothing to do with it. Taxes simply don't work that way.
And $6.2 million is nothing.