The House of Representatives is expected to vote on Thursday to refer Steve Bannon to federal prosecutors for potential criminal charges relating to his defiance of Congress… The House committee investigating the 6 January insurrection has been steadily tightening the screws on Bannon. At Tuesday’s hearing, Liz Cheney, the representative from Wyoming who has been a leading critic of Trump’s role in inciting the 6 January assault in which five people died, directly accused Bannon of planning the attack… Cheney added that Bannon and Trump’s refusal to comply suggested that “President Trump was personally involved in the planning and execution of January 6th”.
Alternatively, could just be that Steve & Donald are entitled to view themselves as above the law. That stance has been embedded in the collective psyche of rich folk for centuries. So they feel security in their traditionalism, and plausible deniability works. I reckon they enjoy calling Congress's bluff – they're both players adept at gaming the system of democracy.
The world’s first robot artist has been detained by security forces while attempting to enter Egypt. Art is bad enough, but the prospect of art performed by a robot understandably triggered acute paranoia.
"People fear robots, I understand that. But the whole situation is ironic, because the goal of Ai-Da was to highlight and warn of the abuse of technological development, and she’s being held because she is technology. Ai-Da would appreciate that irony, I think.”
Exhibitions of irony have been the hallmark of postmodernism since its inception so good to see postmodernism ain't quite dead yet.
Right, so the Health Dept has switched from trying to figure out how the virus is spreading to focus on containment. Given up, too hard, not enough staff to do it.
Or, knows exactly how it has been spreading, and who's doing it, and doesn't want to tell the public.
One explanation correct, or both? Unless & until we get an official explanation, we can only guess. My guess is that they have identified the spreaders, and have decided to use privacy law to protect the offenders. I presume Labour's Minister for Political Rectitude issued that instruction. Fortunately privacy law prevents public identification of that person. Can't hit an invisible target…
For most of this outbreak, Ministry of Health has been reporting the number of cases from the last 14 days that have not been linked to known cases. These are sometimes called “mystery cases”. During September these hovered at between five and 15 per day, as case investigations and genomic sequencing was able to link the cases to each other.
But since early October the number of unlinked cases has been steadily rising and that number is now approaching 200. Because delta moves so much faster and infects so many more people, the outbreak has put huge pressure on our public health units who do the contact tracing and case investigations. The focus has had to shift to stopping further transmission rather than investigating where cases came from. This just makes it all the more important that wherever you live, if you have any symptoms that could be Covid-19, please get tested.
My emphasis. The government by definition cannot know how the mystery cases got covid. They can focus on the down stream transmission. Afaik they've only stopped contact tracing the mystery cases, the known cases are still being traced back.
So no, I don't think Labour are hiding anything from us. What would be the purpose?
Much more likely is it's prioritising resources and using all the modelling tools they have to choose which is the best approach given the situation.
I know it's challenging, and actually frightening, but we have delta in the community now. We've lost the elimination battle, although I think the government still needs to be critiqued on what it is doing, maybe there is a small chance. It's also frightening both for those in lockdown and those in covid-free areas, what the government will do next. Will it allow covid across all of NZ? What measures should it take to prevent that (high vaccination rate is a high priority, but not wholly sufficient)? Should Auckland be expected to keep carrying the load for the rest of the country? For how long?
It's a novel virus, delta is a novel strain, we have to figure this out as we go along. Has any other country been in our position before?
Maybe how it is being spread can be listed in the paper.
"Today Mary got it it. She got it from Luong at her work, who got it from Tamati at the Auckland Domain, who got it from Maria at Zebleckis Laundry in Dominion Road, who got it from Gin Zing at Countdown Blenheim, who got it from Bill at church in St Heliers …
(Surnames withheld on here for privacy reasons but obviously full names would be used in the papers.)
Half a page of small print of how a virus spreads. Scary as Fudge to be honest. And yes, maybe this should be printed out every once in a while as it seems many don't understand how it does spread.
If anyone and everyone would treat this virus as if they and everyone had it maybe it would reduce the spread?
Or someone returning to Christchurch and home isolating/in MIQ and spreading it to their family. It is easily spread. Auckland is doing us all a favour and many are paying a huge mental physical and financial toll. Your year free of covid is due to excellent choices by the government and luck.
I was referring to the govt rules for managing Delta. Those who breach such rules are offensive offenders. Punishment is the natural justice outcome. Politically-correct morons are incapable of grasping the principle of natural justice – and, lest you are inclined to kneejerk into legalistic banality as happened last time I mentioned it, I mean that concept as generally understood (not the lawyer's term of art).
Whenever any public service manager decides to use privacy law as a fig-leaf to cover his/her moral nudity and protect the wrongdoer from being held accountable by the public, that decision is evidence of moral corruption. Nothing to do with health.
Do you have any evidence that all, or even "most" people pass on Covid by deliberately flouting the rules? They're not just people who have gone to the supermarket, filled up the car, or some other banal task after say, visiting a place of interest before it was identified as a place of interest? Because until someone says so, my reckons are that most people would be mortified if they found out they infected other people with covid, rather than deliberately spread it.
Health privacy laws aren't a fig-leaf ever. They're essential for every person who interacts with health services. Even more-so when there is so much blame attached to an illness like covid. Do you actually think people with symptoms would come forward for testing in the numbers they do if they knew they were going to be named and shamed just because they have a disease?
I have several times pointed out that the govt keeps failing to provide the evidence. Did you not see those messages?? We can't comment on the evidence until they do so. Withholding that evidence keeps everyone in the dark.
Any suitable contender for naming and shaming is one who broke the rules, as I pointed out. Why not read what I actually wrote instead of hallucinating a fantasy version?
Right, so the Health Dept has switched from trying to figure out how the virus is spreading to focus on containment. Given up, too hard, not enough staff to do it.
Or, knows exactly how it has been spreading, and who's doing it, and doesn't want to tell the public.
One explanation correct, or both? Unless & until we get an official explanation, we can only guess. My guess is that they have identified the spreaders, and have decided to use privacy law to protect the offenders. I presume Labour's Minister for Political Rectitude issued that instruction. Fortunately privacy law prevents public identification of that person. Can't hit an invisible target…
Your main assumption is that one needs to know every single link in the chain of transmission in order to effectively cut the rate of transmission. This is incorrect. Firstly, the presence of unknown links is by definition the presence of less obvious and less frequent transmission events. Why hunt down the more difficult fruit when we are having difficulty cutting the links of higher spread likelihood, and need to stop known cases spreading it further?
But now you've gone from that to suggesting they know all the transmission events (lol) and are hiding that information using the privacy act.
The privacy act isn't an excuse to lie. If they have identified the links to all cases, it would be recorded that there are no unlinked cases. It's pretty standard.
the Health Dept has switched from trying to figure out how the virus is spreading to focus on containment. Given up, too hard, not enough staff to do it.
2: Didn't suggest that.
yet:
My guess is that they have identified the spreaders, and have decided to use privacy law to protect the offenders.
3: I didn't mention that hypothetical either!
So they had identified the spreaders and were using privacy law to protect the "offenders", yet they did that without linking the cases that were spread?
I've been pointing out how the govt are undermining their own efforts. Yesterday I reiterated my support for their overall effort, while criticising this one particular defect. Perhaps you weren't paying attention!
Well if you really didn't get my point, Bremner, ought I try again? Or are you in denial? It's not all that obscure.
1. Rule-breakers ought to be held accountable. That's due to the public suffering the consequences of their misbehaviour.
2. You could take them to court and impose a fine, but if they're poor that penalises their kids, eh? So naming and shaming is a better option.
3. The govt is not naming and shaming them. Likely reason: privacy law. A feeble excuse because it only applies to health issues – not criminal behaviour.
4. Lack of punishment incentivises others to copy the rule-breaking, thus accelerating the pandemic. So the govt is actively undermining its own containment strategy.
2. You could take them to court and impose a fine, but if they're poor that penalises their kids, eh? So naming and shaming is a better option.
because "public shaming" doesn't impact their kids?
3. The govt is not naming and shaming them. Likely reason: privacy law. A feeble excuse because it only applies to health issues – not criminal behaviour.
"Likely reason" or "straw man"? Also, the privacy act is not restricted to the health sector, so the claimed feebleness of your imagined excuse is based upon an error in law.
4. Lack of punishment incentivises others to copy the rule-breaking, thus accelerating the pandemic. So the govt is actively undermining its own containment strategy.
Except court is still a punishment, see your own point 2. So the government isn't undermining a damned thing.
While the government is proceeding well at attacking the housing crisis from the supply end, now is also the time to consider tackling the demand side.
Now traditionally, a lot of investors and elderly people keen on low risk investments would put their a significant portion of money into term deposits and government bonds, reassured in the knowledge that these would prove to be reliable and stable. The problem was that the commerical interest rate was so low, that it did not generate a satisfactory return.
So, perhaps the government could offer a 3 percentage point boost to all term investment/long-term saver accounts as an incentive to keep investment in the banking/productive sector. This money would be calculated and paid at the end of tax year along with any refunds. But, giving money to capitalists, you say? Hold on a moment.
The government pays an increasingly large amount of money out in accommodation supplements and in first home owner grants. All because first home owners, and single home owners, are being challenged at the market by investors seeking a better return, which is causing a dangerous abberation in our housing market.
What if much of the investor money moved back to the banking sector, and away from the housing market where it is currently doing so much damage? Of course there would need to be some limits. perhaps, no additional interest on deposits/investments above $1m.
That must be making an enormous dent in the demand surely? Not quite the 30,000 or so that was originally promised by this time but not really that bad at all.
No ,it is not food for thought. If you want to learn about the Banks/Bankers just read any of Countryboy's contributions to TDB (the daily blog). He doesn't hold anything back!
Inflation is at 5% – as the OCR goes up (soon to 1%, then to 2% next year, then to 3% in 2023 and so on) so will bank deposit rates (and mortgage costs).
Those with spare cash/nest eggs at the moment have it in power companies for the dividend returns (which might move back to cash once interest rates rise).
Those soon to cash up their Kiwi Saver account, or sell their rental who want risk free rate of return via bank deposits (not dodgy finance companies) will just have to be patient. There is the option of gold coins and property trusts and blue chip stocks – or just have it in a managed fund and sell down the level bit by bit.
PS Cash parked in banks sits there for developers to borrow for their binge on 3 house section build ups.
Preferable that there is an increase in supply. But speculation can also occur with the purchase of the three properties as rentals – there is still no guarantee of a rise in home ownership as an outcome.
Or affordable rents, allowing beneficiaries to live with a bit of dignity and working people to save for their own home. It's all still in the hands of the banksters, speculators, "investors". Nothing will change – who do they think they're kidding?
The only fund that gets close to competing against investing in houses is Kiwisaver on 100% Growth.
If the state enabled Kiwisaver providers to enable savers to input into funds with a 5 year maturity and a 10 year maturity, as well as the Year 65 maturity, they would go head to head against the 5-year and 10-year Bright Line tests.
That's a practical extension of investment funds that are already in operation.
If they really wanted to push the boat out, NZSuperFund could become a Kiwisaver provider as well. That would be a way to help recycle local savings back into the locality.
A Tauranga-based national housing company, Classic Group, and the New Zealand Super Fund have established a $300 million partnership that will help build thousands of new homes.
The Kaha Ake [Stronger Together] partnership, which NZ Super holds an 80 per cent share in, will focus strongly on meeting the chronic demand for quality, affordable housing.
It was great to see National and Labour uniting on the density policy this week, but it wouldn't have killed them to use the NZSuperFund housing partnership to illustrate the state partnering with private capital which extends beyond Kainga Ora and HLC.
I heard that the BBC has cut its associatin with Stonewall.
Also Henry Miller from Fair Cop is threatening legal actin against any UK police force that continues its association with Stonewall on the basis of their diversty training scheme is impacting police impartiality
i am a cynic here, and i believe that Stonewall has done all it can and will now disappear. A different organisation – Mermaids – might take over. Money was made, and now with the resulting scrutiny some might wish to retire to spend more time with their families.
I don't have time to do a post on this, but if anyone wants to follow from the start, the Northern Ireland police have just told a lesbian that she has to come down the to station for a voluntary interview over some tweets (@femmeslove is gender critical). If she doesn't she will be arrested and interviewed under caution.
She hasn't been told which tweets are at issue. She has been told who made the complaint – David Paisley (yep, that David Paisely.)
She is the third woman to be threatened with arrest in this way. Men have also been through various similar processes. These include police recording hate incidents against people's names without actually charging them, on the basis of complaints.
I've been following @femmeslove on twitter for ages, and she's a joy to read, a strong woman who speaks her mind, but I would never have picked her as someone with offensive tweets.
This is what makes this response from government so concerning. And we will follow along this line, because we have plenty of nasties just waiting to shut down anything they take offence at.
That's quite chilling. So we're going to divert police attention from stopping the explosion of gang numbers to prosecuting parents for protecting their 12 year olds from taking life changing drugs. What the hell kind of country are we becoming?
It’s got down to if someone tweets something that offends someone else, and makes a complaint, even if no crime has occurred, the UK police will come to have a little cautionary talk.The tweet and your name will be recorded in a register of hate speech.Their guidelines come from Stonewall, which has manoeuvred itself as a very handy way for govt institutions to outsource their LBGTQIA policies
As some other person responded
!984 is a dystopian novel, not a manual.
When they speak of crimes against Transpeople being up the waazoo, that is what htey are speaking of. Never mind the bodies of actual dead women strewn across the UKs landscape.
SUFW have been labelled a hate group, although a High Court Judge in Palmerston North, stated this was not the case. Yet people continue to refer to it as such. I anticipate that when the hate laws come in, there will be all sorts of attempts to accuse Gender Critical Feminists of hate speech. And there will be cries and howls if the Palmerston North verdict has set a president
Yes it will help diversify our markets away from China. We will have to tidy some of our impacts to control climate effects. More investment into cattle foods and capture to limit methane. Selective breeding away from heavy methane emitting stock.
I recommend taking a minute to watch the "chat" between the PMs of NZ and the UK.
One PM waffles on about honey and attempts a feeble rugby analogy, which is promptly trumped by the other PM, who then shows a good grasp of the issues and is able to succinctly outline the components of the deal, and how it affects us. But she isn't a bloke in a suit, so she must be the lightweight, obviously, and we're totally not sexist, no way.
There's only one charlatan in that dialogue, and it's not the one in Wellington.
Even Margaret Atwood has fallen from grace. The letter she co signed with many other writers included these statements
“To that end, we say: nonbinary people are nonbinary, trans women are women, trans men are men, trans rights are human rights. Your pronouns matter. You matter. You are loved.”
But it has not been enough to save her from being blasted as a transphobe
'We're just also recognizing that, when discussing repro rights, biology, and many other things, saying 'women' is often inaccurate or outright exclusionary.'
We don't have consensus any more as to the meaning of the word woman
I'm still going by the dictionary definition of adult human female. Particularly when discussing repro rights,biology, etc I would stick with the word woman .It's getting too bizarre.If we say transmen are real men, and transwomen are true women, is it time to ditch the trans part.
So then we get
Transwomen can ejaculate , therefore women can ejaculate, transmen can menstruate, therefore men can menstruate.We can talk about pregnant men and women.What a party we could have
I can go with the notion that transwomen are women in the sense that they culturally conform to the stereotypes of womanhood, and feel comfortable in that role (Good luck to them, I don't), but nobody would surely claim an act of will can bring on periods and a heightened risk of cervical cancer.
Transwomen are not women in the biological sense.That should not be controversial.
Yes unless you adopt all aspects of gender ideology and their “new” language, you are transphobic.
people are entitled to identify how they like, but it doesn’t trump biological reality, that there are only two sexes and that is immutable and in many instances sex matters.
but Margaret Atwood would have to spout the ideological line to avoid being called transphobic. I hope given she is an elderly lady she doesn’t get the death and rape threats jk Rowling got and continues to get
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Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
She was born 25 years ago today in North Shore hospital. Her eyes were closed tightly shut, her mouth was silently moving. The whole theatre was all quiet intensity as they marked her a 2 on the APGAR test. A one-minute eternity later, she was an 8. The universe was ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Antarctica gaining land ice? ...
Images of US students (and others) protesting and setting up tent cities on US university campuses have been broadcast world wide and clearly demonstrate the growing rifts in US society caused by US policy toward Israel and Israel’s prosecution of … Continue reading → ...
Barrie Saunders writes – Dear Paul As the new Minister of Media and Communications, you will be inundated with heaps of free advice and special pleading, all in the national interest of course. For what it’s worth here is my assessment: Traditional broadcasting free to air content through ...
Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its arguments for such a bold reform. ...
Peter Dunne writes – The great nineteenth British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, once observed that “the first essential for a Prime Minister is to be a good butcher.” When a later British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, sacked a third of his Cabinet in July 1962, in what became ...
Ele Ludemann writes – New Zealanders had the OECD’s second highest tax increase last year: New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax raises in the developed world last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says. The intergovernmental agency said the average change in personal income tax ...
We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Priestley Habru, PhD candidate, public diplomacy, University of Adelaide Former foreign minister Jeremiah Manele has been elected the next prime minister of Solomon Islands, defeating the opposition leader, Matthew Wale, in a vote in parliament. The result is a mixed bag for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shaun Eaves, Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Jamey Stutz, CC BY-SA How often do mountains collapse, volcanoes erupt or ice sheets melt? For Earth scientists, these are important questions as we try ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Flood, Professor of Sociology, Queensland University of Technology Shutterstock Most young adult men in Australia reject traditional ideas of masculinity that endorse aggression, stoicism and homophobia. Nonetheless, the ongoing influence of those ideas continues to harm men and the people ...
The NZQA proposal released to staff today would involve a net loss of 35 roles. There are 66 roles being disestablished with 13 of those currently vacant, and 31 new roles proposed, said Fleur Fitzsimons Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga ...
Alex Casey talks to Loren Taylor, the writer, director and star of new film The Moon is Upside Down, about assembling her dream ensemble cast, toilet paper pads and turning literal dreams into reality. There’s a moment in The Moon is Upside Down where frazzled anaesthetist Briar (Loren Taylor) gets ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cassy Dittman, Senior Lecturer/Head of Course (Undergraduate Psychology), Research Fellow, Manna Institute, CQUniversity Australia With winter sports swinging into action, adults around the country have volunteered or been volunteered by others (humorously known as being “volun-told”) to coach junior sports teams. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Karleen Gribble, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University richardernestyap/Shutterstock Parents are often advised to burp their babies after feeding them. Some people think burping after feeding is important to reduce or prevent discomfort crying, or to ...
Workers at a major ASB contact centre in Auckland have voted to take strike action and withdraw their labour following disappointing pay negotiations with the employer and an "offer" to workers that would leave them worse off than the previous year. ...
As the government tries to get the country back on track with a school phone ban, Tara Ward has an idea for where they should turn their attention to next.New Zealand students returned to school on Monday morning, but their cellphones did not. The government’s new phone ban began ...
The Labour Party is demanding Peters be stood down, saying "he's embarrassed the country" with a "totally unacceptable" attack on a prominent AUKUS critic. ...
The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance, whose members were victims of a China-backed cyber attack, is discussing forming a standing committee to deal with foreign influence. ...
The PSA is concerned that the voluntary redundancies being offered to staff by Stats NZ will impact on the agency’s ability to deliver on its core functions. ...
Results ranged from surprisingly yum to soul-destroying. I love cooking. The kitchen is a hearth of culinary creation, of sensory delights, of gastronomic poetry. I also can’t afford anything nice. Why does a pack of instant noodles and some milk cost ten bucks? I love you, Aotearoa, but I miss ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor Police in Solomon Islands are on high alert ahead of the election of the prime minister today. The two candidates for the top job are former foreign affairs minister Jeremiah Manele at the head of the Coalition for National Unity and Transformation, which is ...
He’s fine but it feels like I’m losing a friend and it’s making me bitter. How do I say ‘enough is enough’? Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzHey Hera,I’ve recently moved in with a girlfriend, her partner Steve, and his friend. We all live in a lovely little house. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nick Chartres, Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Medicine & Health, University of Sydney shutterstockAhmet Misirligul/Shutterstock You go to the gym, eat healthy and walk as much as possible. You wash your hands and get vaccinated. You control your health. This is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jacqueline Hendriks, Research Fellow and Lecturer, Curtin University Children and young people may be seeing news headlines about men murdering women or footage of people rallying to call for action. Perhaps they or their friends have even gone to the protests. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessica Balanzategui, Senior Lecturer in Media, RMIT University ABC “Bluey mania” shows no sign of abating. Bluey’s season finale, The Sign, was the most viewed ABC program of all time on iView. A “hidden” follow-up episode, aptly named The Surprise, created ...
Labour market figures came in softer than the Reserve Bank had forecast, but they won’t be enough to move the needle on interest rates, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Unemployment ...
The campaign will engage the community and encourage submissions on the bill to the New Zealand government by the closing submission deadline of Friday 31st of May 2024 4pm. ...
The paper raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand's political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency plays in that. ...
The Urban Habitat Collective was an attempt to built an innovative new form of apartment building in Wellington. Here’s why it failed, and why the idea could still work, writes co-founder Bronwen Newton. When we started the Urban Habitat Collective in November 2018, we thought we were starting a revolution, ...
Two decades ago this week, a controversial law that attempted to define ownership of the foreshore and seabed prompted a formidable display of outrage and kōtahitanga as 15,000 marched to parliament. Jamie Tahana looks back.‘Hīkoi, hīkoi,” they chanted by the thousands as the biggest Māori march in a generation ...
A Labour Party Member’s Bill aims to plug a culpability gap between manslaughter and health and safety breaches The post New push for corporate killing laws appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Terence O’Brien had the rare and no doubt undesired distinction of rising to one of the most exalted positions in New Zealand diplomacy, then being unceremoniously recalled to Wellington without explanation just when his career was at its zenith. What is perhaps more surprising is that he appears to have ...
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Why has New Zealand slipped from third to 12th on Quality of Death Indexes over the past decade or so? Hospice New Zealand Chief Executive Wayne Naylor has a list of reasons. “We don’t have a current national strategy – the Government hasn’t renewed our 2001 strategy, so we don’t ...
While women’s sport is exploding in Aotearoa and around the world, you still don’t hear a lot of talk about athletes and their periods, RED-S, breastfeeding and visible panty-lines. SASS (Suze and Sez Sports)Talk isn’t afraid to have that kōrero.LockerRoom founder Suzanne McFadden and Olympian broadcaster Sarah ...
On an unusually hot night in January 2019, a little boy’s lifeless body was found face up in a small town’s sewage oxidation pond. To the police, it was an open and shut case: three-year-old Lachlan Jones had run away from his home in the Southland town of Gore, climbed ...
Rongotai MP Julie Anne Genter has apologised in Parliament after National accused her of intimidating and attacking one of its ministers in the House. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Prime Minister and state and territory leaders met on Wednesday as the national cabinet to discuss a crisis gripping Australia – the horrific number of women murdered this year. The killings have shocked ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Radhika Raghav, Teaching Fellow, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Otago Netflix Indian director Sanjay Leela Bhansali is known for his big-budget Bollywood production, featuring grand sets, star casts, meticulously choreographed dance sequences and lavish costumes, jewellery and furnishings. ...
Sir Robert devoted his life to disability rights after living in institutions in his younger years, says Kaihautū Tika Hauātanga | Disability Rights Commissioner Prudence Walker. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University Violence against women is not a women’s problem to solve, it is a whole of society problem to solve; and men in particular have to take responsibility. Those were the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessica Allen, Senior Lecturer in Chemical and Renewable Energy Engineering, University of Newcastle Snapshot freddy/ShutterstockPlans to revive an old coal-fired power station using bioenergy are being considered in the Hunter region of New South Wales. Similar plans for the station ...
Responding to the long-awaited release of judges’ special allowances, including free air travel and hotels for spouses, generous sabbaticals, and access to limousines, Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Alex Murphy said: “In what world does your employer ...
Analysis - The United States has unveiled plans to boost the weapons trade with Australia and the UK, on the same day that Winston Peters is expected to sketch NZ's position on AUKUS. ...
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Lawyers representing two iwi as well as the Māori Women’s Welfare League on Wednesday asked the Court of Appeal to overturn last week’s High Court decision on the Waitangi Tribunal’s decision to summons Children’s Minister Karen Chhour. The Tribunal is currently investigating the Government’s decision to repeal section 7AA of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government will introduce legislation to ban deepfake pornography and provide more funding for the eSafety Commission to pilot age-assurance technologies. The contribution of internet sites to gender-based violence was one major issue ...
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Alternatively, could just be that Steve & Donald are entitled to view themselves as above the law. That stance has been embedded in the collective psyche of rich folk for centuries. So they feel security in their traditionalism, and plausible deniability works. I reckon they enjoy calling Congress's bluff – they're both players adept at gaming the system of democracy.
The world’s first robot artist has been detained by security forces while attempting to enter Egypt. Art is bad enough, but the prospect of art performed by a robot understandably triggered acute paranoia.
Exhibitions of irony have been the hallmark of postmodernism since its inception so good to see postmodernism ain't quite dead yet.
Right, so the Health Dept has switched from trying to figure out how the virus is spreading to focus on containment. Given up, too hard, not enough staff to do it.
Or, knows exactly how it has been spreading, and who's doing it, and doesn't want to tell the public.
One explanation correct, or both? Unless & until we get an official explanation, we can only guess. My guess is that they have identified the spreaders, and have decided to use privacy law to protect the offenders. I presume Labour's Minister for Political Rectitude issued that instruction. Fortunately privacy law prevents public identification of that person. Can't hit an invisible target…
It's about priority when there are scarce resources.
also about conceding which battles are lost.
And which tools are best for which circumstance. Sometimes it's better to use a coarse file rather than a fine one.
Fuller picture (from your link),
My emphasis. The government by definition cannot know how the mystery cases got covid. They can focus on the down stream transmission. Afaik they've only stopped contact tracing the mystery cases, the known cases are still being traced back.
So no, I don't think Labour are hiding anything from us. What would be the purpose?
Much more likely is it's prioritising resources and using all the modelling tools they have to choose which is the best approach given the situation.
I know it's challenging, and actually frightening, but we have delta in the community now. We've lost the elimination battle, although I think the government still needs to be critiqued on what it is doing, maybe there is a small chance. It's also frightening both for those in lockdown and those in covid-free areas, what the government will do next. Will it allow covid across all of NZ? What measures should it take to prevent that (high vaccination rate is a high priority, but not wholly sufficient)? Should Auckland be expected to keep carrying the load for the rest of the country? For how long?
It's a novel virus, delta is a novel strain, we have to figure this out as we go along. Has any other country been in our position before?
Maybe how it is being spread can be listed in the paper.
"Today Mary got it it. She got it from Luong at her work, who got it from Tamati at the Auckland Domain, who got it from Maria at Zebleckis Laundry in Dominion Road, who got it from Gin Zing at Countdown Blenheim, who got it from Bill at church in St Heliers …
(Surnames withheld on here for privacy reasons but obviously full names would be used in the papers.)
Stephen King did that in his book the Stand.
Half a page of small print of how a virus spreads. Scary as Fudge to be honest. And yes, maybe this should be printed out every once in a while as it seems many don't understand how it does spread.
If anyone and everyone would treat this virus as if they and everyone had it maybe it would reduce the spread?
Fuck off Pete, Covid has not been in Te Waipounamu for almost a year and if it does get here it will come via a bloody anti-vax Jafa.
Or someone returning to Christchurch and home isolating/in MIQ and spreading it to their family. It is easily spread. Auckland is doing us all a favour and many are paying a huge mental physical and financial toll. Your year free of covid is due to excellent choices by the government and luck.
or it will be via a vaxxed jaffa who does not know he has it cause asymptomatic.
So wear your mask, keep distance, sanitze and get on with it.
Offenders?
And the MoH hasn't decided to use privacy laws. It must abide by privacy laws when talking about people's health conditions.
I was referring to the govt rules for managing Delta. Those who breach such rules are offensive offenders. Punishment is the natural justice outcome. Politically-correct morons are incapable of grasping the principle of natural justice – and, lest you are inclined to kneejerk into legalistic banality as happened last time I mentioned it, I mean that concept as generally understood (not the lawyer's term of art).
Whenever any public service manager decides to use privacy law as a fig-leaf to cover his/her moral nudity and protect the wrongdoer from being held accountable by the public, that decision is evidence of moral corruption. Nothing to do with health.
Do you have any evidence that all, or even "most" people pass on Covid by deliberately flouting the rules? They're not just people who have gone to the supermarket, filled up the car, or some other banal task after say, visiting a place of interest before it was identified as a place of interest? Because until someone says so, my reckons are that most people would be mortified if they found out they infected other people with covid, rather than deliberately spread it.
Health privacy laws aren't a fig-leaf ever. They're essential for every person who interacts with health services. Even more-so when there is so much blame attached to an illness like covid. Do you actually think people with symptoms would come forward for testing in the numbers they do if they knew they were going to be named and shamed just because they have a disease?
I have several times pointed out that the govt keeps failing to provide the evidence. Did you not see those messages?? We can't comment on the evidence until they do so. Withholding that evidence keeps everyone in the dark.
Any suitable contender for naming and shaming is one who broke the rules, as I pointed out. Why not read what I actually wrote instead of hallucinating a fantasy version?
This is what you wrote:
Your main assumption is that one needs to know every single link in the chain of transmission in order to effectively cut the rate of transmission. This is incorrect. Firstly, the presence of unknown links is by definition the presence of less obvious and less frequent transmission events. Why hunt down the more difficult fruit when we are having difficulty cutting the links of higher spread likelihood, and need to stop known cases spreading it further?
But now you've gone from that to suggesting they know all the transmission events (lol) and are hiding that information using the privacy act.
The privacy act isn't an excuse to lie. If they have identified the links to all cases, it would be recorded that there are no unlinked cases. It's pretty standard.
Your main assumption
Nope. I didn't assume that.
But now you've gone from that to suggesting they know all the transmission events (lol) and are hiding that information using the privacy act.
Nope. Didn't suggest that.
If they have identified the links to all cases, it would be recorded that there are no unlinked cases.
I didn't mention that hypothetical either!
Must be a good day for red herrings…
1: Nope. I didn't assume that.
and yet:
2: Didn't suggest that.
yet:
3: I didn't mention that hypothetical either!
So they had identified the spreaders and were using privacy law to protect the "offenders", yet they did that without linking the cases that were spread?
Nice trick, that.
I did note that. I thought maybe were hinting at secret evidence that allowed you to label everyone who has tested positive for covid an "offender",
Oh, okay, no problem.
Frank, Are you trying to undermine the current efforts? Some of your reckons are rather dubious.
“using the privacy law as a fig leaf” Get real mate!!
I've been pointing out how the govt are undermining their own efforts. Yesterday I reiterated my support for their overall effort, while criticising this one particular defect. Perhaps you weren't paying attention!
Perhaps your support is less earnestly expressed than your inventive and diligent exploration of diverse avenues of criticism.
That's the one McFlock. Thanks.
Nothing to do with my attention span after all!! Just how you couch your reckons Frank!!
Well if you really didn't get my point, Bremner, ought I try again? Or are you in denial? It's not all that obscure.
1. Rule-breakers ought to be held accountable. That's due to the public suffering the consequences of their misbehaviour.
2. You could take them to court and impose a fine, but if they're poor that penalises their kids, eh? So naming and shaming is a better option.
3. The govt is not naming and shaming them. Likely reason: privacy law. A feeble excuse because it only applies to health issues – not criminal behaviour.
4. Lack of punishment incentivises others to copy the rule-breaking, thus accelerating the pandemic. So the govt is actively undermining its own containment strategy.
Do you get it yet??
because "public shaming" doesn't impact their kids?
"Likely reason" or "straw man"? Also, the privacy act is not restricted to the health sector, so the claimed feebleness of your imagined excuse is based upon an error in law.
Except court is still a punishment, see your own point 2. So the government isn't undermining a damned thing.
You are.
While the government is proceeding well at attacking the housing crisis from the supply end, now is also the time to consider tackling the demand side.
Now traditionally, a lot of investors and elderly people keen on low risk investments would put their a significant portion of money into term deposits and government bonds, reassured in the knowledge that these would prove to be reliable and stable. The problem was that the commerical interest rate was so low, that it did not generate a satisfactory return.
So, perhaps the government could offer a 3 percentage point boost to all term investment/long-term saver accounts as an incentive to keep investment in the banking/productive sector. This money would be calculated and paid at the end of tax year along with any refunds. But, giving money to capitalists, you say? Hold on a moment.
The government pays an increasingly large amount of money out in accommodation supplements and in first home owner grants. All because first home owners, and single home owners, are being challenged at the market by investors seeking a better return, which is causing a dangerous abberation in our housing market.
What if much of the investor money moved back to the banking sector, and away from the housing market where it is currently doing so much damage? Of course there would need to be some limits. perhaps, no additional interest on deposits/investments above $1m.
Food for thought?
Proceeding well at attacking the housing crisis from the supply end?
Would you like to provide supporting facts and figures?
Kiwibuild is up to about 1200 units I believe.
That must be making an enormous dent in the demand surely? Not quite the 30,000 or so that was originally promised by this time but not really that bad at all.
No ,it is not food for thought. If you want to learn about the Banks/Bankers just read any of Countryboy's contributions to TDB (the daily blog). He doesn't hold anything back!
Inflation is at 5% – as the OCR goes up (soon to 1%, then to 2% next year, then to 3% in 2023 and so on) so will bank deposit rates (and mortgage costs).
Those with spare cash/nest eggs at the moment have it in power companies for the dividend returns (which might move back to cash once interest rates rise).
Those soon to cash up their Kiwi Saver account, or sell their rental who want risk free rate of return via bank deposits (not dodgy finance companies) will just have to be patient. There is the option of gold coins and property trusts and blue chip stocks – or just have it in a managed fund and sell down the level bit by bit.
PS Cash parked in banks sits there for developers to borrow for their binge on 3 house section build ups.
SPC nothing wrong with 3 houses being built where 1 existed or only 1 could be built.
That's good the problem is speculation on existing properties.
Preferable that there is an increase in supply. But speculation can also occur with the purchase of the three properties as rentals – there is still no guarantee of a rise in home ownership as an outcome.
Or affordable rents, allowing beneficiaries to live with a bit of dignity and working people to save for their own home. It's all still in the hands of the banksters, speculators, "investors". Nothing will change – who do they think they're kidding?
The only fund that gets close to competing against investing in houses is Kiwisaver on 100% Growth.
If the state enabled Kiwisaver providers to enable savers to input into funds with a 5 year maturity and a 10 year maturity, as well as the Year 65 maturity, they would go head to head against the 5-year and 10-year Bright Line tests.
That's a practical extension of investment funds that are already in operation.
If they really wanted to push the boat out, NZSuperFund could become a Kiwisaver provider as well. That would be a way to help recycle local savings back into the locality.
Ad Yes!! Now there is one stone for two birds!! Could also add 1 or 2% to NZ bank deposits for 2/ 5/ 10 years.
NZ Super Fund and Classic Group to deliver thousands of new homes through $300m partnership – NZ Herald
there, Superfund NZ is going to build houses now.
It was great to see National and Labour uniting on the density policy this week, but it wouldn't have killed them to use the NZSuperFund housing partnership to illustrate the state partnering with private capital which extends beyond Kainga Ora and HLC.
I would have liked to seen agreement including a greater focus on building standards and accountability.
+100
Very little use for local government to exist other than libraries and parks, should they get the water reforms through.
Absolutely
Transcripts for those preferring the written word.
The Nolan investigation on Stonewalls capture of the BBC
https://fairplayforwomen.com/nolan-investigates-stonewall-1/
thanks. I will enjoy that.
fantastic, thank-you. Good on FPFW
I heard that the BBC has cut its associatin with Stonewall.
Also Henry Miller from Fair Cop is threatening legal actin against any UK police force that continues its association with Stonewall on the basis of their diversty training scheme is impacting police impartiality
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/bbc-could-quit-stonewall-diversity-club-lgbtqi-drk2tx5ck
i am a cynic here, and i believe that Stonewall has done all it can and will now disappear. A different organisation – Mermaids – might take over. Money was made, and now with the resulting scrutiny some might wish to retire to spend more time with their families.
Great. although I've listened to most episodes, am more of a reader.
Thanks for the link.
I don't have time to do a post on this, but if anyone wants to follow from the start, the Northern Ireland police have just told a lesbian that she has to come down the to station for a voluntary interview over some tweets (@femmeslove is gender critical). If she doesn't she will be arrested and interviewed under caution.
She hasn't been told which tweets are at issue. She has been told who made the complaint – David Paisley (yep, that David Paisely.)
She is the third woman to be threatened with arrest in this way. Men have also been through various similar processes. These include police recording hate incidents against people's names without actually charging them, on the basis of complaints.
I've been following @femmeslove on twitter for ages, and she's a joy to read, a strong woman who speaks her mind, but I would never have picked her as someone with offensive tweets.
https://twitter.com/FemmeLoves/status/1450852122485043205
Short interview here with her today in that video, starts about 5mins in?
Surely the hate bill would never be used to intimidate people in to silence, right?
/s
This is what makes this response from government so concerning. And we will follow along this line, because we have plenty of nasties just waiting to shut down anything they take offence at.
That interview was just as bad as the one on the Conversion Therapy Bill with Heather Du Plessis-Allan.
That's quite chilling. So we're going to divert police attention from stopping the explosion of gang numbers to prosecuting parents for protecting their 12 year olds from taking life changing drugs. What the hell kind of country are we becoming?
one in which bodies now become profit centres via lifelong medication.
Notable how Faafoi often forgot to add 'gender identity' or stuttered when saying the words in addition to 'gay conversion', in regards to the Bill.
Agree entirely Gypsy.
Thanks for posting Weka.
It’s got down to if someone tweets something that offends someone else, and makes a complaint, even if no crime has occurred, the UK police will come to have a little cautionary talk.The tweet and your name will be recorded in a register of hate speech.Their guidelines come from Stonewall, which has manoeuvred itself as a very handy way for govt institutions to outsource their LBGTQIA policies
As some other person responded
!984 is a dystopian novel, not a manual.
When they speak of crimes against Transpeople being up the waazoo, that is what htey are speaking of. Never mind the bodies of actual dead women strewn across the UKs landscape.
SUFW have been labelled a hate group, although a High Court Judge in Palmerston North, stated this was not the case. Yet people continue to refer to it as such. I anticipate that when the hate laws come in, there will be all sorts of attempts to accuse Gender Critical Feminists of hate speech. And there will be cries and howls if the Palmerston North verdict has set a president
UK trade deal, most tariffs gone, get in there labour!!
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/126744978/nzuk-free-trade-deal-a-win-for-new-zealand-ruling-a-line-under-a-50year-grievance
This trade alliance is good, it has the potential to expand.
15 years for sheep and beef is very long, but the ability to work+play there is excellent.
Well done Labour's O'Connor and the MFAT team.
so we are not killing our dairy industry and animal industries for the environment then?
Similar to the Fossil Fuel extracting countries: Planned fossil fuel output exceeds climate limits
Yes it will help diversify our markets away from China. We will have to tidy some of our impacts to control climate effects. More investment into cattle foods and capture to limit methane. Selective breeding away from heavy methane emitting stock.
I recommend taking a minute to watch the "chat" between the PMs of NZ and the UK.
One PM waffles on about honey and attempts a feeble rugby analogy, which is promptly trumped by the other PM, who then shows a good grasp of the issues and is able to succinctly outline the components of the deal, and how it affects us. But she isn't a bloke in a suit, so she must be the lightweight, obviously, and we're totally not sexist, no way.
There's only one charlatan in that dialogue, and it's not the one in Wellington.
Yes true
102 new cases in NZ today.
GET VACCINATED.
https://www.twitter.com/DavidBieleski/status/1450976607095574529
Even Margaret Atwood has fallen from grace. The letter she co signed with many other writers included these statements
Cancelling women into something no one can define but anyone can be? Oh, noes, they would never………, surely.
s/
but Margaret Atwood would have to spout the ideological line to avoid being called transphobic. I hope given she is an elderly lady she doesn’t get the death and rape threats jk Rowling got and continues to get
102 new cases of Covid today. Numbers expected to double in 10-12 days.
"Only 1.7 per cent of people hospitalised in the delta outbreak have been vaccinated"
Covid 19 Delta outbreak: 102 cases – a new daily record, hospital numbers hit high – NZ Herald
Time to get off your a** and get vaccinated! No more excuses.
And time to actively follow sensible rules.
Awaiting tomorrows announcement.