The worst public service appointment since Christine (Spankin’) Rankin
Justice Minister praises Dame Susan’s “mature judgement”
Thursday 21 March 2013
Four years ago, Dame Susan Devoy was one of several prominent suckers to be played for a fool by Tony “Boot Boy” Veitch. Along with several other gulls, including the notoriously malleable All Black coach Graham Henry, she wrote Veitch a testimonial for “a passport application”; Veitch used their testimonials as evidence for the mitigation of his sentence for attacking and crippling a young woman.
For sensible people, such a gross lack of common-sense, such lamentably poor judgement, such absence of nous, would mean Dame Susan Devoy would be unsuitable for any position demanding a high degree of intelligence, astuteness and moral rectitude. Most people would suspect the competence of anyone who could be so easily conned into writing a character testimonial for a violent thug.
No problems for this government, however. Far from disqualifying herself from being taken seriously, Dame Susan has sleepwalked herself into a highly paid public position for which she admits she has no qualification whatsoever: Race Relations Conciliator. Devoy admits she knows nothing about race relations, but reckons that there’s nothing complicated about it.
Yesterday’s public announcement by the Minister of Justice was beyond satire. I’ve put the especially absurd bits in bold….
“Dame Susan is a proud New Zealander who is highly motivated to contribute positively to New Zealand society,” Justice Minister Judith Collins said today. “Her communication and relationship management skills, coupled with experience working with diverse groups, are key areas of strength. Dame Susan has sound governance experience and mature judgement. I am confident she will be a sensible and intelligent voice for race relations issues,” Collins said.
“Dame Susan is a proud New Zealander who is highly motivated to contribute positively to New Zealand society,”
Methinks Dame Susan is going to be way out of her depth and sooner or later there will be a stoush between her and some citizens who went to her for help and she did nothing. She’s a good girl though who votes National and is a whizz squash player. What more could you want for a Race Relations Conciliator.
“Pakeha can celebrate Waitangi Day without all the shame and division the day Maori aren’t the worst health stats.”
He should quit the guilt trip and just donate his wages to a local tribe until he’s comfortable with himself, or just keep paying his taxes and hope the dollar spend on improving outcomes will be better spent and/or matched by a concerted effort by whanau to change habits and assist end trending poor health.
Annette Sykes – “demanded that she stand down because she was not fit for the role.
In a statement, she said: “It’s so disturbing that someone with a clearly expressed, racist viewpoint can be appointed to a job that’s about providing independent leadership and advice on race relations, including public education on the Treaty of Waitangi,” Ms Sykes said.
She argued that Dame Susan failed to meet criteria for the job which included knowledge of the Treaty of Waitangi and understanding of the issues which affected indigenous people.”
judith collins – “The Far Left does not have a monopoly on caring about race relations and Dame Susan Devoy is a very sensible and balanced person.
“We’re allowed in this country to have views that have not been politically sanitised and what’s wrong with that?”
This is just NAct showing how much they hold the country and all peoples of goodwill in contempt. Hopefully there aren’t quite as many redneck bigots among us as they seem to be counting on, and this will become another nail in their coffin.
Murray, please don’t insult working people by associating them with bigotry. Most of the vilest racists wear white collars, and do no hard or useful work. Leighton Smith, Larry “Lackwit” Williams, Murray Deaker, ACT party members, Sensible Sentencing Trusters and Family Firsters and, yes, the new Race Relations Commissioner are all established bigots, but they are NOT rednecks.
Please don’t use this sniffy term of eastern elite contempt for working people.
Shearer’s Bank accounts, and Banks’ share accounts seem to have disappeared from the headlines now that a new day dawns. So for those who may have missed them during the night …
It turns out that Shearer had two bank accounts holding more than $50,000, and likely substantially more, and a mortgage.
As the epitome of the worst kind of ‘Papatoetoe-Boy-Makes-Good’ (again imo) It’s not plausible this could be bad money management. I don’t think Shearer is particulary smart, but money, like everyting associated with his giant ego, is important to him. He couldn’t be unaware that, (as this situation has been presented so far) this arrangement constitutes chucking money away – a considerable amount in interest over the term of the mortgage. His wife is no fool, and I’m sure his financial advisors would have mentioned it.
Nah there is a reason.
Maybe it’s something simple. Maybe Shearer likes to sit in his flash new home, daydreaming about being Prime-Minister-Shearer-on-the-world-stage, and for an extra thrill, dialling the telebank machine to check the petty cash, and hearing: ” You have five hun dred and sixty eight thousand dollars, and seven cents……..”
You may be right. I’m sure some bright researcher will let us know.
A US bank term-deposit of a very big sum might bring in more than a 5.5% NZ mortgage costs I guess.
Which would make you wonder why he had more than $50,000 in a NZ ANZ account, which wouldn’t bring in more than the mortgage costs
Na, people with billions in the bank are actually getting charged. What I meant for “smart investments” wasn’t leaving it in the bank but using it to play the stock market. If he was just leaving it in the bank then there would be no reason to leave it in the US.
Yep. And if a bank is providing deposits with a 2% pa rate of interest, it’s probably negative 2%real rate once inflation/deflation, fees etc are taken into account.
They effectively have taken over akl with the CCO’s answerable to no one effectively and stacked with Hide/Key stooges.
Blinky F’ing up the mayoralty with his racist yet predictable comments means they didn’t get the puppett they wanted.
Maybe it’ll be ECAN V2.0 but I can only see that if Brown wins again and the NACT get a third term. If that happens god help you jaffa’s but to do it pre 2014 would kill them in the general election.
Tensions escalate over supply of land for Auckland housing
There’s a growing concern within Auckland Council the Government intends to take direct action to free up land for new housing. (4′27″)
F**k them! We voted against Banksie to keep the vultures hands off our city! No respect for democracy!
The most interesting analysis will be on who owns the land just on the other side of the urban boundary and who profits if things change. Smith is not doing this because of his concern for the poor and homeless. There is a profit for a National Party supporter somewhere and Smith is being told about this loud and clear.
And I am really worried this is a done deal. National has this modus operandi where they create a “crisis” then “act decisively” to deal with the “crisis”. It has happened time and time again.
The simple solution is to allow the Unitary Plan to be operative from its release in September this year. The fact that National is not agreeing to this is a clear message that they intend to do something else.
It would be easier to back Len if he’d done something inspiring during the waterfront dispute, or at any other time. Once again we’re left with someone who has the warrior instincts of wet toilet paper as our great hope against another rapacious NAct power/land grab. We need better.
The simple solution is to allow the Unitary Plan to be operative from its release in September this year. The fact that National is not agreeing to this is a clear message that they intend to do something else.
/agreed
Just watch as they take away another regions democracy but this time it’s the democracy of an entire third of the country.
The housing issue is a red herring, and being used as a route in, although not quite sure the aim might be, other than a power grab.
As TC points out the CCOs do not answer to AKL Council, or any elected members they are stand alone operations, filled with corporate types.
Spend a little time looking into the backgrounds of the people involved, its not only the CCOs, but the Council Departments also, which have been run over by Deloitte, ex Deloitte mostly.
How to take over large public departments
1: Get a stooge into the top role – Ex Deloitte
2: Bring in another ( known affiliate) to run *transformation* – Ex Deloitte
3: Give known affiliate free reign to *shape* the department
4: Bring in more known affiliates to run large in flight programmes (regardless of experience levels) – All Ex Deloitte
5: Ensure Transformation #2 takes out the top layers of existing or structure , (hence council staff)
6: Have known affiliate #2/3 on the interview panel for top level positions in new org structure
7: Ensure that council staff do not get any of the top level positions in new org structure
8: Advertise directors roles externally – Have more corporate stooges conveniently standing by
9: Take over complete – Too easy, high fives, contract awards, services agreements and professional services agreements all wrapped up (more so than they already were)
10: Keep M.O from public, and let them think their rates go up due to lazy employees etc, as opposed to corporate shuffle
Corporate now has complete control over multiple largest departments of type in NZ
Esquire editor fesses up: “The women we feature in the magazine are ornamental,” he said, “I could lie to you if you want and say we are interested in their brains as well. We are not. They are objectified.”
The once steel tough fabric of the union man
Was sold and bartered away
Fed to money wolves in the Reagan years
Caught in a drift in greedy nineties days
So inside this song is our rally cry
Your dreams are in danger
And we must rise
Our time has come we are under the gun
It’s do or die
It’s not a rebel cry of some socialist scheme
To push for human rights
Just the facts and the obvious mention
On behalf of the working man
For his family and his livelihood
Your dreams are in danger
And we must rise
Our time has come we are under the gun
It’s do or die
The once steel tough fabric of the union man
Was sold and bartered away
Fed to money and wolves in the Reagan years
Caught adrift in greedy nineties days
Your dreams are in danger
And we must rise
Our time has come we are under the gun
It’s do or die
Will be interested to see next month how much ‘overlooked a fortune in a foreign accountgate’ dents the great polling, that still show national in government.
Trevett reckons that Labours increased support has come at the expense of the Greens and NZF. In true genius fashion LAB will probably take this to mean to do more of this.
Precisely. There is little point even watching the polls at this stage of the electoral cycle, and as has been proven time and time again, they are often inaccurate, overstating Tory support. In reality NACT support is at around 44%. Currently the Labour/Green coalition sits at around the same number. The Winston Peters roadshow can’t be underestimated, and his support still has to be over 5%. The real challenge for the left will be finding that extra 4% support so they can form a stable government and not have to deal with the profoundly conservative NZ First (either that or hope that his party just falls short of 5%). Hopefully the continued fallout from the Novapay debacle, the GCSB scandal, poor economic management and the theft and sale of our assets will continue to erode Tory support.
I’m not sure about that. The comments coming out of NZF lately are about as racist, homophobic and bigoted as what comes out of that ass-hat Colin Craig’s mouth. The latter just throws scripture, and other xtian wingnuttery into the mix too.
I blame NZF’s inept candidate selection process as being a big part of the problem. Because of their strong showing in 2011, I think they will manage to rustle up a far superior crowd for 2014.
This is the biggest issue facing the world and NZ right now.
It has implications and effects that are and will be far-reaching.
This should be seen for what it is – another well predicted part of the current world financial crisis which erupted onto the public conscience in 2008 and which will continue for years yet, with resultant massive meltdowns of wealth. People would do well to research the other well predicted future events that will roll out of this systemic end-game play…..
from the comments
“The onus here should be on employers to pay proper wages, and maybe on the government to lower taxes on small businesses who cannot afford to pay more (and of course, higher taxes on tax-evading mega-businesses who CAN afford to pay more).”
Surely this simple truth is the nub of the Global problem regarding employment. (that and the endless greed of Banking cabals )
Perhaps this is also a good time to remind you that New Zealand desperately needs the low income tax free earnings structure that the UK, Australia and the US all enjoy. As their economies and policies are consistently used to reflect our economy and policies, surely this glaring disparity in economic truths can finally become a real issue in the next NZ General Election .
LP: all the rolling comments in the opinions/comments box actually link to an old post (return of the king). This may be related to the issue Anne referred to yesterday.
Heh. Yes. And I was getting an odd version of open mike (maybe the mobile version?) on Chrome, FF, & IE, with none of the latest comments as indicated in the links top right. And while I was logged into the main site, I was not logged into open mike.
This book demonstrates that empty-world economic theory has failed on its own terms and that its application by policymakers has resulted in the failure of capitalism itself. Pursuing absolute advantage in cheap labor abroad, First World corporations have wrecked the prospects for First World labor, especially in the US, while concentrating income and wealth in a few hands.
Economist Herman Daly put it well when he wrote that the elites who make the decisions “have figured out how to keep the benefits for themselves while ‘sharing’ the cost with the poor, the future, and other species (Ecological Economics, vol. 72, p. 8).
Empty-world economics with its emphasis on spurring economic growth by the accumulation of man-made capital has run its course. Full-world economics is steady-state economics, and it is past time for economists to get to work on a new economics for a full world.
It seems that the book is based upon facts and thus comes to the only possible conclusion – the mainstream economics used by politicians is wrong, very, very wrong and we need to change it and go to a steady state economy.
Draco, there are major implications for empty world accumulation versus steady state economics. Once we are all fully cognisant that wealth requires work to be done and that it cannot be created out of thin air as credit (future debt) then we will all get a healthier respect for our toils. And anybody with vast accumulated sums must have got them from somebodies elses work. That could result in some very interesting social behavoir……..
Does anyone know how to completely delete a gravatar? After a long time mucking around at the site, I’m left with this horrible black square. I want to be back where I was before I ever had a gravatar. Is this no longer possible?
They tell my I can’t delete my account.
[lprent: Looks ok to me. Remember that your browser will be caching the image. So try shift+click refresh (common to most browsers) force a complete reload of the site. ]
“I have heard that if a persons’ historical account is incorrect, then death will follow that person”
-Kaumatua; Waka Huia
(Crown vs Tuhoe, historically, equated to “ethnic cleansing”-Paul Moon)
Susan Devoy? White must be right. “burqas are disconcerting” but hey, endorsed by that low-forehead paragon of virtue Judith Collins.
Based on experiences such as Katrina, with funds up to 30B coming into ChCh rebuild over the next 5 years, fraud in the order of 1-3B is not unexpected- KPMG commentator.
and now for some Dominion Post propaganda;
yesterday, “no excuses for neglectful Chinese” concerning the aged.
and then the Front Page “This is China” on imprisonment conditions, like, isolation, over-crowding, labour, drug trials and health challenges do not occur under other countries’ penal regimes.
WHAT A MOFO LOAD OF XENOPHOBIA AROUSING SH*T; some of the editorial staff will likely not even be out of nappies when the war is over…
followed by..”Israel talks peace” please, spare us the incredulity (see earlier diplomatic analysis of an “inevitable Intifada”)FFS
Massey University Head of Banking Studies : events in Cyprus were “very relevant” to New Zealand.;” bank deposit guarantee a much better solution”
QT : Parker on the governments’ gloat over the Dec Quarter economic figures; 23000 lost jobs and 33000 left the work force; Joyce concedes, “employment sector is challenging”
Current Account Deficit 10.5B (5% GDP) not helpful-Penny, Westpac economist
“part of the slippery 😉 slope the NZ economy is on” -Doug Steel, BNZ
but that’s OK, New Zealanders received “record returns from off-shore investments.”
NZLast hammering the issue of Chinese parents of skilled migrants again; good return serve from Woodhouse (a decent Tory it appears).
Brownlee’s opposition to Rail Loop appears to be fading slowly (Enright (sp?) report; Loop essential to improved productivity. Julie-Ann hit Brownlee back with his own premise of reduced travel times.
in ICT; job loss indications are up to 1500-C.C (maybe skilled migrants will fill the “advertised” ICT vacancies Joyce touts.)
Chris Tremain? that guy don’t seem right in the head ma.
Families Commission; throwing money away on contractors, gifts and hospitality.
Coleman on the NZDF : “culture, oversight of orders and failure to adhere to orders”
Goff on Crib 19 (sp?) “according to the WO, “only 60% of training effected.”
Torie aye, who’d vote for them! Baaa Humbug. freakin narrow-minded inbreds is what they generally appear to be.
Sacha, how many times I godda tell ya bud ? Enough of the false anonyms already !
Say, could we flog the vee-hickle off to that crazy dude John A. Banks way down there in Ocklind, Nooo Zeeerlind ? Word is he’s a doozie at concealin’ paper trails.
Hello North! Sorry to be so slow responding, but I just completely missed your original message. I had not heard of that incident.
And, no, I don’t think “God slapped them” or anything like that, but I think Obama’s conscience will slap him over the next few years as he slips deeper and deeper into perfidy. He looked very uncomfortable when speaking alongside Mr Abbas yesterday on his flying visit into the Occupied Territories.
Of course, he is a machine politician from Chicago, which means he is as cynical and impervious to morality as anyone in America, but he is human, and he knows that he has failed to do anything to stop Israel’s depredations in either the illegally occupied West Bank or the illegal giant prison in Gaza. In spite of his apparent arrogance, especially when he is being cheered by flag-waving Israeli crowds, he has a conscience like everyone else, and I have no doubt that it is wearing away at him. Soon Obama will be looking as gaunt and haunted as the troubled fellow standing in the middle of the second row in THIS PHOTO….
Sorry to harp on, but my burble in blue above does actually link to the article on the RMA.
It is a very clear account of what the Nacts are changing, and there is very little time for people to be informed (shouted from the rooftops) about what a disgrace this really is.
Where are the opposition, especially the Greens on this? Not more silence, please…
Indeed, well done Jacinda. Good to see her re-stating Labour’s commitment to a social security system, highlighting contradictions, timing of announcements and the political nastiness of this bill. All stuff that Labour has been seen as silent on (at best) by many people, including me. Now to get it heard in a wider public forum…
I know some people around here have it in for Chris Hipkins but this speech he gave to the Auckland Primary Principals Association yesterday gives me some hope that Labour’s education policies are on the right track. Shame the speech hasn’t been reported very widely if at all.
Thanks for the link. Some policy statements at last….
So let me be very clear about Labour’s position on charter schools. We see no need for them. We see no place for them. And any charter schools established under the current National government will have no future under Labour…
…One of the most destructive things this government could do to quality education in New Zealand is introduce so-called ‘performance pay’ based on a narrow range of student achievement measures.
If the alarm bells aren’t already ringing, they should be…
… Under Labour, we will work collaboratively with the education community to replace National Standards with something that is meaningful, broad, and that will work.
Only patronising bollocks to ignorant twits like yourself who apparently don’t keep themselves informed. Get off your backside and find out for yourself… or is that beyond your capabilities.
Up to 1500 jobs to go at Telecom in May, no wonder Bill from Dipton was saying on Q+A that the Welfare Budget is likely to get more money in His next budget…
Faraway NZ communities that they never visit bear the cost of the resulting unemployment. While they personally benefit from signficantly increased profits.
It’s a business no-brainer. If I could fire five thousand Indian workers to get an extra hundred grand in dividends in my pocket, why the hell not?
“Launched in September 1977, the probe was sent initially to study the outer planets, but then just kept on going.”
“Their plutonium power sources will stop generating electricity in about 10-15 years, at which point their instruments and transmitters will die. Voyager-1 is on course to approach a star called AC +793888, but it will only get to within two light-years of it and it will be tens of thousands of years before it does so.”
I feel sad for the little spaceship that could, but await the return of V’ger the Intruder.
Rather irritating to find… Turned out that there was a call to the admin area and it was trying to go through https. Now the question is how to secure that again.
Key Rudd supporter Fitzgibbon, has said he will step down as the government’s chief whip at the next Labor caucus meeting.
Two other government whips, Ed Husic and Janelle Saffin, resigned this evening.
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The mediocrity who stands to be a Prime Minister has a litany.He uses it a bit like a Koru Lounge card. He will brandish it to say: these people are eligible. And more than that, too: These people are deserving.They have earned this policy.They have a right to this policy. What ...
Buzz from the BeehivePoint of Order has waited until now – 3.45pm – for today’s officially posted government announcements. There have been none. The only addition to the news on the Beehive’s website was posted later yesterday, after we had published our September 26 Buzz report. It came from ...
Alex Holland writes – In 2017 when Labour came to power, crown spending was $76 billion per year. Now in 2023 it is $139 billion per year, which equates to a $63 billion annual increase (over $1 billion extra spend every week!) In 2017, New Zealand’s government debt ...
Labour released its fiscal plan today, promising the same old, same old: "responsibility", balanced books, and of course no new taxes: "Labour will maintain income tax settings to provide consistency and certainty in these volatile times. Now is not the time for additional taxes or to promise billions of ...
The Facts has posted – KEY INSIGHTSOf New Zealander’s polled: Social unity/division77%believe NZ is becoming more divided (42% ‘much more’ + 35% ‘a little more’) 3%believe NZ is becoming less divided (1% ‘much less’ + 2% ‘a little less’) ...
The centre-right’s enthusiasm for forcing people off the benefit and into paid work is matched only by the enthusiasm (shared by Treasury and the Reserve Bank) for throwing people out of paid work to curb inflation, and achieve the optimal balance of workers to job seekers deemed to be desirable ...
New research shows that tenants in social housing - such as these Wellington apartments - are just as happy as home owners and much happier than private tenants. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The election campaign took an ugly turn yesterday, and in completely the wrong direction. All three ...
Media awareness about global warming and climate change has grown fairly steadily since 2004. My impression is that journalists today tend to possess a higher climate literacy than before. This increasing awareness and improved knowledge is encouraging, but there are also some common interpretations which could be more nuanced. ...
If there’s one thing the mob loves more than keeping Māori in their place, more than getting tough on the gangs, maybe even more than tax cuts. It’s a good old round of beneficiary bashing.Are those meanies in the ACT party stealing your votes because they think David Seymour is ...
Labour kicks off the fiscal credibility battle today with the release of its fiscal plan. National is expected to follow, possibly as soon as Thursday, with its own plan, which may (or may not) address the large hole that the problems with its foreign buyers’ ban might open up. ...
While it may be unlikely to register in New Zealand’s general election, Britain’s PM Rishi Sunak has done something which might just be important in the long run. He’s announced a far-reaching change in his Conservative government’s approach to environmental, and particularly net zero, policy. The starting point – ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Canada is in uproar after the exposure that its parliament on September 22 provided a standing ovation to a Nazi veteran who had been invited into the chamber to participate in the parliamentary welcome to Ukrainian President Zelensky. Yaroslav Hunka, 98, a Ukrainian man who volunteered for service in ...
The big screen is a great place to lay out the ways of the salesman. He comes ready-made for Panto, ripe for lampooning.This is not to disparage that life. I have known many good people of that kind. But there is a type, brazen as all get out. The camera ...
The following is a message sent yesterday from lawyer Stephen Franks on behalf of the Free Speech Union. I don’t like to interrupt first thing Monday morning, but we’ve just become aware of a case where we think immediate and overwhelming attention could help turn the tide. It involves someone ...
The right-wing message calendar is clearly reading "cruelty" today, because both National and NZ First have released beneficiary-bashing policies. National is promising a "traffic light" system to police and kick beneficiaries, which will no doubt be accompanied by arbitrary internal targets to classify people as "orange" or "red" to keep ...
Buzz from the Beehive One Labour plan – for 3000 more public homes by 2025 – is the most recent to be posted on the government’s official website. Another – a prime ministerial promise of more funding for Pharmac – has been released as a Labour Party press statement. Who ...
As the National Party gets closer to government, lobbyists and business interests will be lining up for influence and to get policies adopted. It’s therefore in the public interest to have much more scrutiny and transparency about potential conflicts of interests that might arise. One of the key individuals of ...
Voters are deserting Labour in droves, despite Chris Hipkins’ valiant rearguard action. So where are they heading? Clearly not all of them are going to vote National, which concedes that the outcome will be “close”. To the Right of National, the ACT party just a few weeks ago was ...
Accusations of racism by journalists and MPs are being called out.Graham Adams writes – With the election less than three weeks away, what co-governance means in practice — including in water management, education, planning law and local government — remains largely obscure. Which is hardly ...
As the centre-right has (finally!) been subjected to media interrogation, the polls are indicating that some voters may be starting to have second thoughts about the wisdom of giving National and ACT the power to govern alone. That’s why yesterday’s Newshub/Reid Research poll had the National/ACT combo dropping to 60 ...
ANZ has increased its forecast for house inflation later this year on signs of growing momentum in the market ahead of the election. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR:National has campaigned against the Labour Government’s record on inflation and mortgage rates, but there’s now a growing chance the Reserve ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Katie Myers. This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Pittsburgh, in its founding, was blessed and cursed with two abundant natural resources: free-flowing rivers and a nearby coal seam. ...
Today the AT board meet again and once again I’ve taken a look at what’s on the agenda to find the most interesting items. Closed Agenda Interestingly when I first looked at the agendas this paper was there but at the time of writing this post it had been ...
Continuing my series on interesting electorates, today it’s West Coast-Tasman.A long thin electorate running down the northern half of the west coast of the South Island. Think sand flies, beautiful landscapes, lots of rain, Pike River, alternative lifestylers, whitebaiting, and the spiritual home of the Labour Party. A brief word ...
National leader Christopher Luxon yesterday morning conceded it and last night’s Newshub poll confirmed it; Winston Peters and NZ First are not only back but highly likely to be part of the next government. It is a remarkable comeback for a party that was tossed out of Parliament in ...
As this blogger, alongside many others, has already posited in another forum: we all know the National Party’s “budget” (meaning this concept of even adding up numbers properly is doing a lot of heavy, heavy lifting right now) is utter and complete bunk (read hung, drawn and quartered and ...
Everyone was asking, Are you nervous? and my response was various forms of God, yes.I've written more speeches than I can count; not much surprises me when the speaker gets to their feet and the room goes quiet.But a play? Never.YOU CAME! THANK YOU! Read more ...
Today's big political news is that after months of wibbling, National's Chris Luxon has finally confirmed that he is willing to work with Winston Peters to become Prime Minister. Which is expected, but I guess it tells us something about which way the polls are going. Which raises the question: ...
Buzz from the Beehive Under something described as a “rebalance” of its immigration rules, the Government has adopted four of five recommendations made in an independent review released in July, The fifth, which called on the government to specify criteria for out-of-hours compliance visits similar to those used during ...
Some of you might know Gerard Otto (G), and his G News platform. This morning he wrote a letter to Christopher Luxon which I particularly enjoyed, and with his agreement I’m sharing it with you in this guest newsletter.If you’d like to make a contribution to support Gerard’s work you ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – While there will not be another quarterly release of benefit numbers prior to the election, limited weekly reporting continues and is showing an alarming trend. Because there is a seasonal component to benefit number fluctuations it is crucial to compare like with like. In ...
A close analysis of the Treasury assessment of the Medium Term in its PREFU 2023 suggests the economy may be entering a new phase.Brian Easton writes – Last week I explained that the forecasts in the just published Treasury Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update (PREFU 2023) was ...
It’s been a while since we looked at the latest with the City Rail Link and there’s been some fantastic milestones recently. To start with, and most recently, CRL have released an awesome video showing a full fly-through of one of the tunnels. Come fly with us! You asked for ...
We are heading into another period of fast population growth without matching increased home building or infrastructure investment.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR:Labour and National detailed their house building and migration approaches over the weekend, with both pledging fast population growth policies without enough house building or infrastructure investment ...
Labour leader Chris Hipkins yesterday took the gloves off and laid into National and its leader Christopher Luxon. For many in Labour – and particularly for some at the top of the caucus and the party — it would not have been a moment too soon. POLITIK is aware ...
The leaders have had their go, they’ve told us the “what?” and the “why?” of their promises. Now it’s the turn of the would be Finance Ministers to tell us the “how?”, the “how much?”, and the “when?”A chance for those competing for the second most powerful job in the ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Over the past 30-odd years it’s become almost an orthodoxy to blame or invoke neoliberalism for the failures of New Zealand society. On the left the usual response goes something like, neoliberalism is the cause of everything that’s gone wrong and the answer ...
Labour is in it for you. This election Kiwis will decide what kind of country they want New Zealand to be, who they trust to have their back, and how we can be better, together. This election matters. View our full Manifesto below. ...
The National Party's U-turn on water reform has left local councils high and dry and will drive up Kiwi's rates bills, Labour Party Local Government Spokesperson Kieran McAnulty says. ...
A re-elected Labour Party will continue to tackle discriminations still faced by members of the Rainbow community in areas ranging from surrogacy and adoption to blood donation. ...
National’s fiscal plan has failed to fill the massive fiscal hole in its dodgy tax scheme, it will mean more cuts to public services, more children being put into poverty and an end to action on climate change. ...
New Zealand First Policy Announcement:Law and Order New Zealand First believes that keeping society safe should be the priority of law-and-order policies. Every New Zealander deserves to feel safe, secure, and have their person and property respected. That is why New Zealand First continues to fix the flaws in ...
In last night’s leaders debate Labour Leader Chris Hipkins referred toaquote without giving any explanation of its content, which was about the ‘disease of co-governance’ that is perpetuated by the Māori elite, and he said it was racist. Then, without even examining the content, National leader Christopher Luxon agreed with ...
In last night’s leaders debate Labour Leader Chris Hipkins referred toaquote without giving any explanation of its content, which was about the ‘disease of co-governance’ that is perpetuated by the Māori elite, and he said it was racist. Then, without even examining the content, National leader Christopher Luxon agreed with ...
After years of criticising the Government on law and order, National have embarrassed themselves by conceding they have no new ideas and instead copied Labour’s Police policy announced three weeks ago, Labour Police spokesperson Ginny Andersen says. ...
Labour’s fiscal plan will continue its focus on carefully managing the books while protecting critical public services like health and education and investing to deliver high wage jobs and a low carbon economy. ...
New Zealand First today is announcing a policy on adjusting the rules and restrictions around access to the Job Seeker Benefit.New Zealand First’s policy is to introduce a capped time-period for any person to access the Job Seeker Benefit during their lifetime. Any individual will have the ability to access the Job Seeker ...
New Zealand First today is announcing a policy on adjusting the rules and restrictions around access to the Job Seeker Benefit.New Zealand First’s policy is to introduce a capped time-period for any person to access the Job Seeker Benefit during their lifetime. Any individual will have the ability to access the Job Seeker ...
National’s cuts to funding for beneficiaries will once again leave children and their parents with less, Spokesperson for Social Development and Employment Carmel Sepuloni said. ...
The Green Party will double the Best Start payment and make it available for every child under three years of age - and it will be paid for with a fair tax system. ...
Labour will fund more medicines for more New Zealanders by investing over $1 billion of new funding into Pharmac if re-elected, Chris Hipkins announced today. ...
Labour has just announced a policy to increase Pharmac funding by $1billion over four years to fund additional medicines.With the current Pharmac budget of $1.2billion per year and needing a further $213million, by Minister Verrall’s own admission, just to keep up with current costs - then this is nothing ...
Labour has just announced a policy to increase Pharmac funding by $1billion over four years to fund additional medicines.With the current Pharmac budget of $1.2billion per year and needing a further $213million, by Minister Verrall’s own admission, just to keep up with current costs - then this is nothing ...
This matter begins with the Pike River investigation being inadequate, inexplicably lengthy, and after millions of dollars, the evidence that should have been placed before the public still has not been. We have always believed that Pike River isacrime scene, and thataproper investigation would have come to that conclusion. Blue ...
This matter begins with the Pike River investigation being inadequate, inexplicably lengthy, and after millions of dollars, the evidence that should have been placed before the public still has not been. We have always believed that Pike River isacrime scene, and thataproper investigation would have come to that conclusion. Blue ...
New Zealand faces a stark choice this election – vote for Labour to continue to confront the climate emergency with eyes wide open or bury your head in the sand alongside Christopher Luxon. ...
Labour is supercharging its plan to solve the public housing shortfall created by National, promising another 6,000 homes on top of what has already been committed says Labour Housing spokesperson Dr Megan Woods. ...
Labour will back migrant working families by introducing a 10-year multiple-entry parents’ and grandparents’ Super Visa, and make good on the Dawn Raids apology by providing a one-off visa for overstayers who have been in the country ten years or more, Labour’s Immigration Spokesperson Andrew Little says. ...
The Green Party is today welcoming Labour coming to the table to ensure an amnesty for overstayers, but only the Greens will ensure immigration settings actually reflect the reality of people who have been failed by our immigration system. ...
The Green Party is calling on Auckland Council to do more to protect urban trees and housing developer Aedifice Property Group to restore and replant the native forest it cleared, and protect all the remaining trees on Ngahere Road in Pukekohe after a significant number of native trees were cut ...
Latest Police data shows monthly ram raids have hit a two-year low, laying waste to Christopher Luxon’s false claim that there are two ram raids a day says Labour’s Police Spokesperson Ginny Andersen. ...
Free and healthy school lunches will be here to stay if Labour is re-elected, guaranteeing food for our kids who need it most and significant cost saving for parents. ...
The next Labour Government will build a new hospital in Hawke’s Bay, Labour leader Chris Hipkins and Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall announced. ...
The Green Party will keep up the fight to support exploited migrant workers, including pushing to end single employer visas, after the government picked up Green recommendations to improve immigration settings. ...
Green Party co leader James Shaw visited a home in Auckland today that has been upgraded with a wide range of energy improvements, similar to those that would be supported through the Green Party’s Clean Power Payment. ...
The Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta’s presence in New York today at the United Nations General Assembly is a contempt of New Zealand’s “caretaker government” convention. Despite the long-standing caretaker convention, Minister Mahuta is today at the UN to sign a highly contentious “Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement”, delivering a ...
The Pre-Election Fiscal Update Changes EverythingWithin an hour of this speech there is going to be a debate between the political parties that the media, under MMP, still think are the only parties that matter in this campaign. Both of those parties are riddled with inexperience, as evidenced by ...
National and ACT's tax plans don't add up, and that means deep cuts to the public services New Zealanders rely on, says Labour Campaign Chair Megan Woods. ...
Tuvalu is in the spotlight this week as communities across New Zealand celebrate Vaiaso o te Gagana Tuvalu – Tuvalu Language Week. “The Government has a proven record of supporting Pacific communities and ensuring more of our languages are spoken, heard and celebrated,” Pacific Peoples Minister Barbara Edmonds said. “Many ...
Seven more innovative community-scale energy projects will receive government funding through the Māori and Public Housing Renewable Energy Fund to bring more affordable, locally generated clean energy to more than 800 Māori households, Energy and Resources Minister Dr Megan Woods says. “We’ve already funded 42 small-scale clean energy projects that ...
The Government has approved new funding that will boost resilience and greatly reduce the risk of major flood damage across Te Tai Tokerau. Significant weather events this year caused severe flooding and damage across the region. The $8.9m will be used to provide some of the smaller communities and maraes ...
The largest public housing development in Napier for many years has been recently completed and has the added benefit of innovative solar technology, thanks to Government programmes, says Housing Minister Dr Megan Woods. The 24 warm, dry homes are in Seddon Crescent, Marewa and Megan Woods says the whanau living ...
Māori: Kua waitohua e Te Whānau a Apanui me te Karauna te Whakaaetanga Whakataunga Kua waitohua e Te Whānau a Apanui me te Karauna i tētahi Whakaaetanga Whakataunga hei whakamihi i ō rātou tāhuhu kerēme Tiriti o Waitangi. E tekau mā rua ngā hapū o roto mai o Te Whānau ...
Regions around the country will get significant boosts of public housing in the next two years, as outlined in the latest public housing plan update, released by the Housing Minister, Dr Megan Woods. “We’re delivering the most public homes each year since the Nash government of the 1950s with one ...
Judicial warrant process for out-of-hours compliance visits 2023/24 Recognised Seasonal Employer cap increased by 500 Additional roles for Construction and Infrastructure Sector Agreement More roles added to Green List Three-month extension for onshore Recovery Visa holders The Government has confirmed a number of updates to immigration settings as part of ...
Tangi ngunguru ana ngā tai ki te wahapū o Hokianga Whakapau Karakia. Tārehu ana ngā pae maunga ki Te Puna o te Ao Marama. Korihi tangi ana ngā manu, kua hinga he kauri nui ki te Wao Nui o Tāne. He Toa. He Pou. He Ahorangi. E papaki tū ana ...
40 solar energy systems on community buildings in regions affected by Cyclone Gabrielle and other severe weather events Virtual capability-building hub to support community organisations get projects off the ground Boost for community-level renewable energy projects across the country At least 40 community buildings used to support the emergency response ...
The lifting of COVID-19 isolation and mask mandates in August has resulted in a return of almost $50m in savings and recovered contingencies, Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Following the revocation of mandates and isolation, specialised COVID-19 telehealth and alternative isolation accommodation are among the operational elements ...
Susie Houghton of Auckland has been appointed as a new District Court Judge, to serve on the Family Court, Attorney-General David Parker said today. Judge Houghton has acted as a lawyer for child for more than 20 years. She has acted on matters relating to the Hague Convention, an international ...
The Government has today confirmed $2.5 million to fund a replace and upgrade a stopbank to protect the Waipawa Drinking Water Treatment Plant. “As a result of Cyclone Gabrielle, the original stopbank protecting the Waipawa Drinking Water Treatment Plant was destroyed. The plant was operational within 6 weeks of the ...
Another $2.1 million to boost capacity to deal with waste left in Cyclone Gabrielle’s wake. Funds for Hastings District Council, Phoenix Contracting and Hog Fuel NZ to increase local waste-processing infrastructure. The Government is beefing up Hawke’s Bay’s Cyclone Gabrielle clean-up capacity with more support dealing with the massive amount ...
The future of Supercars events in New Zealand has been secured with new Government support. The Government is getting engines started through the Major Events Fund, a special fund to support high profile events in New Zealand that provide long-term economic, social and cultural benefits. “The Repco Supercars Championship is ...
The economy has turned a corner with confirmation today New Zealand never was in recession and stronger than expected growth in the June quarter, Finance Minister Grant Robertson said. “The New Zealand economy is doing better than expected,” Grant Robertson said. “It’s continuing to grow, with the latest figures showing ...
The Government has accepted the Environment Court’s recommendation to give special legal protection to New Zealand’s largest freshwater springs, Te Waikoropupū Springs (also known as Pupū Springs), Environment Minister David Parker announced today. “Te Waikoropupū Springs, near Takaka in Golden Bay, have the second clearest water in New Zealand after ...
Temporary package of funding for accommodation and essential living support for victims of migrant exploitation Exploited migrant workers able to apply for a further Migrant Exploitation Protection Visa (MEPV), giving people more time to find a job Free job search assistance to get people back into work Use of 90-day ...
An export boost is supporting New Zealand’s economy to grow, adding to signs that the economy has turned a corner and is on a stronger footing as we rebuild from Cyclone Gabrielle and lock in the benefits of multiple new trade deals, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. “The economy is ...
The Government has approved $15 million to raise about 200 homes at risk of future flooding. More than half of this is expected to be spent in the Tairāwhiti settlement of Te Karaka, lifting about 100 homes there. “Te Karaka was badly hit during Cyclone Gabrielle when the Waipāoa River ...
The Government is helping businesses recover from Cyclone Gabrielle and attract more people back into their regions. “Cyclone Gabrielle has caused considerable damage across North Island regions with impacts continuing to be felt by businesses and communities,” Economic Development Minister Barbara Edmonds said. “Building on our earlier business support, this ...
Defence Minister Andrew Little has turned the first sod to start construction of a new Maintenance Support Facility (MSF) at Burnham Military Camp today. “This new state-of-art facility replaces Second World War-era buildings and will enable our Defence Force to better maintain and repair equipment,” Andrew Little said. “This Government ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta will represent New Zealand at the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York this week, before visiting Washington DC for further Pacific focussed meetings. Nanaia Mahuta will be in New York from Wednesday 20 September, and will participate in UNGA leaders ...
Around 1,700 Te Whatu Ora employed midwives and maternity care assistants will soon vote on a proposed pay equity settlement agreed by Te Whatu Ora, the Midwifery Employee Representation and Advisory Service (MERAS) and New Zealand Nurses Association (NZNO), Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. “Addressing historical pay ...
Aotearoa New Zealand will provide humanitarian support to those affected by last week’s earthquake in Morocco, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced today. “We are making a contribution of $1 million to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to help meet humanitarian needs,” Nanaia Mahuta said. ...
The Government is investing over $22 million across 18 projects to improve the resilience of roads in the West Coast that have been affected by recent extreme weather, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. A dedicated Transport Resilience Fund has been established for early preventative works to protect the state ...
The Government has today confirmed a $2 million grant towards the regeneration of Greymouth’s CBD with construction of a new two-level commercial and public facility. “It will include a visitor facility centred around a new library. Additionally, it will include retail outlets on the ground floor, and both outdoor and ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta will attend the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, in Suva, Fiji alongside New Zealand’s regional counterparts. “Aotearoa New Zealand is deeply committed to working with our pacific whanau to strengthen our cooperation, and share ways to combat the challenges facing the Blue Pacific Continent,” ...
Economy to grow 2.6 percent on average over forecast period Treasury not forecasting a recession Inflation to return to the 1-3 percent target band next year Wages set to grow 4.8 percent a year over forecast period Unemployment to peak below the long-term average Fiscal Rules met - Net debt ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall proudly opened the Canterbury Cancer Centre in Christchurch today. The new facility is the first of its kind and was built with $6.5 million of funding from the Government’s Infrastructure Reference Group scheme for shovel-ready projects allocated in 2020. ...
Despite potentially messy coalition talks, Christopher Luxon is confident he can get a full to-do list ticked off in 100 days 100 day promises, media jousts and tractors over the Auckland Harbour Bridge – it was a busy Sunday on the trail for politicians approaching the last sprint of the ...
Two interviews in two days have seen the NZ First leader make personal attacks on journalists after struggling badly to answer questions about his policies and costings Current polls show Winston Peters and his party returning to Parliament after being soundly defeated in 2020. With the resurgence has come closer ...
Intermediate and secondary school students will have access to two million free tutoring sessions to help lift maths and literacy achievement A maths and literacy training fund for all primary and intermediate teachers More funding to help young ...
The Future is Up to Us released today by the Green Party is a clear vision of the future we can build together. The Green Party has also published an independent fiscal review of the policy priorities set out in The Future is Up to Us , which shows ...
The National Party’s U-turn on water reform has left local councils high and dry and will drive up Kiwi’s rates bills, Labour Party Local Government Spokesperson Kieran McAnulty says. “The National Party said they’ll repeal Affordable Water ...
Today, ACT Leader David Seymour released a video asking New Zealanders to Party Vote ACT to avoid inaction and instability. You can watch the video by clicking the image below. “ACT is making one final appeal to voters before the polls open tomorrow. ...
If New Zealanders choose a National-led government to rebuild the economy and deliver tax relief, we will go to work immediately implementing our 100 Day Action Plan, National Party Christopher Luxon says. “New Zealanders have waited six long years ...
With advance voting almost under way, Act pitches hard for voters to exclude "chaos" in a future government by ensuring National and Act can govern, Tim Murphy reports Act leader David Seymour is emphasising one extra seat could be the difference between "real change" and "chaos" in a centre-right government after ...
The country’s youngest candidate to run for Parliament has made three separate reports to police after her home was broken into and her rubbish rifled through. Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke says other political leaders have gaslighted her experience. Te Pāti Māori Hauraki Waikato’s candidate says she isn’t scared or shaken by the ...
Labour has released its full policy plan this afternoon, with a focus on improving education for children and funding for training and work for youth. ...
The Prime Minister and Labour leader has tested positive for Covid-19 and is isolating for five days or until he returns a negative test After feeling unwell on Sunday morning and cancelling his attendance at a Samoan church service in Auckland, Chris Hipkins has now tested positive for Covid-19. He ...
Prime minister Chris Hipkins has tested positive for Covid-19, and will be isolating for five days or until he returns a negative test. A spokesperson confirmed he has cold and flu symptoms that began yesterday and will continue with engagements he can undertake via Zoom. Hipkins missed an event on ...
The TVNZ Young Voters' debate run by Re:News was a rowdy interjection into a relatively subdued election campaign, and its moderator has some ideas on how media organisations can better cater to young people. ...
In a bizarre interview with TVNZ’s Q&A programme this morning, NZ First leader Winston Peters said he would “make sure” he secured the broadcasting portfolio should his party make it into government. “We’ll start with TVNZ after the campaign,” he told journalist Jack Tame in an interview that made yesterday’s ...
Labour’s manifesto launch will go ahead this afternoon, despite leader Chris Hipkins missing an event on the campaign trail this morning due to being unwell. Deputy prime minister Carmel Sepuloni is speaking at a Sāmoan church service in Auckland this morning in Hipkins’ place, but according to a Labour spokesperson, ...
National has pledged to remove the Auckland fuel tax, repeal water reform and resource management legislation, ban gang patches and remove funding for cultural reports used in sentencing in its first 100 days in office. The party has set out a range of priorities for its first 100 days in ...
The prime minister is missing an event on the campaign trail this morning because he’s unwell. Chris Hipkins was due to speak at a Sāmoan church service in Auckland, but deputy prime minister Carmel Sepuloni is stepping in to take his place. Hipkins is scheduled to launch Labour’s manifesto at ...
Lawrence Patchett talks to Bill Nelson about Root, Leaf, Flower, Fruit, a verse novel that Nelson has just released with Te Herenga Waka University Press. Bill Nelson demonstrated his versatility with his first book, Memorandum of Understanding. A book of surprising range and humour, it included a love poem styled ...
None of New Zealand’s commercial French vanilla ice creams contain the crucial ingredient. Dylan Jones busts the case wide open. Like any good investigation, this one started as an innocuous Thursday night question among flatmates: what isFrench vanilla ice cream, and how is it different to regular vanilla? A ...
Bard Billot on Lord WinstonThe Duke of Hazard Lord Winston, the Duke of Hazard, Rose late and yawned. The Palace was loud with the hubbub Of busy courtiers preparing to flee the city. Outside the gates, the followers of Baron Luxon Prepared for their assault upon the ...
National leader Christopher Luxon says he wouldn't do a deal with The Opportunities Party leader Raf Manji, even if it could help avoid a potential coalition with New Zealand First. ...
School-aged children in the south are increasing their emotional literacy and talking about the tough stuff thanks to a rugby star’s commitment and a Southland teacher’s persistence Belinda Brown was a teacher with two decades of classroom experience when she heard Sir John Kirwan talk at a Winton pub about his ...
The promise of science to add commercial value to the waste of the New Zealand wine industry while limiting how much of it is sent to landfillOpinion: The New Zealand wine industry has been a great success story, creating world-renowned wines with continued export demand, but it’s an industry ...
My appointment diary will never be replaced by apps and platforms. It is the only true record of the minutiae of my life.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Images by Tina Tiller.I bumped into an old friend and former colleague ...
The Pop-up Globe might be returning to the stage, but not everybody’s happy about it. Sam Brooks talks to some creditors – left in the dark after the company’s liquidation – about its shock 2023 return.On September 15, the Pop-up Globe announced it would be making an “audacious” return ...
RNZ News Green Party co-leader James Shaw has compared the language of New Zealand First leader Winston Peters to former US president Donald Trump, saying it may be emboldening violence against candidates in Aotearoa NZ’s election campaign. It comes after several candidates from different parties have spoken out about being ...
Chris Hipkins endured four seasons in one hour at an outdoor festival in an Auckland park – and claims to be sensing a rapid change in mood in the electorate as well, a fortnight from the election The Labour leader has gone there. He's publicly claiming his party has picked up 'momentum' in this ...
Green Party co-leader James Shaw has compared the language of New Zealand First leader Winston Peters to Donald Trump, saying it may be emboldening violence against candidates. ...
By Pauliasi Mateboto in Suva One in 50 Fijian children could have rheumatic heart disease and children between the ages of five to 15 years are the most at risk of rheumatic fever. While revealing these alarming statistics, Health Secretary Dr James Fong revealed the high figures indicated the high ...
RNZ News New Zealand police are investigating after the home of Te Pāti Māori election candidate Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke was invaded, vandalised, and a threatening letter left behind. They said the burglary of a Huntly home was reported to police on Monday. On Friday, Te Pāti Māori issued a statement saying ...
A protest against co-governance led by Julian Batchelor, a prominent figure in the movement, has ended, with police saying there were no issues. About 300 people marched from Civic Square to parliament in Wellington today, according to a police press release, and they have now departed parliament grounds. About 45 ...
The ACT Party says it would abolish Fair Pay Agreements, put a hold on minimum wage increases for three years, and remove the 2 January public holiday. ...
Police are investigating after the home of Te Pāti Māori candidate Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke was invaded, vandalised, and a threatening letter left behind. ...
There's no break in sight for the political party leaders as they continue to campaign in communities on Saturday. Follow RNZ's live blog for more. ...
Former Wellington mayor Andy Foster is attempting a political comeback as a candidate for NZ First. He talks to Joel MacManus.Fear not, Wellingtonians, your leader has returned from exile: Andy Foster is back.After nine terms on council and one term as mayor, Foster lost his re-election bid to ...
Former Wellington mayor Andy Foster is attempting a political comeback as a candidate for NZ First. He talks to Joel MacManus.Fear not, Wellingtonians, your leader has returned from exile: Andy Foster is back.After nine terms on council and one term as mayor, Foster lost his re-election bid to ...
In an interview that swung from jovial to furious and back again, Winston Peters joked about National leader Christopher Luxon’s claim not to know him, and denied his party was responsible for race-baiting that’s led to an escalation in vitriol towards Māori. In an interview on Newshub Nation this morning, ...
In an interview that swung from jovial to furious and back again, Winston Peters joked about National leader Christopher Luxon’s claim not to know him, and denied his party was responsible for race-baiting that’s led to an escalation in vitriol towards Māori. In an interview on Newshub Nation this morning, ...
The star of Shortland Street, The Gone and now Celebrity Treasure Island shares some of her favourite TV moments. Name a New Zealand television show, and Miriama Smith has probably been in it. For the past 30 years, the actor and presenter has been a welcome fixture on our TV ...
Every weekday, The Detail makes sense of the big news stories. This week, the big problems with tiny homes, how we can do our bit to mitigate climate change (besides recycling), why it's so difficult to keep our drinking water safe, the limits of mental health 'awareness', and the case of an ...
In this week's episode of VOTE2023, we talk to Green Party co-leader and Climate Change Minister James Shaw about student-focused policies, electric vehicles, the Emissions Trading Scheme, and whether the Green Party would form a coalition government with NationalThis series is made by politics students and aims to entertain ...
See ya later, ground. This week on Their house, my garden, it’s all pots, balconies, window ledges and the kitchen bench.Sometimes you move into a tiny CBD apartment to live out your urbanite dreams. You put on your sparkly eyeshadow and smile till 3am behind the bar of a ...
After a mild traumatic brain injury turned her life into a ‘game of snakes and ladders with no ladders’, Ursula Cochran discovered a powerful tool she could use to start getting better – her own brain. Here, she explores the potential of mind-body training for other sufferers.This piece is ...
After a mild traumatic brain injury turned her life into a ‘game of snakes and ladders with no ladders’, Ursula Cochran discovered a powerful tool she could use to start getting better – her own brain. Here, she explores the potential of mind-body training for sufferers of other chronic illnesses, ...
This is The Detail's Long Read – one in-depth story read by us every weekend This week, it's a story from RNZ's In Depth team: 'Fully embedded': The food lobby in Aotearoa. Investigative reporter Guyon Espiner has come out with a new series, Off the Shelf, looking at the quiet struggle to stop New Zealanders eating ...
Pacific Media Watch Barely a day passes without a story in the British or Australian media that ramps up fear about the rulers in Beijing, reports the investigative website Declassified Australia. According to an analysis by co-editors Antony Loewenstein and Peter Cronau, the Australian and British media are ramping up ...
Asia Pacific Report Members of Indonesia’s Nduga District Police and the Damai Cartenz Police Task Force have raided a residential house and the local head office of the Papuan Tabernacle Church (Kingmi Papua) in the town of Kenyam, Nduga Regency, Papua Pegunungan Province, reports Human Rights Monitor. Before raiding the ...
Te Pāti Māori’s candidate for Hauraki-Waikato says her home was “invaded, vandalised, and left with a threatening letter” in what the party is calling a “politically motivated attack”. Hana-Rawhiti Maipi Clark said the “premeditated and targeted attack” was the latest of three incidents to take place at her home just ...
The National Party's fiscal plan is ghoulish smoke and mirrors that will put more children into poverty, if you listen to Labour and the Green Party. ACT is critical, too. ...
“ACT will take the politics out of the Royal Commission into the Government’s Covid-19 response by allowing all New Zealanders to have their say on what should be investigated through a new crowdsourced terms of reference”, says ACT Leader ...
Te Pāti Māori are not strangers to hate speech and online threats. Today however, a line was crossed. Our Hauraki-Waikato candidate, Hana-Rawhiti Maipi Clark’s home was invaded, vandalised, and left with a threatening letter. This premeditated and ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon's announcement that he'll work with Winston Peters after the election if he has to boosts NZ First's chances of getting back into Parliament, writes Peter Wilson. ...
National has wheeled out its stars into the blue, blue seat of Tāmaki which is under friendly fire attack from Act deputy leader Brooke van Velden First Bill English, then Christopher Luxon fronted within two days of each other for Simon O'Connor in the previously safe National heartland of the east ...
Chris Hipkins has condemned the increased risk of campaign trail violence as police investigate an assault on Labour’s Angela Roberts Labour’s candidate for Taranaki-King Country has confirmed she was assaulted following an election debate at the Inglewood Rotary Club earlier this week. Angela Roberts explained in a Facebook post after ...
National may have hoped its detailed fiscal plan would put to bed the lingering questions about how it will pay for its tax cuts, but there are no satisfactory answers in sight, Marc Daalder writesAnalysis: Grant Robertson says National's new fiscal plan has a $537 million hole in it and ...
“People who experience poverty as sanctioned by a capitalist system shouldn’t be punished for the predicament they’re in” says Brooke Pao Stanley, AAAP Coordinator. These parties use fear based politics to gain popularity and continue to push a narrative ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato Tax cuts, crime, the cost of living, potholes and co-governance … these and various other issues are now familiar to most voters. But there has been one major election area missing the serious debate ...
Labour candidate Angela Roberts, a list MP campaigning in Taranaki-King Country, was shaken and slapped by a member of the public following a debate on Tuesday this week. She described the incident on Facebook. While talking about education policy with an attendee after an event at Inglewood Rotary Club, the ...
The Forest Owners Association generally welcomes the National Party forestry policy announcement that National wants to give certainty and support to the forestry and wood processing industry clearly recognising its economic and environmental advantages. ...
Both major parties needed to have prioritised ongoing new investment in children and education in their allowances for new spending, NZEI Te Riu Roa president Mark Potter said today. “The two fiscal plans released this week made pre-commitments ...
National has finally released its fiscal plan after much delay and it reveals a plan to cut the incomes and essential public services the poorest New Zealanders rely on, just so they can pay for tax cuts for landlords and the well-off, says NZCTU ...
The Governor-General of New Zealand, Rt Hon Dame Cindy Kiro, and Dr Richard Davies will depart for an official visit to Malaysia on Sunday 1 October 2023. Their Excellencies are travelling to Malaysia at the invitation of His Majesty Yang di-Pertuan Agong ...
Labour says National’s plan to index benefits to inflation rather than wages will result in more children living in poverty. Speaking in Lower Hutt today, party leader Chris Hipkins said National was proposing “$2 billion in benefit cuts”. “In the middle of a cost of living crisis, they’re cutting benefits ...
Hatikvah Blue Hope Foundation is gravely concerned following the suicide of another serving police officer in the past month, and we extend our deepest sympathy to the grieving family. This tragedy comes as NZ Police is seeing a staggering 48.5% decline ...
The Child Poverty Action Group is asking the National Party to make good on its commitment to children in poverty, but says the party’s fiscal plan reveals it has no desire or intention to help those living in the greatest poverty in Aotearoa. ...
Sam Brooks reviews Auckland Theatre Company’s Switzerland, which can’t quite meet its subject straight in the eye.What is it?The last show in Auckland Theatre Company’s programme is somewhat of a pivot from the rest of its programme this year. It’s a psychological thriller by an Australian playwright (Joanna ...
A new poem by kī anthony. farm to table there is a story in my body that you want to hear. pull me apart like supermarket pizzabread and tell me who i am. narrative unspools my broken cassette; pick up your fork. wind me up. present me on masterchef and ...
The candidate for Taranaki-King Country says she was going to let it go, but realised it was important to take a stand against aggressive and unacceptable behaviour. ...
The worst public service appointment since Christine (Spankin’) Rankin
Justice Minister praises Dame Susan’s “mature judgement”
Thursday 21 March 2013
Four years ago, Dame Susan Devoy was one of several prominent suckers to be played for a fool by Tony “Boot Boy” Veitch. Along with several other gulls, including the notoriously malleable All Black coach Graham Henry, she wrote Veitch a testimonial for “a passport application”; Veitch used their testimonials as evidence for the mitigation of his sentence for attacking and crippling a young woman.
For sensible people, such a gross lack of common-sense, such lamentably poor judgement, such absence of nous, would mean Dame Susan Devoy would be unsuitable for any position demanding a high degree of intelligence, astuteness and moral rectitude. Most people would suspect the competence of anyone who could be so easily conned into writing a character testimonial for a violent thug.
No problems for this government, however. Far from disqualifying herself from being taken seriously, Dame Susan has sleepwalked herself into a highly paid public position for which she admits she has no qualification whatsoever: Race Relations Conciliator. Devoy admits she knows nothing about race relations, but reckons that there’s nothing complicated about it.
Yesterday’s public announcement by the Minister of Justice was beyond satire. I’ve put the especially absurd bits in bold….
“Dame Susan is a proud New Zealander who is highly motivated to contribute positively to New Zealand society,” Justice Minister Judith Collins said today. “Her communication and relationship management skills, coupled with experience working with diverse groups, are key areas of strength. Dame Susan has sound governance experience and mature judgement. I am confident she will be a sensible and intelligent voice for race relations issues,” Collins said.
Click on the following link for an example of Dame Susan Devoy’s “mature judgement”….
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10567112
Makes perfect sense to appoint her.
Apparently most of our current immigrants are English.
Who better than a dame to make sure they do not suffer the pains of discrimination?
And she thinks that Waitangi Day is full of too many protesters and everyone should settle down and be happy.
Arn’t you meant to have the slightest smidgeon of knowledge of history so that you can be appointed to important race relations positions?
Maybe the cunning plan is to appoint the most inappropriate candidate so that the mana of the office is trashed.
“Maybe the cunning plan is to appoint the most inappropriate candidate so that the mana of the office is trashed.”
Oh. Like the recent appointment to the Speaker of the House?
Like the recent appointment to the Speaker of the House?
Exactly, Alanz. Well spotted.
Methinks Dame Susan is going to be way out of her depth and sooner or later there will be a stoush between her and some citizens who went to her for help and she did nothing. She’s a good girl though who votes National and is a whizz squash player. What more could you want for a Race Relations Conciliator.
Stupid to accept a position like this and then think you can just wing it. She’ll be seriously tested within the year.
I watched the TVNZ News item – she’s already out of her depth. She hasn’t got a freaken clue what she’s talking about.
So she’s making it up as she goes along. The ego behind this must be massive.
Her appointment begins 1 April – this a very poor taste early April Fools joke and I’m not laughing
Bomber at The Daily Blog has really hit it out the park with this post – awesome and so, so true
Very brief quote but I recommend reading the whole post
“Pakeha can celebrate Waitangi Day without all the shame and division the day Maori aren’t the worst health stats.”
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2013/03/21/when-can-pakeha-celebrate-waitangi-day-a-response-to-dame-susan-devoy/#comment-5075
The Daily Blog is starting to get real traction – good effort to all concerned.
“Pakeha can celebrate Waitangi Day without all the shame and division the day Maori aren’t the worst health stats.”
He should quit the guilt trip and just donate his wages to a local tribe until he’s comfortable with himself, or just keep paying his taxes and hope the dollar spend on improving outcomes will be better spent and/or matched by a concerted effort by whanau to change habits and assist end trending poor health.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10872741
Notice the difference? Annette Sykes is factual and makes an argument. Collins just spins and distracts with bullshit.
Has labour said anything about this appointment for or against?
Lovely. Ol’ Jude should be defending the appointment of this lemon of a choice a lot more. Incompetence by association.
Give them a couple of days to come up with some wording which doesn’t offend Devoy squash fans.
“Annette Sykes – “demanded that she stand down because she was not fit for the role.”
Is that the same Annette Sykes who was defending the owner of a devil dog in Rotorua, that mauled youngsters?
This is just NAct showing how much they hold the country and all peoples of goodwill in contempt. Hopefully there aren’t quite as many redneck bigots among us as they seem to be counting on, and this will become another nail in their coffin.
Murray, please don’t insult working people by associating them with bigotry. Most of the vilest racists wear white collars, and do no hard or useful work. Leighton Smith, Larry “Lackwit” Williams, Murray Deaker, ACT party members, Sensible Sentencing Trusters and Family Firsters and, yes, the new Race Relations Commissioner are all established bigots, but they are NOT rednecks.
Please don’t use this sniffy term of eastern elite contempt for working people.
Shearer’s Bank accounts, and Banks’ share accounts seem to have disappeared from the headlines now that a new day dawns. So for those who may have missed them during the night …
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10872534
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10872232
Shearer and Labour are both dead men walking at this stage.
Time for a change.
There’s going to be more to come in this story, imo.
Reading the financial information from one of the links in Edwards’ latest column:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10872509
It turns out that Shearer had two bank accounts holding more than $50,000, and likely substantially more, and a mortgage.
As the epitome of the worst kind of ‘Papatoetoe-Boy-Makes-Good’ (again imo) It’s not plausible this could be bad money management. I don’t think Shearer is particulary smart, but money, like everyting associated with his giant ego, is important to him. He couldn’t be unaware that, (as this situation has been presented so far) this arrangement constitutes chucking money away – a considerable amount in interest over the term of the mortgage. His wife is no fool, and I’m sure his financial advisors would have mentioned it.
Nah there is a reason.
Maybe it’s something simple. Maybe Shearer likes to sit in his flash new home, daydreaming about being Prime-Minister-Shearer-on-the-world-stage, and for an extra thrill, dialling the telebank machine to check the petty cash, and hearing: ” You have five hun dred and sixty eight thousand dollars, and seven cents……..”
or something.
OMFG.
Well invested money can bring in more than the interest being paid on a mortgage.
You may be right. I’m sure some bright researcher will let us know.
A US bank term-deposit of a very big sum might bring in more than a 5.5% NZ mortgage costs I guess.
Which would make you wonder why he had more than $50,000 in a NZ ANZ account, which wouldn’t bring in more than the mortgage costs
“A US bank term-deposit of a very big sum might bring in more than a 5.5% NZ mortgage costs I guess.”
Hah, no. US interest rates are at 0-0.25%. Unless Shearer had literally billions in the bank, he wouldn’t be getting much more than 1-2% tops.
Na, people with billions in the bank are actually getting charged. What I meant for “smart investments” wasn’t leaving it in the bank but using it to play the stock market. If he was just leaving it in the bank then there would be no reason to leave it in the US.
Yep. And if a bank is providing deposits with a 2% pa rate of interest, it’s probably negative 2% real rate once inflation/deflation, fees etc are taken into account.
There was something on the 6AM RNZ news that the government was preparing a takeover
of the Auckland City Council. Stay tuned for developments ..
They effectively have taken over akl with the CCO’s answerable to no one effectively and stacked with Hide/Key stooges.
Blinky F’ing up the mayoralty with his racist yet predictable comments means they didn’t get the puppett they wanted.
Maybe it’ll be ECAN V2.0 but I can only see that if Brown wins again and the NACT get a third term. If that happens god help you jaffa’s but to do it pre 2014 would kill them in the general election.
Please keep us informed Raa – not everyone is close to a radio news announcement at the right time !
I have my clock radio alarm set for the 6AM news, but am often up earlier ..
Cheers,
This could be the underlying reason.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/regional/130925/tensions-rise-over-auckland-housing-land-supply
Has anyone consulted the iwi ?
Has Banksy got a finger in this ? He used to be Mayor ..
The spare land is obviously not where the wealthy want to live.
There is a relevant report listed here:
F**k them! We voted against Banksie to keep the vultures hands off our city! No respect for democracy!
The most interesting analysis will be on who owns the land just on the other side of the urban boundary and who profits if things change. Smith is not doing this because of his concern for the poor and homeless. There is a profit for a National Party supporter somewhere and Smith is being told about this loud and clear.
And I am really worried this is a done deal. National has this modus operandi where they create a “crisis” then “act decisively” to deal with the “crisis”. It has happened time and time again.
The simple solution is to allow the Unitary Plan to be operative from its release in September this year. The fact that National is not agreeing to this is a clear message that they intend to do something else.
It’s going to be a real test of how much political and popular support Mayor Brown can rally.
Hear hear O Viperous One.
As lefties we must fully back Len, or become culpable for a National inspired theft and mess-up.
It would be easier to back Len if he’d done something inspiring during the waterfront dispute, or at any other time. Once again we’re left with someone who has the warrior instincts of wet toilet paper as our great hope against another rapacious NAct power/land grab. We need better.
/agreed
Just watch as they take away another regions democracy but this time it’s the democracy of an entire third of the country.
There seems to be some action across the Tasman ..
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/political-news/rudd-forces-gather-20130320-2gg32.html
The housing issue is a red herring, and being used as a route in, although not quite sure the aim might be, other than a power grab.
As TC points out the CCOs do not answer to AKL Council, or any elected members they are stand alone operations, filled with corporate types.
Spend a little time looking into the backgrounds of the people involved, its not only the CCOs, but the Council Departments also, which have been run over by Deloitte, ex Deloitte mostly.
How to take over large public departments
1: Get a stooge into the top role – Ex Deloitte
2: Bring in another ( known affiliate) to run *transformation* – Ex Deloitte
3: Give known affiliate free reign to *shape* the department
4: Bring in more known affiliates to run large in flight programmes (regardless of experience levels) – All Ex Deloitte
5: Ensure Transformation #2 takes out the top layers of existing or structure , (hence council staff)
6: Have known affiliate #2/3 on the interview panel for top level positions in new org structure
7: Ensure that council staff do not get any of the top level positions in new org structure
8: Advertise directors roles externally – Have more corporate stooges conveniently standing by
9: Take over complete – Too easy, high fives, contract awards, services agreements and professional services agreements all wrapped up (more so than they already were)
10: Keep M.O from public, and let them think their rates go up due to lazy employees etc, as opposed to corporate shuffle
Corporate now has complete control over multiple largest departments of type in NZ
A couple of oddities from the media world:
Esquire editor fesses up: “The women we feature in the magazine are ornamental,” he said, “I could lie to you if you want and say we are interested in their brains as well. We are not. They are objectified.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/mar/19/esquire-editor-show-women-like-cars
The Times gets conned:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/mar/18/times-duped-hoax-qatar-dream-football-story?INTCMP=SRCH
And bonus music featurette: Reasons to Love the Dropkick Murphys No 94:
http://gawker.com/5991403/dropkick-murphys-singer-kicks-the-crap-out-of-skinhead-doing-nazi-salute-on-stage-during-st-patricks-day-concert
Dropkick Murphys – Cadence to Arms / Do or Die
The once steel tough fabric of the union man
Was sold and bartered away
Fed to money wolves in the Reagan years
Caught in a drift in greedy nineties days
So inside this song is our rally cry
Your dreams are in danger
And we must rise
Our time has come we are under the gun
It’s do or die
It’s not a rebel cry of some socialist scheme
To push for human rights
Just the facts and the obvious mention
On behalf of the working man
For his family and his livelihood
Your dreams are in danger
And we must rise
Our time has come we are under the gun
It’s do or die
The once steel tough fabric of the union man
Was sold and bartered away
Fed to money and wolves in the Reagan years
Caught adrift in greedy nineties days
Your dreams are in danger
And we must rise
Our time has come we are under the gun
It’s do or die
Some great looking polls. Delighted to be wrong, for now.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10872574
Will be interested to see next month how much ‘overlooked a fortune in a foreign accountgate’ dents the great polling, that still show national in government.
A month is a long time in politics.
Shearer’s Labour does seem to do better in the Herald polls than in others.
First line in the piece: “National also up”
Trevett reckons that Labours increased support has come at the expense of the Greens and NZF. In true genius fashion LAB will probably take this to mean to do more of this.
Precisely. There is little point even watching the polls at this stage of the electoral cycle, and as has been proven time and time again, they are often inaccurate, overstating Tory support. In reality NACT support is at around 44%. Currently the Labour/Green coalition sits at around the same number. The Winston Peters roadshow can’t be underestimated, and his support still has to be over 5%. The real challenge for the left will be finding that extra 4% support so they can form a stable government and not have to deal with the profoundly conservative NZ First (either that or hope that his party just falls short of 5%). Hopefully the continued fallout from the Novapay debacle, the GCSB scandal, poor economic management and the theft and sale of our assets will continue to erode Tory support.
Nah, NZF aren’t “profoundly conservative”, just “somewhat conservative”.
If you want “profoundly conservative” you need to be pointing your finger at Colin Craig’s mob.
I’m not sure about that. The comments coming out of NZF lately are about as racist, homophobic and bigoted as what comes out of that ass-hat Colin Craig’s mouth. The latter just throws scripture, and other xtian wingnuttery into the mix too.
I blame NZF’s inept candidate selection process as being a big part of the problem. Because of their strong showing in 2011, I think they will manage to rustle up a far superior crowd for 2014.
Cyprus votes NO
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/cyprus-government-considers-capital-restrictions-if-banks-reopen-in-wake-of-no-vote-on-bailout-plan-8541257.html
NZ still on track to be first nation to facilitate bank account funds theft!
This is the biggest issue facing the world and NZ right now.
It has implications and effects that are and will be far-reaching.
This should be seen for what it is – another well predicted part of the current world financial crisis which erupted onto the public conscience in 2008 and which will continue for years yet, with resultant massive meltdowns of wealth. People would do well to research the other well predicted future events that will roll out of this systemic end-game play…..
do
not
trust
the
banking
system
Or their bought and paid for politicians.
Who is playing whom in Cyrus?
http://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2013/03/20/cyprus-what-a-mess/
7 reasons why Paula Bennett should stfu and piss off back to wherever she came from: http://sorrelish.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/7-reasons-why-you-should-stop-bitching.html
Just brilliant.
from the comments
“The onus here should be on employers to pay proper wages, and maybe on the government to lower taxes on small businesses who cannot afford to pay more (and of course, higher taxes on tax-evading mega-businesses who CAN afford to pay more).”
Surely this simple truth is the nub of the Global problem regarding employment. (that and the endless greed of Banking cabals )
Perhaps this is also a good time to remind you that New Zealand desperately needs the low income tax free earnings structure that the UK, Australia and the US all enjoy. As their economies and policies are consistently used to reflect our economy and policies, surely this glaring disparity in economic truths can finally become a real issue in the next NZ General Election .
i know, dream on dream on
“and Sorrel was her name”
LP: all the rolling comments in the opinions/comments box actually link to an old post (return of the king). This may be related to the issue Anne referred to yesterday.
And now its back to normal. I blame the North Koreans.
Heh. Yes. And I was getting an odd version of open mike (maybe the mobile version?) on Chrome, FF, & IE, with none of the latest comments as indicated in the links top right. And while I was logged into the main site, I was not logged into open mike.
Now it seems to be back to normal.
Probably the secret squirrel’s smart phone playing up
It is the caching I turned on last night to cope with the flood from offshore. Just turned it off and cleared the cloudflare cache.
Thanks for reminding me.
Here’s a short book review:
The Surprising Conclusion to an Important New Book
It seems that the book is based upon facts and thus comes to the only possible conclusion – the mainstream economics used by politicians is wrong, very, very wrong and we need to change it and go to a steady state economy.
Draco, there are major implications for empty world accumulation versus steady state economics. Once we are all fully cognisant that wealth requires work to be done and that it cannot be created out of thin air as credit (future debt) then we will all get a healthier respect for our toils. And anybody with vast accumulated sums must have got them from somebodies elses work. That could result in some very interesting social behavoir……..
great link D.
The disunity is killing us. It must end Simon Crean on the Australian Labour parties problems.
Could the same be said of Labour NZ??
Meanwhile back at the race to extinction.
Guy McPherson interview
10 positive feedback loops of which one we can influence
http://c-realm.com/podcasts/crealm/354-rapid-unpredictable-non-linear-responses/
Yep, I know you guys hate the UK Daily Mail but you gotta love this. Truth as only the Right can do it.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2296064/If-scintilla-decency-Tony-Blair-Alastair-Campbell-John-Scarlett-faces-public-again.html
http://www.impeachbush.org/
Yeah Joe but it looks better if the Right kick them….
Oh, I think the penny has dropped grumpy.
https://medium.com/something-like-falling/f05a8010fac0
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2013/0317/Iraq-war-10-years-later-Was-it-worth-it
What did John key think about the war again? or Brash? can’t remember.
Pricks.
http://www.truthdig.com/dig/item/the_last_letter_20130318/
Does anyone know how to completely delete a gravatar? After a long time mucking around at the site, I’m left with this horrible black square. I want to be back where I was before I ever had a gravatar. Is this no longer possible?
They tell my I can’t delete my account.
[lprent: Looks ok to me. Remember that your browser will be caching the image. So try shift+click refresh (common to most browsers) force a complete reload of the site. ]
Cheers LPrent
test
Struggling with the link, but this is the best article I’ve read on the RMA changes
Good work Jon Morgan
meetings happening… not long before it’s all sewn up
well I need more link lessons obviously, but it is on stuff today, RMA overhaul EXCELLENT reading
test
“I have heard that if a persons’ historical account is incorrect, then death will follow that person”
-Kaumatua; Waka Huia
(Crown vs Tuhoe, historically, equated to “ethnic cleansing”-Paul Moon)
Susan Devoy? White must be right. “burqas are disconcerting” but hey, endorsed by that low-forehead paragon of virtue Judith Collins.
Based on experiences such as Katrina, with funds up to 30B coming into ChCh rebuild over the next 5 years, fraud in the order of 1-3B is not unexpected- KPMG commentator.
Novopay Tech. review release; “platform unstable, 19000 pay-related problems backlog.”
and now for some Dominion Post propaganda;
yesterday, “no excuses for neglectful Chinese” concerning the aged.
and then the Front Page “This is China” on imprisonment conditions, like, isolation, over-crowding, labour, drug trials and health challenges do not occur under other countries’ penal regimes.
WHAT A MOFO LOAD OF XENOPHOBIA AROUSING SH*T; some of the editorial staff will likely not even be out of nappies when the war is over…
followed by..”Israel talks peace” please, spare us the incredulity (see earlier diplomatic analysis of an “inevitable Intifada”)FFS
Massey University Head of Banking Studies : events in Cyprus were “very relevant” to New Zealand.;” bank deposit guarantee a much better solution”
QT : Parker on the governments’ gloat over the Dec Quarter economic figures; 23000 lost jobs and 33000 left the work force; Joyce concedes, “employment sector is challenging”
Current Account Deficit 10.5B (5% GDP) not helpful-Penny, Westpac economist
“part of the slippery 😉 slope the NZ economy is on” -Doug Steel, BNZ
but that’s OK, New Zealanders received “record returns from off-shore investments.”
NZLast hammering the issue of Chinese parents of skilled migrants again; good return serve from Woodhouse (a decent Tory it appears).
Brownlee’s opposition to Rail Loop appears to be fading slowly (Enright (sp?) report; Loop essential to improved productivity. Julie-Ann hit Brownlee back with his own premise of reduced travel times.
in ICT; job loss indications are up to 1500-C.C (maybe skilled migrants will fill the “advertised” ICT vacancies Joyce touts.)
Chris Tremain? that guy don’t seem right in the head ma.
Families Commission; throwing money away on contractors, gifts and hospitality.
Coleman on the NZDF : “culture, oversight of orders and failure to adhere to orders”
Goff on Crib 19 (sp?) “according to the WO, “only 60% of training effected.”
Torie aye, who’d vote for them! Baaa Humbug. freakin narrow-minded inbreds is what they generally appear to be.
She Had
http://www.metal-archives.com/images/2/3/6/2/236249.jpg
The General Electric
ps. Is Resigning an option?
http://auckland.scoop.co.nz/2013/03/st-matthew-in-the-citys-easter-billboard/
meanwhile
Little Reason Indeed
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/columnists/rosemary-mcleod/8453067/Little-reason-for-man-of-cloth-to-preach-pure-rationalism
Hey Morrissey, Obama’s monster limo “The Beast” konks out in Jerusalem. Waddya reckon ? God slapped them ?
Presumably Obama didn’t laugh at a Sascha Baron-Cohen joke and the Ultra-Zionist comedian called in a favour from Mossad.
Sacha, how many times I godda tell ya bud ? Enough of the false anonyms already !
Say, could we flog the vee-hickle off to that crazy dude John A. Banks way down there in Ocklind, Nooo Zeeerlind ? Word is he’s a doozie at concealin’ paper trails.
Hello North! Sorry to be so slow responding, but I just completely missed your original message. I had not heard of that incident.
And, no, I don’t think “God slapped them” or anything like that, but I think Obama’s conscience will slap him over the next few years as he slips deeper and deeper into perfidy. He looked very uncomfortable when speaking alongside Mr Abbas yesterday on his flying visit into the Occupied Territories.
Of course, he is a machine politician from Chicago, which means he is as cynical and impervious to morality as anyone in America, but he is human, and he knows that he has failed to do anything to stop Israel’s depredations in either the illegally occupied West Bank or the illegal giant prison in Gaza. In spite of his apparent arrogance, especially when he is being cheered by flag-waving Israeli crowds, he has a conscience like everyone else, and I have no doubt that it is wearing away at him. Soon Obama will be looking as gaunt and haunted as the troubled fellow standing in the middle of the second row in THIS PHOTO….
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/03/18/article-2295067-0C11293D000005DC-68_634x402.jpg
Sorry to harp on, but my burble in blue above does actually link to the article on the RMA.
It is a very clear account of what the Nacts are changing, and there is very little time for people to be informed (shouted from the rooftops) about what a disgrace this really is.
Where are the opposition, especially the Greens on this? Not more silence, please…
Nice comment from Jacinda Ardern layning into Bennefits. – clip H/TBryan Bruce.
Very good speech by her. Probably the best I’ve heard from her.
Indeed, well done Jacinda. Good to see her re-stating Labour’s commitment to a social security system, highlighting contradictions, timing of announcements and the political nastiness of this bill. All stuff that Labour has been seen as silent on (at best) by many people, including me. Now to get it heard in a wider public forum…
I know some people around here have it in for Chris Hipkins but this speech he gave to the Auckland Primary Principals Association yesterday gives me some hope that Labour’s education policies are on the right track. Shame the speech hasn’t been reported very widely if at all.
http://www.networkonnet.co.nz/index.php?section=latest&id=229
Thanks for the link. Some policy statements at last….
I know some people around here have it in for Chris Hipkins…
He asked for it Tony P, but if he continues to perform at his present level then some of us may eventually be able to forgive him. Up to him.
What did he ask for exactly? This statement is extraordinary. You may eventually forgive him? What a load of patronizing bollocks.
Of course it’s patronizing bollocks, because these types aren’t accountable to us.
Only patronising bollocks to ignorant twits like yourself who apparently don’t keep themselves informed. Get off your backside and find out for yourself… or is that beyond your capabilities.
Up to 1500 jobs to go at Telecom in May, no wonder Bill from Dipton was saying on Q+A that the Welfare Budget is likely to get more money in His next budget…
Gotta maintain those multi-million dollar profit levels for the foreign share owners.
Yeah that sucks, damn national selling of telecom in the 80s was a bad idea
Faraway NZ communities that they never visit bear the cost of the resulting unemployment. While they personally benefit from signficantly increased profits.
It’s a business no-brainer. If I could fire five thousand Indian workers to get an extra hundred grand in dividends in my pocket, why the hell not?
Erm. How is the government doing with creating 170,000 jobs?
Any sign yet?
“The possibility that the Voyager-1 spacecraft may have left the Solar System is being hotly debated.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21866532
“Launched in September 1977, the probe was sent initially to study the outer planets, but then just kept on going.”
“Their plutonium power sources will stop generating electricity in about 10-15 years, at which point their instruments and transmitters will die. Voyager-1 is on course to approach a star called AC +793888, but it will only get to within two light-years of it and it will be tens of thousands of years before it does so.”
I feel sad for the little spaceship that could, but await the return of V’ger the Intruder.
Heh!!! 🙂
http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/V'Ger 😉
Frank was so right when he reminded the world about the fish people.
http://www.vice.com/read/i-went-to-the-california-creationist-museum-and-it-was-really
“there are several smaller, shittier ones dotted around” 😆
Creationists – Made on a Saturday after the birds and fish.
Evolutionists – Still being tweaked to perfection.
Test
test 2
Test 3
Test 4
MIme artist sound check 🙂
Test 5 – text/javascript check.
“MIme artist sound check”
That’s john banks sound proofing his donation paper trail.
Test 6 – I thought he used a sockpuppet
Hah – found the damn thing. Have edit back folks…
Bringing up a comment to edit at last.
You had me at “Hah” :thumbz:
Rather irritating to find… Turned out that there was a call to the admin area and it was trying to go through https. Now the question is how to secure that again.
Kevin Rudd’s supporters sacrificed; but is the Leader’s problems actually his fault?
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/trouble-brewing-but-dont-blame-it-on-the-usual-bloke-20130318-2gb8m.html
Body count: Rudd supporters quit their posts
Cant say I care for either of them myself. The ALP is doomed no matter who leads it.
Ok tinyMCE back on…
Ummm – where has the opt-out box gone?
Link
Ok – that had the same problem.
Test WYIWYG comments
Ok – that appears to work
And the reply works as well.
Umm and admins get more.
Yeah I left that a bit unfinished for admins. Must have been when the work load escalated.
Everything is back to nearly full speed – hopefully without the cache problems that re-appeared yesterday. Just have
And above all the nightly backup to run so that I have a copy