Paul Little explains how totally awful Nick Smith is as housing minister.
An excerpt from this excellent article .
‘In the context of the deaths of Soesa Tovo, 37, and Emma-Lita Bourne, 2, from housing-related causes, his remark that “people dying in winter of pneumonia and other illnesses is not new” took some by surprise. But for this Government, callousness on that level is not new either.’
‘It’s true people die in houses all the time but it used to be from old age and other natural causes, not because they were poor and had to endure shoddy conditions that any minister should be ashamed to know exist on his or her watch.’
Here is a major problem with the Auckland housing market:
“The average size of new houses has increased 50 per cent since 1989.”
House sizes should be decreasing rather than increasing. The quote is from Bernard Hickey’s article today in the Herald. Hickey suggests that:
“[Council].. should also lift height limits and review minimum apartment sizes once the Building Code for air quality, lighting and acoustics is updated.”
Smaller houses in denser developments is the answer to Auckland’s housing woes, not greenfield sprawl as advocated by this government.
‘Over-crowded, expensive, cold, damp and mouldy housing is estimated to be responsible for the hospital admissions of more than 1300 people with infectious diseases each year. This entrenched poverty is costing the Government at least $2 billion a year in rent subsidies and countless billions a year in health and other costs.’
Yep quite an irony that the council threatened court action about a temporary dwelling/shed in the North Shore to house a family member which is a great way to house more people in an existing situation in an affordable way, but all to happy to use ratepayers money to fight in environment court for the right to remove basic standards of Height to boundary rules for neighbours to make sure expensive McMansions are created.
Sounds great in a sound byte, make houses more intensive (supposedly to solve the housing crisis). In reality doing the opposite, it is making more large houses of 5 bedrooms and 4 bathroom McMansions which take away their poorer neighbours views, light and amenity, while at the same time removing the former house on site generally that 3 bedroom 1 bathroom family home.
Families are already having to move our of inner suburbs of Auckland because the once 1 million dollar houses are now being redesigned into 2.5 million dollars houses. They actually don’t have much outdoor space for kids, rather 3 living areas, media room, master suites the size of a 2 bedroom apartment.
Welcome to Auckland Councils Resource Consent Officers view of Auckland’s future, where the rich live in 300m2 gated McMansions and the poor in 30m2 shoeboxes!
Sounds good to have smaller apartments right, but wait look at the blocks created in the 1990’s, shoe boxes that leaked and again cost the ratepayers a lot of money, while the developers make a killing. Is it really going to solve the housing crisis to have apartments 30m2 than 35m2? I don’t think so.
It is a race to make Auckland as ugly and unliveable as possible as a speculator delight, rather than plan for quality housing and temporary reliefs.
The Persecution of Julian Assange
by JOHN PILGER, Counterpunch, November 17, 2014
The siege of Knightsbridge is a farce. For two years, an exaggerated, costly police presence around the Ecuadorean embassy in London has served no purpose other than to flaunt the power of the state. Their quarry is an Australian charged with no crime, a refugee from gross injustice whose only security is the room given him by a brave South American country. His true crime is to have initiated a wave of truth-telling in an era of lies, cynicism and war.
The persecution of Julian Assange must end. Even the British government clearly believes it must end. On 28 October, the deputy foreign minister, Hugo Swire, told Parliament he would “actively welcome” the Swedish prosecutor in London and “we would do absolutely everything to facilitate that”. The tone was impatient.
The Swedish prosecutor, Marianne Ny, has refused to come to London to question Assange about allegations of sexual misconduct in Stockholm in 2010 – even though Swedish law allows for it and the procedure is routine for Sweden and the UK. The documentary evidence of a threat to Assange’s life and freedom from the United States – should he leave the embassy – is overwhelming. On May 14 this year, US court files revealed that a “multi subject investigation” against Assange was “active and ongoing”.
Ny has never properly explained why she will not come to London, just as the Swedish authorities have never explained why they refuse to give Assange a guarantee that they will not extradite him on to the US under a secret arrangement agreed between Stockholm and Washington. In December 2010, the Independent revealed that the two governments had discussed his onward extradition to the US before the European Arrest Warrant was issued.
Perhaps an explanation is that, contrary to its reputation as a liberal bastion, Sweden has drawn so close to Washington that it has allowed secret CIA “renditions” – including the illegal deportation of refugees. The rendition and subsequent torture of two Egyptian political refugees in 2001 was condemned by the UN Committee against Torture, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch; the complicity and duplicity of the Swedish state are documented in successful civil litigation and WikiLeaks cables. In the summer of 2010, Assange had been in Sweden to talk about WikiLeaks revelations of the war in Afghanistan – in which Sweden had forces under US command.
The Americans are pursuing Assange because WikiLeaks exposed their epic crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq: the wholesale killing of tens of thousands of civilians, which they covered up; and their contempt for sovereignty and international law, as demonstrated vividly in their leaked diplomatic cables.
For his part in disclosing how US soldiers murdered Afghan and Iraqi civilians, the heroic soldier Bradley (now Chelsea) Manning received a sentence of 35 years, having been held for more than a thousand days in conditions which, according to the UN Special Rapporteur, amounted to torture.
Few doubt that should the US get their hands on Assange, a similar fate awaits him. Threats of capture and assassination became the currency of the political extremes in the US following Vice-President Joe Biden’s preposterous slur that Assange was a “cyber-terrorist”. Anyone doubting the kind of US ruthlessness he can expect should remember the forcing down of the Bolivian president’s plane last year – wrongly believed to be carrying Edward Snowden.
According to documents released by Snowden, Assange is on a “Manhunt target list”. Washington’s bid to get him, say Australian diplomatic cables, is “unprecedented in scale and nature”. In Alexandria, Virginia, a secret grand jury has spent four years attempting to contrive a crime for which Assange can be prosecuted. This is not easy. The First Amendment to the US Constitution protects publishers, journalists and whistleblowers. As a presidential candidate in 2008, Barack Obama lauded whistleblowers as “part of a healthy democracy [and they] must be protected from reprisal”. Under President Obama, more whistleblowers have been prosecuted than under all other US presidents combined. Even before the verdict was announced in the trial of Chelsea Manning, Obama had pronounced the whisletblower guilty.
“Documents released by WikiLeaks since Assange moved to England,” wrote Al Burke, editor of the online Nordic News Network, an authority on the multiple twists and dangers facing Assange, “clearly indicate that Sweden has consistently submitted to pressure from the United States in matters relating to civil rights. There is every reason for concern that if Assange were to be taken into custody by Swedish authorities, he could be turned over to the United States without due consideration of his legal rights.”
There are signs that the Swedish public and legal community do not support prosecutor’s Marianne Ny’s intransigence. Once implacably hostile to Assange, the Swedish press has published headlines such as: “Go to London, for God’s sake.”
Why won’t she? More to the point, why won’t she allow the Swedish court access to hundreds of SMS messages that the police extracted from the phone of one of the two women involved in the misconduct allegations? Why won’t she hand them over to Assange’s Swedish lawyers? She says she is not legally required to do so until a formal charge is laid and she has questioned him. Then, why doesn’t she question him?
This week, the Swedish Court of Appeal will decide whether to order Ny to hand over the SMS messages; or the matter will go to the Supreme Court and the European Court of Justice. In high farce, Assange’s Swedish lawyers have been allowed only to “review” the SMS messages, which they had to memorise.
One of the women’s messages makes clear that she did not want any charges brought against Assange, “but the police were keen on getting a hold on him”. She was “shocked” when they arrested him because she only “wanted him to take [an HIV] test”. She “did not want to accuse JA of anything” and “it was the police who made up the charges”. (In a witness statement, she is quoted as saying that she had been “railroaded by police and others around her”.)
Neither woman claimed she had been raped. Indeed, both have denied they were raped and one of them has since tweeted, “I have not been raped.” That they were manipulated by police and their wishes ignored is evident – whatever their lawyers might say now. Certainly, they are victims of a saga worthy of Kafka.
For Assange, his only trial has been trial by media. On 20 August 2010, the Swedish police opened a “rape investigation” and immediately — and unlawfully — told the Stockholm tabloids that there was a warrant for Assange’s arrest for the “rape of two women”. This was the news that went round the world.
In Washington, a smiling US Defence Secretary Robert Gates told reporters that the arrest “sounds like good news to me”. Twitter accounts associated with the Pentagon described Assange as a “rapist” and a “fugitive”.
Less than 24 hours later, the Stockholm Chief Prosecutor, Eva Finne, took over the investigation. She wasted no time in cancelling the arrest warrant, saying, “I don’t believe there is any reason to suspect that he has committed rape.” Four days later, she dismissed the rape investigation altogether, saying, “There is no suspicion of any crime whatsoever.” The file was closed.
Enter Claes Borgstrom, a high profile politician in the Social Democratic Party then standing as a candidate in Sweden’s imminent general election. Within days of the chief prosecutor’s dismissal of the case, Borgstrom, a lawyer, announced to the media that he was representing the two women and had sought a different prosecutor in the city of Gothenberg. This was Marianne Ny, whom Borgstrom knew well. She, too, was involved with the Social Democrats.
On 30 August, Assange attended a police station in Stockholm voluntarily and answered all the questions put to him. He understood that was the end of the matter. Two days later, Ny announced she was re-opening the case. Borgstrom was asked by a Swedish reporter why the case was proceeding when it had already been dismissed, citing one of the women as saying she had not been raped. He replied, “Ah, but she is not a lawyer.” Assange’s Australian barrister, James Catlin, responded, “This is a laughing stock … it’s as if they make it up as they go along.” …..
I will make my own mind up I just felt it was a story standard readers might be interested in and thought I better put something with it. Although other points of view are handy.
Garner was frothing as he attacked Winston 2008 when Winston was being “got” by National. He really kicked him hard while he was down, figuratively of course. Campbell was accused of being leftish but Garner is fiercly biased anti-leftish.
Garner is ok. Not a Campbell. Just consider the bosses that he is working for that dealt to JC. Anyone that Gavin Ellis touts is suspect. We must have better media commentators in this country? Suggestions please, or have they all disappeared?
Depends on your political point of view. Garner hates both Labour and the Greens and has been directing Gowers attacks for the last 6 years. Add Heather DA and together they will be a huge pain in the arse during the 2017 campaign and probably kill the Lefts changes through their spin and propaganda.
Some of these media puppets need to be taken for a little ride in the back seat of a car. They need to be reminded elections are a hell of a lot more than their own egotistical ratings games.
‘Recently, the German journalist Udo Ulfkotte wrote a book, Bought Journalists, in which he reported that every significant European journalist functions as a CIA asset.’
‘Today the media throughout the Western world serves as a Propaganda Ministry for Washington. The Western media is Washington’s Ministry of Truth. ‘
thanks Tracey..this site is a goldmine for links of interest.Renegade has a short vid there by Joseph Stiglitz, imo the leading world economist about the GFC its causes and the need for regulation.
I just ran across this video of John Pilger. The video is called War by other means and explains how the rich Nations enslaved the poor ones and how this ongoing looting is killing millions and destroying our planet. But it is also very enlightening to understand how no the peripheral weaker countries in the EU and globally (New Zealand being one of those global peripheral weaker countries) are being bullied into the same eternal serfdom. It will make you understand why John Key is borrowing huge amounts of money whereas Labour was able to pay of most of our debt and how come we are being looted the way we are!
Nash actually spoke very well being interviewed and would have appealed to too a lot of Kiwi’s. By far more impressive speaker than the likes of Goff-Off, Shearer and Cosgrove. Maybe use him a bit more fresh face, new idea’s etc.
Yes, Nash did well. I only hope that this TT group will have their deliberations, ideas with integrity and sincerity and in private, and take it to the party for discussion/tweaking/endorsement or rejection rather than air all that through their PR or destabilising RW blogs and the suspect media who play dirty to harm Labour and the left.
Also, I hope this TTank will have the interests of the common people, the workers, families and the disadvantaged upper most in their thinking rather than working, directly or indirectly, primarily in the interests of the wealthy as National and ACT do, with some tokenism thrown in for the rest.
Nash actually spoke very well being interviewed and would have appealed to too a lot of Kiwi’s. By far more impressive speaker than the likes of Goff-Off, Shearer and Cosgrove. Maybe use him a bit more fresh face, new idea’s etc.
The problem can be when how something is said, is more important than the content of the speech itself. Yep those voices are part of the ‘split’ personality of Labour causing the ‘split’ vote of their former Labour voters….
I have come to the opinion as long as John Key is the leader of National they will always be the Government. Imagine if he decides to stick around for another 20 years, nah that is just not worth thinking about.
+1
Moving on some of their MP’s and blooding new talent should be a priority. At this stage I only know of Phil Goff who is off to contest the Auckland mayoralty. It’s becoming too late for 2017, let’s be real the Tories could run and win the election campaign on lambasting them for having the same tired
line up.
Yeah, and if they didn’t consult the members after the third consecutive loss, you’d say Labour don’t listen or some other destructive tosh. Just passive aggressive trolling and self serving wankery.
CV, you’re a Labour Party member. You are the party, just as every other member is. All you’re doing here by running down the LP is performing political self flagellation. It’s boring and disrespectful to the members of the party who are working to make a difference.
If you don’t like the NZLP, quit. You won’t be missed.
It was available to all members. The actual beating heart of your complaint is that nobody supported your ideas. That’s it. I don’t care that you claim to recruit, the actual damage you do here outweighs that in my opinion. You offer nothing positive. If you can’t move on and respect the efforts of others, then at least stop trolling.
As everyone’s mum used to say, apparently, ‘if you can’t say something nice, say nothing’. Trying saying something nice, CV, it won’t hurt ya.
All policies are under review after the election defeat. The process is in motion now. After that the policies will be discussed, voted in and endorsed by the party membership. It is therefore unreasonable, completely unfair and premature misrepresentation to say that ‘Labour isn’t up to presenting a serious alternative vision of NZ’.
This painting by the numbers process that Labour is following, the equivalent of British Redcoats firing volleys by ordered ranks, is utterly inadequate post 19th Century.
It is therefore unreasonable, completely unfair and premature misrepresentation to say that ‘Labour isn’t up to presenting a serious alternative vision of NZ’.
You appear to believe that revised policy detail is fundamental and critical to Labour being able to present a serious alternative vision of NZ’s future.
Bullshit. No wonder Labour keeps missing the mark wider and wider.
Sure, Rawsputin. Since you know so much, why don’t you stand as a candidate yourself? or even start a party and try to convince people to give their votes to your party, which is harder of course.
@CR
You obviously feel that overall Labour isn’t making credible noises on future policy CR. And halfway through this year there should have been some serious policy matters being discussed. Housing is important but I guess it is just catching up with the years of neglect but not looking at the new problems of climate which is affecting us now.
And reconstruction will have to be included in the Budgets from now on. Each year there will be more damage from storms etc. And presumably they won’t be remedied all in one year so we will accumulate more repair projects to add to Christchurch.That could solve our employment problems for young people, so we have a skilled competent force of practical people.
Perhaps nature’s destruction will have a positive effect.)
Q and A just a part of the neo-liberal media and they invite the neo-liberal voices in the Labour Party to speak so people only hear the neo-liberal mantra.
Haven’t you heard?
There is no alternative……..
There is no alternative……..
There is no alternative……..
There is no alternative……..
Problem is current affairs producers stacking panels and unethical attention-seekers like Farrar and Pagani accepting invitations when they have conflicted interests.
The ball is up in the air here, in my view, for any political party that genuinely supports transparency in the spending of public money, to pick up and run with?
If THIS one piece of legislation, in my considered opinion, was implemented and enforced in a thorough and proper way, across local and central government, and the judiciary – then ‘transparency’ would be transformed in New Zealand.
The name of this pivotal piece of legislation?
The Public Records Act 2005.
Because full and accurate records of the spending of public monies at local and central government are NOT being properly ‘created and maintained’ – citizens and ratepayers and taxpayers don’t know exactly where public monies are going.
Billion$ of dollars of public monies – where EXACTLY are they going?
How can the public ‘follow the dollar’ – if we don’t know where it’s going?
How many billion$ of public rates and taxes are going to private sector consultants and contractors – without any ‘cost-benefit’ analyses which PROVE that is a more ‘cost-effective’ spending of public money than ‘in house’ service provision?
How is this not ‘corporate welfare’ – on STEROIDS?
Less corporate welfare – more public money for ‘social welfare’?
Shouldn’t the public majority benefit from our public monies at local and central government level?
Not private sector consultants and contractors?
How is a double-layer of private sector ‘CONTRACTOCRACY’ – where private ‘for profit’ consultants ‘project manage’ works contractors -possibly more ‘cost-effective’ than a single layer of not-for-profit, ‘BUREAUCRACY’ – operated under the public service model?
How many private sector consultant$ helped to push the Rogernomic$ myth and mantra – ‘public is bad – private is good’ ?
Didn’t they do well!?
Pity about the majority of NZ ratepayers and taxpayers?
More experimental (in a negative way) than ground-breaking (in a postive way).
Reading down the list of predictors/indicators, it would be the height of malicious dumb for our encumbent government to use this system before addressing the things that cause the predictors/indicators. Those indicators are well know, have been for a very long time, but until recently National have denied they existed, do their best to worsen them, and still now only reluctantly talk about it.
You can’t have a National minister saying it’s ok for poorer people to die during the winter in competely avoidable housing situations – avoidable if there was a government keen to address the core issues – and then say that a high stress/condoned mortality environment is bad for their kids and it’s all the fault of people who live in an environment that is out of their direct control.
No one can justify the kind of puntive attitudes driven by National and friends against the poor, or ex-cons, or maori in general, or the mentally ill/struggling, or the unemployed, or the disabled, or transgender, or anyone else doing it hard – in fact, refering to that list, anyone with a past that doesn’t include white male middle-class privilege. Social prejudice shits on such people everyday, and now we have some ivory-tower wealthy dim-bulbs denying the pressures of society exist when it comes to finding out where those pressures are, and who drives them and why, but who also say they do exist when it comes to blaming the victim.
If the government exacerbates the kind of environment that is precurser to increased chance of child abuse, and it does, then they are enablers of child abuse themselves. So probably on that list of predictors they should add: National Party or right wing policy majority in government.
“Now wait just one moment Charles, I’m a National Party supporter, did you just call me a child abuser?”
“No I was just saying that since I am the intergalatic spokesperson for the Left throughout the known universe that you should go tell your mates that I said the Left doesn’t care about fighting child abuse.”
“Oh great, yeah, that’s what I was looking for.”
“I aim to please, even though I have a cold and my temper is really short at such times.”
As an experienced care giver I have some real concerns about this approach to identifying ‘at risk’ children in our community.
I would definitely favour an approach that ensured that all first time parents, parents in families under stress (financial, health, housing, addiction) and more than one child under two / three were guaranteed non-punitive, positive support. Access to locally based quality childcare, well health initiatives, employment and public transport would be a benefit to many in the ‘at risk’ categories.
I am a believer in proactive rather than reactive supports but the identifiers above are almost stereotypes.
In my experience, the white, middle class, closet alcoholic has done as much harm to the child(ren) in their care as the young, less well educated, brown woman in a supportive family environment does with her much loved and welcomed child(ren).
It ends up tarring everyone in the group with the same brush, and of course the touchy-feely bit of “it would be completely up to the family to decide if they want to get involved and take that extra help” would last right up until the first injured child, then it’ll be “take the ‘help’ or lose the benefit”. And the extra stress of being tagged “at risk” could end up being a self-fulfilling prophecy, even for families where no abuse would otherwise have occurred.
Secondly, “computer says abuse” will always overrule the social worker’s judgement, either because of laziness, over-reliance on tech, or simply that if the social worker overrules the computer and then turns out to be wrong they’ll be the scapegoat.
Thirdly, I don’t trust the benevolence of MSD, especially under the fucking nats.
But mainly, you can’t make individual predictions from macro data – most lung cancers are caused by smoking, but most smokers don’t get lung cancer, and you can’t say that a specific smoker’s lung cancer was caused by their smoking as opposed to other environmental effects.
I agree with you, but the researchers claim the model’s predictive strength is similar to that of breast screening. So the conventional medical view (and they’ll ignore the evidence re breast screening over-treatment) is that in a utilitarian sense it’s effective enough.
Benefit address changes in the last year
1=no address changes
2=1 or 2 address changes
3=3 or more address changes
4=missing
National Party solution – throw the families to the whims and wiles of the private sector who will take more of their money in rent than the state ever did, who when they can’t pay their high rents will now have large debts and poor credit history, who will have less access to support cause they are moving all the time, who will incur additional costs for moving, school uniforms etc, who will never really get to know their neighbors, who will then find it harder to get a decent rental and who will eventually end up in a grotty caravan park, sleeping in a car or homeless.
Old solution – state housing at a low cost for life
Labour solution – sell em homes at a cheap $300,000.
I worry that there’s a serious culture difference between the medical and statsnz side of this, versus the social policy side who seem gung ho about matching data without reference to basic validity or even confidentiality,
For one thing appropriating the numbers needed to treat (I don’t think it’s usually used in social policy) measure from medical research likely takes no account of the self-fulfilling prophecy problem you mentioned.
Furthermore, once implemented and generally accepted, it will only be a matter of time before algorithmic profiling is expanded to other forms of crime.
What they didn’t really get into was that even if the policing decisions are based on “unbiased” algorithms, sending a police officer increases the chances of a crime being reported and an arrest made (even if it’s just a public order arrest to stop the argument). That goes into the data for the next time, leading the computer system itself to become biased based on minute differences in the initial response choices when the system started.
It’ll be about as effective as that other great system that revolves around predicting human responses: economic forecasting. Now imagaine that instead of a 5-point drop, the result of a bad forecast is an armed officer in significant fear of their life before they even assess the situation.
As the initial Radio NZ report highlighted, the poor are more inclined to engage with state agencies, thus will have far more data gathered and stored on them, which in itself creates a bias.
Compounding this concern is the privatization thus profiteering bias of social and correctional services, coupled with court rulings also moving more towards the balance of probabilities, opposed to the automatic assumption of innocence.
For the public record, as an ‘anti-corruption / pro-transparency Public Watchdog’, in my opinion, Mayor Len Brown should have provided the trust deed for the New Auckland Council Trust, so that the public could scrutinise who were his main financial backers.
—————————————————————————————————
(Sunday Star Times 21 June 2015 Bevan Hurley)
Police investigation into $750K of secret donors stymied
Last updated 05:00 21/06/2015
A police investigation into $750,000 of anonymous donations to Auckland mayor Len Brown’s election campaign has found no evidence of wrongdoing, but were refused access to key documents.
The 16-month probe found no evidence Brown’s team had broken any laws, but they were unable to review a copy of the trust deed for the New Auckland Council Trust, meaning Brown’s secret backers will remain anonymous.
Enquiry head Detective Inspector Chris Cahill did not wish to comment further.
But in an open letter to the complainant, obtained by the Sunday Star-Times, Cahill expressed his frustrations.
“The parties concerned have at this stage elected not to provide us with a copy of any Trust Deed which may have clarified some of the issues… That is their legal right and police must accept this and as such we are not in a position to advance the questions you raise around the New Auckland Council Trust,” Cahill said.
Despite the fact police were unable to identify the trustees or any other people associated with it, the investigation shone a light into the secretive world of election finance campaigns.
It said Brown provided information to police which said he would step away as soon as supporters indicated they would be willing to donate to his campaign warchest.
“To that extent I have no idea as to whether the person followed up the inquiry with a specific offer of financial support,” the mayor told police.
Police also interviewed Brown’s former senior political advisor Conor Roberts, who said the mayor was asked to leave the room when any discussions about donations about the trust were occurring.
Roberts said a lawyer for the trust gave a ‘legal assurance’ to the police about its existence, which he said showed they had cooperated.
The investigation was launched after police received a complaint from private investigator Grace Haden about a possible breach of the filing of electoral returns.
This came after changes were made to tighten the law around donations to mayoral campaigns, so rules for the 2010 election were different from those of 2013.
In the letter, Cahill said it was clear Brown’s campaign team took legal advice and acted to ensure that the donations were outside the intended law change, which meant that they could use anonymous donations for the 2013 electoral campaign.
“The reality is the law change was too late to have a significant effect on the 2013 election but would be in force in time to ensure compliance with it for future electoral campaigns.”
Grace Haden who lodged the police complaint and stood unsuccessfully for a council ward in the last local elections, said the process lacked transparency.
“We need to know who had benefits from Len Brown being in office. Who gave the money? They’ve played the law right down to its finest line.”
The investigation had dragged on in part due to the court action against former Auckland city mayor John Banks, who was cleared of any wrongdoing over accepting legal donations.
Cahill said they did not find anything “that has led us to believe that Mr Brown had knowledge of donations that were declared as anonymous when in fact he knew who the donor was”.
“Without such information there was no legal standing for us to seek either the details of the anonymous donors or banking transactions that may identify these persons.”
A spokesman for the mayor said he had been advised that the police inquiry has been concluded, that there was no evidence to support the accusations and that no further action is being taken. “He has nothing further to add,” said the spokesman.
———————————————————————————————–
The Chancellor is reportedly hoping to reassure the banking sector and “draw a line” under increasing regulation and taxation. An aide to George Osborne told the FT last week that “There is a sense that this is a settlement” on banking regulation and added “We are in a stable position.”
With the UK economy seeing record levels of personal debt and an overheating housing market, many Positive Money supporters will be troubled by the idea of a ‘settlement’ on the structure of our banking system.
Crash the entire global economy, get let off the damage that they did and then get protected by the governments from the regulation that they obviously need.
Considering the fraud that Serco have been found to be engaging in we should be dropping their services ASAP and not looking to put more of our government services in their hands.
You heard right! They live in a goldfish bowl and have no idea what is going on around them. They think teachers are stupid without any comprehension it is they who are stupid. It would be funny of it wasn’t so sad.
Serco will always get the jobs in a “market” economy it is the wine and dine policies that ensure that they get the jobs. All those firms found out years ago that under conservative governments the way to the major job wins is via very small perks to the senior staff. Private Eye has been springing Serco for years – their record gets worse and worse but they get every contract going! And if there is ever a fraud the only ones paying the price are lowly minions. Make’s you wonder how the contracts keep rolling in!
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This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
Today marks a tragic milestone for New Zealanders as the Coalition Government side with big tobacco to repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act 2022, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins and Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti. Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has hosted members of the Green Party Caucus at Tuurangawaewae Marae in Ngaaruawahia. The audience follows the King’s Hui-aa-Motu on 20 January, where more than 10,000 people gathered to discuss national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Rachael Potter, Research Associate and Lecturer in Work and Organisational Psychology, University of South Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Pregnant women and workers with children are often unfairly treated by their bosses and colleagues, despite laws to protect against workplace discrimination ...
Reacting to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s refusal to rule out introducing new taxes at the budget, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “Today’s refusal to rule out new taxes suggests the Government is nothing more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne Aila Images/Shutterstock Aged-care workers will receive a significant pay increase after the Fair Work Commission ruled they ...
He’s bringing ‘Sophie’ back, yeah. Goodshirt’s ‘Sophie’ music video is one of the most instantly recognisable New Zealand music videos of all time. Featuring a woman listening to the song on headphones while her entire house is burgled behind her, the video won the New Zealand music award for Best ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University A year ago, the AUKUS agreement was formally announced between Australian and UK Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese and Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden. The agreement mapped out the “optimal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Helwig, Associate Professor, Electro-Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern Queensland SmartS/Shutterstock Steam locomotives clattering along railway tracks. Paddle steamers churning down the Murray. Dreadnought battleships powered by steam engines. Many of us think the age of steam has ended. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carrie Leonetti, Associate Professor of Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Victims who experience family violence in Aotearoa New Zealand are treated differently, depending on which part of the justice system they turn to for help. But a new member’s bill ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Tesch, Visiting Fellow at the ANU Centre for European Studies, Australian National University In perhaps the least surprising news of the year, Vladimir Putin has triumphed at the Russian ballot box and been enthroned for the fifth time as president. He ...
The Papua New Guinea Supreme Court has stopped a byelection for the Madang Open seat being held until an appeal filed by former MP Bryan Kramer is concluded. Kramer had appealed to the Supreme Court over a National Court decision not to review his application of the Leadership Tribunal decision ...
By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby Despite a “historic” ceasefire agreement in Papua New Guinea between Enga authorities and tribal leaders after months of bitter warfare, a young woman has been found brutally killed near Kaekin village, Wapenamanda. Despite the peace agreement and signing concluded in Port Moresby last Thursday ...
The second season of Ryan Murphy’s Feud is a sadder and slower entry into his canon of true story-telling, leaning heavily on a verdict about the cost of a single work of art. Hollywood heavyweight Ryan Murphy has had a bit of “ick” about him in the last few years. ...
Paul Little explains how totally awful Nick Smith is as housing minister.
An excerpt from this excellent article .
‘In the context of the deaths of Soesa Tovo, 37, and Emma-Lita Bourne, 2, from housing-related causes, his remark that “people dying in winter of pneumonia and other illnesses is not new” took some by surprise. But for this Government, callousness on that level is not new either.’
‘It’s true people die in houses all the time but it used to be from old age and other natural causes, not because they were poor and had to endure shoddy conditions that any minister should be ashamed to know exist on his or her watch.’
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11468567
Here is a major problem with the Auckland housing market:
“The average size of new houses has increased 50 per cent since 1989.”
House sizes should be decreasing rather than increasing. The quote is from Bernard Hickey’s article today in the Herald. Hickey suggests that:
“[Council].. should also lift height limits and review minimum apartment sizes once the Building Code for air quality, lighting and acoustics is updated.”
Smaller houses in denser developments is the answer to Auckland’s housing woes, not greenfield sprawl as advocated by this government.
See:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11468588
And from the same article.
‘Over-crowded, expensive, cold, damp and mouldy housing is estimated to be responsible for the hospital admissions of more than 1300 people with infectious diseases each year. This entrenched poverty is costing the Government at least $2 billion a year in rent subsidies and countless billions a year in health and other costs.’
Yep quite an irony that the council threatened court action about a temporary dwelling/shed in the North Shore to house a family member which is a great way to house more people in an existing situation in an affordable way, but all to happy to use ratepayers money to fight in environment court for the right to remove basic standards of Height to boundary rules for neighbours to make sure expensive McMansions are created.
Sounds great in a sound byte, make houses more intensive (supposedly to solve the housing crisis). In reality doing the opposite, it is making more large houses of 5 bedrooms and 4 bathroom McMansions which take away their poorer neighbours views, light and amenity, while at the same time removing the former house on site generally that 3 bedroom 1 bathroom family home.
Families are already having to move our of inner suburbs of Auckland because the once 1 million dollar houses are now being redesigned into 2.5 million dollars houses. They actually don’t have much outdoor space for kids, rather 3 living areas, media room, master suites the size of a 2 bedroom apartment.
Welcome to Auckland Councils Resource Consent Officers view of Auckland’s future, where the rich live in 300m2 gated McMansions and the poor in 30m2 shoeboxes!
Sounds good to have smaller apartments right, but wait look at the blocks created in the 1990’s, shoe boxes that leaked and again cost the ratepayers a lot of money, while the developers make a killing. Is it really going to solve the housing crisis to have apartments 30m2 than 35m2? I don’t think so.
It is a race to make Auckland as ugly and unliveable as possible as a speculator delight, rather than plan for quality housing and temporary reliefs.
The Persecution of Julian Assange
by JOHN PILGER, Counterpunch, November 17, 2014
The siege of Knightsbridge is a farce. For two years, an exaggerated, costly police presence around the Ecuadorean embassy in London has served no purpose other than to flaunt the power of the state. Their quarry is an Australian charged with no crime, a refugee from gross injustice whose only security is the room given him by a brave South American country. His true crime is to have initiated a wave of truth-telling in an era of lies, cynicism and war.
The persecution of Julian Assange must end. Even the British government clearly believes it must end. On 28 October, the deputy foreign minister, Hugo Swire, told Parliament he would “actively welcome” the Swedish prosecutor in London and “we would do absolutely everything to facilitate that”. The tone was impatient.
The Swedish prosecutor, Marianne Ny, has refused to come to London to question Assange about allegations of sexual misconduct in Stockholm in 2010 – even though Swedish law allows for it and the procedure is routine for Sweden and the UK. The documentary evidence of a threat to Assange’s life and freedom from the United States – should he leave the embassy – is overwhelming. On May 14 this year, US court files revealed that a “multi subject investigation” against Assange was “active and ongoing”.
Ny has never properly explained why she will not come to London, just as the Swedish authorities have never explained why they refuse to give Assange a guarantee that they will not extradite him on to the US under a secret arrangement agreed between Stockholm and Washington. In December 2010, the Independent revealed that the two governments had discussed his onward extradition to the US before the European Arrest Warrant was issued.
Perhaps an explanation is that, contrary to its reputation as a liberal bastion, Sweden has drawn so close to Washington that it has allowed secret CIA “renditions” – including the illegal deportation of refugees. The rendition and subsequent torture of two Egyptian political refugees in 2001 was condemned by the UN Committee against Torture, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch; the complicity and duplicity of the Swedish state are documented in successful civil litigation and WikiLeaks cables. In the summer of 2010, Assange had been in Sweden to talk about WikiLeaks revelations of the war in Afghanistan – in which Sweden had forces under US command.
The Americans are pursuing Assange because WikiLeaks exposed their epic crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq: the wholesale killing of tens of thousands of civilians, which they covered up; and their contempt for sovereignty and international law, as demonstrated vividly in their leaked diplomatic cables.
For his part in disclosing how US soldiers murdered Afghan and Iraqi civilians, the heroic soldier Bradley (now Chelsea) Manning received a sentence of 35 years, having been held for more than a thousand days in conditions which, according to the UN Special Rapporteur, amounted to torture.
Few doubt that should the US get their hands on Assange, a similar fate awaits him. Threats of capture and assassination became the currency of the political extremes in the US following Vice-President Joe Biden’s preposterous slur that Assange was a “cyber-terrorist”. Anyone doubting the kind of US ruthlessness he can expect should remember the forcing down of the Bolivian president’s plane last year – wrongly believed to be carrying Edward Snowden.
According to documents released by Snowden, Assange is on a “Manhunt target list”. Washington’s bid to get him, say Australian diplomatic cables, is “unprecedented in scale and nature”. In Alexandria, Virginia, a secret grand jury has spent four years attempting to contrive a crime for which Assange can be prosecuted. This is not easy. The First Amendment to the US Constitution protects publishers, journalists and whistleblowers. As a presidential candidate in 2008, Barack Obama lauded whistleblowers as “part of a healthy democracy [and they] must be protected from reprisal”. Under President Obama, more whistleblowers have been prosecuted than under all other US presidents combined. Even before the verdict was announced in the trial of Chelsea Manning, Obama had pronounced the whisletblower guilty.
“Documents released by WikiLeaks since Assange moved to England,” wrote Al Burke, editor of the online Nordic News Network, an authority on the multiple twists and dangers facing Assange, “clearly indicate that Sweden has consistently submitted to pressure from the United States in matters relating to civil rights. There is every reason for concern that if Assange were to be taken into custody by Swedish authorities, he could be turned over to the United States without due consideration of his legal rights.”
There are signs that the Swedish public and legal community do not support prosecutor’s Marianne Ny’s intransigence. Once implacably hostile to Assange, the Swedish press has published headlines such as: “Go to London, for God’s sake.”
Why won’t she? More to the point, why won’t she allow the Swedish court access to hundreds of SMS messages that the police extracted from the phone of one of the two women involved in the misconduct allegations? Why won’t she hand them over to Assange’s Swedish lawyers? She says she is not legally required to do so until a formal charge is laid and she has questioned him. Then, why doesn’t she question him?
This week, the Swedish Court of Appeal will decide whether to order Ny to hand over the SMS messages; or the matter will go to the Supreme Court and the European Court of Justice. In high farce, Assange’s Swedish lawyers have been allowed only to “review” the SMS messages, which they had to memorise.
One of the women’s messages makes clear that she did not want any charges brought against Assange, “but the police were keen on getting a hold on him”. She was “shocked” when they arrested him because she only “wanted him to take [an HIV] test”. She “did not want to accuse JA of anything” and “it was the police who made up the charges”. (In a witness statement, she is quoted as saying that she had been “railroaded by police and others around her”.)
Neither woman claimed she had been raped. Indeed, both have denied they were raped and one of them has since tweeted, “I have not been raped.” That they were manipulated by police and their wishes ignored is evident – whatever their lawyers might say now. Certainly, they are victims of a saga worthy of Kafka.
For Assange, his only trial has been trial by media. On 20 August 2010, the Swedish police opened a “rape investigation” and immediately — and unlawfully — told the Stockholm tabloids that there was a warrant for Assange’s arrest for the “rape of two women”. This was the news that went round the world.
In Washington, a smiling US Defence Secretary Robert Gates told reporters that the arrest “sounds like good news to me”. Twitter accounts associated with the Pentagon described Assange as a “rapist” and a “fugitive”.
Less than 24 hours later, the Stockholm Chief Prosecutor, Eva Finne, took over the investigation. She wasted no time in cancelling the arrest warrant, saying, “I don’t believe there is any reason to suspect that he has committed rape.” Four days later, she dismissed the rape investigation altogether, saying, “There is no suspicion of any crime whatsoever.” The file was closed.
Enter Claes Borgstrom, a high profile politician in the Social Democratic Party then standing as a candidate in Sweden’s imminent general election. Within days of the chief prosecutor’s dismissal of the case, Borgstrom, a lawyer, announced to the media that he was representing the two women and had sought a different prosecutor in the city of Gothenberg. This was Marianne Ny, whom Borgstrom knew well. She, too, was involved with the Social Democrats.
On 30 August, Assange attended a police station in Stockholm voluntarily and answered all the questions put to him. He understood that was the end of the matter. Two days later, Ny announced she was re-opening the case. Borgstrom was asked by a Swedish reporter why the case was proceeding when it had already been dismissed, citing one of the women as saying she had not been raped. He replied, “Ah, but she is not a lawyer.” Assange’s Australian barrister, James Catlin, responded, “This is a laughing stock … it’s as if they make it up as they go along.” …..
Read more…..
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/11/17/the-persecution-of-julian-assange/
[Morrissey, a short summary of why you think this old article is important and a link would have been better than a lengthy cut and paste. TRP]
http://i.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/69563390/Radio-host-Duncan-Garner-to-take-Campbell-Live-timeslot
Is Garner any good.?
Is Garner any good?
Why not watch for yourself and come up with your own opinion.
Too often blogs “hate” different news people simply because they believe bias. (Both left and right).
Personally if you want to be informed – watch a broad spectrum and make up your own mind.
That assumes we haven’t already realised he is a RWNJ.
I will make my own mind up I just felt it was a story standard readers might be interested in and thought I better put something with it. Although other points of view are handy.
wasn’t he in the “shearer gone within two weeks, I’ve seen the letter” camp?
Bit far off the mark for all the flecks of froth at the mouth.
Garner was frothing as he attacked Winston 2008 when Winston was being “got” by National. He really kicked him hard while he was down, figuratively of course. Campbell was accused of being leftish but Garner is fiercly biased anti-leftish.
Garner is ok. Not a Campbell. Just consider the bosses that he is working for that dealt to JC. Anyone that Gavin Ellis touts is suspect. We must have better media commentators in this country? Suggestions please, or have they all disappeared?
Depends on your political point of view. Garner hates both Labour and the Greens and has been directing Gowers attacks for the last 6 years. Add Heather DA and together they will be a huge pain in the arse during the 2017 campaign and probably kill the Lefts changes through their spin and propaganda.
Some of these media puppets need to be taken for a little ride in the back seat of a car. They need to be reminded elections are a hell of a lot more than their own egotistical ratings games.
‘Recently, the German journalist Udo Ulfkotte wrote a book, Bought Journalists, in which he reported that every significant European journalist functions as a CIA asset.’
‘Today the media throughout the Western world serves as a Propaganda Ministry for Washington. The Western media is Washington’s Ministry of Truth. ‘
http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2015/06/19/paul-craig-roberts-address-international-conference-europeanrussian-crisis-created-washington/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udo_Ulfkotte#The_book_.22Bought_Journalists.22
Tau Henare?
http://www.globalresearch.ca/towards-a-global-military-fighting-machine-one-world-government-protected-by-a-one-world-military/5456678
People who want to stand on the moral high ground really shouldn’t suffer from vertigo…
Capill
Garrett
Craig
…
Ross Ashcroft: economics and Europe
Interview by Kim Hill on RNZ
the website is well worth the visit too
http://www.renegadeinc.com
also
http://www.debtonation.org/
thanks Tracey..this site is a goldmine for links of interest.Renegade has a short vid there by Joseph Stiglitz, imo the leading world economist about the GFC its causes and the need for regulation.
I just ran across this video of John Pilger. The video is called War by other means and explains how the rich Nations enslaved the poor ones and how this ongoing looting is killing millions and destroying our planet. But it is also very enlightening to understand how no the peripheral weaker countries in the EU and globally (New Zealand being one of those global peripheral weaker countries) are being bullied into the same eternal serfdom. It will make you understand why John Key is borrowing huge amounts of money whereas Labour was able to pay of most of our debt and how come we are being looted the way we are!
Simon “Buzz” Bridges gives electrical safety advice.
Groan just catching up with Q&A. Nash was invited on and Pagani is on the panel. Labour does have other voices …
Nash actually spoke very well being interviewed and would have appealed to too a lot of Kiwi’s. By far more impressive speaker than the likes of Goff-Off, Shearer and Cosgrove. Maybe use him a bit more fresh face, new idea’s etc.
Say again oops.
Yes, Nash did well. I only hope that this TT group will have their deliberations, ideas with integrity and sincerity and in private, and take it to the party for discussion/tweaking/endorsement or rejection rather than air all that through their PR or destabilising RW blogs and the suspect media who play dirty to harm Labour and the left.
http://tvnz.co.nz/q-and-a-news/powering-up-future-labour-video-6342782
http://tvnz.co.nz/q-and-a-news/energy-future-nz-power-panel-video-6342786
Also, I hope this TTank will have the interests of the common people, the workers, families and the disadvantaged upper most in their thinking rather than working, directly or indirectly, primarily in the interests of the wealthy as National and ACT do, with some tokenism thrown in for the rest.
Nash actually spoke very well being interviewed and would have appealed to too a lot of Kiwi’s. By far more impressive speaker than the likes of Goff-Off, Shearer and Cosgrove. Maybe use him a bit more fresh face, new idea’s etc.
The problem can be when how something is said, is more important than the content of the speech itself. Yep those voices are part of the ‘split’ personality of Labour causing the ‘split’ vote of their former Labour voters….
I have come to the opinion as long as John Key is the leader of National they will always be the Government. Imagine if he decides to stick around for another 20 years, nah that is just not worth thinking about.
Labour isn’t up to presenting a serious alternative vision of NZ. So National will keep winning.
+1
Moving on some of their MP’s and blooding new talent should be a priority. At this stage I only know of Phil Goff who is off to contest the Auckland mayoralty. It’s becoming too late for 2017, let’s be real the Tories could run and win the election campaign on lambasting them for having the same tired
line up.
Labour is well on the way to wasting the first full year of this new electoral cycle with navel gazing.
Yeah, and if they didn’t consult the members after the third consecutive loss, you’d say Labour don’t listen or some other destructive tosh. Just passive aggressive trolling and self serving wankery.
CV, you’re a Labour Party member. You are the party, just as every other member is. All you’re doing here by running down the LP is performing political self flagellation. It’s boring and disrespectful to the members of the party who are working to make a difference.
If you don’t like the NZLP, quit. You won’t be missed.
Actually TRP, I’m recruiting more people into the party. Enjoy.
Yes, i think a few members were consulted. Maybe 10%-20% of them.
It was available to all members. The actual beating heart of your complaint is that nobody supported your ideas. That’s it. I don’t care that you claim to recruit, the actual damage you do here outweighs that in my opinion. You offer nothing positive. If you can’t move on and respect the efforts of others, then at least stop trolling.
As everyone’s mum used to say, apparently, ‘if you can’t say something nice, say nothing’. Trying saying something nice, CV, it won’t hurt ya.
Thanks for the establishment view mate.
All policies are under review after the election defeat. The process is in motion now. After that the policies will be discussed, voted in and endorsed by the party membership. It is therefore unreasonable, completely unfair and premature misrepresentation to say that ‘Labour isn’t up to presenting a serious alternative vision of NZ’.
This painting by the numbers process that Labour is following, the equivalent of British Redcoats firing volleys by ordered ranks, is utterly inadequate post 19th Century.
You appear to believe that revised policy detail is fundamental and critical to Labour being able to present a serious alternative vision of NZ’s future.
Bullshit. No wonder Labour keeps missing the mark wider and wider.
National has the advantage for 2017.
No, you are wrong.
the very fundamentals of NZ need to be engineered, enhanced and prepared for the coming resource, energy, financial and climate crunch.
NZ Labour of today isn’t up to it, and until it is, it will never hold power for more than one term – if that.
Sure, Rawsputin. Since you know so much, why don’t you stand as a candidate yourself? or even start a party and try to convince people to give their votes to your party, which is harder of course.
not wasting my time or money on any of that.
@CR
You obviously feel that overall Labour isn’t making credible noises on future policy CR. And halfway through this year there should have been some serious policy matters being discussed. Housing is important but I guess it is just catching up with the years of neglect but not looking at the new problems of climate which is affecting us now.
And reconstruction will have to be included in the Budgets from now on. Each year there will be more damage from storms etc. And presumably they won’t be remedied all in one year so we will accumulate more repair projects to add to Christchurch.That could solve our employment problems for young people, so we have a skilled competent force of practical people.
Perhaps nature’s destruction will have a positive effect.)
That’s typical Thorndon Bubble FPP thinking, CV!
Q and A just a part of the neo-liberal media and they invite the neo-liberal voices in the Labour Party to speak so people only hear the neo-liberal mantra.
Haven’t you heard?
There is no alternative……..
There is no alternative……..
There is no alternative……..
There is no alternative……..
Problem is current affairs producers stacking panels and unethical attention-seekers like Farrar and Pagani accepting invitations when they have conflicted interests.
q & a stupid to invite Tau Henare to panel. dumb, useless. waste of space talkin head.
The ball is up in the air here, in my view, for any political party that genuinely supports transparency in the spending of public money, to pick up and run with?
If THIS one piece of legislation, in my considered opinion, was implemented and enforced in a thorough and proper way, across local and central government, and the judiciary – then ‘transparency’ would be transformed in New Zealand.
The name of this pivotal piece of legislation?
The Public Records Act 2005.
Because full and accurate records of the spending of public monies at local and central government are NOT being properly ‘created and maintained’ – citizens and ratepayers and taxpayers don’t know exactly where public monies are going.
Billion$ of dollars of public monies – where EXACTLY are they going?
How can the public ‘follow the dollar’ – if we don’t know where it’s going?
How many billion$ of public rates and taxes are going to private sector consultants and contractors – without any ‘cost-benefit’ analyses which PROVE that is a more ‘cost-effective’ spending of public money than ‘in house’ service provision?
How is this not ‘corporate welfare’ – on STEROIDS?
Less corporate welfare – more public money for ‘social welfare’?
Shouldn’t the public majority benefit from our public monies at local and central government level?
Not private sector consultants and contractors?
How is a double-layer of private sector ‘CONTRACTOCRACY’ – where private ‘for profit’ consultants ‘project manage’ works contractors -possibly more ‘cost-effective’ than a single layer of not-for-profit, ‘BUREAUCRACY’ – operated under the public service model?
How many private sector consultant$ helped to push the Rogernomic$ myth and mantra – ‘public is bad – private is good’ ?
Didn’t they do well!?
Pity about the majority of NZ ratepayers and taxpayers?
Penny Bright
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz
Good report on Radio NZ this morning.
New Zealand is leading the world with ground breaking research that uses government-held data to try and stop child abuse before it happens.
But an Insight investigation has found this form of profiling is also raising questions.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/insight/audio/201758628/insight-for-21-june-2015-child-abuse-or-big-brother
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/201758628
More experimental (in a negative way) than ground-breaking (in a postive way).
Reading down the list of predictors/indicators, it would be the height of malicious dumb for our encumbent government to use this system before addressing the things that cause the predictors/indicators. Those indicators are well know, have been for a very long time, but until recently National have denied they existed, do their best to worsen them, and still now only reluctantly talk about it.
You can’t have a National minister saying it’s ok for poorer people to die during the winter in competely avoidable housing situations – avoidable if there was a government keen to address the core issues – and then say that a high stress/condoned mortality environment is bad for their kids and it’s all the fault of people who live in an environment that is out of their direct control.
No one can justify the kind of puntive attitudes driven by National and friends against the poor, or ex-cons, or maori in general, or the mentally ill/struggling, or the unemployed, or the disabled, or transgender, or anyone else doing it hard – in fact, refering to that list, anyone with a past that doesn’t include white male middle-class privilege. Social prejudice shits on such people everyday, and now we have some ivory-tower wealthy dim-bulbs denying the pressures of society exist when it comes to finding out where those pressures are, and who drives them and why, but who also say they do exist when it comes to blaming the victim.
If the government exacerbates the kind of environment that is precurser to increased chance of child abuse, and it does, then they are enablers of child abuse themselves. So probably on that list of predictors they should add: National Party or right wing policy majority in government.
“Now wait just one moment Charles, I’m a National Party supporter, did you just call me a child abuser?”
“No I was just saying that since I am the intergalatic spokesperson for the Left throughout the known universe that you should go tell your mates that I said the Left doesn’t care about fighting child abuse.”
“Oh great, yeah, that’s what I was looking for.”
“I aim to please, even though I have a cold and my temper is really short at such times.”
“I am lucky to have escaped so easily then?”
“Pretty much.”
As an experienced care giver I have some real concerns about this approach to identifying ‘at risk’ children in our community.
I would definitely favour an approach that ensured that all first time parents, parents in families under stress (financial, health, housing, addiction) and more than one child under two / three were guaranteed non-punitive, positive support. Access to locally based quality childcare, well health initiatives, employment and public transport would be a benefit to many in the ‘at risk’ categories.
I am a believer in proactive rather than reactive supports but the identifiers above are almost stereotypes.
In my experience, the white, middle class, closet alcoholic has done as much harm to the child(ren) in their care as the young, less well educated, brown woman in a supportive family environment does with her much loved and welcomed child(ren).
I have massive reservations about this.
It ends up tarring everyone in the group with the same brush, and of course the touchy-feely bit of “it would be completely up to the family to decide if they want to get involved and take that extra help” would last right up until the first injured child, then it’ll be “take the ‘help’ or lose the benefit”. And the extra stress of being tagged “at risk” could end up being a self-fulfilling prophecy, even for families where no abuse would otherwise have occurred.
Secondly, “computer says abuse” will always overrule the social worker’s judgement, either because of laziness, over-reliance on tech, or simply that if the social worker overrules the computer and then turns out to be wrong they’ll be the scapegoat.
Thirdly, I don’t trust the benevolence of MSD, especially under the fucking nats.
But mainly, you can’t make individual predictions from macro data – most lung cancers are caused by smoking, but most smokers don’t get lung cancer, and you can’t say that a specific smoker’s lung cancer was caused by their smoking as opposed to other environmental effects.
I agree with you, but the researchers claim the model’s predictive strength is similar to that of breast screening. So the conventional medical view (and they’ll ignore the evidence re breast screening over-treatment) is that in a utilitarian sense it’s effective enough.
Pre-crime.
Valuable input, that. All social policy can be fully expressed in a short hollywood reference. 🙄
Everything you need to know in 145 minutes
No. But it might be everything you can handle.
Lets take just one of those indicators:
Benefit address changes in the last year
1=no address changes
2=1 or 2 address changes
3=3 or more address changes
4=missing
National Party solution – throw the families to the whims and wiles of the private sector who will take more of their money in rent than the state ever did, who when they can’t pay their high rents will now have large debts and poor credit history, who will have less access to support cause they are moving all the time, who will incur additional costs for moving, school uniforms etc, who will never really get to know their neighbors, who will then find it harder to get a decent rental and who will eventually end up in a grotty caravan park, sleeping in a car or homeless.
Old solution – state housing at a low cost for life
Labour solution – sell em homes at a cheap $300,000.
Yeah.
I worry that there’s a serious culture difference between the medical and statsnz side of this, versus the social policy side who seem gung ho about matching data without reference to basic validity or even confidentiality,
For one thing appropriating the numbers needed to treat (I don’t think it’s usually used in social policy) measure from medical research likely takes no account of the self-fulfilling prophecy problem you mentioned.
I largely share your reservations.
Furthermore, once implemented and generally accepted, it will only be a matter of time before algorithmic profiling is expanded to other forms of crime.
Big data scours public records to predict crime
https://youtu.be/Su9H9QtyMmc
What they didn’t really get into was that even if the policing decisions are based on “unbiased” algorithms, sending a police officer increases the chances of a crime being reported and an arrest made (even if it’s just a public order arrest to stop the argument). That goes into the data for the next time, leading the computer system itself to become biased based on minute differences in the initial response choices when the system started.
It’ll be about as effective as that other great system that revolves around predicting human responses: economic forecasting. Now imagaine that instead of a 5-point drop, the result of a bad forecast is an armed officer in significant fear of their life before they even assess the situation.
The magnitude of concern is large.
As the initial Radio NZ report highlighted, the poor are more inclined to engage with state agencies, thus will have far more data gathered and stored on them, which in itself creates a bias.
Compounding this concern is the privatization thus profiteering bias of social and correctional services, coupled with court rulings also moving more towards the balance of probabilities, opposed to the automatic assumption of innocence.
For the public record, as an ‘anti-corruption / pro-transparency Public Watchdog’, in my opinion, Mayor Len Brown should have provided the trust deed for the New Auckland Council Trust, so that the public could scrutinise who were his main financial backers.
—————————————————————————————————
(Sunday Star Times 21 June 2015 Bevan Hurley)
Police investigation into $750K of secret donors stymied
Last updated 05:00 21/06/2015
A police investigation into $750,000 of anonymous donations to Auckland mayor Len Brown’s election campaign has found no evidence of wrongdoing, but were refused access to key documents.
The 16-month probe found no evidence Brown’s team had broken any laws, but they were unable to review a copy of the trust deed for the New Auckland Council Trust, meaning Brown’s secret backers will remain anonymous.
Enquiry head Detective Inspector Chris Cahill did not wish to comment further.
But in an open letter to the complainant, obtained by the Sunday Star-Times, Cahill expressed his frustrations.
“The parties concerned have at this stage elected not to provide us with a copy of any Trust Deed which may have clarified some of the issues… That is their legal right and police must accept this and as such we are not in a position to advance the questions you raise around the New Auckland Council Trust,” Cahill said.
Despite the fact police were unable to identify the trustees or any other people associated with it, the investigation shone a light into the secretive world of election finance campaigns.
It said Brown provided information to police which said he would step away as soon as supporters indicated they would be willing to donate to his campaign warchest.
“To that extent I have no idea as to whether the person followed up the inquiry with a specific offer of financial support,” the mayor told police.
Police also interviewed Brown’s former senior political advisor Conor Roberts, who said the mayor was asked to leave the room when any discussions about donations about the trust were occurring.
Roberts said a lawyer for the trust gave a ‘legal assurance’ to the police about its existence, which he said showed they had cooperated.
The investigation was launched after police received a complaint from private investigator Grace Haden about a possible breach of the filing of electoral returns.
This came after changes were made to tighten the law around donations to mayoral campaigns, so rules for the 2010 election were different from those of 2013.
In the letter, Cahill said it was clear Brown’s campaign team took legal advice and acted to ensure that the donations were outside the intended law change, which meant that they could use anonymous donations for the 2013 electoral campaign.
“The reality is the law change was too late to have a significant effect on the 2013 election but would be in force in time to ensure compliance with it for future electoral campaigns.”
Grace Haden who lodged the police complaint and stood unsuccessfully for a council ward in the last local elections, said the process lacked transparency.
“We need to know who had benefits from Len Brown being in office. Who gave the money? They’ve played the law right down to its finest line.”
The investigation had dragged on in part due to the court action against former Auckland city mayor John Banks, who was cleared of any wrongdoing over accepting legal donations.
Cahill said they did not find anything “that has led us to believe that Mr Brown had knowledge of donations that were declared as anonymous when in fact he knew who the donor was”.
“Without such information there was no legal standing for us to seek either the details of the anonymous donors or banking transactions that may identify these persons.”
A spokesman for the mayor said he had been advised that the police inquiry has been concluded, that there was no evidence to support the accusations and that no further action is being taken. “He has nothing further to add,” said the spokesman.
———————————————————————————————–
Penny Bright
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz
‘What they really need is not equal treatment, but different treatment to achieve equality”.
https://twitter.com/kimbo_news/status/612435131450527746
Douglas Carswell: Time To Rein in the Banks’ ability to create credit
Crash the entire global economy, get let off the damage that they did and then get protected by the governments from the regulation that they obviously need.
This reining in of the banks needs to happen ASAP else they will continue to be the people who are the real spongers.
I just heard Tolley citing National Standards as a “model” for the social bond measurements.
Or I think I did.
Yikes
http://i.stuff.co.nz/national/69571439/Ministry-of-Social-Developments-spending-wasteful-Labour
Serco lining up
Considering the fraud that Serco have been found to be engaging in we should be dropping their services ASAP and not looking to put more of our government services in their hands.
Morgan Godfery on the idea
You heard right! They live in a goldfish bowl and have no idea what is going on around them. They think teachers are stupid without any comprehension it is they who are stupid. It would be funny of it wasn’t so sad.
Neetflux: SmithCity 2015
Serco will always get the jobs in a “market” economy it is the wine and dine policies that ensure that they get the jobs. All those firms found out years ago that under conservative governments the way to the major job wins is via very small perks to the senior staff. Private Eye has been springing Serco for years – their record gets worse and worse but they get every contract going! And if there is ever a fraud the only ones paying the price are lowly minions. Make’s you wonder how the contracts keep rolling in!