Database jammed up on a lock overnight. Probably due to some kind of bot?
Needs a procedure to automatically clear locks/connections… Or I make the database ‘bigger’ with a higher cost *sigh*
I also need to look at better ways to reduce those damn bots. This morning there are a flood of requests from Facebook and Bing. Mostly looking at images right now rather than db.
This interview with Chris Laidlaw this morning could be interesting for forward looking people.
It includes someone telling what one ohu, community farm in Lange’s time, did to become more self-catering and self-sufficient.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday
(Audio rerun takes about 30 mins from finish to load. But try to get it fresh off the wife (whoops wire, left this it’s a funny typo), and don’t forget to get the latest from Down the List just after 11 a.m.)
10:06 Ideas: This week discusses the concept of Utopia
A map of the world that does not include Utopia,” Oscar Wilde once said, “is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing. This morning Ideas talks to three explorers in the search for that mythical ideal. Produced by Jeremy Rose.
Very probably we will, or our children, will need to learn the art of collective living at even a small level. Creches for adults really. Groups in contact and combining strengths and supportive lives tend to fare better than individuals, if the whanau are all contributing, not with slackers or careless types who brrow tools and then break them and don’t repair them, don’t return them to the agreed holding family etc.
Great article on The Nation – Migrant Workers in Dairy Farming
Migrant Labour to South Island Dairy farms. The main reason that Kiwis dont work on these farms is because Farmers dont pay enough…the work on a >1000 cow dairy farm is incredibly tough, particularly during calving. People need to work around the clock, 16 hour plus days . If Farmers paid people a fair salary to reflect the hard work they will get more people applying, these farms are incredibly profitable…they can afford it.
The introduction of migrant workers is a distortion of the farmers belovered free market…
I know of farmers in the north island letting go of their kiwi farm workers and employing multiple filipino workers to do all of the work…share milking as a step up to farm ownership has disappeared.
@ Saarbo
I haven’t yet seen The Nation – not sure I will, but it’s a nice little rort all propped up by agencies of state – not just Dairy Farms either – orchards, vineyards operated by the unscrupulous (or companies they outsource to).
What pisses me off is that there is a nasty little “bloody immigrant taking all our jobs” thing going on in the background.
Often when one delves into it – one finds that the “immigrants’ are people (students) who’ve been promised the world by private education providers (including relevant ‘work expeirience employment’), who have under-delivered – some shutting up shop/going out of business. Those ripped-off immigrants have very little recourse, but are faced with having to repay the exorbitant amount of money they’ve (and often their family and friends) borrowed for fees.
It’s made all the worse when Immigration grants visas on the basis that they are tied to a specific employer – so they have to take what ever is dealt to them – OR go through another costly, long drawn out process to have it changed – often involving a catch-22 situation.
A rort probably doesn’t describe it all adequately!
Yes, I’m sure you are right Tim, so these immigrants can end up pretty vulnerable and become very exploitable.
What i am seeing is that National are using Immigrants to reduce wages at a worker level on Dairy farms. Lets suggest that we didnt allow immigrants in to work on Dairy farms, then the market would demand that farmers pay more for labour on their farms.
We have to keep an eye on this immigrant labour, as you have pointed out Tim, they are often exploited.
Feudalism is already happening in dairy farming nation wide, this policy is just speeding things up.
Part of the problem is that there are few good quality NZ farm staff available to employ (Especially the male variety)
Over the last 6 seasons we have employed around 14 farm staff on several different farms.
(From memory have been around 10 male & 4 female)
Of the males the following did not finish their employment contracts with us:
1 – Left two months shy of contract to be closer to family (Understandable but not helpful)
2 – Was dismissed after disciplinary proceedings for repeatedly failing to come to work and/or leaving work when he felt like it. (Turned out mostly when he had run out of $$ to fund his cannabis addiction) Oh I won’t mention the sexual harassment allegations against him.
3 – Young guy – during his first calving his grandma dies in Tasmania, he begs for time off to go to the funeral. When he is due back he never shows up. After several phone calls he tells me he has met a girlfriend over there (Already had two in NZ) and he won’t be coming home.
4 – What about the 23 year old that ended up having a temper so when he got tired he would punch and kick what ever was around (Including animals)
5 The old guy (with 30 years farming experience) who was bitter that he had never got a manager’s job and would repeatedly show up to work late and moan about everything. (Oh and threatened to kill the farm owner who had met only once)
In contrast the females have all worked out well – good work ethic, reliable, honest, and are happy to help contribute towards the efficient working of the farm.
I have not employed any immigrant labour but understand why some farmers do. They are keen for the work, they are reliable, they tend to be self disciplined (not likely to have the local bobby knocking on the door looking for them) and they don’t mind the dirty jobs.
What they can struggle with (Philippino immigrants especially) is learning how to make decisions and to take initiative on farm – always need a boss to do the thinking for them
This is why I have shied away from them – I would rather employ a kiwi and try to train them to be able to think and plan and to adapt to a changing situation. But it is hard to find suitable potential staff here.
I know a lot of dairy farmers, family, locals, and the one my son works for.
The ones, and there are many, who offer half way decent wages and conditions, and are known as reasonable employers, get more job applications than they can handle.
Some farmers, though, are shocking employers.
I remember all the moans from Kiwifruit growers about lack of labour a while back.
It turned out they, millionaire growers, were effectively paying $3 an hour. After charging the workers for sleeping on a patch of hay in the old cow shed and paying piece rates where you would have to be superman to make minimum wage. Not to mention the cost of workers getting themselves there. And the stand down with WINZ after the season which would swallow up all their remaining earnings.
Geez Draco T – you keep reminding me of the endless number of reasons why I can no longer support ABC Labour. It was never a habit, just at one time the best and most sensible option.
It waned in Helen’s 3rd term. It was almost becoming a contest between the least worst option. Thankfully there are now options if one is of a centre-left/left wing persuasion. (Hint: it ain’t Labour at the moment).
Btw …. msg to Hilary: Read above – they’re not the best option atm (that’s shorthand for “at the moment”) and sentimentality, loyalty, solidarity towards those that have shown themselves to be obvious pratts – only goes so far.
…and I did take your advice (“Give it a bit of time”). It’s been more than a frikken YEAR since then.
Any new advice?
This has been the case for several years now. And a lot of the surplus money produced is flowing straight to Oz banks in the form of high mortgage repayments.
Indeed C.V. I forgot to mention too that for some of them, whilst they try and figure out how to raise money to repay their families, all the while having to take on whatever ‘work’ they can, visas will expire – whereupon they’re simply deported (out of sight, out of mind ).
I know several farmers who do go out of their way to help their workers out with immigration processes, and quite successfully I might add. It’s part of why the migrant workers accept piss poor wages – they want their NZ residency.
Yep CV – I know of such people too. It’s the luck of the draw tho’ for the immigrant (i.e. whether they get a concerned and decent sort of employer, OR an asshole). Certainly the idea of visas tied to an employer is not a good one.
By the way – another deportation I’m aware of has just taken place a week or so ago.
The good thing about it is that it’s going up the political food chain (I mean in the immigrant/international students’ own countries).
We’ve already seen what can happen when the Chinese get pissed off.
They’ve also managed to piss off a couple of Sth Americans.
There are a number of nations across the world who regard the current government quite poorly, because of this and other issues. The fact that the NATs pissed off our entire diplomatic corps has not helped.
Impending ankle-biter duty back later BUT
I’d go so far as to say that it has been predominantly ‘immigrant’ labour and expertise, and one or two of those GOOD employers you and I know of that have gotten us over the whole PSA virus debacle – once again not helped by certain state agencies (Immigration, Bio-D, etc., and the short-sighted, cost-accounting attitudes of their Snr. Management and Munsters)
I don’t remember farmers ever loving the free market. As long as I can remember, they’ve demanded government assistance and never paid any of it back with anything except the willingness to ride into town and pretend to be Cossacks.
“The best way to give these negotiations a chance is to keep them private. We know that the challenges require some very tough choices in the days ahead. Today, however, I am hopeful.”
—U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking about the latest “peace talks” between Israel and the PA. He went on to praise the “courageous leadership” of Netanyahu and Abbas.
hogwash, n.1. Worthless, false, or ridiculous speech or writing; nonsense. 2. Garbage fed to hogs; swill. hypocrisy, n.1. the practice of professing standards, beliefs, etc., contrary to one’s real character or actual behaviour, esp. the pretence of virtue and piety 2. an act or instance of this
More exhibits in the Hall of Hogwash….
No. 2 DAVID CAMERON: “We never support, in countries, the intervention by the military.”
No. 1 BARACK OBAMA: “Madiba’s moral courage…people standing up for what’s right….aaaahhhh, the yearning for justice and dignity…”
Clayton Cosgrave was part of an attempt to set up a new Party funded/controlled by Michelle Boag’s National Party contacts.
Early in 1994 Michael Laws and Mike Moore appear on TVNZ’s current affairs programme Fraser together. Here they discuss the opportunities for a new centre party on air. The two reportedly decide afterwards that they should meet again to further discuss this opportunity. A meeting between Moore and Michelle Boag was organised in to discuss the potential of National Party donors financing a new Centre party . Involved in the discussions were;
Mike Moore – Former Prime Minister who had been replaced as Labour leader after the 1993 election.
Michael Laws, Geoff Braybrooke, Jack Elder, Peter McCardle, Clayton Cosgrove, Ron Mark and Tony Day,
The first week of the 1996 parliamentary session was discussed as an ideal launch date. However, in an interview with the Sunday Star-Times the following weekend Mike Moore states that he is committed to Labour.
clean them out
Very interesting. Something similar about the ideas and words of all those names! Some went on to Christian Coalition, Mark was NZ First wasn’t he – send them all off to Army training as an answer to everything, and MM and CC found Labour quite right-wing enough.
Check out the links above re Pastor Hannah Gargoyle-Tamaki and daughter.
No mention of the cost of the cosmetic work, or the botox, or the hairdo. How much change out of $350 for the monthly coiff’ ?
Paraphrased: “It’s rubbish to be poor when you’re in the ‘business’ of helping the poor – ‘them’ ensconcing me and the bishop in luxury is but a God fearing step on ‘their’ way up.”
Cargo-cult with God’s chosen nabbing all the cargo and being righteous about it !
Daughter, ponder this: overheard (by me) in the supermarket yesterday from the mouth of a young woman with three young kids in tow – “No no no, Weetbix are too expensive.”
Hey North – do you realise that they once demolished and entire building because of its ‘Gargoyles’ and in the name of ‘corporate prestige’.
Its pathetic substitute now stands on the corner of Willeston and Willis Sts, Wellington.
(no word on its structural integrity yet – If I were a structural engineer tho’ I’d be worried about those wrap-around bits that make the columns look more substantial than they actually are – and what they’re hiding)
—Macleans College principal Byron Bentley praises police inspector Richard Wilkie, who has admitted to assaulting two teenagers in an off-duty incident that left other officers at the scene disturbed. Wilkie has resigned from his position of Board of Trustees chairman at Macleans. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10900944
Humbug Corner is dedicated to gathering, and highlighting, the most striking examples of faux solicitude, insincere apologies, and particularly stupid recycling of official canards. It is produced by the Insincerity Project®, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
More humbugs….
No. 18 Rachel Smalley: “…heartbreak all over NSW as Queensland wins the deciding State of Origin!”
No. 17 Jay Carney: ““He is not a human rights activist, he is not a dissident.”
No. 16 Barack Obama: “I wish Muslims across America & around the world a month blessed with the joys of family, peace & understanding.” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-11072013/#comment-661330
No.15 John Key: “They know this is an issue of national security…”
No. 14 Charles Saatchi: “I abhor violence of any kind against women…”
No. 13 Toyota New Zealand: “The more Kiwis that lean, the more motivated our ETNZ crew will be to win.”
No. 12 Pem Bird: “We’re there to do the business of advancing our people.”
No.11 Whenua Patuwai: “They’re my brothers and to see one of them goes [sic]—it’s tough.”
No. 10 [REMOVED]
No. 9 [REMOVED]
No. 8 Barack Obama: “…people standing up for what’s right…yearning for justice and dignity…” No. 7 Barack Obama: “Nelson Mandela is my personal hero…”
No. 6 John Key: “Yeah well the Greens’ answer to everything is rail, isn’t it.”
No.5 Dr. Rodney Syme: “If you want good, open, honest practice, you have to make it transparent.”
No. 4 Mike Bush: “Bruce Hutton’s… integrity beyond reproach…such great character…”
No. 3 Dean Lonergan: “Y’ know what? The only people who will mock them are people who are dwarfists.”
No. 2 Peter Dunne: “What a load of drivel and sanctimonious humbug…”
No. 1 Dominic Bowden: “It’s okay to be speechless.”
Sorry folks – links seem to have disappeared from this morning’s Herald webpage. Articles re Pastor Hannah’s $90,000 Audi wagon and daughter’s “feed the whanau for $20 per meal”.
Let’s not forget this wretched incident where the church franchise holders closed ranks, the alleged offenders (yes, there were others involved) were sheltered, Capillesque justifications were floated and victims were blamed.
“I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man “(or woman..hat tip Monty Python) “to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. ”
Glad to see she’s living by the tenets of her faith then…….
To be blunt……..those bludgers the Tamakis don’t entertain the Kingdom of God except to the extent that the construct realises them the personal paradise they live in here on Earth.
And if his family are cold this winter because they can’t pay their bills as all their spare cash has been tithed to pay for the Tamaki’s bling, they can hug under a blanket, according to Pastor Hannah.
Spurred on by the exhortations of Hottie C-Rankin and Pastor Hannah Gargoyle-Tamaki on “The Vote” recently, I carefully tracked the cost of 14 individual evening meals – 8 adult meals 6 kids’ meals – consumed Friday night to Sunday night.
Good food it was too – Friday night beef and vegetable lasagne and salad – Saturday night roast chicken with roast vegetables gravy etc – Sunday night meat sauce and pasta with salad.
Total cost – just about everything seasonal or bought on special but excluding the cost of seasonings, energy, cooking oil, the $1.48 no-grain budget bread those pampered kids insist on – $42.
Felt quite chuffed I did. Nearly emailed the said Hottie C-Rankin and Pastor Hannah Gargoyle-Tamaki to thank them. Then I came back to reality and remembered that in this house there are fridges x 2 and deep freezers x 2. Heaps of room to safely store “clever” specials purchases. No worry about electricity to run them and power the water pump. As many as we choose daily trips to the supermarket in one of several cars available.
Makes you wanna tell Hottie and Gargoyle to fuck off really. “Neh neh neh – a serving of Weetbix costs 37 cents – smug smug smug”.
Marie-Antoinette molls both of them !
“Oh sorry kids…….no brekky or lunch Saturday or Sunday…….put that milk back ya little shit !”
In case anyone should feel morally bound to dob me in to CYPS I note that there was breakfast and lunch both days but boy, it sure fucked my budget !
Matt McCarten in His Herald column this morning points out the cold hard facts that that mainstay of Neo-Liberalism, ‘responsibility and accountability’ is and was always meaningless gibberish and when all is said and done the Pike River disaster delivers us all the lesson that there is no such thing,
Obviously there is needed in this country a criminal charge of ‘Corporate Manslaughter’ to enforce upon those who pay lip service to the notion of that ‘responsibility and accountability’ the cold hard reality of their actions and in-actions when it comes to the lives of their employees on the job,
The next Labour/Green Government i would hope would have this clearly pencilled in to the first year of it’s legislative program after election,
Matt raises a more difficult issue in the Herald column which discusses the fines imposed on the Pike River Mining Company as well as it’s break-up before-hand where all the ‘cash’ assets of Pike River including insurance payments said to be in the realm of a100 million dollars which where disbursed years befor Pike River could be convicted by any Court among the ‘secured creditors’, including Banks, Major Shareholders, and the liquidators themselves were said to have accrued millions of dollars in ‘fees’ for over-seeing such a disbursement,
Thus the families of the 29 miners entombed in the Pike River Mine will receive a mere sniff of justice for their fallen men, hollow words and a judgement that fines should be paid to the victims families that no law can or will enforce,
Pike River is the most glaring example of this ‘no responsibility, no accountability’ enshrined in our laws which not only lets ‘business’ get away with murder but also allows ‘business’ of many varieties to ignore the Courts on matters of compensation where the likes of Employment Tribunals make orders for payment to employees knowing that they will never be paid as the ‘business’ concerned has ceased trading under a particular name and assumed a different one,
We need a fundamental change in the attitude that when disaster strikes, firms go belly up, or orders of compensation are made by ANY court in favor of workers those workers are somehow denied payment by ‘business’ who have circumvented any ‘responsibility’ by a simple change of paperwork,
Employees in any disaster,insolvency, or, Court ordered payment should be made the FIRST SECURED CREDITOR and distribution of any ‘cash assets’ that any firm may have in any form must first take account of any present or future claim by employees and i would go as far as to say that the directors and shareholders in listed company’s should be made responsible for paying the employees as the first secured creditor any and all monies owed at the time of closure or at the point of any future court ordered payment,
Changing the name of a business to avoid an Employment tribunal ordered payment should result in criminal charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice and Employment Tribunal orders should not be made in the name of a particular ‘business’ but instead be attached to the name of the person who materially owns/operates that business,
The Labour and Green Party’s should be pushed to make such changes to our laws….
lprent
That took a while for me to check and I ran out of edit time. I started looking in peronal archives for –
Rosetinted 20/7 7.38p.m. re Morrissey – I couldn’t find on Morrissey’s list for 20/7.
And then checking on both Rosetinted and Morrissey I found –
But Rosetinted 20/7 11.37a.m. to mac1 – That is the last one on my listing for 20/7.
And Morrissey 20/7 – last listing for that date was at 10.20 a.m.
So where did the 7.38 pm one go. And I don’t know what others that might have been made but not showing.
Sometimes I click on an entry in the comments list, and get sent to a completely different page.
I don’t know whether that’s relevant to the above query.
(I found rosetinted 20/7 at 7.38p.m. by scrolling through the thread which was Open Mike 19/7.)
An article with some thoughtful comments concerning the on-going slow-motion train-wreck of civilization, with particular regard to the failure of the left to make any progress whatsoever for the last 40 years – and as apposite to New Zealand as to the US, in my view:
Someone who looks into Conspiracy Theories rather than just believing the official story. Study shows you are likely to have your head screwed on better than those just simply believeing the official version of events.
Indeed, Wood et al. (2012) demonstrated that even beliefs in directly contradictory conspiracy theories were positively correlated with one another, indicating that conspiracy beliefs may be held together not by direct agreement with one another, but by mutual agreement with higher-order beliefs about the world.
LOLZ, the most bought into Government line that is patently bullshit in this country is the anti-tobacco fanatics ‘tobacco is the only legal product that kills 50% of those who use it as directed’,
Health officials, the anti-tobacco fanatics, Government Ministers, and MP’s by a huge majority across the whole spectrum of the Parliament will put hand on heart and swear that this is true,
When pushed on the bad health out-comes which supposedly kills 50% of tobacco’s users they will all dutifully intone that Heart Disease and Cancers are the culprits swearing that this is a direct result of tobacco use,
What they remain TOTALLY silent upon, as if being part of the collective Nunnery of the nation having taken the vows of silence, is what kills 50% of the population that have never used tobacco products,
50% of the population who have never used tobacco WILL DIE of the same Heart Disease and Cancers which knock off 50% of the tobacco users, which would suggest strongly to anyone with half a brain who is neither brainwashed nor a fanatic that tobacco use does not seriously figure in such deaths,
Of course if the above is true then 100’s of millions of Health dollars are being wasted by the anti-tobacco fanatics which would far better be spent addressing why 50% of the population whether they have ever used tobacco products or not get bumped off of the mortal coil by that Heart Disease and those Cancers…
Speaking about cancers and stuff, here’s some sad news that’s gone largely unnoticed.
Yoshida was at the Fukushima nuclear complex when the tsunami engulfed the cooling system and saw three reactors go into meltdown. In an interview in November 2011, he said he thought several times that he would die.
Defying orders from his bosses, Yoshida made the decision to pump seawater into the No. 1 reactor in a move that may have averted a catastrophic nuclear explosion.
Masao Yoshida is someone to remember and respect. Thanks for drawing our attention to this joe 90.
He went against protocol and with the ‘Fukushima 50’ used seawater to cool reactors overheating. Now he is dead, and the other men in ‘the 50’ may also have shortened lives.
They should not be forgotten or overlooked. I think there was heroism after the Chernobul event also.
An important point in this linked article mentions the findings that there were deficiencies in the nuclear reactor oversight and control.
The authorities’ handling of the nuclear disaster was widely criticized, with an independent investigation calling it a “man-made disaster” that unfolded as a result of collusion between TEPCO, regulators and the government.
This occurs as a theme in other reports I’ve read after disasters. We must remember this when our pollies are prattling on about how much they care about controls and how well practices will be monitored and safety equipment…blah blah …and jobs will be created – note that. That’s what is said as a carrot for every dirty little deal the shysters want to get through the hole in the safety net.
The authors were surprised to discover that it is now more conventional to leave so-called conspiracist comments than conventionalist ones: “Of the 2174 comments collected, 1459 were coded as conspiracist and 715 as conventionalist.” In other words, among people who comment on news articles, those who disbelieve government accounts of such events as 9/11 and the JFK assassination outnumber believers by more than two to one. That means it is the pro-conspiracy commenters who are expressing what is now the conventional wisdom, while the anti-conspiracy commenters are becoming a small, beleaguered minority.
No, it means that if you choose 911 as a topic because the conspiracist community for that issue “is noted for its substantial online presence and focus on Internet proselytizing”, you can expect to see more conspiracy comments than comments from people who have not chosen to make the deaths of thousands of people their personal hobby.
The more I think of it the more convinced I am that the huge deterioration of workers wages and rights began with the abolition of compulsory Unionism’.
Its time to rethink the role of some form off compulsory union membership.Its not a vote winner but essential if we are to return to a society where a fair deal,foe all is the norm.
My problem with compulsory unionism is that it allowed the union bureaucrats to become a bit lazy in terms of convincing workers of the necessity of belonging. Once the legal compulsion went, so did many of the members. I think the strongest unions will always be voluntary. I also recognise that rebuilding membership isn’t easy.
I am a union member in a non-compulsory situation. I pay for the salary rises and conditions also extended to my non-union colleagues. I object to that, but can live with it. I couldn’t live with not being a member.
Yeah Risildo, that was a biggie, bigger than Friday’s and this morning’s one. It’s starting to get a bit much. I had just got a glass of wine to celebrate the planting of a hedge and my husband (a civil defence volunteer in training, so will have lots to discuss at this weeks class) was in the bath, recovering his sore muscles. Had a mini tsunami in the bath, windows rattling, crockery rattling, glassware tinkling, rumble rumble rumble, wine sloshing around in my glass as I found a safe place to stand. (Clearly I couldn’t put it down otherwise it would fall over!) …………
Hope all living in Marlborough and lower north island doing ok and not dealing with too much damage.
Now that was a SHAKE, the ones early this morning were minor affairs but that one had the house doing the boogy on it’s foundations,
So far out here east of the airport all these quakes have been felt less severely than elsewhere and if that was the case with that last one then there will be damage…
Getting bigger, Power and water are still all good over the parts of wellington i can see from here, lolz, i was braced in the front porch befor that one delivered it’s full force,
Having settled down again the mad scientists in my mind wants me to sit still in the chair for the next one,(whole house will probably come down round my ears),
Prime news is saying power is out in parts of Wellington…
Disturbed Sunday beers here in the cliff – lots of lateral motion in two waves – tickers going pitter patter and a couple of upset kids but no damage, arrived home and an upended sauce bottle draining remnants was still standing though so it wasn’t too bad.
Spoken to my SO who’s flying into Wellington later this PM so mildly reassured.
Kia ora Joe! Glad there wasn’t any damage. The ‘cliff rocks! Had some terrific nights in the pub there back during the punk wars, 3 nights of Toy Love and an audience of two men and a dog stands out. Good times.
And I know the footy club is also excellent, they do great work with the kids in the area. A real community club.
This is a serious and timely put question: what is the decent, honourable Kiwi to do about the renewed, indeed escalating War On The Poor ?
Reckon it’s time to tune up on the great philosophers with a view to neutralising our natural timidities. The advised violence directed at poor Kiwis by a portly lady wearing a wan, gracelessly over-lippied, patronising smile…….it’s utterly unconscionable !
J. K. Galbraith – “The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a morally superior justification for selfishness.”
When will we resolve that injustice cannot be permitted to go on ?
Benny Tipene’s brother speaks an uncomfortable truth The X-Factor Grand Final, TV3, Sunday 21 July 2013
Shortly before contestant Benny Tipene is due to sing, we go to host Dominic Bowden, who is sitting in the crowd, poking his microphone in the direction of a young man on his right….
DOMINIC BOWDEN: I’m sitting here with Benny’s brother! What advice have you got for the voters? BENNY TIPENE’S BROTHER: Vote hard, vote often.
….[There ensues an extended awkward pause. A dark expression passes over Dominic Bowden’s normally cheery mien.]
DOMINIC BOWDEN: Ha ha. “Vote hard, vote often.” [raises eyebrows to express contempt and annoyance] Back to you, Ruby….
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
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TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luis Gómez Romero, Senior Lecturer in Human Rights, Constitutional Law and Legal Theory, University of Wollongong Fifty years ago, Australian feminist Anne Summers denounced “the ideology of sexism” governing over so many women’s lives. Unfortunately, sexism is as lethal today as it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jose Antonio Lara-Hernandez, Senior Researcher in Architecture, Auckland University of Technology Getty Images The COVID-19 pandemic and the hybrid work patterns it fostered have changed the way we think about office space, and central business districts in general. While fears ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dale Boccabella, Associate Professor of Taxation Law, UNSW Sydney There’s a good reason your local volunteer-run netball club doesn’t pay tax. In Australia, various nonprofit organisations are exempt from paying income tax, including those that do charitable work, such as churches. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marina Deller, Casual Academic, Creative Writing and English Literature, Flinders University NetflixComedy is opening up spaces for silences to be broken and trauma stories to be told. In 2018, Hannah Gadsby started a revolution with Nanette, asking audiences to rethink ...
The workplace can be a minefield of bad comms and passive aggression. Kinksters can help you navigate it. A friend and colleague recently gave me a compliment I loved. They told me I’d always been good at emotional communication and making people feel comfortable. “But I feel like it’s really ...
Even if some students are now just texting on their laptops. Stewart Sowman-Lund writes in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
Councils from Horowhenua, Kāpiti, Wairarapa, the Hutt Valley, Porirua and Wellington City will meet this Friday to work together on a plan for a Greater Wellington region water deal. ...
Renowned musician, advocate, and proud born and raised daughter of Tauranga, Ria Hall, is announcing her candidacy for Mayor of Tauranga and Pāpāmoa Ward for the upcoming election on July 20th. ...
The new Aotearoa histories curriculum is rich with potential. There’s still work to be done, but the education minister’s criticisms about ‘balance’ miss the mark, argues primary school teacher Jessie Moss. In 2015, Ōtorohanga College students presented to parliament a petition signed by more than 10,000 people calling for a ...
For too long our so-called national bird has maintained its stranglehold on the economy of regional New Zealand. Thanks to the fast track legislation, we will have our revenge. Theories abound on what ails New Zealand’s economy. National leader Chris Luxon has posited that we’re negative, wet, whiny, and inward-looking; ...
Late one afternoon in March 1860 a man in a thin green velveteen jacket and a wide-awake hat arrived on foot at a sheep station named Glenmark, about 65 kilometres north of Christchurch. The man was in his mid-fifties but he looked older. Several people who met him that day ...
If building one of Auckland’s possible waterfront stadiums was funded privately, it would need to hold a sold-out Ed Sherran concert every weekday for 25 years. That’s Rob Hamlin’s finding – he’s a senior marketing lecturer at the University of Otago. “It’s not going to happen; forget about it,” he ...
Comment: The debate over the future relationship between news and social media is bringing us closer to a long-overdue reckoning. Social media isn’t trying to kill journalism, because social media has never really cared about journalism. Social media is resolutely in the attention business. News propels some attention — perhaps ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Monday 6 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...
For the past 12 years, Georgia-Rose Brown has balanced on the brink of making an Olympic Games – but always landed gracefully on the wrong side. Reaching the Olympics is a dream the gymnast has harboured since she was a six-year-old; a dream that would dwindle every four years, yet ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A new Commonwealth Prac Payment will provide students with $319.50 a week when they are on clinical and professional placements. The payment will be means tested and start from July 1 next year, which ...
Asia Pacific Report About 500 people honoured Palestinian journalists in the heart of the New Zealand city of Auckland today for their brave coverage of Israel’s War on Gaza, now in its seventh month with almost 35,000 people killed, mostly women and children. Marking the annual May 3 World Press ...
The Government Communications Security Bureau denies hosting a foreign spying capability flagged by the watchdog, differentiating it from the system recently criticised. ...
RNZ News A group of academic staff at New Zealand’s largest university have expressed concern at the administration’s move to block a protest encampment that was planned to take place on campus calling for support for the rights of Palestinians. This week, the University of Auckland warned that while it ...
Genterwocky After a hard days marching, Sir Doocey calls in at the Village Tavern For a pint of ale and a pork pie. The grim villagers stare at him. “Do not be travelling on the forest road,” warns a crusty old beak. “And why is that, antique peasant?” Grins Sir ...
Political conferences after a party returns to power are usually a chance for some healthy, even unhealthy backslapping. Yet National Party president Sylvia Wood’s address to its mainland representatives on Saturday hardly contained the unalloyed delight that one might have expected following National’s escape from the wilderness of opposition. Yes, ...
Comment: Almost half the world is voting in national elections this year and artificial intelligence is the elephant in the room. There are genuine fears AI-generated or AI-edited deepfakes will potentially manipulate election outcomes not just in the US and UK, but critically in countries such as India. For that ...
Ahead of the reality franchise’s return to New Zealand, allow us to introduce the eight brides and grooms. Chuck on a veil and tie back your man bun, because it’s time to say “I do” to a new season of Married at First Sight NZ. The reality TV “social experiment” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University Every year on June 1, student debt in Australia is indexed to inflation. In 2023, high inflation pushed the indexation rate to 7.1%, the highest since 1990. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Changes in the May 14 budget will cut the student debt of more than three million people, wiping more than $3 billion from what people owe. The government will cap the HELP indexation rate ...
Asia Pacific Report The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the “administration of justice” by the world’s permanent war crimes court. The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A women’s union in New Caledonia has staged a sit-in protest this week to support senior Kanak indigenous journalist Thérèse Waia, who works for public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie la Première, after a smear attack by critics. The peaceful demonstration was held on ...
New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
Dame Susan Devoy takes us through her life in television, including late night ER debriefs, her proudest CTI moment and the show she watches in secret. Quite aside from her four world champion squash titles, Dame Susan Devoy will likely go down in history as one of the best Celebrity ...
Hera Lindsay Bird reveals the best places in Ōtepoti to score more for your apocalypse-prep book hoard.Sometimes I get the feeling I’ve been killed in a car crash, and this second half of my life is just the brain unspooling itself, like one of those episodes of a hospital ...
ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
Introducing a new way to read The Spinoff every weekend. After nearly 10 years of being an online magazine, we’re finally embracing the weekend liftout. Despite our best efforts to convince you otherwise, writers and editors at The Spinoff don’t work weekend. It is through the sheer power of technology ...
Tip one: let yourself be nurtured by this big old man. Tip two: don’t ask him to adopt you. So, you’ve arrived at your first session with a new therapist. He tells you to make yourself comfortable and you opt for the tweed armchair, hoping it makes you look like ...
I didn’t know books could open you back up; that there were books that stayed with you, where reading was like a chemical event. I knew nothing.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Not too long ago, I was listening to the American ...
Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has already started training for the Enhanced games, though says he won’t start taking performance enhancing substances until about nine months out from the competition. The Australian world champion was the first athlete to be announced by Enhanced, but he says the organisation has had ...
Everyone thinks he’s dead. Every day they expect his body to be washed up along the coast. Most likely up Karitane way, the way the tide’s running. But nobody’ll be too surprised if his body’s never found. Even in death he wouldn’t have wished for such attention. He would have ...
Council members voted 21 to 4 in favour of Ahluwalia returning to the Laucala campus following a much-awaited meeting in Vanuatu this week. It comes as USP and its two unions — the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) and the Administration and Support Staff Union ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Henry, Professor & Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University Shutterstock Following an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem ...
Analysis - A poll showing the opposition is more popular than the government raises questions, politicians go through their 'trial by pay rise' and a Green MP loses her cool in the debating chamber. ...
The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Hall, Lecturer, Media & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University A longstanding feud between TikTok and Universal Music Group seems to have finally reached an end, with both parties signing a deal that will see Universal-backed music returned to the social media ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Siobhan O’Dean, Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney After several highly publicised alleged murders of women in Australia, the Albanese government this week pledged more than A$925 million over five years ...
Political parties have now fully disclosed the donations they received last year - with National getting more than double the cash of any other party. ...
A Pacific regionalism expert has called out New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS military pact. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard de Grijs, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University Bruno Scramgnon/Pexels All systems are “go” for tonight’s launch of China’s next step in a carefully planned lunar exploration program. Placed on top of a powerful Long March 5 rocket, the Chang’e 6 ...
National returned a massive donation the day after a Newsroom story linked the donors to a property being investigated for operating unlawfully as a migrant workers’ hostel. The party’s 2023 donation filings, released on Friday, show it returned a $200,000 donation from Buen Holdings on August 23. That was the ...
Pacific Media Watch New Zealand has slumped to an unprecedented 19th place in the annual Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index survey released today on World Press Freedom Day — May 3. This was a drop of six places from 13th last year when it slipped out of its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua Black, Political Historian and Administrator Officer, Australian Historical Association, Australian National University Australia has had its fair share of public record-keeping controversies in recent years. Some have been mere farce, as in the case of two formerly government-owned filing cabinets (containing ...
Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), a United Nations-affiliated organization dedicated to fostering peace through civilian-led initiatives, has issued a statement in response to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. ...
A poem by Tessa Keenan, from AUP New Poets 10. Mātou These days we are a photograph; one of a farm strewn with cows that used to be bright harakeke or swamp. The kids point at it and say the sun sits behind a smudge (left by someone at Christmas); ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Faber & Faber, $25)The masterful Irish writer ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. Key facts Marriages and civil unions In ...
Database jammed up on a lock overnight. Probably due to some kind of bot?
Needs a procedure to automatically clear locks/connections… Or I make the database ‘bigger’ with a higher cost *sigh*
I also need to look at better ways to reduce those damn bots. This morning there are a flood of requests from Facebook and Bing. Mostly looking at images right now rather than db.
I’m scheduling a database update now.
Done. Ok that (while more costly) should give more room to handle these oddball middle of the night peaks.
This interview with Chris Laidlaw this morning could be interesting for forward looking people.
It includes someone telling what one ohu, community farm in Lange’s time, did to become more self-catering and self-sufficient.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday
(Audio rerun takes about 30 mins from finish to load. But try to get it fresh off the wife (whoops wire, left this it’s a funny typo), and don’t forget to get the latest from Down the List just after 11 a.m.)
10:06 Ideas: This week discusses the concept of Utopia
A map of the world that does not include Utopia,” Oscar Wilde once said, “is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing. This morning Ideas talks to three explorers in the search for that mythical ideal. Produced by Jeremy Rose.
Very probably we will, or our children, will need to learn the art of collective living at even a small level. Creches for adults really. Groups in contact and combining strengths and supportive lives tend to fare better than individuals, if the whanau are all contributing, not with slackers or careless types who brrow tools and then break them and don’t repair them, don’t return them to the agreed holding family etc.
Great article on The Nation – Migrant Workers in Dairy Farming
Migrant Labour to South Island Dairy farms. The main reason that Kiwis dont work on these farms is because Farmers dont pay enough…the work on a >1000 cow dairy farm is incredibly tough, particularly during calving. People need to work around the clock, 16 hour plus days . If Farmers paid people a fair salary to reflect the hard work they will get more people applying, these farms are incredibly profitable…they can afford it.
The introduction of migrant workers is a distortion of the farmers belovered free market…
I know of farmers in the north island letting go of their kiwi farm workers and employing multiple filipino workers to do all of the work…share milking as a step up to farm ownership has disappeared.
@ Saarbo
I haven’t yet seen The Nation – not sure I will, but it’s a nice little rort all propped up by agencies of state – not just Dairy Farms either – orchards, vineyards operated by the unscrupulous (or companies they outsource to).
What pisses me off is that there is a nasty little “bloody immigrant taking all our jobs” thing going on in the background.
Often when one delves into it – one finds that the “immigrants’ are people (students) who’ve been promised the world by private education providers (including relevant ‘work expeirience employment’), who have under-delivered – some shutting up shop/going out of business. Those ripped-off immigrants have very little recourse, but are faced with having to repay the exorbitant amount of money they’ve (and often their family and friends) borrowed for fees.
It’s made all the worse when Immigration grants visas on the basis that they are tied to a specific employer – so they have to take what ever is dealt to them – OR go through another costly, long drawn out process to have it changed – often involving a catch-22 situation.
A rort probably doesn’t describe it all adequately!
Yes, I’m sure you are right Tim, so these immigrants can end up pretty vulnerable and become very exploitable.
What i am seeing is that National are using Immigrants to reduce wages at a worker level on Dairy farms. Lets suggest that we didnt allow immigrants in to work on Dairy farms, then the market would demand that farmers pay more for labour on their farms.
We have to keep an eye on this immigrant labour, as you have pointed out Tim, they are often exploited.
Feudalism is already happening in dairy farming nation wide, this policy is just speeding things up.
Part of the problem is that there are few good quality NZ farm staff available to employ (Especially the male variety)
Over the last 6 seasons we have employed around 14 farm staff on several different farms.
(From memory have been around 10 male & 4 female)
Of the males the following did not finish their employment contracts with us:
1 – Left two months shy of contract to be closer to family (Understandable but not helpful)
2 – Was dismissed after disciplinary proceedings for repeatedly failing to come to work and/or leaving work when he felt like it. (Turned out mostly when he had run out of $$ to fund his cannabis addiction) Oh I won’t mention the sexual harassment allegations against him.
3 – Young guy – during his first calving his grandma dies in Tasmania, he begs for time off to go to the funeral. When he is due back he never shows up. After several phone calls he tells me he has met a girlfriend over there (Already had two in NZ) and he won’t be coming home.
4 – What about the 23 year old that ended up having a temper so when he got tired he would punch and kick what ever was around (Including animals)
5 The old guy (with 30 years farming experience) who was bitter that he had never got a manager’s job and would repeatedly show up to work late and moan about everything. (Oh and threatened to kill the farm owner who had met only once)
In contrast the females have all worked out well – good work ethic, reliable, honest, and are happy to help contribute towards the efficient working of the farm.
I have not employed any immigrant labour but understand why some farmers do. They are keen for the work, they are reliable, they tend to be self disciplined (not likely to have the local bobby knocking on the door looking for them) and they don’t mind the dirty jobs.
What they can struggle with (Philippino immigrants especially) is learning how to make decisions and to take initiative on farm – always need a boss to do the thinking for them
This is why I have shied away from them – I would rather employ a kiwi and try to train them to be able to think and plan and to adapt to a changing situation. But it is hard to find suitable potential staff here.
I wonder what you are paying?
I know a lot of dairy farmers, family, locals, and the one my son works for.
The ones, and there are many, who offer half way decent wages and conditions, and are known as reasonable employers, get more job applications than they can handle.
Some farmers, though, are shocking employers.
I remember all the moans from Kiwifruit growers about lack of labour a while back.
It turned out they, millionaire growers, were effectively paying $3 an hour. After charging the workers for sleeping on a patch of hay in the old cow shed and paying piece rates where you would have to be superman to make minimum wage. Not to mention the cost of workers getting themselves there. And the stand down with WINZ after the season which would swallow up all their remaining earnings.
Jeez Jimmie.
A high proportion of your workforce don’t want to be there, quit at the first chance they get, and when they do turn up they’re angry and violent.
That’s not normal. You need to look in the mirror son, you’re running a shit workplace.
You sound like a rotten employer. People like you are why we need to have strong unions.
Yet to declare the pay rate at his several farms…..
It was Labour that altered the legislation to allow more temporary workers.
Geez Draco T – you keep reminding me of the endless number of reasons why I can no longer support ABC Labour. It was never a habit, just at one time the best and most sensible option.
It waned in Helen’s 3rd term. It was almost becoming a contest between the least worst option. Thankfully there are now options if one is of a centre-left/left wing persuasion. (Hint: it ain’t Labour at the moment).
Btw …. msg to Hilary: Read above – they’re not the best option atm (that’s shorthand for “at the moment”) and sentimentality, loyalty, solidarity towards those that have shown themselves to be obvious pratts – only goes so far.
…and I did take your advice (“Give it a bit of time”). It’s been more than a frikken YEAR since then.
Any new advice?
This has been the case for several years now. And a lot of the surplus money produced is flowing straight to Oz banks in the form of high mortgage repayments.
Indeed C.V. I forgot to mention too that for some of them, whilst they try and figure out how to raise money to repay their families, all the while having to take on whatever ‘work’ they can, visas will expire – whereupon they’re simply deported (out of sight, out of mind ).
I know several farmers who do go out of their way to help their workers out with immigration processes, and quite successfully I might add. It’s part of why the migrant workers accept piss poor wages – they want their NZ residency.
Yep CV – I know of such people too. It’s the luck of the draw tho’ for the immigrant (i.e. whether they get a concerned and decent sort of employer, OR an asshole). Certainly the idea of visas tied to an employer is not a good one.
By the way – another deportation I’m aware of has just taken place a week or so ago.
The good thing about it is that it’s going up the political food chain (I mean in the immigrant/international students’ own countries).
We’ve already seen what can happen when the Chinese get pissed off.
They’ve also managed to piss off a couple of Sth Americans.
There are a number of nations across the world who regard the current government quite poorly, because of this and other issues. The fact that the NATs pissed off our entire diplomatic corps has not helped.
Impending ankle-biter duty back later BUT
I’d go so far as to say that it has been predominantly ‘immigrant’ labour and expertise, and one or two of those GOOD employers you and I know of that have gotten us over the whole PSA virus debacle – once again not helped by certain state agencies (Immigration, Bio-D, etc., and the short-sighted, cost-accounting attitudes of their Snr. Management and Munsters)
That was inevitable due to the simple lack of available land.
I don’t remember farmers ever loving the free market. As long as I can remember, they’ve demanded government assistance and never paid any of it back with anything except the willingness to ride into town and pretend to be Cossacks.
The Hall of Hogwash
Exhibit No. 3: JOHN KERRY
“The best way to give these negotiations a chance is to keep them private. We know that the challenges require some very tough choices in the days ahead. Today, however, I am hopeful.”
—U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking about the latest “peace talks” between Israel and the PA. He went on to praise the “courageous leadership” of Netanyahu and Abbas.
http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Kerry-prolongs-trip-set-to-meet-Abbas-in-Ramallah-320386
hogwash, n. 1. Worthless, false, or ridiculous speech or writing; nonsense. 2. Garbage fed to hogs; swill.
hypocrisy, n. 1. the practice of professing standards, beliefs, etc., contrary to one’s real character or actual behaviour, esp. the pretence of virtue and piety 2. an act or instance of this
More exhibits in the Hall of Hogwash….
No. 2 DAVID CAMERON: “We never support, in countries, the intervention by the military.”
No. 1 BARACK OBAMA: “Madiba’s moral courage…people standing up for what’s right….aaaahhhh, the yearning for justice and dignity…”
Clayton Cosgrave was part of an attempt to set up a new Party funded/controlled by Michelle Boag’s National Party contacts.
Early in 1994 Michael Laws and Mike Moore appear on TVNZ’s current affairs programme Fraser together. Here they discuss the opportunities for a new centre party on air. The two reportedly decide afterwards that they should meet again to further discuss this opportunity. A meeting between Moore and Michelle Boag was organised in to discuss the potential of National Party donors financing a new Centre party . Involved in the discussions were;
Mike Moore – Former Prime Minister who had been replaced as Labour leader after the 1993 election.
Michael Laws, Geoff Braybrooke, Jack Elder, Peter McCardle, Clayton Cosgrove, Ron Mark and Tony Day,
The first week of the 1996 parliamentary session was discussed as an ideal launch date. However, in an interview with the Sunday Star-Times the following weekend Mike Moore states that he is committed to Labour.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_Democratic_Coalition
clean them out
Very interesting. Something similar about the ideas and words of all those names! Some went on to Christian Coalition, Mark was NZ First wasn’t he – send them all off to Army training as an answer to everything, and MM and CC found Labour quite right-wing enough.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10900914nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10900911
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10900914nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10900911
Check out the links above re Pastor Hannah Gargoyle-Tamaki and daughter.
No mention of the cost of the cosmetic work, or the botox, or the hairdo. How much change out of $350 for the monthly coiff’ ?
Paraphrased: “It’s rubbish to be poor when you’re in the ‘business’ of helping the poor – ‘them’ ensconcing me and the bishop in luxury is but a God fearing step on ‘their’ way up.”
Cargo-cult with God’s chosen nabbing all the cargo and being righteous about it !
Daughter, ponder this: overheard (by me) in the supermarket yesterday from the mouth of a young woman with three young kids in tow – “No no no, Weetbix are too expensive.”
Tamaki ready for expose
Online budgeting tipster keeps link to her wealthy dad a secret
You broke the links.
Hey North – do you realise that they once demolished and entire building because of its ‘Gargoyles’ and in the name of ‘corporate prestige’.
Its pathetic substitute now stands on the corner of Willeston and Willis Sts, Wellington.
(no word on its structural integrity yet – If I were a structural engineer tho’ I’d be worried about those wrap-around bits that make the columns look more substantial than they actually are – and what they’re hiding)
Humbug Corner
No. 19: BYRON BENTLEY
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“He is a great guy, a good man … very caring, very interested in the school, very involved.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
—Macleans College principal Byron Bentley praises police inspector Richard Wilkie, who has admitted to assaulting two teenagers in an off-duty incident that left other officers at the scene disturbed. Wilkie has resigned from his position of Board of Trustees chairman at Macleans.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10900944
Humbug Corner is dedicated to gathering, and highlighting, the most striking examples of faux solicitude, insincere apologies, and particularly stupid recycling of official canards. It is produced by the Insincerity Project®, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
More humbugs….
No. 18 Rachel Smalley: “…heartbreak all over NSW as Queensland wins the deciding State of Origin!”
No. 17 Jay Carney: ““He is not a human rights activist, he is not a dissident.”
No. 16 Barack Obama: “I wish Muslims across America & around the world a month blessed with the joys of family, peace & understanding.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-11072013/#comment-661330
No.15 John Key: “They know this is an issue of national security…”
No. 14 Charles Saatchi: “I abhor violence of any kind against women…”
No. 13 Toyota New Zealand: “The more Kiwis that lean, the more motivated our ETNZ crew will be to win.”
No. 12 Pem Bird: “We’re there to do the business of advancing our people.”
No.11 Whenua Patuwai: “They’re my brothers and to see one of them goes [sic]—it’s tough.”
No. 10 [REMOVED]
No. 9 [REMOVED]
No. 8 Barack Obama: “…people standing up for what’s right…yearning for justice and dignity…” No. 7 Barack Obama: “Nelson Mandela is my personal hero…”
No. 6 John Key: “Yeah well the Greens’ answer to everything is rail, isn’t it.”
No.5 Dr. Rodney Syme: “If you want good, open, honest practice, you have to make it transparent.”
No. 4 Mike Bush: “Bruce Hutton’s… integrity beyond reproach…such great character…”
No. 3 Dean Lonergan: “Y’ know what? The only people who will mock them are people who are dwarfists.”
No. 2 Peter Dunne: “What a load of drivel and sanctimonious humbug…”
No. 1 Dominic Bowden: “It’s okay to be speechless.”
Sorry folks – links seem to have disappeared from this morning’s Herald webpage. Articles re Pastor Hannah’s $90,000 Audi wagon and daughter’s “feed the whanau for $20 per meal”.
Try this link, North.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?objectid=10900914
I found it by searching for ‘Hannah Tamaki” in the Herald search box.
Tried but failed to be able to edit the above to include this link to the article re the Tamaki daughter feeding the whanau for $20.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10900911
Let’s not forget this wretched incident where the
churchfranchise holders closed ranks, the alleged offenders (yes, there were others involved) were sheltered, Capillesque justifications were floated and victims were blamed.http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/3519900/Pastors-son-facing-sex-charge
http://www.3news.co.nz/Destiny-Church-abuse-allegations/tabid/817/articleID/148676/Default.aspx
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/3712232/Sex-charge-dropped-family-turns-on-media
“I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man “(or woman..hat tip Monty Python) “to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. ”
Glad to see she’s living by the tenets of her faith then…….
To be blunt……..those bludgers the Tamakis don’t entertain the Kingdom of God except to the extent that the construct realises them the personal paradise they live in here on Earth.
Well the bible encourages its followers to be sheep.
Mrs Tamaki is the wolf that gobbled them all down.
Maybe she’s figuring on getting some metal worker from her church to build her a huge needle.
And if his family are cold this winter because they can’t pay their bills as all their spare cash has been tithed to pay for the Tamaki’s bling, they can hug under a blanket, according to Pastor Hannah.
Bullshit, you don’t get that fat on $20 bucks a week.
Spurred on by the exhortations of Hottie C-Rankin and Pastor Hannah Gargoyle-Tamaki on “The Vote” recently, I carefully tracked the cost of 14 individual evening meals – 8 adult meals 6 kids’ meals – consumed Friday night to Sunday night.
Good food it was too – Friday night beef and vegetable lasagne and salad – Saturday night roast chicken with roast vegetables gravy etc – Sunday night meat sauce and pasta with salad.
Total cost – just about everything seasonal or bought on special but excluding the cost of seasonings, energy, cooking oil, the $1.48 no-grain budget bread those pampered kids insist on – $42.
Felt quite chuffed I did. Nearly emailed the said Hottie C-Rankin and Pastor Hannah Gargoyle-Tamaki to thank them. Then I came back to reality and remembered that in this house there are fridges x 2 and deep freezers x 2. Heaps of room to safely store “clever” specials purchases. No worry about electricity to run them and power the water pump. As many as we choose daily trips to the supermarket in one of several cars available.
Makes you wanna tell Hottie and Gargoyle to fuck off really. “Neh neh neh – a serving of Weetbix costs 37 cents – smug smug smug”.
Marie-Antoinette molls both of them !
“Oh sorry kids…….no brekky or lunch Saturday or Sunday…….put that milk back ya little shit !”
In case anyone should feel morally bound to dob me in to CYPS I note that there was breakfast and lunch both days but boy, it sure fucked my budget !
Now this is a crying shame. The death of, in my opinion, one of the funniest men in the last decade at least.
RIP Mel, you have made me laugh for years.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/celebrities/8945393/Influential-British-comedian-Mel-Smith-dies
Query lprent?
Where did my comment as follows –
Rosetinted …
20 July 2013 at 7:38 pm
reMorrissey
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-19072013/
Rosetinted: Comment:Weekend social 19/07/2013
Date published:
11:37 am, July 20th, 2013
mac1 Thanks lots for that.#comment-665584
go to as far as Morrissey’s records are concerned?
His records for that day in his archives finish as at –
Morrissey: Comment:Open mike 19/07/2013
Date published:
10:20 am, July 20th, 2013
Are things getting wiped or lost somewhere?
lprent
See further at 10.52 am below.
Matt McCarten in His Herald column this morning points out the cold hard facts that that mainstay of Neo-Liberalism, ‘responsibility and accountability’ is and was always meaningless gibberish and when all is said and done the Pike River disaster delivers us all the lesson that there is no such thing,
Obviously there is needed in this country a criminal charge of ‘Corporate Manslaughter’ to enforce upon those who pay lip service to the notion of that ‘responsibility and accountability’ the cold hard reality of their actions and in-actions when it comes to the lives of their employees on the job,
The next Labour/Green Government i would hope would have this clearly pencilled in to the first year of it’s legislative program after election,
Matt raises a more difficult issue in the Herald column which discusses the fines imposed on the Pike River Mining Company as well as it’s break-up before-hand where all the ‘cash’ assets of Pike River including insurance payments said to be in the realm of a100 million dollars which where disbursed years befor Pike River could be convicted by any Court among the ‘secured creditors’, including Banks, Major Shareholders, and the liquidators themselves were said to have accrued millions of dollars in ‘fees’ for over-seeing such a disbursement,
Thus the families of the 29 miners entombed in the Pike River Mine will receive a mere sniff of justice for their fallen men, hollow words and a judgement that fines should be paid to the victims families that no law can or will enforce,
Pike River is the most glaring example of this ‘no responsibility, no accountability’ enshrined in our laws which not only lets ‘business’ get away with murder but also allows ‘business’ of many varieties to ignore the Courts on matters of compensation where the likes of Employment Tribunals make orders for payment to employees knowing that they will never be paid as the ‘business’ concerned has ceased trading under a particular name and assumed a different one,
We need a fundamental change in the attitude that when disaster strikes, firms go belly up, or orders of compensation are made by ANY court in favor of workers those workers are somehow denied payment by ‘business’ who have circumvented any ‘responsibility’ by a simple change of paperwork,
Employees in any disaster,insolvency, or, Court ordered payment should be made the FIRST SECURED CREDITOR and distribution of any ‘cash assets’ that any firm may have in any form must first take account of any present or future claim by employees and i would go as far as to say that the directors and shareholders in listed company’s should be made responsible for paying the employees as the first secured creditor any and all monies owed at the time of closure or at the point of any future court ordered payment,
Changing the name of a business to avoid an Employment tribunal ordered payment should result in criminal charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice and Employment Tribunal orders should not be made in the name of a particular ‘business’ but instead be attached to the name of the person who materially owns/operates that business,
The Labour and Green Party’s should be pushed to make such changes to our laws….
lprent
That took a while for me to check and I ran out of edit time. I started looking in peronal archives for –
Rosetinted 20/7 7.38p.m. re Morrissey – I couldn’t find on Morrissey’s list for 20/7.
And then checking on both Rosetinted and Morrissey I found –
But Rosetinted 20/7 11.37a.m. to mac1 – That is the last one on my listing for 20/7.
And Morrissey 20/7 – last listing for that date was at 10.20 a.m.
So where did the 7.38 pm one go. And I don’t know what others that might have been made but not showing.
Sometimes I click on an entry in the comments list, and get sent to a completely different page.
I don’t know whether that’s relevant to the above query.
(I found rosetinted 20/7 at 7.38p.m. by scrolling through the thread which was Open Mike 19/7.)
An article with some thoughtful comments concerning the on-going slow-motion train-wreck of civilization, with particular regard to the failure of the left to make any progress whatsoever for the last 40 years – and as apposite to New Zealand as to the US, in my view:
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/07/chris-hedges-america-is-a-tinderbox.html
Someone who looks into Conspiracy Theories rather than just believing the official story. Study shows you are likely to have your head screwed on better than those just simply believeing the official version of events.
http://intellihub.com/2013/07/15/new-studies-conspiracy-theorists-sane-government-dupes-crazy-hostile/
sigh…site that carries banners for banned reports and shit cites Iranian sourced conclusions….
http://www.frontiersin.org/Personality_Science_and_Individual_Differences/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00409/full
Indeed, Wood et al. (2012) demonstrated that even beliefs in directly contradictory conspiracy theories were positively correlated with one another, indicating that conspiracy beliefs may be held together not by direct agreement with one another, but by mutual agreement with higher-order beliefs about the world.
“sigh…site that carries banners for banned reports and shit cites Iranian sourced conclusions….”
provided the Authors credentials are good and the research was valid nothing you have sighed about should matter really now should it.
LOLZ, the most bought into Government line that is patently bullshit in this country is the anti-tobacco fanatics ‘tobacco is the only legal product that kills 50% of those who use it as directed’,
Health officials, the anti-tobacco fanatics, Government Ministers, and MP’s by a huge majority across the whole spectrum of the Parliament will put hand on heart and swear that this is true,
When pushed on the bad health out-comes which supposedly kills 50% of tobacco’s users they will all dutifully intone that Heart Disease and Cancers are the culprits swearing that this is a direct result of tobacco use,
What they remain TOTALLY silent upon, as if being part of the collective Nunnery of the nation having taken the vows of silence, is what kills 50% of the population that have never used tobacco products,
50% of the population who have never used tobacco WILL DIE of the same Heart Disease and Cancers which knock off 50% of the tobacco users, which would suggest strongly to anyone with half a brain who is neither brainwashed nor a fanatic that tobacco use does not seriously figure in such deaths,
Of course if the above is true then 100’s of millions of Health dollars are being wasted by the anti-tobacco fanatics which would far better be spent addressing why 50% of the population whether they have ever used tobacco products or not get bumped off of the mortal coil by that Heart Disease and those Cancers…
Speaking about cancers and stuff, here’s some sad news that’s gone largely unnoticed.
Yoshida was at the Fukushima nuclear complex when the tsunami engulfed the cooling system and saw three reactors go into meltdown. In an interview in November 2011, he said he thought several times that he would die.
Defying orders from his bosses, Yoshida made the decision to pump seawater into the No. 1 reactor in a move that may have averted a catastrophic nuclear explosion.
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/07/10/world/asia/japan-yoshida-death/index.html?iid=article_sidebar
Masao Yoshida is someone to remember and respect. Thanks for drawing our attention to this joe 90.
He went against protocol and with the ‘Fukushima 50’ used seawater to cool reactors overheating. Now he is dead, and the other men in ‘the 50’ may also have shortened lives.
They should not be forgotten or overlooked. I think there was heroism after the Chernobul event also.
An important point in this linked article mentions the findings that there were deficiencies in the nuclear reactor oversight and control.
This occurs as a theme in other reports I’ve read after disasters. We must remember this when our pollies are prattling on about how much they care about controls and how well practices will be monitored and safety equipment…blah blah …and jobs will be created – note that. That’s what is said as a carrot for every dirty little deal the shysters want to get through the hole in the safety net.
No, it means that if you choose 911 as a topic because the conspiracist community for that issue “is noted for its substantial online presence and focus on Internet proselytizing”, you can expect to see more conspiracy comments than comments from people who have not chosen to make the deaths of thousands of people their personal hobby.
9/11 was the justification for changing the course of the world. That makes it very interesting indeed.
Well, I wouldn’t have thought that one would do a hobby that they find boring. But it’s still a fucking hobby.
And in memory of Mel Smith:
The more I think of it the more convinced I am that the huge deterioration of workers wages and rights began with the abolition of compulsory Unionism’.
Its time to rethink the role of some form off compulsory union membership.Its not a vote winner but essential if we are to return to a society where a fair deal,foe all is the norm.
i would happily see ‘compulsory unionism’ return, especially for those earning less than 40 thousand a year…
My problem with compulsory unionism is that it allowed the union bureaucrats to become a bit lazy in terms of convincing workers of the necessity of belonging. Once the legal compulsion went, so did many of the members. I think the strongest unions will always be voluntary. I also recognise that rebuilding membership isn’t easy.
I am a union member in a non-compulsory situation. I pay for the salary rises and conditions also extended to my non-union colleagues. I object to that, but can live with it. I couldn’t live with not being a member.
5.10 pm we just had a quite scarey ass EARTH shake in Levin…….
Yeah Risildo, that was a biggie, bigger than Friday’s and this morning’s one. It’s starting to get a bit much. I had just got a glass of wine to celebrate the planting of a hedge and my husband (a civil defence volunteer in training, so will have lots to discuss at this weeks class) was in the bath, recovering his sore muscles. Had a mini tsunami in the bath, windows rattling, crockery rattling, glassware tinkling, rumble rumble rumble, wine sloshing around in my glass as I found a safe place to stand. (Clearly I couldn’t put it down otherwise it would fall over!) …………
Hope all living in Marlborough and lower north island doing ok and not dealing with too much damage.
Now that was a SHAKE, the ones early this morning were minor affairs but that one had the house doing the boogy on it’s foundations,
So far out here east of the airport all these quakes have been felt less severely than elsewhere and if that was the case with that last one then there will be damage…
6.5
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8945358/Big-quake-shakes-central-New-Zealand
link here
http://www.geonet.org.nz/quakes/region/wellington/felt
Getting bigger, Power and water are still all good over the parts of wellington i can see from here, lolz, i was braced in the front porch befor that one delivered it’s full force,
Having settled down again the mad scientists in my mind wants me to sit still in the chair for the next one,(whole house will probably come down round my ears),
Prime news is saying power is out in parts of Wellington…
Disturbed Sunday beers here in the cliff – lots of lateral motion in two waves – tickers going pitter patter and a couple of upset kids but no damage, arrived home and an upended sauce bottle draining remnants was still standing though so it wasn’t too bad.
Spoken to my SO who’s flying into Wellington later this PM so mildly reassured.
Kia ora Joe! Glad there wasn’t any damage. The ‘cliff rocks! Had some terrific nights in the pub there back during the punk wars, 3 nights of Toy Love and an audience of two men and a dog stands out. Good times.
And I know the footy club is also excellent, they do great work with the kids in the area. A real community club.
The pub and across the road a boarded up clubrooms – depopulation has been tough.
Nice! The 4Square was the band bar. The clubrooms was the Seagulls league wasn’t it?
Yup, classic booze barn on the brewery circuit with a car park around the corner and yes, Seagulls – and that all came to an awful end.
Ahhhh crap. Keep us updated, and take care.
This is a serious and timely put question: what is the decent, honourable Kiwi to do about the renewed, indeed escalating War On The Poor ?
Reckon it’s time to tune up on the great philosophers with a view to neutralising our natural timidities. The advised violence directed at poor Kiwis by a portly lady wearing a wan, gracelessly over-lippied, patronising smile…….it’s utterly unconscionable !
J. K. Galbraith – “The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a morally superior justification for selfishness.”
When will we resolve that injustice cannot be permitted to go on ?
The Wellington Benefit Rights Service, otherwise known as Beneficiary Education and Advisory Service, Inc
can be found here:
http://www.finda.co.nz/business/listing/4q5743/wellington-benefit-rights-service/
Benny Tipene’s brother speaks an uncomfortable truth
The X-Factor Grand Final, TV3, Sunday 21 July 2013
Shortly before contestant Benny Tipene is due to sing, we go to host Dominic Bowden, who is sitting in the crowd, poking his microphone in the direction of a young man on his right….
DOMINIC BOWDEN: I’m sitting here with Benny’s brother! What advice have you got for the voters?
BENNY TIPENE’S BROTHER: Vote hard, vote often.
….[There ensues an extended awkward pause. A dark expression passes over Dominic Bowden’s normally cheery mien.]
DOMINIC BOWDEN: Ha ha. “Vote hard, vote often.” [raises eyebrows to express contempt and annoyance] Back to you, Ruby….
How much money would that cost them?