I see Garner is having yet another dig at Labour,the coalition and the process and unilaterally setting a 100 day deadline for Jacinda to deliver his list of Labours election policies.
The bitterness of the Natz and their MSM puppets will only get worse so the prposed changes to RNZ and TVNZ should also be a 100 day priority.
Yes that is the exactly the advice I would give Nzsage. We can’t have these people damaging OUR new Government and our country’s reputation yes you idiots you are damaging OUR country O but that is a bit to far forward for you to think .
I think one of OUR more experienced people from Labour or NZFirst anyone with the skills to sort them out but they need to be wise as these people can turn any shit onto you . And put on this task of bringing OUR media to HEEL as this should be a priority plan for the long term of OUR coalition Goverment. We don’t have to control our media but they need a code of conduct slapped on them . Ka pai
If it was not so funny it would make you cry over the opinions of some of the prats out there. I wrote yesterday about all the griping going on @ /open-mike-20102017/#comment-1402555 and all the things that were going to happen under Labour.
With tongue in cheek, I also added a couple of my own. I noticed that the gas had risen in price by 2c a litre and jokingly I said to my wife I should put that on the Standard saying typical Labour have not been in power 1 day and they have already put gas up by 2c
Would you believe it some twat in the opinions to the article you have quoted has written just that, here’s the quote
“Wait to inflation gets a grip. Oh it already has petrol rose 2c a litre on day 1”
Indeed NZsage. I get the feeling with all this 100 days stuff that MSM expect the new government to deliver policy that:
a) does everything the way MSM wants it to be done; and
b) completely solves all the issues within the 100 days.
This is, obviously, not possible so I fear they are setting up the new Government for failure.
Actually, I don’t remember reading in any of the parties manifestos that they will do everything in the first 100 days.
Is this the MSM snatching something from overseas and trying to apply it to the incoming government?
It will be interesting seeing hoe the government will get so many things changed, given the amount of Nat members on select committees, I wonder if they will have to resort to creating law under urgency, like national did?
I actually think this Government is the best fit for equal and fair changes to our systems
As if any of those neo liberal state servants try and stop Jacinda from making these changes needed Winston Peters will kick there asses to touch. And Jamie will keep the focus on OUR environment. And most of the people in OUR new Coalition Government have the same left principles they just have to have there guard up and trust no one till they no they can be trusted I.E test them first before you give them that trust Tino pai
Many thanks to Barack Obama Bill Bush and John McCain for seeing the big pitcher .
We are all human’s we all expect to be treated like humans and when this happens OUR world will truly advance for the better of everything on her OUR mother earth.
I can see that these three family’s love there country and OUR world and are fighting for a equal society . Kia Kaha
Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana-Galizia, played a pivotal role in exposing NZ foreign trusts involvement in corrupt money-laundering – and now she’s dead.
Daphne Carauna-Galizia was blown to pieces in a car bomb assassination on 16 October 2017.
“I am never going to forget, running around the inferno in the field, trying to figure out a way to open the door, the horn of the car still blaring, screaming at two policemen who turned up with a single fire extinguisher to use it.
“They stared at me. “I’m sorry, there is nothing we can do”, one of them said.
“I looked down and there were my mother’s body parts all around me. I realised they were right, it was hopeless.
“Who is in the car?”, they asked me.
“My mother is in the car. She is dead.
She is dead because of your incompetence.”
__________________
A Malta magistrate is investigating explosive claims of money laundering and corruption that have put New Zealand in the middle of a global cash trail from the family of Azerbaijan president Ilham Aliyev.
President Aliyev’s daughter, Leyla Aliyeva, is alleged to have channelled more than NZ$1.6 million to senior figures of the Malta government, including Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s wife.
These include alleged payments to Panama companies owned by New Zealand trusts set up by the Malta Energy Minister Karl Mizzi and Muscat’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri.
On April 20, Maltese blogger Daphne Caruana-Galizia reported that she held copies of documents originally stored in a kitchen at Pilatus Bank, which showed that Egrant Inc, a mystery Panama Papers company identified by the Financial Review last year, was secretly owned by the Maltese Prime Minister’s wife, Michelle Muscat.
In March 2016, a Dubai company controlled by Leyla Aliyeva had transferred US$1.017 million (NZ$1.47 million) marked as a loan into Egrant’s account at Pilatus Bank, Caruana-Galizia reported.
Joseph Muscat denied the claims, calling it the “biggest political lie in Malta’s history”.
Caruana-Galizia reported that other payments were made from Leyla Aliyeva’s company to Pilatus accounts held by Egrant as well as Tillgate Inc and Hearnville Inc, two Panama companies that are owned by Schembri and Mizzi, through New Zealand trusts.
Schembri and Mizzi vehemently deny Caruana-Galizia’s reports. Mizzi has produced audited accounts for his New Zealand trust which shows it as dormant with no assets or income.
LUXURY YACHTS
Muscat announced on April 20 that magistrate Aaron Buge would conduct an inquiry into the allegations.
In a controversial energy deal, the Maltese government in 2013 contracted with a consortium led by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), which has financed a string of luxury yachts and homes across the world for the Aliyev family, to build a power station and gasification plant in Malta, with SOCAR taking an 18-year contract to supply LPG to Malta.
In 2015, Malta’s auditor general questioned €14 million (NZ$22 million) lost on fuel hedging contracts that the government-owned EneMalta took with SOCAR “at ministerial direction” from Mizzi.
The latest revelations, if substantiated, are an embarrassment for the New Zealand government, which announced an inquiry into its offshore trust laws on April 11 last year, the day after the Financial Review revealed details of how Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca’s Malta agent, BT Nexia, began setting up Tillson, Hearnville and Egrant five days after Muscat’s election victory in 2013.
Mossack Fonseca’s files were obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.
New Zealand subsequently amended its offshore trusts regime, requiring foreign trusts to file annual accounts with the New Zealand tax office, but with no further restrictions.
At that time, it appeared the Malta trusts had never been used, after Mizzi and Schembri’s Panama companies were turned down by eight banks who refused to open accounts for them because they were Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs).
The Panama Papers, however, show repeated cases of overseas investors filing false or implausible sets of accounts with New Zealand lawyers, who have limited means to verify the figures.
SIGNIFICANT ROLE
The latest wave of allegations in Malta underline how easily the New Zealand disclosure laws can be avoided, which the new laws do not change.
If the reports are substantiated, they raise a far more serious picture of money-laundering from one of the most corrupt countries in the world, in which New Zealand’s foreign trusts played a significant role.
The saga began in February 2016 when Caruana-Galizia revealed that Schembri and Mizzi had set up two Panama companies, Tillgate Inc and Hearnville Inc, owned by the Haast Trust and Rotorua Trust in New Zealand.
In April 2016, the Financial Review published new details of Schembri and Mizzi’s New Zealand trusts and their attempts to open a bank account in Dubai.
Mossack Fonseca’s Malta files read like a whodunnit.
…..”
I had hopes after seeing this leaked Green policy win in the negotiations:
A referendum on legalising the personal use of cannabis by 2020. Funding for drug and alcohol addiction services will be increased.
But thinking it through, a referendum in 2020 is 3 years away, presumably legislation would follow, so add another year or two to that.
But James Shaw just said on The Nation that they haven’t worked out whether it will be a binding referendum or not.
If not there will be a toothless referendum in three years that the following government will ignore, and if National is back then that's likely.
A disappointingly soft policy.
[formatting fixed for clarity. Link added from below. I’ve had a quick look and see we’ve discussed quoting before.
So to be very clear – either use your own words and be prepared to back up claims of fact, or, if quoting someone else, then cite. This means if you cut and paste from elsewhere you need to provide a link. If the quote is cut and paste but not publicly available (e.g. email or behind a paywall), then name the source and link where you can. If you are quoting someone from offline, then name the source (specifically not vaguely) so others can look it up.
The reasons for that are that it’s a courtesy to the source; it gives readers a chance to understand the context; and it lessens trolls’ and astroturfers’ ability to push certain lines unchallenged. Please take this as a moderation warning. – weka]
[just found the last time I moderated you on this which resulted in a 2 week ban. Next time I’ll start doubling the ban times – weka]
There have been plenty of poll indications of support for drug law reform already, so I don’t know why we need referendum.
Law change is likely to be complex so a simple referendum is unlikely to address it adequately.
If we have a referendum I’d like to see legislation passed through parliament this term, sooner rather than later, then if a referendum is deemed necessary make it a binding ratification or rejection of the legislation.
Then at least we would know exactly what we are deciding on, and enables a simple yes/no referendum on something that is complex.
One would hope that the Greens design a referendum that would pass under the L/NZF/G govt if supported by the voters. I can’t imagine them drafting something that wasn’t acceptable to Labour or NZF, that would be daft. So is there a need for it to be binding?
I’m on my ph so can’t log in to moderate, but when I get home If there is no source or citation for that quote expect me to get out the bold. I’ll be looking up the last time we had this issue too.
I never thought I would do this, but I am going to support Pete George on this one in the interests of fairness – and also because I am surprised that there appears to have been no mention/discussion of this referendum on here that i could find.
That a ‘referendum on legalising the personal use of cannabis at or by the 2020 general election’ appears to be part of the policy gains for the Green Party has been the subject of many media reports and discussions on social media and other blogs for the last 24 or so hours. it has even been the subject of overseas media reports by for example the BBC.
This appears to be as a result of an informal release (aka leak) of an internal Green Party email sent out on Thurs night as part of their SGM via teleconference to decide whether to agree the C & S agreement.
I stress that it is widely available on social media but I have used Russell’s link only because as he is very savvy as to whether or not to post such things. Russell has more in his actual post here (and there is more in the comments) https://publicaddress.net/hardnews/all-change/
The ‘release’ of this email is also mentioned in many of the media articles and reports below on the proposed referendum:
“This appears to be as a result of an informal release (aka leak) of an internal Green Party email sent out on Thurs night as part of their SGM via teleconference to decide whether to agree the C & S agreement.”
That’s the ‘leak’? No, it’s not a leak. It wasn’t an internal email, it was an email sent to the full membership (I got a copy). Emails of that kind aren’t private or confidential and members are free to share the content.
The email wasn’t part of the SGM, it was an email to the full membership after the decision had been reached (and, from memory, announced).
Matthew Whitehead, an active member who afaik wasn’t involved in the SGM posted some of it on TS on Thurs night. I put a copy of part of it in a post on Thurs night, again, after the SGM had made a decision and this had been announced,
As for Shub, honestly, I can’t be bothered looking at what’s happened there and am quite happy to believe they’re shit stirring calling it a ‘leak’ unless proven otherwise.
“I am really sad to see these leaks happening as it casts a shadow over the integrity of the whole coalition/C & S arrangements.”
I think it’s premature to be thinking anything bad has happened. All three parties seem to have taken trouble to be both as transparent as they can be, and to not overstep the bounds because one of the other parties needs time to finish due process.
So Shaw talked on Thurs night about being able to release small amounts of detail e.g. what went to the membership in the email, but not being able to say things like who would be in what positions because Labour still needed to work through that. He reassured the membership that good ground had been gained on key areas, and this was confirmed in the email. It’s inconceivable that the intention was for that email to remain confidential given that there will be journalists who are members of the GP.
Leaked by whom, I wonder …. seems to me to be a bit of Post truth to both undermine, and colour the Greens as … kakariki, together with the coalition….
But James Shaw just said on The Nation that they haven’t worked out whether it will be a binding referendum or not.
If it is a referendum initiated by the government then it is a binding referendum. Of course the government is still free in their in interpretation of that referendum but even National won’t be able to reneg on it.
The question is, if it’s a Green Party initiated referendum, will it be considered a Government initiated referendum? Technically, the Greens aren’t the Government.
A few days ago Wayne Mapp was relying on OECD figures to back his view about how great the economy is under National. Lots of growth… would like his comment on the following given it shows growing GDP hasnt solved this problem…
So Tracey, if you follow the link from the magazine that it came from you may gain a balanced view on what it’s point is. In fact the main title of the article is this;
“As Cities Grow Worldwide, So Do the Numbers of Homeless.
Homelessness is more visible and varying definitions prevent global comparisons; experts debate if the problem is even solvable.”
adam , “do I support eugenics”, pffffft. How do you get that from my sentence.
Do I sit around and wax lyrical about the state of the world. I think there is more than enough people on this site who do that day in / day out.
adam , I just followed Traceys link back to the original core article that NewsHub commented on. The point I was making is that if you actually read it & it is interesting , its not as supportive to Traceys anti Nat Govt argument as she has been making out.
Rob, Wayne suggests that when the OECD ranks us highly it means the govt is great.He does not delve deeper nor observe IMF pronouncements that counter his world view.
By Waynes logic, the reverse must, ipso facto, mean the govt is bad. It is Wayne making simplistic conclusions, not me.
Whenever the meme “What a wonderful economy we have – just look at the growth rate!” rears its ugly head, one has always to ask the question – “But what is the economy for?”
A countries economy is not an end in itself – it is only a means to an end.
If the one boasting about the wondrous economy cannot say what this wonderful thing is for, then it is just as useless as the wonderful toy that the singer got when he was a boy. It went whizz when it moved, bopped when it stopped, and whirred when it stood still – he never knew just what it was, and I guess they never will.
The thing is, to worship a means, and not seek the end, is simply idolatry. If the means is not delivering the end, then no matter how wonderful you might think it is – it is useless.
So what is the economy for, anyway?
I would answer this question thus:
“The role of the economy is to deliver the most good, to the most people, over the longest time” If it does not do that, then it is a failing economy.
The rate of growth may or may not be a useful indicator but only over a short term – take for instance the lack of clean water supplies in Puerto Rico following the Hurricane. One month later only 2/3 of the population have access to potable water.
This is a slow rate of growth on the provision of a vital human need. But money is pouring into this “Island in an ocean .. a very big ocean” to use the words of Trump at a astonishing rate. ie over the past month the GDP of Puerto Rico would have been off the scale – but just how effective has it been?
Capitalism is a “blatant failure” when it comes to housing the poor, says Jacinda Ardern.
…
“What is the point of economic growth when we have some of the worst homelessness in the developed world?”
…
“When you have a market economy, it all comes down to whether or not you acknowledge where the market has failed and where intervention is required. Has it failed our people in recent times? Yes. How can you claim you’ve been successful when you have growth roughly 3 percent, but you’ve got the worst homelessness in the developed world?”
Ms Ardern said her Government wouldn’t measure economic success just on things like GDP.
“The measures for us have to change. We need to make sure we are looking at people’s ability to actually have a meaningful life, an enjoyable life, where their work is enough to survive and support their families.”
Asked directly if capitalism had failed low-income Kiwis, Ms Ardern was unequivocal.
“If you have hundreds of thousands of children living in homes without enough to survive, that’s a blatant failure. What else could you describe it as?”
Oh how the Nat shills will be spinning on the spot….. hope this kind of narrative can be kept up, and that more mainstreamers really begin to take note of the failures of capitalism, and the need for change.
Great piece macro but I would add to your definition. It must be measured by how it caters for its vulnerable who have a right to thrive not just survive
Interestingly around 4000 years ago someone inscribed a piece of wisdom on a clay tablet that has survived until today. I’m afraid I cannot find a link to this because I found this in a book some years back, and it is something that has not been digitized as far as I know.
Anyway the ancient sage wrote something like this:
” The greatness of a king will be judged not on the strength of his armies, but on the way he treats the most vulnerable of his subjects.”
There have been others to whom this sentiment has been attributed, but as far as I know the Babylonian clay tablet is the first expression. And this from what could be considered the cradle of civilization.
Thanks for this. I have long thought that to label ourselves civilised while simultaneously running down health, education and leaving the disabled to less than subsistence makes us barbarians
This mornings The Nation,what delight to see and hear from a true face of compassion, our new vibrant exiting Prime Minister,hope again is in the air optimism and a better future for families and those in need,how exiting.
Ardern stepped up into the leadership role exceptionally well in August, then lost a bit of ground when campaign weariness and lack of breadth and depth of policy became obvious.
But she has stepped up further coming out of the negotiations. One notable thing she indicated in The Nation interview was she says she has stood her ground against Winston on immigration, retaining Labour’s position on it.
It’s a long way to go for her but she generally looks very impressive. Not many successfully rise above hope and ambition to be a successful political leader, but so far she looks very capable.
Minor quibbles – too much over the top language, especially ‘absolutely’, and while she sounded natural when she first became leader she is starting to sound like she is reciting written language rather than talking naturally. She’s likely to sort that out as she goes.
You probably dont mean to but this comes across as slightly patronising. From what basis do you make these observations? What is your experience I mean.
Ardern: capitalism a ‘blatant failure’ for poor children of New Zealand
“If you have hundreds of thousands of children living in homes without enough to survive, that’s a blatant failure. What else could you describe it as?”
It looks like dear Claire Robinson is pissed off she was wrong.
She’s doing a lot of projection from National and placing it at the door of Labour and NZ First. Couched in academic-ese, her petulance and anger is plain to see.
That’s a piece written by somebody whose (intellectual) world has been rocked because “NZ First has challenged the established business model” [my bold] and her “innovation lens” was out of focus. Robinson seems to be oblivious to the fact that all her (academic) tools & models are just that. Robinson also appears to be at the second of five stages of grief: anger.
I can only hope that Robinson and many other ‘experts’ will find themselves outwitted and wrong-footed many times as a result of real change rather than the having to endure a “modified status quo” that Robinson seems to pine for.
“I can only hope that Robinson and many other ‘experts’ will find themselves outwitted and wrong-footed many times as a result of real change rather than the having to endure a “modified status quo” that Robinson seems to pine for.”
Well, of course this is the woman who was telling us just a week or so ago that Ardern and Labour must be “gutted” at the Specials result…
Who’s checked out the latest rant from Richard Prebble? http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11935125
He’s trying to tell us that Ardern is just a puppet to Peters, who has “stolen” the election – comparing it to a coup, and that the result is undemocratic (no surprises there). He also says “I blame Bill English for this debacle. He ran a great First Past the Post campaign – and a losing MMP campaign.” This comment is fair enough, maybe, but how does it compare with this one, from his last piece (on September 21st): “Bill has run a mistake-free campaign but he took too long to attack Labour’s tax policy”? Let’s forget that it can’t be mistake-free if there’s a “but” coming up and focus on the fact that before the final result was known our friend Richard thought Bill E had run a great campaign and now he thinks it was a debacle. Which was it, Richard? And why no mention of the campaign manager, Stephen Joyce? Thos two decided together to run a “take ’em all out” campaign, and were perfectly prepared to tell lies and countenance leaking of personal information as part of the strategy.
Doesn’t look too smart now, does it? All those blue joggers running off to the opposition benches, still alone and monochromatic.
I’ve not an ounce of empathy for them because they conducted themselves so dishonestly and – dare I say it – corruptly over the last 9 years. Yet their supporters turned a blind eye to it all and continue to turn a blind eye. Did Labour and the Greens respond with such venom when they were ousted in 2008? No. They did not. They were just as disappointed of course – and particularly with the blatant lies and the innuendo during the campaign – but they were all gracious in defeat and continued to be gracious in defeat for the next two elections.
When Labour lost in 2008, a disabled man in Wellington was so frightened by the news that he rang the police. This was reported, as I remember it, with wry amusement. This time around, the howls are all about a perceived threat to the privilege and licence enjoyed by the well- heeled, that expanded exponentially under John Key.
I never heard about that incident but it is a profoundly story. He might have been disabled but he clearly sensed there would be a gradual removal of the support and assistance he – and others in his situation desperately needed and my goodness… how right he was.
Some of the letters to the editor in today’s Herald are simply appalling in their venality. I will see if can find an online link…
I haven’t seen today’s Herald, but members of my family have told me some of the vile comments they have seen and heard. National, under Key, certainly unleashed a nasty streak in certain quarters, and it is still hanging around although he has moved on.
ACT people do have some knowledge of puppetry… but there seems to be so much writing from a perspective of;
This is how I behave so others must be the same.
“Business model”, “innovation lens”.
Lol. If Robinson swims in the shallow pool of business language she will never understand the real world. It’s desperate and incoherent drivel.
Worked for some years with CR. Epitomises the careerist academic. Vain, devoid of anything resembling humour or humility, and not at all an empathic, insightful or imaginative person. Made up for those deficiencies in ambition, realised that riding the coattails of the powerful and repeating their jargon back at them would serve that. Seeing her turn this bitter when she embarrasses herself is no surprise.
… and unfortunately, far from the worst that Massey has. The place is a menagerie of malice and stupidity.
Even RNZ’s regular gal with the balanced portfolio and work-life equilibrium (going forward) seems to have recognised things can’t continue as they are – I think she began to realise a year or 18 months ago.
(btw – for those prepared to jump on the ‘dearest’, and ‘regular gal’ remarks above – it was said with the same intent as is common by Garners, Richardsons and many other gNats in the media and those in the political class sweetie. shorthand: /sarc
An increasing number of academics behave this way due to the great ideological culls ratchetted up under Joyce. Academic integrity sold to the highest bidders
This is the important stuff.
Any chance we cold have a thread based on this article by George Monbiot?
Here are some excerpts…..
‘Which of these would you name as the world’s most pressing environmental issue? Climate breakdown, air pollution, water loss, plastic waste or urban expansion? My answer is none of the above. Almost incredibly, I believe that climate breakdown takes third place, behind two issues that receive only a fraction of the attention.
This is not to downgrade the danger presented by global heating – on the contrary, it presents an existential threat. It is simply that I have come to realise that two other issues have such huge and immediate impacts that they push even this great predicament into third place.
One is industrial fishing, which, all over the blue planet, is now causing systemic ecological collapse. The other is the erasure of non-human life from the land by farming.
Some information from his article…
‘A study published this week in the journal Plos One reveals that flying insects surveyed on nature reserves in Germany have declined by 76% in 27 years.‘
One study in Britain suggests that, if we stopped using animal products, everyone in Britain could be fed on just 3m of our 18.5m hectares of current farmland (or on 7m hectares if all our farming were organic).
A recent study in Nature Plants reveals that most farms would increase production if they cut their use of pesticides
According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, at current rates of soil loss, driven largely by poor farming practice, we have just 60 years of harvests left.
‘Over the past 33 years, the neo-liberal idea of a ‘free market’ ruled by naked self-interest has led to radical disparities of wealth and privilege, and an erosion of care for others and our beautiful land.
It has also undermined democratic institutions in New Zealand. Elections are seen as a Darwinian contest among political parties, in which the winners and their supporters take all, while the losers are shafted.
The independence of the civil service has been corroded, with chief executives who kowtow to their ministers, rather than serving the public interest. Government bodies are stacked with political cronies, while lobby groups dominate much decision-making.
In New Zealand, it is not just our waterways that have turned toxic as a result of greedy, self-interested politics. This is the real challenge for the new government – to clean up and restore life to our democracy, as well as to rivers and lakes across the land.‘
And the free market has not ruled in its entirety. When the free market dictates that skill shortages = higher wages those industries turned to the govt and immigration to circumvent free market and keep wages down.
That’s correct, as Ardern and Peters have stated, capitalism can be made to work for the people through “REGULATION”, something sadly missing in most countries today, preferring market driven outcomes which have been distorted by MONOPOLISATION.
There is considerable backlash on social media by those who now don’t like MMP and how it delivers democracy, still pushing moral right and how they had 44.5% of the vote, but it appears they’re not quite intelligent enough to work out that 55% is actually a majority and MMP stands for “Mixed Member Proportional” representation, still living in the FPP days, even after requiring the support of Dunne, ACT and the Maori Party for there previous Governments.
One of the articles goes:
92.8% didn’t vote for NZF
93.7% didn’t vote for the Greens
63.1% didn’t vote for Labour
And when you add that up??
And then there’s this one
Breaking news
All Blacks lose Rugby world Championship as
Aus, SA and Argentina combine their points and become coalition winners!
I have NO sympathy for any of them, just bad LOSERS
🙂
They had it so damm good for so long. All that power and prestige fed down the line to the henchmen and henchwomen from those at the top and suddenly… its gone. No wonder Mike Hoskings went berserk. They’ll be demanding a change of name for Labour Weekend next.
The thing is, to further complete the analogy, the All Blacks were playing in a different competition. They were playing in the Federation of Past Players, under the old rules, and the other three were competing for the Modern Mixed Players cup. Guess who won the MMP Cup?
Who gives a shit anyway. If National was in the same position they would have done it. And they know it.
Some times you need a coup. This was the coup we needed — a second October Revolution.
When you play the Game of Thrones, you play to win. Jacinda did iust that. Power was sitting right in front of her, and all she had to do was take it. She took it alright, outflanking National in the process. Completely within the rules.
The intent is to delegitimise the expression of a majority of voters and paint as palpable high morality the expression of a minority of voters. This is a seminal fight for democracy.
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“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.” Lenin Don’t we all know that feeling now.
Prospect Magazine alerted me to this particularly apt quote. It is a much more evocative quote than Hemingway’s “gradually then suddenly” which is also doing ...
Yesterday was the day the consequences of the lockdown suddenly got very real for many. Firms have been closing and laying people off since the outset of the quarantine but this has mostly been happening out of the public eye. The mass closure of a number of iconic New Zealand ...
Brian Williamson1, Prof Nick Wilson2 (1Economic consultant, UK; 2University of Otago Wellington)In this blog, we outline how a win-win social contract could be forged to address the major dimensions of response to the COVID-19 pandemic when using a mitigation strategy: the particular need to protect older people from high ...
Resuming Normal Service: The Republican Party's nominee for in 1920, Warren Harding, promised the American people: “not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration”. If she wishes to remain our prime minister, then Jacinda Ardern will offer New Zealanders the same.HOW EDUCATED AMERICA snickered when the ...
No Free Society Without A Free And Functioning News Media: If we are to surrender our civil rights to the broader cause of defeating Covid-19, then foreign corporations must, likewise, surrender their right to inflict immense economic and cultural harm on New Zealanders simply because it improves their bottom line.I’M ...
by Daphna Whitmore A third of the world is under lockdown and a clear assessment of this measure to curb the spread of COVID-19 is urgently needed. With any high-stakes decisions it has to be asked what are we dealing with here? Are the measures warranted? Will they achieve their ...
I haven’t done a huge amount in the last few days. I’m reading The Poppy War and I’ve sort of poked at a couple of games – I started SOMA but I’m a wimp and I quit while in the first room after the brain scan. I might try it ...
The swan politicians may be gliding on the water, occasionally snapping at one another. Meanwhile, as the Covid19 crisis illustrates, the officials are desperately paddling below providing the real locomotion. One of the most fatuous recent grandstanding comments (of about a week ago), adding to the public’s anxieties, was ...
Much has been written about the importance of discretion in an emergency situation, and the concerns raised by the potential for it to be exercised arbitrarily. Given the quality of the discussion, there seemed little point in adding to it at any length. In particular, I point to the evidence ...
Today has felt surreal. I was all set to touch base online with my science communication students when a colleague shared the news that Bauer Media would be shutting down its publications immediately. The first link I saw implied it was Woman’s Weekly affected, and even that shocked me. But ...
Bogeymen, Real And Imagined: Is the number of psychopathic and sociopathic individuals in any given society truly as vanishingly small as we like to tell ourselves? Isn’t it more likely that the mass-shooters and serial-killers filling the headlines represent only the tip of a much, much larger iceberg of frightfulness? ...
Outgoing Police Commissioner Mike Bush appeared before the Epidemic Response Committee today, who asked him for the rules police are using to enforce the lockdown. He refused:Police Commissioner Mike Bush has admitted the advice given to Kiwis about what they're able to do during the lockdown hasn't been clear enough. ...
For those folk who find my other Lock-Down Diary versions too “negative” or otherwise unpalatable… Here’s a photo of my cat, . . Better? Tomorrow’s Sanitised Version: a pretty flower. . . . =fs= ...
. . April 1: Day seven of living in lock-down… This morning I had a brief chat with one of my neighbours, “D” (social distance between us, a good three or four metres). I learned he had resigned from his previous job and had been hired by another company – ...
Funnily enough, my thought as I start this post is whether it will be well written enough. Or should that be well enough written? Because so much of what I know about good writing came from my two stints at The Listener, which this morning was shut down due to ...
With normal democratic procedures in abeyance, there were two ways to go. First, it was open for the government to dissolve itself and invite the National Party to join a ministry of national salvation. That would have lessened the democratic deficit of the times by having a team of rivals without ...
Dr Kirsty Ross Children and young people can respond differently in times of distress. This also varies by age and developmental stage, with younger children having more magical and imaginative thinking, and older children having more awareness and knowledge of the issues our communities are facing (which brings up ...
Hungary has been a virtual dictatorship for a decade now, as Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has gradually eroded its democracy. But now, its official, with the passage of an indefinite emergency law allowing rule by decree:Hungary’s parliament has passed a new set of coronavirus measures that includes jail terms for ...
While the economy is on pause under lockdown, the government is beginning to plan how to cope with the post-lockdown, post-tourism, post-export education world we will eventually find ourselves in. They're planning a lot of infrastructure spending as economic stimulus, and have asked for proposals which can start the moment ...
It's my distraction, setting up tiny scenes to photograph. I've got stuck on the Babushka dolls for now. Something about their bubble shape. Something about their never changing, smiling features, suggesting persistent equanimity. Can we get through everything that is being thrown at us and keep at least a tiny ...
. . March 31: Day six of living in lock-down… This time I managed to sleep a little longer and the alarm woke me at the pre-set time: 6.55am. Then remembered I was working a later shift and could’ve slept in. Oh well, there are things to do at home. ...
Image credit:Diamond Harbour School Blogs I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or ...
Yesterday's Horizon poll showing support for a "Yes" vote in this year's cannabis referendum sliding into the majority for the first time in a year looked like good news for reformers – and it probably is. But the result warrants some scrutiny.The poll is the fifth in a series commissioned ...
For almost a week now, every one of us who isn’t an essential worker has been confined to their bubble. We are allowed to go shopping for groceries, to visit the doctor, and to get a bit of exercise if we stay local. The reason we are doing this is ...
The Covid-19 saga will no doubt produce many twists and turns for us before it is finally brought to an end. But one thing it has shown us – and what comfort it should bring us – is that our country’s government is in good hands. I am not thinking ...
In the absence of a vaccine or a cure for a deadly disease, staying home in your bubble is what you do, the concept is not new. To the best of my knowledge last time we did this in NZ was for polio, in the years before a vaccine came ...
The following statement was released on March 28 by the National Network on Cuba, a coalition of 40 groups, based in the United States. In recent weeks, Cuba has deployed hundreds of medical providers to over a dozen countries in Europe, Asia, as well as to their neighbors in Latin ...
This has been a terrible summer for Hector’s dolphins. The first indication was very low numbers of dolphin sightings during late spring and early summer. The Otago University Marine Mammal Research Team has carried out routine dolphin surveys at Banks Peninsula for more than 30 years. In all that time, ...
On March 17, Finance Minister Grant Robertson was quick out of the blocks with an economic rescue package to help businesses through the inevitable recession resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Robertson had pulled together a scheme in short order that so far seems to have saved many jobs. In his ...
The purpose of the lockdown is to save lives, by reducing the spread of covid-19. We won't know if its really working for another week, but given the devastation that will result if it doesn't - 14,000 dead is the optimistic scenario - its definitely worth trying. But pausing the ...
. . March 30: Day five of living in lock-down… Woke up still in darkness. Alarm hadn’t gone off. Turn to radio clock; it’s a few minutes after 6am… I lie there in the dark, waiting to drift off to sleep… but it ain’t happening. Clock ticks over to 6.55 ...
The story of Les Gray, the public sector psychologist who told the truth about his use of cannabis and set off a storm, has a special place in the lore of cannabis reform in New Zealand.When Paul Shannon interviewed Gray for the 'Dope and Hope' issue of Planet magazine in ...
by Phil Duncan For Marxists, a key concern about social trends is their context – not just their causes, but why they happen when they do. Events and phenomena have causes, but they also are time or period-specific. While much of the left have capitulated recently to postmodernism, most notably ...
Since the lockdown began, we've all suddenly been reminded who the actually essential workers in our society are: not the people at the top who pay themselves the big bucks and rort the perks, but the people at the bottom they screw over and squeeze: cleaners, warehouse staff, truck drivers ...
Kia ora! As I've watched nearly all my remaining work vanish over the past couple of days, it has occured to me that one good way to keep me away from arguing with fools on Twitter all the time (in the knowledge that all we're really doing is processing our ...
Aotearoa New Zealand has committed to trying to extirpate the virus that causes COVID-19 from its shores. To do that, as a society we’ve moved to “Level 4”. That means adapting to unprecedented restrictions on our personal freedoms, particularly to our rights to move freely and associate with friends and ...
When the Prime Minister declared a state of emergency last week, she handed the police powers to enforce it. And almost immediately, we started hearing about heavy-handed, arbitrary "enforcement" by police who (at best) cared more about order than law, or (more likely) had no idea what the rules were ...
. . Lock Down: Day 4 – A photo essay with observations . March 29: Usual wake up routine as RNZ snaps on my radio-clock. Jim Mora’s voice slowly enters my conciousness; there’s talk of a second wave of covid19 taking hold in South Korea; the week in Parliament – ...
Yesterday, New Zealand recorded its first Covid-19 related death on the West Coast. Unfortunately this is unlikely to be the only fatality, with the virus now being found in every region of the country.However despite the significant danger, people are still unfortunately breaching lockdown rules.There’s really only one main very ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... ‘Misinformation kills’: The link between coronavirus conspiracies and climate denialGrist / Rob Kim / Stringer / CSA Images Scientific ...
The kids did surprisingly well today – meltdown count was about 3, and mostly fairly short ones. (And a fourth while I was writing.) Game-wise I had a go at Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark. It’s a fairly standard RPG with turn-based combat and what they call a “mature storyline” (it ...
by Don Franks Hi David, Nice hearing from you, I’m glad to hear you’re getting by okay in these grim times. You asked how’s it going for us back here in New Zealand. You would have heard that the whole country is locked down and with breaks for exercise and ...
. . Lock Down: Day 3 – A photo essay with observations . March 28: First day of the first weekend in Lock Down. It feels like it’s been weeks since only Level 3 was declared last Tuesday, only four days ago. Woke up this morning to RNZ; coffee; toast, ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Mar 22, 2020 through Sat, Mar 28, 2020Articles Linked to on FacebookSun, Mar 22, 2020In Just 10 Years, Warming Has Increased the Odds of Disasters by Chelsea Harvey, ...
I’m here in lockdown with my flatmate and her two girls (6 and 2) and it. is. a time. They’re usually really active so to start with the only boardgame in the house is the copy of Guess Who that the 6 year old got for her birthday. Flatmate commented ...
The CV-19 (COVID) pandemic has seen the imposition of a government ordered national quarantine and the promulgation of a series of measures designed to spread the burden of pain and soften the economic blow on the most strategically important and most vulnerable sectors of society. The national narrative is framed ...
. . Lock Down: Day 2 – A photo essay with observations . March 27 – Day 2 of our Strange New World. The Park and Ride near my suburb, usually filled with hundreds of vehicles, had just… four; . . Another drive into Wellington City on a highway nearly ...
Fortune's Children: Under extraordinary pressure, the leader of the Government and the leader of the Opposition will each show us what they are made of. Have they been blessed with intelligence, grace, wit, poise, toughness, empathy and humour – and in what measure? More importantly, to what extent have they ...
If you’ve ever had the misfortune of having to rent a property on the open market in New Zealand, which is one of the most expensive in the entire world, you’ll likely be keenly aware of just how arrogant and entitled landlords and their real estate agents can be.Unfortunately for ...
Society-wise, aside from the specific morbidity shall we say of the medically-oriented aspects of this COVID-19 crisis, what is unfolding before the world is in more than one way an instructive study of humanity and reactions to a high intensity, high stress environment in real time. Friends, we are at ...
Right now low waged and insecure workers are feeling the economic brunt of the looming #Covid19 Recession. In response legal advocate Toby Cooper* and hospitality and worker’s rights advocate Chloe Ann-King, are putting together a series of legal blogs about your employment rights:In this legal blog we outline some ...
by Equipo Jurídico Pueblos and Gearóid Ó Loingsigh (25/03/2020) An escape plan in question On the night of March 21st and the early morning of the 22nd, the forces of the Colombian state stormed into the Modelo prison in Bogotá, murdering 23 prisoners and injuring 83, in response to the ...
When the government banned semi-automatic weapons in response to a terrorist atrocity, gun-nuts were outraged. Mired in toxic American gun culture, they thought owning weapons whose sole purpose was killing people was some sort of "constitutional right", a necessity for "defending themselves" against the government. Now, the Court of Appeal ...
Just before midnight on Wednesday March 25, Aotearoa New Zealand entered a countrywide alert level four lockdown. For at least the next four weeks, everyone who isn’t an essential worker is confined to their bubble. We are doing this to stop the explosive growth in people contracting and dying from ...
. . Lock Down: Day 1 – A photo essay with observations . Day one of the Level 4 nationwide lock-down (or, DefCon 4 as I sometimes cheekily call it) started at 11.59PM on 25 March. For a moment, most of the nation held it’s collective breath. In that brief ...
Broad, Sunlit Uplands: How those words fired my young imagination! Or, perhaps, it is more accurate to say: how those words fused, in my young mind, with the image printed on every packet of Fielder’s Cornflour. Always fascinated by history, especially modern history, I cannot hear Churchill’s wonderfully evocative words, even ...
. . 24 March 2020 9.46AM Number of covid19 cases in Aotearoa New Zealand: 102 . As of 11.59 on Thursday, most of New Zealand will go into “lock down”. People will be expected not to travel to work; not to socialise; and to stay home. I will not be ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections A respected research group, Project Drawdown, finds that deploying solutions consistent with meeting the Paris climate targets would cost tens of trillions of dollars globally. But crucially, those outlays would also yield long-term savings many times larger than the up-front costs. The new 2020 Drawdown ...
It will pass. What happens next? Not immediately, but longer term. There are many opinions, fewer certainties. Will it “change everything!” as many confidently, and contradictorily predict? In this post I look at how foresight can help bound some of the uncertainties so you can more objectively consider the future. ...
We’ve been meaning t write something on Cuba and the coronavirus but have just discovered a very good article on the subject in the US left publication Jacobin. The article looks at how Cuba, a poor country but one where capitalism has been done away with, is leading the way ...
In 2018, El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey - two British citizens who had purportedly been stripped of their citizenship by the British government - were captured while fighting for Isis in Syria. The British government then conspired to hand them over to the US, and agreed to provide evidence ...
Transformers: The disaster of the Great Depression was transformed into a new and fairer society by the democratic socialism of the First Labour Government. The disaster of the Covid-19 Pandemic offers a similar transformative possibility to the Labour-NZ First-Green Government. Seize the time, Jacinda! You will never have a better ...
Tamper with The System? Well, we already are. But there's a difference between accidentally trickling sand into a precision gearbox versus formulating a plan to alter it on the fly with improvements in mind. One action is more or less innocently unscrupulous, the other amenable to earning an easy ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says getting New Zealanders back home and other travellers out of the country is "a nightmare for our embassies, consuls, and staff around the world".Speaking to NewstalkZB's Mike Hosking, the Foreign Minister said that he gave a clear message to people travelling overseas that they ...
The domestic travel ban has been lifted for stranded foreign tourists trying to get to international airports to fly home, after the Coalition Government announced a plan to help the tens of thousands of foreigners stranded here. Foreign Minister Rt. Hon. Winston Peters spoke with RNZ's Susie Ferguson said foreign ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters believes the country is rediscovering its resilience and self-reliance through its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.He says he is heartened that the mass majority of New Zealanders are following lockdown rules and that the government looking at the future, including paying to keep much ...
New Zealand can emulate the success of the US after the Great Depression by exploiting our own resources to turn the economy around quickly, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says. Mr. Peters told Magic Talk that New Zealand has an opportunity to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic a "superior, ...
All 45 New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel are either on their way back to New Zealand, or already in the country, according to Defence Minister Ron Mark."Twenty-eight personnel arrived back in New Zealand last week and are in isolation at the Royal New Zealand Air Force base in ...
The COVID-19 situation in New Zealand is moving fast - and to avoid what we've seen overseas - the Government's response must be to move fast too. We're committed to keeping New Zealanders safe and well-informed every step of the way. ...
We know people are feeling anxious about COVID-19. While the situation is serious, New Zealand has a world-class health system and we’re well-prepared to keep New Zealanders safe. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is encouraging New Zealanders overseas to stay where they are amid the COVID-19 pandemic. "We are reaching a point where the best option for most New Zealanders offshore is to shelter in place, by preparing to safely stay where they are.” "This includes following the instructions ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Minister Winston Peters is encouraging the tens of thousands of New Zealanders travelling overseas to consider sheltering in place, in light of COVID-19. “Since 18 March, we have been warning New Zealanders offshore that the window for flying ...
Ground-breaking law has passed that will decriminalise abortion and ensure women and pregnant people seeking abortions have compassionate healthcare. ...
The Green Party says that the measures announced by the Government today will help families and businesses to prioritise our collective health and wellbeing in the response to COVID-19. ...
As New Zealanders brace for a global downturn due to Covid-19, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says his Coalition Government’s rescue package "more significant" than any other he's seen around the world. The Coalition is to reveal a multi-billion-dollar stimulus plan on Tuesday afternoon designed to cushion the economic blow ...
The Government will be introducing legislation to make changes to the Companies Act to help companies facing insolvency due to COVID-19 to remain viable and keep New Zealanders in jobs. The temporary changes include: Giving directors of companies facing significant liquidity problems because of COVID-19 a ‘safe harbour’ from insolvency ...
The Government’s plan to cushion the blow of COVID-19 by supporting incomes, jobs and businesses, and position the economy to recover has been backed by another international report. International credit rating agency Moody’s today reaffirmed its highest Aaa credit rating on New Zealand, saying the economy is expected to remain ...
National sports organisations have been given certainty of funding to ensure they can remain viable through the COVID-19 pandemic, Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson announced today. “The global spread of COVID-19 has had a significant impact on sport and recreation in New Zealand, including the cancellation or postponement of ...
Changes have been made to allow butchers to process pork, only for supply to supermarkets or other processors or retailers that are open, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has announced. “We carefully weighed the risk of allowing butchers to open their shops for retail customers, but the risk of spreading COVID-19 ...
Essential workers who take leave from work to comply with public health guidance are being supported with a leave scheme to ensure they will continue to receive income, say the Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Iain Lees-Galloway and Minister for Social Development, Carmel Sepuloni. A number of essential businesses ...
A Government WhatsApp channel has been launched to help make information more easily accessible and shareable in the fight against COVID-19. Govt.NZ, which is free to use on any mobile device, will carry information and news for the public, businesses, healthcare providers, not for profits and local government. It can ...
The Government has announced a plan to enable the safe, orderly exit of tens of thousands of stranded foreign nationals from New Zealand during the current COVID-19 Alert Level 4 restrictions, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters has said. “When we moved into lockdown a week ago, the ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says the Government is delivering on its commitment to support general practice doctors and nurses, and pharmacies on the front-line of our fight against COVID-19. "For us to overcome COVID-19, we need community health services such as general practice and community pharmacy to step up ...
Justice Susan Thomas has been appointed Chief High Court Judge, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. She replaces Justice Geoffrey Venning who has resigned from the position. David Parker paid tribute to Justice Venning, who he said had stewarded the High Court very capably over the last five years. “On behalf ...
Businesses can start applying to their banks for loans under the Business Finance Guarantee Scheme set up to support the New Zealand economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’re moving quickly to protect New Zealand businesses, jobs and the economy during this unprecedented global economic shock,” Finance Minister Grant Robertson said. ...
Work is underway looking at measures to speed up consents for development and infrastructure projects during the recovery from COVID 19, to provide jobs and stimulate our economy. Environment Minister David Parker said the COVID-19 pandemic is a serious global crisis that will have a wide ranging and lasting impact ...
Advance payments will be made to transport construction industry contractors to retain the workforce and ensure it is ready to quickly gear up to build projects which will be vital to New Zealand’s COVID-19 economic recovery, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. He said keeping the workforce required to build ...
The Government has tasked a group of industry leaders to seek out infrastructure projects that are ready to start as soon as the construction industry returns to normal to reduce the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford and Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones say. The Infrastructure ...
Work to scale up the health system in preparation for COVID-19 was today outlined by Health Minister David Clark, as he reported back to the new Epidemic Response Committee. “We are well placed to contain the spread of COVID-19. We have taken early and decisive action at our borders, and ...
The Government is refining its COVID-19 essential business guidance to include the distribution of news publications for communities which are hard to reach. The Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media, Kris Faafoi, said the move was in recognition of the importance for New Zealanders who might be harder to ...
The Government is ensuring supermarkets can open on Easter Sunday so we can buy groceries, but stay closed on Good Friday allowing workers to take a break. This provides a balanced approach and ensures we avoid large queues that two days closure may cause. “Supermarkets will be able to open ...
Following the successful conclusion of the Building Partner Capacity (BPC) mission at Taji, New Zealand defence personnel are returning to New Zealand from Iraq, in accordance with the Cabinet decision made in June 2019, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Ron Mark announced today. “New Zealand is very ...
The State of National Emergency to help stop the spread of COVID-19 has been extended for a further seven days, Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare said. The initial declaration on March 25 lasted seven days and can be extended as many times as necessary. “Since we went into isolation ...
New Zealand’s ability to go hard and go early in the fight against COVID-19 has been underpinned by strong Government finances and the growing economy heading into this global pandemic, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Treasury today released the Crown financial statements for the eight months to the end ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says 36 new intensive care beds at Christchurch Hospital’s new Hagley building are being fast tracked so they are available for treatment of COVID-19 patients. The Ministry of Health is working with contractor CPB and Canterbury DHB to enable access to the hospital’s ICU, ...
The Government has fast-tracked up to $1 million to help Air New Zealand move urgent freight to and from New Zealand, with the first flight to Shanghai leaving tonight, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. Phil Twyford says it’s crucial that trade in vital goods such as medical supplies and ...
New Zealand will temporarily remove tariffs on all medical and hygiene imports needed for the COVID-19 response. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi said today that the New Zealand Customs Service will apply tariff concessions to all diagnostic reagents and testing ...
Minister of Finance Grant Robertson has clarified that the changes to the wage subsidy scheme announced yesterday mean that employers should be passing on the full subsidy to workers, except in the case where the person’s normal income is less than the level of the subsidy. “We still want employers ...
Medical face masks from the national reserve supply are now being distributed to District Health Boards, while at the same time local production is being ramped up. Yesterday more than 640,000 masks were sent to DHBS – that is an immediate two week supply, with more to follow in coming ...
The Government has made modifications to the wage subsidy scheme to ensure people don’t lose their jobs during the national lockdown. These changes will soften the impact of COVID-19 on workers, families and businesses, and position them to exit the lockdown and look to recovery, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. ...
Farmers whose herds were culled in response to the outbreak of Mycoplasma bovis will be able to minimise the tax treatment of their income in some circumstances. Revenue Minister Stuart Nash says Cabinet has agreed to change the law. It means farmers may be eligible to spread their income over ...
A $27 million dollar package, effective immediately, is being provided to social sector services and community groups to ensure they can continue to provide essential support to communities as we stay at home as a nation to stop the spread of COVID-19, Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni announced. “At ...
“The guilty plea today will provide some relief to the many people whose lives were shattered by what happened on March 15,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. “These guilty pleas and conviction bring accountability for what happened and also save the families who lost loved ones, those who were injured, ...
The Prime Minister is holding daily press conferences to update New Zealanders on the Government's response to COVID-19. Links to videos and transcripts of these updates below. These transcripts also include All of Government press conferences led by Director Ministry of Health's Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. 25 March: Live update from the Prime ...
Frontline Police numbers have broken through the 10,000 mark for the first time in history as officers step forward to keep the community safe during the COVID19 lockdown. “Two Police graduations in Auckland and Wellington in the past week have been conducted in unprecedented circumstances,” Police Minister Stuart Nash said. ...
Urgent legislation has been passed to support the package of economic and social measures needed to recover from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. “The COVID-19 Response (Taxation and Social Assistance Urgent Measures) Bill will cushion New Zealanders from the worst economic impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak,” said Revenue Minister ...
From tomorrow, Government support for farmers and growers affected by drought will be expanded and extended across the country, with access to Rural Assistance Payments (RAPS) available throughout the North Island, parts of the South Island and the Chatham Islands, Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced. “These challenging conditions have ...
Parliament has passed amendments to legislation that give the Secretary of Education stronger powers to act in the fight to limit the spread of COVID-19, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “They are part of a suite of changes passed under the COVID-19 Response (Urgent Management Measures) Legislation Bill,” Chris ...
Canada, Australia, Chile, Brunei and Myanmar have joined forces with New Zealand and Singapore by committing to keep supply chains open and remove any existing trade restrictive measures on essential goods, especially medical supplies, in the face of the Covid-19 crisis. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker today welcomed ...
Immediate freeze on rent increases Tenancies will not be terminated during the lock-down period, unless the parties agree, or in limited circumstances Tenants who had previously given notice can stay in their if they need to stay in the tenancy during the lock-down period Tenants will still be able to ...
As New Zealand unites to lock-down in the fight against COVID-19, the Finance Minister is urging all businesses and workers to stay connected over the next four weeks. “We understand the extreme pressure many businesses are under right now. I know most business owners think of their workers as family ...
A State of National Emergency has been declared across the country as the Government pulls out all the stops to curtail the spread of COVID-19. “Today we put in place our country’s second ever State of National Emergency as we fight a global pandemic, save New Zealanders’ lives and prevent ...
Mr Speaker I wish to make a Ministerial Statement under Standing Order 347 in relation to the recent declaration of a State of National Emergency. Having considered the advice of the Director Civil Defence Emergency Management, the Minister of Civil Defence declared a State of National Emergency for the whole of ...
People needing to travel on domestic flights, trains and Cook Strait ferries to get home before the country moves into level 4 lock-down tomorrow night will be able to continue using the passenger services until midnight on Friday, Transport Minister Phil Twyford said today. Domestic passenger services, particularly ferries, have ...
The Government, retail banks and the Reserve Bank are today announcing a major financial support package for home owners and businesses affected by the economic impacts of COVID-19. The package will include a six month principal and interest payment holiday for mortgage holders and SME customers whose incomes have been ...
Being stuck inside all day might be wearing you and your kids down, but there’s never been a better time to encourage them to pick up their musical instrument and get stuck into writing songs. Mike Chunn from Play It Strange explains how. Mums and dads and households with teenage children. ...
Siouxsie Wiles on the vitriolic correspondence she’s received since the Covid-19 outbreak struck, and the realities of communicating evidence.I recently received an email and text from someone telling me they are planning to email my boss, the University of Auckland vice chancellor. They are going to ask for me to ...
In our new series The Lockdown Letters, five of New Zealand’s best writers chronicle the days of Covid-19 alert level four. Today, Fiona Farrell.There’s a sign sticky-taped to the bakery window. Closed Until Further Notice. Stay Safe NZ and Be Kind. We will get through this!We all know where the words ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The ...
Covid-19 is a real threat to older people, but these Central Otago seniors are embracing technology, experiencing no FOMO, and finding new ways to connect and share, finds Jill Herron When the full lockdown began on March 25 it meant the end of going for a swim, spa or to ...
Former editor of the Woman's Weekly, Nicky Pellegrino, bids farewell to the magazine that brought information and fun to generations of New Zealand women. All those stories. Gone. Stories about our politics, our health, our education, our aspirations. Stories about the houses we lived in and the gardens we grew, ...
As small businesses fight for their survival in the Covid-19 lockdown, it seems one of the country’s biggest retail landlords is not keen to share the pain. On the one side, you have Jonathan*. Jonathan runs a small business out of South Auckland’s Sylvia Park - New Zealand’s biggest mall. ...
With no Covid-19 cases and its economy desperate to restart, the Chathams is keen to go fishing again, writes Jim Kayes.It shouldn’t really be a surprise. They are, after all, ahead of New Zealand by 45 minutes.And though they are part of Wellington’s Rongotai electorate, the fiercely ...
On Friday night, the government quietly laid down some lockdown rules via a legal order under the Health Act. Law professor Andrew Geddis explains what it means for all of us (including David Clark). As the first week of level four lockdown unfolded, mounting questions grew as to just what was ...
The health and wellbeing of people working and being held inside our prisons needs to be a priority, writes JustSpeak director Tania Sawicki Mead. Kelvin Davis’s interview on The Hui last weekend made it clear that precautions taken by Corrections to stop the spread of Covid-19 will create an unprecedented restriction ...
Like countless New Zealanders stranded overseas, Wellingtonian Rosie O’Hagan will be braving authorities, airlines, airports and uncertainty to make it back from the other side of the world, writes Jim Kayes.Rosie O’Hagan hadn’t stepped outside for three weeks.When she finally did – around midnight on Friday ...
PACIFIC PANDEMIC DIARY:By David Robie A rather beautiful Guåhan legend is rather poignant in these stressed pandemic times. It is one about survival and cooperation. In ancient times, goes the story, a giant fish was eating great chunks out of this western Pacific island. The men used muscle ...
Simon Wren-Lewis, Emeritus Professor of Economics and Fellow of Merton College, University of Oxford, raises good questions about Britain’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Some of them seem germane to this country’s response. Wren-Lewis posted his critique on his Mainly Macro blog under the heading Following the Science or a ...
Alex Casey speaks to a dream expert about why so many people are suddenly remembering their vivid and often horrible dreams. As the days begin to blur together and the only thing we get between sleeps is unimaginably horrible news and an embarrassing tootle around the block, it’s no surprise ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening.The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference. These may vary from the full day's numbers released in the Ministry of Health's spreadsheet of ...
Medical centres across the country are condensing services, moving online, and ushering in pandemic plans. Josie Adams assesses what it’s like to access and provide essential medical care under alert level four.On Monday, Sandra Russell woke up before dawn and drove to Milford to get her blood tested. She has ...
In our new series The Lockdown Letters, some of New Zealand’s best writers tell us what they’ve been up to in the days of Covid-19 alert level four. Today, writer and doctor Glenn Colquhoun, with the second of his Letters to Hone Tūwhare and his Travelling Band of Constant Companions. ...
ANALYSIS:By Haiqing Yu of RMIT University and Michael Keane of Curtin University China has gradually emerged out of its shadow of despair as the epicentre where the coronavirus pandemic started. Now, there is face saving required – as well as agenda-setting in the global power play. China played ...
Tech giant Google has released a giant global data set which shows how different countries are locking down, and which NZ regions are most compliant with its lockdown.A giant set of reports released by Google, created using its anonymised cellphone location data reveals the scale of human behaviour change the ...
Comedian Penny Ashton writes on the necessity of the arts, especially during lockdown.On March 22, everyone’s favourite fiscal bloodhounds, the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union, sent out a tweet in response to Creative New Zealand’s announcement that it will dedicate an emergency response package to helping New Zealand’s artists, in the ...
Wellington writer Philippa Swan’s new novel TheNight of All Souls is an homage to Pulitzer-winning and all-round fabulous American writer Edith Wharton. Wharton died in 1937 but, Swan writes, she’s very much of the moment. Nobody does social distancing like Wharton did. While Wharton was still comparatively young, she created the ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The ...
Normally heaving year-round, Queenstown has ground to an eerie halt as Covid-19 cases rise and tourism income plummets, reports Paul Taylor. On a hill behind Queenstown's coronavirus Covid-19 community testing centre, the resort's iconic Skyline gondola sits motionless. More than 17 million people are estimated to have ridden the gondola ...
Are we drinking more in the lockdown? Hard to know, writes David Slack, but we’re certainly having to get creative about it. Almost every phone call I’ve answered this week has begun the same way: “You still off the drink, then?” Fair question. What a time to be not drinking. ...
Kiwi clinical psychologist Desiree Dickerson is stuck with her family in Spain and has written a guide in Nature: "Seven tips to manage your mental health and well-being during the Covid-19 outbreak." It’s Day 17 of the Covid-19 lockdown in Spain. In a small village on the Mediterranean coast, about ...
Without active testing in the community our Covid-19 picture isn’t complete, an epidemiologist says. David Williams reports. There are worse places to be self-isolating than Whakatāne, in the Bay of Plenty, says Bridget Robson, who lives on a two-acre block and keeps chickens. “We live in a beautiful part of ...
"Will our ills be cured? Will our feet carry us? For how long?": a short story set in Henderson by West Auckland writer Serie Barford.I learned to drive a tractor when I was a kid feeding out hay with my cousins on a dairy farm down the line. I ...
How do you hold a funeral service with the country in lockdown? Where there’s a will – and a tech-savvy uncle – there’s a way, Erin Kavanagh-Hall discovered.I was floating somewhere in the Cook Strait when I heard my grandfather’s funeral had been cancelled.I should elaborate. It was a Monday, ...
‘Stay in your bubble’ didn’t exist 100 years ago, but our ancestors would want us to know how essential it is to do so, says Jai Breitnauer.It was a warm but slightly grey January day in 2019 when I pulled the car over to the side of SH1, just south ...
David Clark’s misadventure in mountain biking was a stupid, but ultimately forgivable offence. The bigger problem is the continued uncertainty around what is and isn’t appropriate activity in lockdown, as Sam Sachdeva writes. Given the pressure he and his Cabinet colleagues are under, it is little surprise Health Minister David ...
Assessing the economic impact of Covid-19 requires a new approach to a problem economists have not encountered in modern times, writes Dr Kirdan Lees Covid-19 has presented quite a problem for economists. Containment policies that seek to flatten the Covid-19 curve or eliminate the virus, restrict economic activity. All governments ...
Every day at 1pm New Zealand’s Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield announces precise figures on the number of confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 in the country. He is working on the best information available, and during this week the level of community transmission was put at around ...
Most of New Zealand's MPs are in lockdown just like the rest of us, confined to their neighbourhoods and stuck in their bubbles. Checkpoint called a few to ask them what they're doing. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Deery, Lecturer in Early Childhood Education, University of Melbourne “Stupid coronavirus!” I heard my six-year-old mumble while talking in her sleep. Earlier that day her swimming and basketball lessons were cancelled, a birthday party postponed, and she had to race with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tuffley, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics & CyberSecurity, Griffith University “Zoombombing” in case you haven’t heard, is the unsavoury practice of posting distressing comments, pictures or videos after gatecrashing virtual meetings hosted by the videoconferencing app Zoom. With hundreds of millions ...
Analysis - A leading epidemiologist says health authorities 'really have no idea' of the extent of community spread, Parliament's Epidemic Response Committee gets its teeth into what's going on during the lockdown and the horrendous economic imp ...
The fifth in our new series of charts, graphics and data visualisations by Chris McDowall, covering the Covid-19 epidemic within New Zealand. We’ll publish the latest set each day on The Spinoff.This work is entirely funded by the generosity of The Spinoff MembersInformation about confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 ...
The Finance Minister says struggling companies will be able to put some debt into hibernation, under new legislation unveiled today. Watch the latest government update here. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Lund, Commissioning Editor, The Conversation Editor’s note: The following is current as at April 3, 2020. Things are changing quickly so best to keep an eye on the latest information from WA Health, as well as the federal government.This article ...
During the challenges associated with lockdown, the Māori Party are congratulating Ngāti Ruanui and South Taranaki on the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling What does the COVID-19 pandemic sound like? For this episode, Dallas Rogers – a senior lecturer in the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Sydney – asked academic colleagues from all over ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sven Gallasch, Lecturer in Law, Swinburne University of Technology “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion,” wrote Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations (published in 1776), “but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the ...
Environment Minister David Parker has directed officials to find ways to fast-track consents for infrastructure and development projects. He says his goal is to help create a pipeline of projects so that some can start immediately once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted “so people can get back into work as fast ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin Spain and Switzerland top cases, countries converging. Chart by Keith Rankin.Spain and Switzerland top cases, countries converging. Chart by Keith Rankin.Of the larger European countries, Italy is now in third place for known cases per person in the population. Spain has overtaken Switzerland for ...
Contact tracing is a crucial part of the Covid-19 puzzle and technology might prove essential to scaling up New Zealand's tracing capacity, Marc Daalder reports With the lockdown reducing physical contact between members of the public and testing ramping up, the only missing piece of the Covid-19 puzzle is contact tracing. ...
Insolvency laws will be temporarily changed to allow troubled companies to trade while technically insolvent Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced changes to the Companies Act to allow companies to put their debts into "hibernation". Robertson said companies facing liquidity problems would have "safe harbour" from their normal insolvency duties ...
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ruanui and Te Kaahui o Rauru are celebrating the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South Taranaki Bight. The Court of Appeal found that there ...
Bernard Hickey talks to Kiwibank Chief Economist Jarrod Kerr about a massive spike in US jobless claims, and they talk about an inspiring Kiwi app to fight Covid-19 globally. Guest, Pie Funds chief executive Mike Taylor also joins them to talk about the massive market swings and hopes for recovery. Bernard zooms out ...
Political commentators from the left and right sides of the political divide are questioning the powers being exercised by police during the nation-wide “lockdown”. The Asian Invasion 2019 blog draws attention to the warning sounded by former UK Supreme Court Justice Jonathan Sumption when he challenged Covid-19 actions by British ...
Pacific Media Watch The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) has strongly condemned the shoot-to-kill order by President Rodrigo Duterte this week as a ‘dangerous’ opening to target and kill anyone in a public space. “We are raising the alarm in the international community on President ...
The Reserve Bank looks set to start buying council bonds as well as Government bonds to unfreeze financial markets and allow councils to defer rates and jointly invest in infrastructure with the central Government, Dileepa Fonseka reports In what would be another unprecedented move to calm financial markets and help ...
Four PhD students engaged a clinical psychologist to help them navigate an uncertain time in their studies. They share their findings here.As four PhD students from Massey University’s Joint Centre for Disaster Research we, like many others, can’t stop reading and talking about the unfolding events that have gripped our ...
The SpinoffBy Ashleigh Rushton, Lisa McLaren, Marion Tan & Sara Harrison
Covid-19 testing of the wider population is on the cards as World Health Organisation research shows people are most contagious within their first few days of being infected Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says Covid-19 carriers are highly infectious when they show few signs of carrying the virus. People were ...
Z Energy is the latest company to cut its dividend payout and start talking to its banks about strengthening its finances. Chief executive Mike Bennetts said the company, the largest fuel retailer in the country, had been battered by a range of issues over the past 18 months, and was ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melissa Kang, Associate professor, University of Technology Sydney Young people in Australia are among the fastest-growing group to contract COVID19. According to the Department of Health, there are now more cases in Australia among people aged 20 – 29 years than any ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cassandra Pattinson, Research Fellow, The University of Queensland Getting a good night’s sleep can be difficult at the best of times. But it can be even harder when you’re anxious or have something on your mind – a global pandemic, for example. ...
Journalist and Great Barrier Island resident Lindsay Wright reflects on outer gulf pandemic preparedness. Hardy locals can tough it out but Auckland bach owners and boaties should keep their distance. Aotea Great Barrier, the easternmost island in the Hauraki Gulf, are undergoing a Covid-19-inspired population flood. Great Barrier has scenery that makes ...
The Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand is delighted that the government has moved quickly to provide an initial financial support package for pharmacy. The $15 million package was paid this week to pharmacy contract holders. Pharmaceutical Society president ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening.The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference and are "as of 9am" of the day. There were 71 new cases of Covid-19 in ...
A new poem by Wellington poet and bookseller Ash Davida Jane. washed up! it gets tiring pushing the fire alarm every nightbut things keep catching on fireor sometimes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Foster, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sydney Our earliest vertebrate (animals with backbones) ancestors laid eggs, but over millions of years of evolution, some species began to give birth to live young. There is a traditional dichotomy in vertebrate reproduction: species ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Charles Foster, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sydney Our earliest vertebrate (animals with backbones) ancestors laid eggs, but over millions of years of evolution, some species began to give birth to live young. There is a traditional dichotomy in vertebrate reproduction: species ...
Welcome to the second edition of our lockdown Top 10s. A reminder that this chart has nothing to do with sales or launches or the publishing cycle; these are just books the Unity team love – and this week it’s westerns, full of big skies and long rides and showdowns.AUCKLANDAll ...
Wellington Mayor Andy Foster’s plan to cover revenue shortfalls through borrowing without cutting low priority spending is immoral, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . “Businesses and households across the country are meeting financial challenges ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kevin John Brophy, Emeritus Professor of Creative writing, University of Melbourne “Katrina, I had in mind a prayer, but only this came,” Bruce Dawe wrote to his infant daughter, new-born, in intensive care, her life in the balance, declaring as poets must ...
The shock closure of Bauer NZ – and with it all of the country’s current affairs magazines – is a stark reminder of the fragile state of local media, writes Mel Bunce, the author of a book on the subject.It is a dark week for journalism in New Zealand, with ...
Join Leonie Hayden as she works through the first four weeks of Scotty Morrison’s Māori Made Easy.Rāmere/FridayWe made it to the end of week one e te whānau. It wasn’t that hard! In fact it was… Māori made easy.To end our week of pronunciation practice we’re going to revisit everything we ...
India faces more challenges battling Covid-19 than any other country in the world. With 1.3 billion inhabitants, hundreds of different languages spoken, and an estimated 80% of the workforce daily wage earners currently without jobs, it could be a recipe for disaster.I’ve been living in India for more than three ...
By Sri Krishnamurthi of Pacific Media Watch The Vanuatu government is using the Covid-19 to impose draconian measures and authoritarian rule by end of last month. Wholesale censorship of all Covid-19 related content has been instituted. Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) took the extraordinary step to ...
People with lower credit scores increased their borrowing upon news of the lockdown, while those with higher scores dropped away. March data from the credit-reporting agency Centrix, which runs credit checks on behalf of banks, finance companies, online lenders, and buy now pay later schemes, showed credit inquiries dropped sharply ...
Small business owners say commercial rent relief is desperately needed if they are to survive past the Covid-19 disruptions. While the wage subsidy helped with staff costs, there is currently no government assistance for commercial rent - which typically accounts for 40 percent of a firm's fixed costs. Landlords and ...
Open Mike 21/10/2017 
Comfortably, in the very first round, with an impressive 56% of the votes.I wonder, did members of the Shadow Cabinet start tweeting their resignations during Starmer's victory speech, or is that only a trick the right pull?It is odd how all the talk of how the next leader "needs to ...1 hour ago
One of the key voices in this extraordinary time in which we live is that of University of Otago epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker. Philip Matthews did an an excellent job this weekend of capturing the way he became the man for this moment in a profile for The Press.But one ...1 hour ago
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern addressed the nation today about the decline in daylight New Zealand has been experiencing over the previous few months. She said “As many of you will notice, our attempts to stem the dwindling of the daylight over the last few months have been completely ...16 hours ago
Redline received this article from the KOE a Marxist party in Greece Our friends in the KOE describe here the mounting crisis in Greece and tensions on the Turkish border. As desperate people flee from their homelands which have been ruined after decades of imperialist wars and interventions the people ...19 hours ago
As the first week of Level Four lockdown unfolded, mounting questions grew as to just what was (and was not) allowed under its “rules”. Partly these were driven by some apparently contradictory messages from different authority figures and explanations carried in the media. Partly they reflected a somewhat sketchy legal basis ...22 hours ago
. . April 3: Day 9 of living in lock-down… Another late-start to my work day. Everything is temporarily upended as clients are shuffled around so we can minimise our “bubble” by reducing the number of people we help. One of my colleagues has been removed from his clients; his ...1 day ago
We must root out the traitors among us! ...2 days ago
In order to meet our 2050 carbon target and do our bit to avoid making the Earth uninhabitable, New Zealand needs to decarbonise our economy, replacing fossil fuels with electricity in the energy, industrial and transport sectors. The good news is that it will mean cheaper power for all of ...2 days ago
As Aotearoa enters week two of lockdown, it’s clear we’re all still working out what our “bubbles” look like and how to stay in them to stop the spread of Covid-19. New to the government’s Covid-19 website is some good guidance for people living in apartment blocks. Recent decades have ...2 days ago
Resuming Normal Service: The Republican Party's nominee for in 1920, Warren Harding, promised the American people: “not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration”. If she wishes to remain our prime minister, then Jacinda Ardern will offer New Zealanders the same.HOW EDUCATED AMERICA snickered when the ...2 days ago
I haven’t done a huge amount in the last few days. I’m reading The Poppy War and I’ve sort of poked at a couple of games – I started SOMA but I’m a wimp and I quit while in the first room after the brain scan. I might try it ...3 days ago
46 Articles Physical science of global warming & effects Global response of evapotranspiration ratio to climate conditions and watershed characteristics in a changing environment Greenhouse effect: the relative contributions of emission height and total absorption Observations & observational methods of global warming & effects Climate change induced a ...4 days ago
Image credit: Diamond Harbour School Blogs I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or ... 4 days ago
The Covid-19 saga will no doubt produce many twists and turns for us before it is finally brought to an end. But one thing it has shown us – and what comfort it should bring us – is that our country’s government is in good hands. I am not thinking ...4 days ago
The following statement was released on March 28 by the National Network on Cuba, a coalition of 40 groups, based in the United States. In recent weeks, Cuba has deployed hundreds of medical providers to over a dozen countries in Europe, Asia, as well as to their neighbors in Latin ...5 days ago
Yesterday, New Zealand recorded its first Covid-19 related death on the West Coast. Unfortunately this is unlikely to be the only fatality, with the virus now being found in every region of the country.However despite the significant danger, people are still unfortunately breaching lockdown rules.There’s really only one main very ...6 days ago
The CV-19 (COVID) pandemic has seen the imposition of a government ordered national quarantine and the promulgation of a series of measures designed to spread the burden of pain and soften the economic blow on the most strategically important and most vulnerable sectors of society. The national narrative is framed ...1 week ago
Society-wise, aside from the specific morbidity shall we say of the medically-oriented aspects of this COVID-19 crisis, what is unfolding before the world is in more than one way an instructive study of humanity and reactions to a high intensity, high stress environment in real time. Friends, we are at ...1 week ago
Right now low waged and insecure workers are feeling the economic brunt of the looming #Covid19 Recession. In response legal advocate Toby Cooper* and hospitality and worker’s rights advocate Chloe Ann-King, are putting together a series of legal blogs about your employment rights: In this legal blog we outline some ...1 week ago
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says getting New Zealanders back home and other travellers out of the country is "a nightmare for our embassies, consuls, and staff around the world". Speaking to NewstalkZB's Mike Hosking, the Foreign Minister said that he gave a clear message to people travelling overseas that they ...2 days ago
The COVID-19 situation in New Zealand is moving fast - and to avoid what we've seen overseas - the Government's response must be to move fast too. We're committed to keeping New Zealanders safe and well-informed every step of the way. ...1 week ago
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The scale of what we face right now is unlike anything we have ever seen before. Overcoming it is our common purpose. ...2 weeks ago
The Government will be introducing legislation to make changes to the Companies Act to help companies facing insolvency due to COVID-19 to remain viable and keep New Zealanders in jobs. The temporary changes include: Giving directors of companies facing significant liquidity problems because of COVID-19 a ‘safe harbour’ from insolvency ...2 days ago
Being stuck inside all day might be wearing you and your kids down, but there’s never been a better time to encourage them to pick up their musical instrument and get stuck into writing songs. Mike Chunn from Play It Strange explains how. Mums and dads and households with teenage children. ...46 mins ago
Covid-19 is a real threat to older people, but these Central Otago seniors are embracing technology, experiencing no FOMO, and finding new ways to connect and share, finds Jill Herron When the full lockdown began on March 25 it meant the end of going for a swim, spa or to ...6 hours ago
Former editor of the Woman's Weekly, Nicky Pellegrino, bids farewell to the magazine that brought information and fun to generations of New Zealand women. All those stories. Gone. Stories about our politics, our health, our education, our aspirations. Stories about the houses we lived in and the gardens we grew, ...6 hours ago
As small businesses fight for their survival in the Covid-19 lockdown, it seems one of the country’s biggest retail landlords is not keen to share the pain. On the one side, you have Jonathan*. Jonathan runs a small business out of South Auckland’s Sylvia Park - New Zealand’s biggest mall. ...6 hours ago
With no Covid-19 cases and its economy desperate to restart, the Chathams is keen to go fishing again, writes Jim Kayes. It shouldn’t really be a surprise. They are, after all, ahead of New Zealand by 45 minutes. And though they are part of Wellington’s Rongotai electorate, the fiercely ...6 hours ago
Like countless New Zealanders stranded overseas, Wellingtonian Rosie O’Hagan will be braving authorities, airlines, airports and uncertainty to make it back from the other side of the world, writes Jim Kayes. Rosie O’Hagan hadn’t stepped outside for three weeks. When she finally did – around midnight on Friday ...20 hours ago
PACIFIC PANDEMIC DIARY: By David Robie A rather beautiful Guåhan legend is rather poignant in these stressed pandemic times. It is one about survival and cooperation. In ancient times, goes the story, a giant fish was eating great chunks out of this western Pacific island. The men used muscle ...21 hours ago
Simon Wren-Lewis, Emeritus Professor of Economics and Fellow of Merton College, University of Oxford, raises good questions about Britain’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Some of them seem germane to this country’s response. Wren-Lewis posted his critique on his Mainly Macro blog under the heading Following the Science or a ...21 hours ago
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening. The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference. These may vary from the full day's numbers released in the Ministry of Health's spreadsheet of ...23 hours ago
Normally heaving year-round, Queenstown has ground to an eerie halt as Covid-19 cases rise and tourism income plummets, reports Paul Taylor. On a hill behind Queenstown's coronavirus Covid-19 community testing centre, the resort's iconic Skyline gondola sits motionless. More than 17 million people are estimated to have ridden the gondola ...1 day ago
Are we drinking more in the lockdown? Hard to know, writes David Slack, but we’re certainly having to get creative about it. Almost every phone call I’ve answered this week has begun the same way: “You still off the drink, then?” Fair question. What a time to be not drinking. ...1 day ago
Kiwi clinical psychologist Desiree Dickerson is stuck with her family in Spain and has written a guide in Nature: "Seven tips to manage your mental health and well-being during the Covid-19 outbreak." It’s Day 17 of the Covid-19 lockdown in Spain. In a small village on the Mediterranean coast, about ...1 day ago
Without active testing in the community our Covid-19 picture isn’t complete, an epidemiologist says. David Williams reports. There are worse places to be self-isolating than Whakatāne, in the Bay of Plenty, says Bridget Robson, who lives on a two-acre block and keeps chickens. “We live in a beautiful part of ...1 day ago
"Will our ills be cured? Will our feet carry us? For how long?": a short story set in Henderson by West Auckland writer Serie Barford. I learned to drive a tractor when I was a kid feeding out hay with my cousins on a dairy farm down the line. I ...1 day ago
David Clark’s misadventure in mountain biking was a stupid, but ultimately forgivable offence. The bigger problem is the continued uncertainty around what is and isn’t appropriate activity in lockdown, as Sam Sachdeva writes. Given the pressure he and his Cabinet colleagues are under, it is little surprise Health Minister David ...1 day ago
Assessing the economic impact of Covid-19 requires a new approach to a problem economists have not encountered in modern times, writes Dr Kirdan Lees Covid-19 has presented quite a problem for economists. Containment policies that seek to flatten the Covid-19 curve or eliminate the virus, restrict economic activity. All governments ...2 days ago
Most of New Zealand's MPs are in lockdown just like the rest of us, confined to their neighbourhoods and stuck in their bubbles. Checkpoint called a few to ask them what they're doing. ...2 days ago
During the challenges associated with lockdown, the Māori Party are congratulating Ngāti Ruanui and South Taranaki on the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South ...2 days ago
Environment Minister David Parker has directed officials to find ways to fast-track consents for infrastructure and development projects. He says his goal is to help create a pipeline of projects so that some can start immediately once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted “so people can get back into work as fast ...2 days ago
Contact tracing is a crucial part of the Covid-19 puzzle and technology might prove essential to scaling up New Zealand's tracing capacity, Marc Daalder reports With the lockdown reducing physical contact between members of the public and testing ramping up, the only missing piece of the Covid-19 puzzle is contact tracing. ...2 days ago
Insolvency laws will be temporarily changed to allow troubled companies to trade while technically insolvent Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced changes to the Companies Act to allow companies to put their debts into "hibernation". Robertson said companies facing liquidity problems would have "safe harbour" from their normal insolvency duties ...2 days ago
Bernard Hickey talks to Kiwibank Chief Economist Jarrod Kerr about a massive spike in US jobless claims, and they talk about an inspiring Kiwi app to fight Covid-19 globally. Guest, Pie Funds chief executive Mike Taylor also joins them to talk about the massive market swings and hopes for recovery. Bernard zooms out ...2 days ago
The Reserve Bank looks set to start buying council bonds as well as Government bonds to unfreeze financial markets and allow councils to defer rates and jointly invest in infrastructure with the central Government, Dileepa Fonseka reports In what would be another unprecedented move to calm financial markets and help ...2 days ago
Covid-19 testing of the wider population is on the cards as World Health Organisation research shows people are most contagious within their first few days of being infected Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says Covid-19 carriers are highly infectious when they show few signs of carrying the virus. People were ...2 days ago
Z Energy is the latest company to cut its dividend payout and start talking to its banks about strengthening its finances. Chief executive Mike Bennetts said the company, the largest fuel retailer in the country, had been battered by a range of issues over the past 18 months, and was ...2 days ago
Journalist and Great Barrier Island resident Lindsay Wright reflects on outer gulf pandemic preparedness. Hardy locals can tough it out but Auckland bach owners and boaties should keep their distance. Aotea Great Barrier, the easternmost island in the Hauraki Gulf, are undergoing a Covid-19-inspired population flood. Great Barrier has scenery that makes ...2 days ago
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening. The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference and are "as of 9am" of the day. There were 71 new cases of Covid-19 in ...2 days ago
Vodafone says its continuing to see significant increases in calls and data on its networks after the first week of level 4 lockdown. ...2 days ago
People with lower credit scores increased their borrowing upon news of the lockdown, while those with higher scores dropped away. March data from the credit-reporting agency Centrix, which runs credit checks on behalf of banks, finance companies, online lenders, and buy now pay later schemes, showed credit inquiries dropped sharply ...2 days ago
Small business owners say commercial rent relief is desperately needed if they are to survive past the Covid-19 disruptions. While the wage subsidy helped with staff costs, there is currently no government assistance for commercial rent - which typically accounts for 40 percent of a firm's fixed costs. Landlords and ...2 days ago
I see Garner is having yet another dig at Labour,the coalition and the process and unilaterally setting a 100 day deadline for Jacinda to deliver his list of Labours election policies.
The bitterness of the Natz and their MSM puppets will only get worse so the prposed changes to RNZ and TVNZ should also be a 100 day priority.
See:https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/98090961/duncan-garner–the-accidental-pm-and-the-utopian-expectations
Yes that is the exactly the advice I would give Nzsage. We can’t have these people damaging OUR new Government and our country’s reputation yes you idiots you are damaging OUR country O but that is a bit to far forward for you to think .
I think one of OUR more experienced people from Labour or NZFirst anyone with the skills to sort them out but they need to be wise as these people can turn any shit onto you . And put on this task of bringing OUR media to HEEL as this should be a priority plan for the long term of OUR coalition Goverment. We don’t have to control our media but they need a code of conduct slapped on them . Ka pai
If it was not so funny it would make you cry over the opinions of some of the prats out there. I wrote yesterday about all the griping going on @ /open-mike-20102017/#comment-1402555 and all the things that were going to happen under Labour.
With tongue in cheek, I also added a couple of my own. I noticed that the gas had risen in price by 2c a litre and jokingly I said to my wife I should put that on the Standard saying typical Labour have not been in power 1 day and they have already put gas up by 2c
Would you believe it some twat in the opinions to the article you have quoted has written just that, here’s the quote
“Wait to inflation gets a grip. Oh it already has petrol rose 2c a litre on day 1”
Indeed NZsage. I get the feeling with all this 100 days stuff that MSM expect the new government to deliver policy that:
a) does everything the way MSM wants it to be done; and
b) completely solves all the issues within the 100 days.
This is, obviously, not possible so I fear they are setting up the new Government for failure.
Actually, I don’t remember reading in any of the parties manifestos that they will do everything in the first 100 days.
Is this the MSM snatching something from overseas and trying to apply it to the incoming government?
It will be interesting seeing hoe the government will get so many things changed, given the amount of Nat members on select committees, I wonder if they will have to resort to creating law under urgency, like national did?
Nationals damage will take up to a decade in some cases to fix.
It’s not going to be easy with this caterwauling going on top of the entrenching and bridge burning to overcome in fixing rail as one example.
To paraphrase the other WInston — it is much easier to wreck a country than it is to build it.
Committees will consist of 3 gov parties plus Nats. They will always be outnumbered.
The 100 days is for essential items of change Jacinda outlined, mentioning 1 out and 1 in through negotiations.
MSM can tie themselves in knots. Jacinda will make official announcements as and when to communicate.
She will tease Garner again, saying ‘God loves a trier’
I actually think this Government is the best fit for equal and fair changes to our systems
As if any of those neo liberal state servants try and stop Jacinda from making these changes needed Winston Peters will kick there asses to touch. And Jamie will keep the focus on OUR environment. And most of the people in OUR new Coalition Government have the same left principles they just have to have there guard up and trust no one till they no they can be trusted I.E test them first before you give them that trust Tino pai
Many thanks to Barack Obama Bill Bush and John McCain for seeing the big pitcher .
We are all human’s we all expect to be treated like humans and when this happens OUR world will truly advance for the better of everything on her OUR mother earth.
I can see that these three family’s love there country and OUR world and are fighting for a equal society . Kia Kaha
EMK
You have got the family’s mixed up..
Why would you thank any of the three you name, other than for showing who the faces are that represent the true ‘enemy’ of lifes existence..
NZ WHISTLE-BLOWER ALERT!
21 October 2017
Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana-Galizia, played a pivotal role in exposing NZ foreign trusts involvement in corrupt money-laundering – and now she’s dead.
Daphne Carauna-Galizia was blown to pieces in a car bomb assassination on 16 October 2017.
https://www.google.co.nz/amp/www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/car-bomb-killed-panama-papers-11378880.amp
Matthew Carauna-Galizia, son:
“I am never going to forget, running around the inferno in the field, trying to figure out a way to open the door, the horn of the car still blaring, screaming at two policemen who turned up with a single fire extinguisher to use it.
“They stared at me. “I’m sorry, there is nothing we can do”, one of them said.
“I looked down and there were my mother’s body parts all around me. I realised they were right, it was hopeless.
“Who is in the car?”, they asked me.
“My mother is in the car. She is dead.
She is dead because of your incompetence.”
__________________
Malta scandal exposes New Zealand trusts again
Neil Chenoweth and Susan Edmunds
April 28 2017
http://i.stuff.co.nz/business/world/91999096/malta-scandal-exposes-new-zealand-trusts-again
A Malta magistrate is investigating explosive claims of money laundering and corruption that have put New Zealand in the middle of a global cash trail from the family of Azerbaijan president Ilham Aliyev.
President Aliyev’s daughter, Leyla Aliyeva, is alleged to have channelled more than NZ$1.6 million to senior figures of the Malta government, including Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s wife.
These include alleged payments to Panama companies owned by New Zealand trusts set up by the Malta Energy Minister Karl Mizzi and Muscat’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri.
On April 20, Maltese blogger Daphne Caruana-Galizia reported that she held copies of documents originally stored in a kitchen at Pilatus Bank, which showed that Egrant Inc, a mystery Panama Papers company identified by the Financial Review last year, was secretly owned by the Maltese Prime Minister’s wife, Michelle Muscat.
In March 2016, a Dubai company controlled by Leyla Aliyeva had transferred US$1.017 million (NZ$1.47 million) marked as a loan into Egrant’s account at Pilatus Bank, Caruana-Galizia reported.
Joseph Muscat denied the claims, calling it the “biggest political lie in Malta’s history”.
Caruana-Galizia reported that other payments were made from Leyla Aliyeva’s company to Pilatus accounts held by Egrant as well as Tillgate Inc and Hearnville Inc, two Panama companies that are owned by Schembri and Mizzi, through New Zealand trusts.
Schembri and Mizzi vehemently deny Caruana-Galizia’s reports. Mizzi has produced audited accounts for his New Zealand trust which shows it as dormant with no assets or income.
LUXURY YACHTS
Muscat announced on April 20 that magistrate Aaron Buge would conduct an inquiry into the allegations.
In a controversial energy deal, the Maltese government in 2013 contracted with a consortium led by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), which has financed a string of luxury yachts and homes across the world for the Aliyev family, to build a power station and gasification plant in Malta, with SOCAR taking an 18-year contract to supply LPG to Malta.
In 2015, Malta’s auditor general questioned €14 million (NZ$22 million) lost on fuel hedging contracts that the government-owned EneMalta took with SOCAR “at ministerial direction” from Mizzi.
The latest revelations, if substantiated, are an embarrassment for the New Zealand government, which announced an inquiry into its offshore trust laws on April 11 last year, the day after the Financial Review revealed details of how Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca’s Malta agent, BT Nexia, began setting up Tillson, Hearnville and Egrant five days after Muscat’s election victory in 2013.
Mossack Fonseca’s files were obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.
New Zealand subsequently amended its offshore trusts regime, requiring foreign trusts to file annual accounts with the New Zealand tax office, but with no further restrictions.
At that time, it appeared the Malta trusts had never been used, after Mizzi and Schembri’s Panama companies were turned down by eight banks who refused to open accounts for them because they were Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs).
The Panama Papers, however, show repeated cases of overseas investors filing false or implausible sets of accounts with New Zealand lawyers, who have limited means to verify the figures.
SIGNIFICANT ROLE
The latest wave of allegations in Malta underline how easily the New Zealand disclosure laws can be avoided, which the new laws do not change.
If the reports are substantiated, they raise a far more serious picture of money-laundering from one of the most corrupt countries in the world, in which New Zealand’s foreign trusts played a significant role.
The saga began in February 2016 when Caruana-Galizia revealed that Schembri and Mizzi had set up two Panama companies, Tillgate Inc and Hearnville Inc, owned by the Haast Trust and Rotorua Trust in New Zealand.
In April 2016, the Financial Review published new details of Schembri and Mizzi’s New Zealand trusts and their attempts to open a bank account in Dubai.
Mossack Fonseca’s Malta files read like a whodunnit.
…..”
RIP Daphne Carauna-Galizia.
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption whistle-blower’.
I had hopes after seeing this leaked Green policy win in the negotiations:
But thinking it through, a referendum in 2020 is 3 years away, presumably legislation would follow, so add another year or two to that.
But James Shaw just said on The Nation that they haven’t worked out whether it will be a binding referendum or not.
If not there will be a toothless referendum in three years that the following government will ignore, and if National is back then that's likely.
A disappointingly soft policy.
[formatting fixed for clarity. Link added from below. I’ve had a quick look and see we’ve discussed quoting before.
So to be very clear – either use your own words and be prepared to back up claims of fact, or, if quoting someone else, then cite. This means if you cut and paste from elsewhere you need to provide a link. If the quote is cut and paste but not publicly available (e.g. email or behind a paywall), then name the source and link where you can. If you are quoting someone from offline, then name the source (specifically not vaguely) so others can look it up.
The reasons for that are that it’s a courtesy to the source; it gives readers a chance to understand the context; and it lessens trolls’ and astroturfers’ ability to push certain lines unchallenged. Please take this as a moderation warning. – weka]
[just found the last time I moderated you on this which resulted in a 2 week ban. Next time I’ll start doubling the ban times – weka]
What’s the mechanism by which you imagine James Shaw holding a future National government to the results of a “binding” referendum, Pete?
There have been plenty of poll indications of support for drug law reform already, so I don’t know why we need referendum.
Law change is likely to be complex so a simple referendum is unlikely to address it adequately.
If we have a referendum I’d like to see legislation passed through parliament this term, sooner rather than later, then if a referendum is deemed necessary make it a binding ratification or rejection of the legislation.
Then at least we would know exactly what we are deciding on, and enables a simple yes/no referendum on something that is complex.
Probably should be a Royal Commission IMO – let all New Zealanders have their say that way, then make the recommendations binding.
Interestingly, New Zealand First was in fact pushing for a binding referendum on cannabis last year.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/83173728/NZ-First-are-on-their-own-calling-for-a-referendum-on-decriminalising-cannabis
This lead to Bradbury posting this on the Daily Blog in May this year
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2017/05/07/why-nz-first-is-the-only-route-to-legalising-cannabis-and-why-we-will-need-to-start-a-citizens-initiated-referendum-to-get-real-change/
So I hope that this this proposed referendum is not going to be a sticking point for the new government.
One would hope that the Greens design a referendum that would pass under the L/NZF/G govt if supported by the voters. I can’t imagine them drafting something that wasn’t acceptable to Labour or NZF, that would be daft. So is there a need for it to be binding?
Hippy!
I’m on my ph so can’t log in to moderate, but when I get home If there is no source or citation for that quote expect me to get out the bold. I’ll be looking up the last time we had this issue too.
I think it’s obvious where the quote ends.
Source Newshub:
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/election/2017/10/the-greens-10-big-policy-gains.html
Also Robert Guyton:
https://yournz.org/2017/10/20/greens-ratify-agreement-with-labour/#comment-225633
Please see moderation note above.
I never thought I would do this, but I am going to support Pete George on this one in the interests of fairness – and also because I am surprised that there appears to have been no mention/discussion of this referendum on here that i could find.
That a ‘referendum on legalising the personal use of cannabis at or by the 2020 general election’ appears to be part of the policy gains for the Green Party has been the subject of many media reports and discussions on social media and other blogs for the last 24 or so hours. it has even been the subject of overseas media reports by for example the BBC.
This appears to be as a result of an informal release (aka leak) of an internal Green Party email sent out on Thurs night as part of their SGM via teleconference to decide whether to agree the C & S agreement.
The actual email has been circulating widely on social media and a copy posted by Russell Brown on Public Address can be viewed here:
https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/hard-news-all-change/?p=376620#post376620
I stress that it is widely available on social media but I have used Russell’s link only because as he is very savvy as to whether or not to post such things. Russell has more in his actual post here (and there is more in the comments)
https://publicaddress.net/hardnews/all-change/
The ‘release’ of this email is also mentioned in many of the media articles and reports below on the proposed referendum:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/98101382/greens-policy-grabbag-where-are-they-rousing-for-a-shakeup
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/election/2017/10/the-greens-10-big-policy-gains.html
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/election/2017/10/referendum-on-obsolete-cannabis-law-long-overdue-drug-foundation.html
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/98081732/greens-promised-referendum-on-personal-cannabis-use
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/98081802/greens-promised-referendum-on-legalising-the-personal-use-of-cannabis
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11935119
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/342008/cannabis-referendum-part-of-greens-deal
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/green-party-secure-referendum-legalising-cannabis-documents-claim
http://www.radiolive.co.nz/home/audio/2017/10/how-a-referendum-on-personal-use-of-cannabis-could-look.html
Overseas reports
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41693728
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/20/legalizing-cannabis-new-zealand-government-open-to-referendum.html
Bit over the top, but there are plenty more where those came from.
The policy gains are not the only details that appear to have been released informally – this Newshub report also speaks directly of leaks of the green ministerial roles
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/election/2017/10/leak-greens-ministerial-roles-revealed.html
I am really sad to see these leaks happening as it casts a shadow over the integrity of the whole coalition/C & S arrangements.
Thanks, will have a look at the links later.
My comment to Pete was simply about him not providing a reference for his quote. He’s not the only one that does it, but he’s been warned before.
“This appears to be as a result of an informal release (aka leak) of an internal Green Party email sent out on Thurs night as part of their SGM via teleconference to decide whether to agree the C & S agreement.”
That’s the ‘leak’? No, it’s not a leak. It wasn’t an internal email, it was an email sent to the full membership (I got a copy). Emails of that kind aren’t private or confidential and members are free to share the content.
The email wasn’t part of the SGM, it was an email to the full membership after the decision had been reached (and, from memory, announced).
Matthew Whitehead, an active member who afaik wasn’t involved in the SGM posted some of it on TS on Thurs night. I put a copy of part of it in a post on Thurs night, again, after the SGM had made a decision and this had been announced,
As for Shub, honestly, I can’t be bothered looking at what’s happened there and am quite happy to believe they’re shit stirring calling it a ‘leak’ unless proven otherwise.
“I am really sad to see these leaks happening as it casts a shadow over the integrity of the whole coalition/C & S arrangements.”
I think it’s premature to be thinking anything bad has happened. All three parties seem to have taken trouble to be both as transparent as they can be, and to not overstep the bounds because one of the other parties needs time to finish due process.
So Shaw talked on Thurs night about being able to release small amounts of detail e.g. what went to the membership in the email, but not being able to say things like who would be in what positions because Labour still needed to work through that. He reassured the membership that good ground had been gained on key areas, and this was confirmed in the email. It’s inconceivable that the intention was for that email to remain confidential given that there will be journalists who are members of the GP.
Leaked by whom, I wonder …. seems to me to be a bit of Post truth to both undermine, and colour the Greens as … kakariki, together with the coalition….
More Dirty Shit to Come!
Shaw also stated (on the Nation today) that binding referendums go against Green Party policy.
So it doesn’t look like they (the Greens) will be supporting holding a binding referendum.
If it is a referendum initiated by the government then it is a binding referendum. Of course the government is still free in their in interpretation of that referendum but even National won’t be able to reneg on it.
The question is, if it’s a Green Party initiated referendum, will it be considered a Government initiated referendum? Technically, the Greens aren’t the Government.
George W Bush gives a speech, and it really quite good. How much is the world up side down? One line from Bush in particular, is stunning.
Here highlights from Young Turks. With commentary about republican leadership issues.
Jonathan Pie on Trump.
+10000000
A few days ago Wayne Mapp was relying on OECD figures to back his view about how great the economy is under National. Lots of growth… would like his comment on the following given it shows growing GDP hasnt solved this problem…
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2017/07/nz-s-homelessness-the-worst-in-oecd-by-far.html
So Tracey, if you follow the link from the magazine that it came from you may gain a balanced view on what it’s point is. In fact the main title of the article is this;
“As Cities Grow Worldwide, So Do the Numbers of Homeless.
Homelessness is more visible and varying definitions prevent global comparisons; experts debate if the problem is even solvable.”
Experts, and there is the problem. Experts has turned into code for – look our ideological agenda can be hidden behind this vernier of knowledge.
So Rob will you be out supporting eugenics next? That was a movement full of experts – waxing lyrical about the state of the world.
adam , “do I support eugenics”, pffffft. How do you get that from my sentence.
Do I sit around and wax lyrical about the state of the world. I think there is more than enough people on this site who do that day in / day out.
adam , I just followed Traceys link back to the original core article that NewsHub commented on. The point I was making is that if you actually read it & it is interesting , its not as supportive to Traceys anti Nat Govt argument as she has been making out.
You misunderstood my point. Read below.
Rob, Wayne suggests that when the OECD ranks us highly it means the govt is great.He does not delve deeper nor observe IMF pronouncements that counter his world view.
By Waynes logic, the reverse must, ipso facto, mean the govt is bad. It is Wayne making simplistic conclusions, not me.
I know that nothing is as simple as it seems.
Whenever the meme “What a wonderful economy we have – just look at the growth rate!” rears its ugly head, one has always to ask the question – “But what is the economy for?”
A countries economy is not an end in itself – it is only a means to an end.
If the one boasting about the wondrous economy cannot say what this wonderful thing is for, then it is just as useless as the wonderful toy that the singer got when he was a boy. It went whizz when it moved, bopped when it stopped, and whirred when it stood still – he never knew just what it was, and I guess they never will.
The thing is, to worship a means, and not seek the end, is simply idolatry. If the means is not delivering the end, then no matter how wonderful you might think it is – it is useless.
So what is the economy for, anyway?
I would answer this question thus:
“The role of the economy is to deliver the most good, to the most people, over the longest time” If it does not do that, then it is a failing economy.
The rate of growth may or may not be a useful indicator but only over a short term – take for instance the lack of clean water supplies in Puerto Rico following the Hurricane. One month later only 2/3 of the population have access to potable water.
This is a slow rate of growth on the provision of a vital human need. But money is pouring into this “Island in an ocean .. a very big ocean” to use the words of Trump at a astonishing rate. ie over the past month the GDP of Puerto Rico would have been off the scale – but just how effective has it been?
Jacinda Ardern on The Nation this weekend according to Newshub:
Oh how the Nat shills will be spinning on the spot….. hope this kind of narrative can be kept up, and that more mainstreamers really begin to take note of the failures of capitalism, and the need for change.
Thank you Macro. That is sensible and sound. We need to measure how our actions help or hinder people’s lives.
Many equate the word economy with money and forget “management of resources”
Great piece macro but I would add to your definition. It must be measured by how it caters for its vulnerable who have a right to thrive not just survive
Interestingly around 4000 years ago someone inscribed a piece of wisdom on a clay tablet that has survived until today. I’m afraid I cannot find a link to this because I found this in a book some years back, and it is something that has not been digitized as far as I know.
Anyway the ancient sage wrote something like this:
” The greatness of a king will be judged not on the strength of his armies, but on the way he treats the most vulnerable of his subjects.”
There have been others to whom this sentiment has been attributed, but as far as I know the Babylonian clay tablet is the first expression. And this from what could be considered the cradle of civilization.
Thanks for this. I have long thought that to label ourselves civilised while simultaneously running down health, education and leaving the disabled to less than subsistence makes us barbarians
The concept of Gross National Happiness has its drawbacks – but is still worthy of consideration.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_National_Happiness
This mornings The Nation,what delight to see and hear from a true face of compassion, our new vibrant exiting Prime Minister,hope again is in the air optimism and a better future for families and those in need,how exiting.
Ardern stepped up into the leadership role exceptionally well in August, then lost a bit of ground when campaign weariness and lack of breadth and depth of policy became obvious.
But she has stepped up further coming out of the negotiations. One notable thing she indicated in The Nation interview was she says she has stood her ground against Winston on immigration, retaining Labour’s position on it.
It’s a long way to go for her but she generally looks very impressive. Not many successfully rise above hope and ambition to be a successful political leader, but so far she looks very capable.
Minor quibbles – too much over the top language, especially ‘absolutely’, and while she sounded natural when she first became leader she is starting to sound like she is reciting written language rather than talking naturally. She’s likely to sort that out as she goes.
You probably dont mean to but this comes across as slightly patronising. From what basis do you make these observations? What is your experience I mean.
Ardern: capitalism a ‘blatant failure’ for poor children of New Zealand
“If you have hundreds of thousands of children living in homes without enough to survive, that’s a blatant failure. What else could you describe it as?”
Ardern was speaking on TV3 show The Nation.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11935456
It will be interesting to see who gets all the jobs at the various SOE and quango boards under the new govt.
Dear oh dear oh dear,
It looks like dear Claire Robinson is pissed off she was wrong.
She’s doing a lot of projection from National and placing it at the door of Labour and NZ First. Couched in academic-ese, her petulance and anger is plain to see.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/342071/labour-nz-first-govt-how-did-it-get-to-this
RW sycophant spits dummy
That’s a piece written by somebody whose (intellectual) world has been rocked because “NZ First has challenged the established business model” [my bold] and her “innovation lens” was out of focus. Robinson seems to be oblivious to the fact that all her (academic) tools & models are just that. Robinson also appears to be at the second of five stages of grief: anger.
I can only hope that Robinson and many other ‘experts’ will find themselves outwitted and wrong-footed many times as a result of real change rather than the having to endure a “modified status quo” that Robinson seems to pine for.
“I can only hope that Robinson and many other ‘experts’ will find themselves outwitted and wrong-footed many times as a result of real change rather than the having to endure a “modified status quo” that Robinson seems to pine for.”
That’s exactly what she’s afraid of!
Well, of course this is the woman who was telling us just a week or so ago that Ardern and Labour must be “gutted” at the Specials result…
Who’s checked out the latest rant from Richard Prebble? http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11935125
He’s trying to tell us that Ardern is just a puppet to Peters, who has “stolen” the election – comparing it to a coup, and that the result is undemocratic (no surprises there). He also says “I blame Bill English for this debacle. He ran a great First Past the Post campaign – and a losing MMP campaign.” This comment is fair enough, maybe, but how does it compare with this one, from his last piece (on September 21st): “Bill has run a mistake-free campaign but he took too long to attack Labour’s tax policy”? Let’s forget that it can’t be mistake-free if there’s a “but” coming up and focus on the fact that before the final result was known our friend Richard thought Bill E had run a great campaign and now he thinks it was a debacle. Which was it, Richard? And why no mention of the campaign manager, Stephen Joyce? Thos two decided together to run a “take ’em all out” campaign, and were perfectly prepared to tell lies and countenance leaking of personal information as part of the strategy.
Doesn’t look too smart now, does it? All those blue joggers running off to the opposition benches, still alone and monochromatic.
I’ve not an ounce of empathy for them because they conducted themselves so dishonestly and – dare I say it – corruptly over the last 9 years. Yet their supporters turned a blind eye to it all and continue to turn a blind eye. Did Labour and the Greens respond with such venom when they were ousted in 2008? No. They did not. They were just as disappointed of course – and particularly with the blatant lies and the innuendo during the campaign – but they were all gracious in defeat and continued to be gracious in defeat for the next two elections.
When Labour lost in 2008, a disabled man in Wellington was so frightened by the news that he rang the police. This was reported, as I remember it, with wry amusement. This time around, the howls are all about a perceived threat to the privilege and licence enjoyed by the well- heeled, that expanded exponentially under John Key.
I never heard about that incident but it is a profoundly story. He might have been disabled but he clearly sensed there would be a gradual removal of the support and assistance he – and others in his situation desperately needed and my goodness… how right he was.
Some of the letters to the editor in today’s Herald are simply appalling in their venality. I will see if can find an online link…
No. They’re not currently publishing letters online. They used to, because I recall linking to one or two in the past.
Edit: my first reply should read “profoundly sad story…”
Having majors with my pc at moment.
I haven’t seen today’s Herald, but members of my family have told me some of the vile comments they have seen and heard. National, under Key, certainly unleashed a nasty streak in certain quarters, and it is still hanging around although he has moved on.
What was that Blog he used..?
ACT people do have some knowledge of puppetry… but there seems to be so much writing from a perspective of;
This is how I behave so others must be the same.
“Business model”, “innovation lens”.
Lol. If Robinson swims in the shallow pool of business language she will never understand the real world. It’s desperate and incoherent drivel.
Worked for some years with CR. Epitomises the careerist academic. Vain, devoid of anything resembling humour or humility, and not at all an empathic, insightful or imaginative person. Made up for those deficiencies in ambition, realised that riding the coattails of the powerful and repeating their jargon back at them would serve that. Seeing her turn this bitter when she embarrasses herself is no surprise.
… and unfortunately, far from the worst that Massey has. The place is a menagerie of malice and stupidity.
Well said @Rhino.
And, as I watched “the sage” Lisa Owen this morning interviewing both JA and JS, I was mindful of dearest Clair Robinson.
I thought both would benefit from a listen to this – let alone a few others:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018618291/audit-culture-the-creeping-problem-of-our-age
Even RNZ’s regular gal with the balanced portfolio and work-life equilibrium (going forward) seems to have recognised things can’t continue as they are – I think she began to realise a year or 18 months ago.
(btw – for those prepared to jump on the ‘dearest’, and ‘regular gal’ remarks above – it was said with the same intent as is common by Garners, Richardsons and many other gNats in the media and those in the political class sweetie. shorthand: /sarc
An increasing number of academics behave this way due to the great ideological culls ratchetted up under Joyce. Academic integrity sold to the highest bidders
Interesting. How does she get on with Maharey?
Fortunately only on the site temporarily!
Disappeared within the hour, (An attempt at Balance perhaps) despite the offence!
The shocking collapse of insect populations hints at a global ecological meltdown
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/20/insectageddon-farming-catastrophe-climate-breakdown-insect-populations
This is the important stuff.
Any chance we cold have a thread based on this article by George Monbiot?
Here are some excerpts…..
‘Which of these would you name as the world’s most pressing environmental issue? Climate breakdown, air pollution, water loss, plastic waste or urban expansion? My answer is none of the above. Almost incredibly, I believe that climate breakdown takes third place, behind two issues that receive only a fraction of the attention.
This is not to downgrade the danger presented by global heating – on the contrary, it presents an existential threat. It is simply that I have come to realise that two other issues have such huge and immediate impacts that they push even this great predicament into third place.
One is industrial fishing, which, all over the blue planet, is now causing systemic ecological collapse. The other is the erasure of non-human life from the land by farming.
Some information from his article…
‘A study published this week in the journal Plos One reveals that flying insects surveyed on nature reserves in Germany have declined by 76% in 27 years.‘
One study in Britain suggests that, if we stopped using animal products, everyone in Britain could be fed on just 3m of our 18.5m hectares of current farmland (or on 7m hectares if all our farming were organic).
A recent study in Nature Plants reveals that most farms would increase production if they cut their use of pesticides
According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, at current rates of soil loss, driven largely by poor farming practice, we have just 60 years of harvests left.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/20/insectageddon-farming-catastrophe-climate-breakdown-insect-populations
Convert quickly to broad-scale, managed woodland forest gardens.
Edit: very quickly!
And how does this happen quickly?
Can’t be just personal responsibility.
Tweets by GlobalFishWatch
Dame Anne Salmond: A new start for NZ
‘Over the past 33 years, the neo-liberal idea of a ‘free market’ ruled by naked self-interest has led to radical disparities of wealth and privilege, and an erosion of care for others and our beautiful land.
It has also undermined democratic institutions in New Zealand. Elections are seen as a Darwinian contest among political parties, in which the winners and their supporters take all, while the losers are shafted.
The independence of the civil service has been corroded, with chief executives who kowtow to their ministers, rather than serving the public interest. Government bodies are stacked with political cronies, while lobby groups dominate much decision-making.
In New Zealand, it is not just our waterways that have turned toxic as a result of greedy, self-interested politics. This is the real challenge for the new government – to clean up and restore life to our democracy, as well as to rivers and lakes across the land.‘
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2017/10/19/54722/dame-anne-salmond-a-new-start-for-nz
And the free market has not ruled in its entirety. When the free market dictates that skill shortages = higher wages those industries turned to the govt and immigration to circumvent free market and keep wages down.
Oh yes. Regulation is very useful, when applied in the “Right” way.
That’s correct, as Ardern and Peters have stated, capitalism can be made to work for the people through “REGULATION”, something sadly missing in most countries today, preferring market driven outcomes which have been distorted by MONOPOLISATION.
There is considerable backlash on social media by those who now don’t like MMP and how it delivers democracy, still pushing moral right and how they had 44.5% of the vote, but it appears they’re not quite intelligent enough to work out that 55% is actually a majority and MMP stands for “Mixed Member Proportional” representation, still living in the FPP days, even after requiring the support of Dunne, ACT and the Maori Party for there previous Governments.
One of the articles goes:
92.8% didn’t vote for NZF
93.7% didn’t vote for the Greens
63.1% didn’t vote for Labour
And when you add that up??
And then there’s this one
Breaking news
All Blacks lose Rugby world Championship as
Aus, SA and Argentina combine their points and become coalition winners!
I have NO sympathy for any of them, just bad LOSERS
I’ve got some figures too:
55.6% didn’t vote for the Nats
99.5% didn’t vote for Act.
99.9% didn’t vote for UF
99% didn’t vote for MP
And since it’s leader indicated he would go with the Nats;
97.6% didn’t vote for Top.
If they want to go down that road, its a much more damming outcome for the Right.
Anne
These people only like democracy when they win, but it’s not working properly when they lose.
🙂
They had it so damm good for so long. All that power and prestige fed down the line to the henchmen and henchwomen from those at the top and suddenly… its gone. No wonder Mike Hoskings went berserk. They’ll be demanding a change of name for Labour Weekend next.
The thing is, to further complete the analogy, the All Blacks were playing in a different competition. They were playing in the Federation of Past Players, under the old rules, and the other three were competing for the Modern Mixed Players cup. Guess who won the MMP Cup?
Good one!!
Who gives a shit anyway. If National was in the same position they would have done it. And they know it.
Some times you need a coup. This was the coup we needed — a second October Revolution.
When you play the Game of Thrones, you play to win. Jacinda did iust that. Power was sitting right in front of her, and all she had to do was take it. She took it alright, outflanking National in the process. Completely within the rules.
The intent is to delegitimise the expression of a majority of voters and paint as palpable high morality the expression of a minority of voters. This is a seminal fight for democracy.
I agree, also I think, venting disatisfaction