Landslide victory for Labor in Oz! Echoing the 2020 wipeout of the right in NZ.
In times of stress and change, voters want a government which cares about them and puts their interests first, not a government that gives tax cuts to rich pricks!
The left is on the ascendency here, in Oz and soon in the UK!
Any Labour majority is enough to elbow aside ScoMo
That Liberals have also been taken down by the Teal women (given how centrist liberal women in their caucus have been treated, it's about time) is a nice to have. As is the presence of Greens to remind Labour not to get too comfortable in government or complacent about what is required.
Al-Shaykh Muwannis (Arabic: الشيخ مونّس), also Sheikh Munis, was a small Palestinian Arab village in the Jaffa Subdistrict of Mandatory Palestine, located approximately 8.5 kilometers from the center of Jaffa city in territory earmarked for Jewish statehood under the UN Partition Plan.
The village was abandoned in March 1948 due to the threats of Jewish militias, two months before the 1948 Arab–Israeli war.
Today, Tel Aviv University lies on part of the village land.
From a recent Munk Debate: Russia-Ukraine War | Stephen Walt, John Mearsheimer v Michael McFaul, Radoslaw Sikorski, which can be found on Youtube.
Watch Michael McFaul, the former U.S. ambassador to Russia, admit that diplomatic lies are “the real world” when he answers Stephen Walt’s question about NATO’s desire to eventually scrap Ukraine. Lies which caused a war and he's just laughing and gloating about it. The amorality of some humans…..
Bill Maher gets it (mostly) right. What he gets wrong is to conflate same sex attracted people (L G B) with the rest of the alphabet soup who are straight. And if gender is fluid – how is it innate?
Kathleen Deve was actually correct when she described transgender teens as being surgically mutilated and sterilized.
Prescribing a drug that has been used to chemically castrate sex offenders to gender dysphoric teens (gender dysphoria is a mental health disorder, classified in the DSM5) is nothing short of a scandal as too is offering teenage girls double masectomies of their perfectly healththy breasts (not to mentioned hysterectomies) Also Jazz Jennings the poster child for teen trans had their penis amputated and the attempt to make a neo vagina wasn't succesful and Jazz has now had surgery no 4 to try and fix the problems the surgery has lead to.
I could not agree with you more. Without any resort to exaggeration or outrage I confess that my blood runs a little cold thinking of teenagers of being sexually mutilated – often before they have any clue about their sexual future whatsoever.
Nonetheless I can report the public discourse in Australia has been heavily captured by the trans lobby and Kathleen Deve's punishment at the poll last night is no surprise to me.
I have to say I feel a real sense of unease and sadness at writing this.
Jaw dropping that he did that. Maybe the tide is going to turn in the US too. I fear for the backlash against GNC people, the whole thing was so unnecessary.
Not just the GNC people – with the Transcult fastened on to the same sex attracted people's movement like giant ticks, and sucking the lifeblood from it in order to "rainbow wash" their demands for special treatment and legislation, the backlash will hit them as well.
When I went to bed last night (about 10.30) the election result was still in the balance and I thought I would wake up this morning to a smug Scott Morrison chortling about how Australian voters had saved their country from chaos.
But I was certainly surprised to see that Labour had won. When I went to bed things weren't looking too bright for Labour – particularly in Queensland and Tasmania. In the end it seems that Western Australia was the decisive mover for Labour.
We can hope that the new Labour administration will be easier to work with than the former, but we probably should not expect miracles.
Science, medical and systems people, can you please explain covid death reporting to me. I understand that it's deaths with covid, but I'm not clear how big a difference there is between unrelated deaths with covid, and covid as primary or secondary cause deaths.
I'd also like a better understanding about why health systems do this. And why we don't also have reporting of deaths where those with unrelated causes aren't counted.
447 people have died with COVID-19 as the underlying cause of death. Of these, 439 died within 28 days of being reported as a case.
231 people have died with COVID-19 as a contributing cause of death. Of these, 229 died within 28 days of being reported as a case.
161 people, all of whom died within 28 days of being reported as a case, had a cause of death unrelated to COVID-19
138 people who died within 28 days of being reported as a case have yet to be classified. In some instances, the cause of death can take longer to determined, including if it is being investigated by a coroner.
My understanding is that the reporting is 'with Covid' as it is frequently difficult to determine the exact cause of death at the time; and the figures are subsequently reconciled (down).
No, I don't think so. There are always complicated death situations (even without Covid being involved) where the actual cause of death isn't absolutely clear.
Usually these will involve some secondary investigation.
Oh, and I think that any potential death by violence is left as unclassified, until an autopsy (determining exact cause, because of potential court case – can't charge someone with murder, if the victim actually died of a heart attack), and often until the coroner has sat on the case.
As an aside, this coronial inquiry can now take years, because of court system delays, much to the distress of the families involved.
See Belladonna's figures above. 977 deaths, 15% are not covid related but with covid. A similar amount of people died with covid but cause of death not yet determined.
And quite a number of the ones with Covid as a contributing cause, will be pretty borderline (e.g. final stage cancer, but Covid probably contributed).
This issue arises with the 'flu deaths each year. Quite a number attributed to 'flu, are in final stages of another condition, when they caught the 'flu and were unable to fight it off. Is it a 'flu death? Or a congestive heart failure death? Or a diabetes death? Or a cancer death?
I'm fine with someone with end stage cancer who gets covid as a contributory factor having their cause of death listed as both. So it shows up as a covid death.
The issue for me was more that someone dying in car crash with covid was listed as a covid death. 15% doesn't seem so bad though all things considered (esp in countries where they will be undercounting cases and deaths).
That's an artifact of a standardized system where all violent and potentially suspicious deaths have to be investigated by a Coroner to determine cause of death. Until that determination is made, there is no legal cause of death for reporting purposes. Looks a bit odd when it intersects with notifiable disease reporting, but reporting deaths with notifiable diseases came about because of deliberate under-reporting of AIDS deaths in the USA in the 1980s at the behest of Reagan.
Of course, 3 months and counting @$100's millions a day, nearly 30,000 troops and thousands of pieces of kit lost but we could've done the job in hours.
Australia is the largest exporter of FF after Russia and Saudi Arabia,they are also a major part of the current account surplus which funds Australias overseas debt of 1and a half trillion dollars.
NZ has a current account deficit,and a 1/2 trillion gross overseas debt loading.
The RBA ocr rate is 0.35,ours is 1.5 ( going to 2 this week) we also have a larger CPI value,which will blow up after the subsidy lifts.
We have promises of tax cuts from the blue teams,a tax increase( income protection insurance) from the red team.
Seems unlikely. NZ already has a fairly broad spectrum of political parties. And our MMP system encourages minor parties, rather than independents (who, afterall, have to get a majority of the vote in an electorate)
It's really only people who already have a high profile within a party, and then go rogue, for whom this is a viable option (Peters, Anderton, Turia)
The Teal Independat model works very well to undermine a party or leader in a STV system, not so much under MMP. Here you'd need a party to set up and undermine one of the principle parties.
We've already got ACT, Greens and Maori Party filling that role, probably not much scope for another. Various Christian focused entities have had a go as well with little success.
However can see a grouping of corporate interests having a go a National over famers getting a free ride with emissions and resource management, especially if there's blowback from EU, China or USA over National's intention to support farmers, but not other industries
The stated origin of the Australian Teals is a metro liberal (especially woman) dissatisfaction with (among other things) climate policy….not likely supporters of ACT or the Maori Party, and the Greens as an option exist within Australian politics as well.
Yes STV offers different opportunities however electorate seats within NZ still operate on FPP and if organised in a formal manner has the opportunity of MMP representation in the house, however even without Parliamentary success the opportunity to move the mainstream parties exists….as has been noted by many commentators the preeminence of the duopoly in Australian politics may have been irrevocably altered….both Labor and the Coalition received record low support.
If you are a metro Liberal currently in NZ where is your natural home….anti diversity, fundamentalist National? Labour?….their support decreases by the day.
Still have to get an outright majority in an electorate. Without STV, the chances are fairly minimal that any of the constituencies you've named would be sufficiently numerous to swing a potential Teal independent candidate over the line.
"However even without Parliamentary success the opportunity to move the mainstream parties exists….as has been noted by many commentators the preeminence of the duopoly in Australian politics may have been irrevocably altered….both Labor and the Coalition received record low support."
Even in an MMP environment (perhaps especially) the opportunity to reduce the dominance of major parties exists…..particularly when the product dosnt do what the label says.
Oz is an entirely different political environment, with STV favouring the 2 party duopoly.
With MMP in NZ, minor parties form with a reasonable chance of making it into parliament. Our political environment favours minor parties, rather than independents.
Our current situation (one single party with outright control) is an anomaly, and is unlikely to be repeated. MMP encourages coalition government (in the political sense, rather than the Australian usage!)
As I commented above, it's highly unlikely in a NZ FPP race within an electorate that any independent is going to get a majority. The STV situation in OZ, makes that outcome much more likely.
Without Parliamentary success, you're basically just a ginger group, and unlikely to have any significant impact on the major political parties. The Australian Teals required parliamentary success (as in being elected) to be in a position to (possibly) hold the balance of power.
The Australian Teals required parliamentary success (as in being elected) to be in a position to (possibly) hold the balance of power.
The exemplar is that neither One Nation nor Clive Palmer’s private party (whatever it is currently called) managed to get MPs in the house of representatives, they don’t have any. It looks like One Nation is about to lose their senate seat as well, so they have little ability to do much at all.
It is also notable that neither of those supposedly insurrectionist party even managed to get gain support in an election that was largely about the voters sticking it to the tow major parties. The support went instead to independent moderates who were just sick of the major parties of government fudging their duties to govern, falling down on climate change and corruption in the political systems.
It was also notable that (I think) that all of the winning teal candidates are professional women from various parts of the working life. Bearing in mind the sexual barbarism that has become apparent in the Aussie political system, that was a rather pointed hint that the parliamentary parties needed a pointed political stick stuffed straight up the orifices of boys only political establishment.
"Oz is an entirely different political environment, with STV favouring the 2 party duopoly."
"it's highly unlikely in a NZ FPP race within an electorate that any independent is going to get a majority. The STV situation in OZ, makes that outcome much more likely."
So does STV favour the duopoly or the independents?
There is one aspect that enhances the Teals possible success in Australia that dosnt exist here…compulsory voting.
As Belladonna says, you've got be the highest polling candidate in an electorate to pull it off, being second could have the opposite outcome.
Say a Teal stands in Epsom, pulling votes from Seymour and the National candidate, oooops, Labour candidate polls highest….
Works in STV because 2nd preference goes to your mate that you're pulling votes from, or another preferred candidate, not someone diametrically opposed to your view.
Closest we've come to this would be Bob Jones in 1984 where he split the Muldoon National vote.
A more recent example (pre-Swarbrick) was Auckland Central – where Nikki Kaye won on multiple occasions, despite the Labour+Green vote outnumbering her share.
Highest polling…not 50% +1 as required under STV…indeed in Epsom Seymour has a large majority with 47%
Epsom could fall to a 'Teal' candidate by seizing half of Acts and Nationals candidate support and still outpoll Labour comfortably….and remembering the party vote still remains.
There are always potential victims…its in the eye of the beholder.
Potentially any electorate could develop multiple splits, just because historically the two major parties traditionally dominate votes dosnt make it a requirement, that is the point.
Perhaps the 'Teals' success in Australia will trigger such…and perhaps not, but i think it reasonable to observe that the current dissatisfaction with the existing options certainly suggests something is likely to change.
…the Greens as an option exist within Australian politics as well.
A point was raised on something that I read today on abc.net.au today that the Greens did really well in urban seats in Queensland – because there weren’t any Teal candidates put up in those electorates. The voting pattern was corresponding quite different to the other two large states.
I expect the main reason Teal candidates didnt stand in Queensland was the target demographic was pretty thin on the ground…however if that pattern plays out here next year the Greens will be expecting a significant surge in support….it dosnt appear to be showing in the polls as yet.
A lot of that depopulation will be temp migrants (students etc) that were ineligible but some i guess will also be due to covid…apparently quite a bit of movement for lifestyle reasons due to lockdowns.
The similarity I have reported from contacts there is a dissatisfaction with politics in general….and the perceived solutions are likely to be similar.
There was a lot of internal migration from central to provincial centre's following covid constraints being lifted (60000 from Melbourne) they had a hard lockdown.
A lot of public perception on political solutions now is they are not unique,but copy and pasted from someone else's song sheet eg the narrative is the same,where as circumstances may differ locally.
it dosnt appear to be showing in the polls as yet.
I am not sure it will. We haven't had the ongoing drought, fire, flood and just painful changes in weather and climate cycles that has become so evident to Australians with any kind of memory.
It has highlighted what is any report on probable effects of climate change in Aussie has said for the last 40 years that I have been reading them. Direct experience tends to educate more people than theoretical models.
NZ is blessed with a narrow island land mass where nowhere is more than 100 kilometers from large oceans and seas. The water mass and types of currents buffers the direct experience away from citizens in NZ because it buffers the temperature extremes and even most of the rainfall variation.
However it won't buffer the sea level rises that are probable between 2030 and 2100 – which currently look to me to be likely to be considerably faster and larger than the IPCC upper limits. Most of that will impact NZ first in water and some transport systems.
Things like having housing in stupid locations will go first. But that will be buffered by insurance rates. It is already getting a lot more expensive to get seashore housing insurance or riverside insurance.
Probably water systems will be the first wakeup call like the aussies have been having.
I don't think that the resilience that 3 waters is meant to provide for essential systems is going to happen fast enough. Whatever lame arse stupidity National will characteristically use to replace 3 waters as a political band-aid obviously has no chance of being more then a extender of a small fuckup into a much larger one. That is their usual method of operation.
However when the sewerage systems die or the storm water systems backup because of sea level rises or plains farming suddenly find their ground water, rivers and creeks are going saline. Not to mention simple flooding as waterways outflows to the sea start getting backed up because of coastal erosion and larger waves as well as actual sea level rise. Then a lot of voters will become greener as they get experienced in the effects of climate change.
But of course so of course will all political parties. I am pretty sure that is going to happen starting now in Aussie.
No we havnt had the bush fires or floods to the scale of Australia (or the temps) but I think we have had enough 'weather' events in the past couple of years that are causing wider concern…..and the frequency certainly keeps it front of mind for voters…as do the appeals for support and associated costs.
Not really different as a patterns so far (I really hope we don't see pattern changes).
To me, what appears to be changing is the intensity of the weather generated and the frequency of events within the overall patterns.
It is what you'd expect when there is increasing energy in the climate system. Moisture gets picked up from warm oceans at a different rate. There is more energy to move it with. This can lead to larger dumps of water at different locations or water not dropping where it used to. Or simply different air masses moving faster and longer. Or increasing numbers of topical cyclones, moving on longer tracks.
During the 2010-2012 La Nina regime,globally sea levels fell due to more rain falling on land,especially Australia where there was also a decrease in the co2 airborne fraction due to the increase of biomass in Asia and Australia.
Locally in oz there was an increase in sea level ( east coast) due to thermal expansion and increased flooding on flood plains,which is expected (there was an article from graziers in inland oz who said they needed a months supply during the wet season)
Australia ( 2021) also has the coolest temperatures since 2012 (the last La Nina regime shift) so heavy rain is expected in the -ve ENSO system,and extended droughts in the +ve (el nino) system, do we tend to over extend correlation to expected climate regimes?
do we tend to over extend correlation to expected climate regimes?
Sure – everyone does that. There are timescale issues with all climate events for humans. We usually don’t live long enough to see them. However that is changing for current generations.
However aussies also looking at the extent of fires in the last fire season, which were unprecedented in the number of sites and areas across the last century. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushfires_in_Australia. But also that the majority of the eastern states populations have now seen several rounds of bad fire seasons, that their parents, grandparents, and great grand-parents did not.
Just as a matter of context about human time scales, I’m 62. My last great grand parent was died when I was in my 20s, she was born in the 1890s. I knew and talked to all of my grandparents when I was an adult. They were born in the 1920s. When I was doing earth sciences I spent time talking to them all about NZ as it was and what changed.
Queensland isn’t exactly unused to flooding. But they’re just into the start of their fifth flooding this year (just reading the flood warning).
Even when you contrast this with the 2010-11 eastern flooding, the 2022 flooding to date looks like it has already exceeded every flooding season in Australian history in terms of the type of rain that triggers it. It has barely started.
I did like the future projections. That is the shortest summary I have seen of their projections. I presume it is out of the IPCC reports from the wording.
Australia’s national science research agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), states that on account of projected future climate change, hot days will become more frequent and hotter (very high confidence), extreme rainfall events will become more intense (high confidence), and the time in drought is projected to increase over southern Australia (high confidence). Seasonal-average rainfall changes will vary across Australia: in southern mainland Australia, winter and spring rainfall is projected to decrease (high confidence), but increases are projected for Tasmania in winter (medium confidence), while in eastern and northern Australia in the near future (to 2030), natural variability is anticipated to predominate over trends due to greenhouse gas emissions.[56] However even if climate change does not result in decreased rainfall in eastern and northern Australia over the period to 2030, the perceived severity of drought (in terms of low soil moisture) would increase on account of the higher evaporative demand resulting from the projected overall rise in average temperatures.
The CSIRO has a pretty good set of models for Australia, that have been pretty accurate in projections since the mid-1990s when I first looked at them. It is a short baseline (less than a century of accurate widespread data) because of the paucity of accurate data on Australian climate. This is a good place to drill down from.
What the plantation economy does, he says, is bring the labourers in, and gives them just enough of an education so they can follow orders and do the basic arithmetic required of the job.
Small wonder then that most do not qualify for residency except by dodgy workarounds. The BAU of immigration as managed by both parties has much to answer for.
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Welcome to the August/September 2024 Economic Bulletin. In our monthly feature we provide an analysis of the gender pay gap in New Zealand for 2024. The mean gender pay gap was 8.9%, which is down from 9.8% in 2023. This meant that, on average, women will be “working for free” ...
The scale of delays on our rail network were highlighted by the Herald last week and while it’s bad, it also highlights the huge opportunity for getting our rail network back up to speed. KiwiRail has promised to cut delays on Auckland trains, amid growing concerns about the readiness of ...
Kia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, October 9:The Government has cut $6 million from subsidies for an Auckland social housing provider with three days notice, which will force it to leave houses empty ...
Once I could laugh with everyoneOnce I could see the good in meThe black and the white distinctivelyColouringHolding the world insideNow, all the world is grey to meNobody can seeYou gotta believe it!Songwriter: Brian MayMartyn Bradbury, aka Bomber, a workingman’s flat cap and a beard ripe for socialism. Love him ...
I know it may seem an odd and obvious thing to break a year's worth of radio silence over, but how come the British Conservative Party MPs (and to be fair, the Labour Labour Party, when they have their leadership shenanigans) get to use a different and better way electoral ...
HealthNZ yesterday “dropped” 454 pages of documents relating to its financial performance over the last 18 months. The documents confirm that it has a massive structural deficit, which, without savings, is expected to be $1.4 billion annually beyond the current financial year. But the papers also suggest that Health NZ ...
Hi,It’s been awhile since we’ve done an AMA on Webworm — so let’s do it. Over the next 48 hours, I’ll be milling around in the comments answering any questions you might have. Leave a commentI genuinely look forward to these things as I love the Webworm community so much ...
This is a re-post from the Climate BrinkMuch of my immediate family lives in Asheville and Black Mountain, NC. While everyone is thankfully safe, this disaster struck much closer to home for me than most. There is lots that needs to be done for disaster relief, and I’d encourage folks ...
The past couple of days, an online furore has blown up regarding commentator/scholar Corey Olsen and his claim that there is no Tolkienian canon. The sort of people who delight in getting outraged over such things have been piling onto Olsen, and often doing it in a matter that is ...
Perhaps when the archaeologists come picking their way through the ruins of a civilisation that was so fond of its fossil fuel comforts it wasn't prepared to give up any of them, they will find these two artefacts. Read more ...
Here in Aotearoa, our right-wing, ATLAS-network-backed government is rolling back climate policy and plotting to raise emissions to allow the fossil fuel industry a few more years of profit. And in Canada, their right-wing, ATLAS-network-backed opposition is campaigning on doing the same thing: Mass hunger and malnutrition. A looming ...
UPDATED:August 2024The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi (NZCTU) notes with extreme concern the ongoing genocide in Gaza, as well as the continued encroachment of illegal Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories. The NZCTU is extremely concerned that there is increasing risk of a broader regional ...
I’m just a bottom feederScum of the earthAnd I’m cursedWith the burden of empathyMy fellow humans matter to meBottom Feeder - Written, Performed and Recorded by Tane Cotton.Bottom Feeder or Fluffernutter, which one are you? Or, more to the point, which do you identify as? It’s not simply a measure ...
Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says he anticipates an increase in people “coming into the Corrections system”. The Corrections Department has applied for fast tracking so it will be able to add more beds at Mt Eden Prison when needed. Photo: Getty ImagesKia ora. Long stories short, here’s my top six ...
Remember when a guy walked into a mosque and shot everyone inside? He killed 44 people. And he then drove to a second mosque and shot and killed 7 more. He was on his way to a third mosque in Ashburton when he was stopped and arrested by the New ...
This is a re-post from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler On Bluesky, it was pointed out that Asheville, NC was recently listed as a place to go to avoid the climate crisis. link Mother Nature sent a “letter to the editor” indicating that she didn’t agree: ...
On the weekend, Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop admitted that not everyone will “like” his fast track wish-list, before adding: “We are a government that does not shy away from those tough decisions.” Hmm. IMO, there’s nothing “tough” about a government using its numbers in Parliament to bulldoze aside the public’s ...
First they came for Newshub, and I said nothing because I didn’t watch TV3. Then they came for One News, and I said nothing because I didn’t pay much attention to them either. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out because all the ...
Something I especially like about you all, you loyal and much-appreciated readers of More Than A Feilding, is that you are so very widely experienced and knowledgeable. Not just saying that. You really are.So I'm mindful as I write today that at least one of you has been captain of an ...
On Friday, Luxon and Reti were at Ormiston Private Hospital to talk up the benefits of private money in public health. [And defend Casey Costello - that’s a given for now by our National Party Ministers - including the medical doctor Shane Reti.]Luxon and Reti said we were going to ...
Hi,If you are unfortunate like me, you will have seen this image over the weekend.Donald Trump returned to the site of his near-assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania — except this time he brought Elon Musk with him. It’s difficult to keep up with Trump’s brain, but he seems to have dropped ...
The National Government has sneakily reneged on protecting the Hauraki Gulf, reducing the protected area of the marine park and inviting commercial fishing in the depleted seascape. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the Government’s response to the report into the North Island weather events but urges it to push forward with legislative change this term. ...
The Green Party echoes a call for banks to divest from entities linked to Israel’s illegal settlements in Palestine, and says Crown Financial Institutions should follow suit. ...
Te Whatu Ora’s finances have deteriorated under the National Government, turning a surplus into a deficit, and breaking promises made to New Zealanders to pay for it. ...
The Prime Minister’s decision to back his firearms minister on gun law changes despite multiple warnings shows his political judgement has failed him yet again. ...
Yesterday the government announced the list of 149 projects selected for fast-tracking across Aotearoa. Trans-Tasman Resources’ plan to mine the seabed off the coast of Taranaki was one of these projects. “We are disgusted but not surprised with the government’s decision to fast-track the decimation of our seabed,” said Te ...
At Labour’s insistence, Te Whatu Ora financial documents have been released by the Health Select Committee today showing more cuts are on the way for our health system. ...
Fresh questions have been raised about the conduct of the Firearms Minister after revelations she misled New Zealanders about her role in stopping gun reforms prior to the mosque shootings. ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford still can’t confirm when the Government will deliver the $2 billion worth school upgrades she cut earlier this year. ...
Labour acknowledges the hundreds of workers today losing their jobs as the Winstone Pulp mill closes and what it will mean for their families and community. ...
In Budget '24, the National Government put aside $216 million to pay for a tax cut which mainly benefitted one company: global tobacco giant Philip Morris. Instead of giving hundreds of millions to big tobacco, National could have spent the money sensibly, on New Zealand. ...
Te Whatu Ora’s financials from the last year show the Government has manufactured a financial crisis to justify making cuts that are already affecting patient care. ...
Over 41,000 Palestinian’s have been murdered by Israel in the last 12 months. At the same time, Israel have launched attacks against at least four other countries in the Middle East including Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iran. “You cannot play the aggressor and the victim at the same time,” said ...
Associate health minister Casey Costello has made a fool of the Prime Minister, because the product she’s been fighting to get a tax cut for and he’s been backing her on is now illegal – and he doesn’t seem to know it. ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee’s inquiry into climate adaptation is something that must be built on for an enduring framework to manage climate risk. ...
The Government is taking tertiary education down a worrying path with new reporting finding that fourteen of the country’s sixteen polytechnics couldn’t survive on their own,” Labour’s tertiary education spokesperson Dr Deborah Russell says. ...
Today the government announced a $30m cut to Te Ahu o Te Reo Māori- a programme that develops te reo Māori among our kaiako. “This announcement is just the latest in an onslaught of attacks on te iwi Māori,” said Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader Rawiri Waititi. ...
The Government has shown its true intentions for the public service and economy – it’s not to get more public servants back to the office, it’s more job losses. ...
The National Government is hiding the gaps in the health workforce from New Zealanders, by not producing a full workforce plan nearly a year into their tenure. ...
The Government’s work to boost export value has hit another milestone, with a new dairy Bill passing its first reading in Parliament today, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “The Dairy Industry Restructuring (Export Licences Allocation) Amendment Bill will modernise New Zealand’s dairy export quota system to grow export and farmgate ...
Legislation that will help protect New Zealanders from cybercrime has passed first reading in Parliament today, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “11% of New Zealanders were victims of fraud and cybercrime in 2023, causing significant financial harm and emotional distress. “The Budapest Convention, also known as the Council of Europe ...
Good evening Before discussing the ‘advancing of New Zealand and Asia relations’, we would like to congratulate the Asia New Zealand Foundation and acknowledge its significant contribution to New Zealand’s relationship with, and understanding of, Asia over the past 30 years. Can we also welcome Thitinan Pongsudhirak, one of ...
Kia ora koutou Greetings from Wellington. I am sorry I can’t be with you in person today, but I’m delighted that I can talk to you virtually. I’d like to begin by acknowledging your chair Bill Goodwin and members of your board. I’d also like to acknowledge the fitness of ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is travelling this week to Bangkok for talks with his Thai counterpart, and to Jakarta to attend the inauguration of Indonesia’s next President, Prabowo Subianto. “New Zealand is committed to our Comprehensive Partnership with Indonesia, and our shared ties as democracies in the Indo-Pacific region,” Mr ...
The one-stop-shop Fast-track Approvals Bill, and the 149 projects listed in the Bill, will help rebuild our struggling economy and kick-start economic growth across the country, Minister for Infrastructure Chris Bishop says. “Since 2022, New Zealand has battled anaemic levels of economic growth. If we want Kiwi kids to stop ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today announced the appointment of Sir Brian Roche as the next Public Service Commissioner. “I am delighted to appoint Sir Brian to this crucial leadership position,” Mr Luxon says. “Sir Brian is a highly respected New Zealander who has held significant roles across the public and ...
Forestry Minister Todd McClay today announced the establishment of a Forestry Sector Reference Group to drive better outcomes from the Forestry Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) Registry. “We are committed to working with the forestry sector to provide greater transparency and engagement on the forestry ETS registry as we work to ...
New Zealand’s fuel resilience is being strengthened to ensure people and goods keep moving and connected to the world in case of disruptions, Associate Energy Minister Shane Jones says. “Fuel security is a priority for the Coalition Government. We are acutely aware of how important engine fuels are to our ...
The Government will reform New Zealand’s Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) system to provide significant regulatory relief for businesses, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee says. “Cabinet has approved an AML/CFT reform work programme which will ensure streamlined, workable, and effective regulations for businesses, law enforcement, and ...
Significant reforms are underway in the building and construction portfolio to help enable more affordable homes and a stronger economy, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “If we want to grow the economy, lift incomes, create jobs and build more affordable, quality homes we need a construction sector that ...
Minister Responsible for the GCSB and Minister of Defence Judith Collins will travel to Singapore and Brussels for Singapore International Cyber Week and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Defence Ministers’ Meeting. New Zealand has been invited to attend the NATO meeting alongside representatives from the European Union and the ...
Toitū ngā pōito o te kupenga a Toitehuatahi! A Government commitment to restoring the health and mauri of the Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana will enhance the area for generations to come, Minister of Conservation Tama Potaka says. Cabinet recently agreed to pass the Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana Marine Protection Bill into law, ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour says the Government has committed to action on overseas investment, where the country’s policy settings are the worst in the developed world and holding back wage growth. “Cabinet has agreed to the principles for reforming our overseas investment law. At the core of these principles ...
The annual East Asia Summit (EAS) held in Laos this week underscored the critical role that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) plays in ensuring a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. "My first participation in an EAS has been a valuable opportunity to engage ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says the feedback from the health and safety roadshow will help shape the future of health and safety in New Zealand and grow the economy. “New Zealand’s poorly performing health and safety system could be costing this country billions,” says Ms van ...
The Government has released the independent Advisory Group’s report on the 384 projects which applied to be listed in the Fast-track Approvals Bill, and further detail about the careful management of Ministers’ conflicts of interest, Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop says. Independent Advisory Group Report The full report has now been ...
The Government Policy Statement (GPS) on electricity clearly sets out the Government’s role in delivering affordable and secure electricity at internationally competitive prices, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says.“New Zealand’s economic growth and prosperity relies on Kiwi households and businesses having access to affordable and secure electricity at internationally competitive prices. ...
The Government has broadly accepted the findings of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care whilst continuing to consider and respond to its recommendations. “It is clear the Crown utterly failed thousands of brave New Zealanders. As a society and as the State we should have done better. ...
The brakes have been put on contractor and consultant spending and growth in the public service workforce, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. “Workforce data released today shows spending on contractors and consultants fell by $274 million, or 13 per cent, across the public sector in the year to June 30. ...
The Crown accounts for the 2023/24 year underscore the need for the Government’s ongoing efforts to restore discipline to public spending, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Financial Statements of the Government for the year ended 30 June 2024 were released today. They show net core Crown net debt at ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will chair negotiations on carbon markets at this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) alongside Singapore’s Minister for Sustainability and Environment, Grace Fu. “Climate change is a global challenge, and it’s important for countries to be enabled to work together and support each other ...
A new confirmation of payments system in the banking sector will make it safer for Kiwis making bank transactions, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “In my open letter to the banks in February, I outlined several of my expectations of the sector, including the introduction of a ...
Associate Health Minister with responsibility for Pharmac David Seymour is pleased to see Pharmac continue to increase availability of medicines for Kiwis with the Government’s largest ever investment in Pharmac. “Pharmac operates independently, but it must work within the budget constraints set by the Government,” says Mr Seymour. “When our ...
The Government has released its long-term vision to strengthen New Zealand’s disaster resilience and emergency management, Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced today. “It’s clear from the North Island Severe Weather Events (NISWE) Inquiry, that our emergency management system was not fit-for-purpose,” Mr Mitchell says. “We’ve seen first-hand ...
Today’s cut in the Official Cash Rate (OCR) to 4.75 per cent is welcome news for families and businesses, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. “Lower interest rates will provide much-needed relief for households and businesses, allowing families to keep more of their hard-earned money and increasing the opportunities for businesses ...
Sport & Recreation Minister Chris Bishop has asked Sport NZ to review and update its Guiding Principles for the Inclusion of Transgender People in Community Sport. “The Guiding Principles, published in 2022, were intended to be a helpful guide for sporting bodies grappling with a tricky issue. They are intended ...
The Coalition Government is restoring confidence to the rural sector by pausing the rollout of freshwater farm plans while changes are made to ensure the system is affordable and more practical for farmers and growers, Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “Freshwater farm plans ...
The latest report from the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) and Stats NZ, Our air 2024, reveals that overall air quality in New Zealand is improving, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds and Statistics Minister Andrew Bayly say. “Air pollution levels have decreased in many parts of the country. New Zealand is ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts has announced the appointment of Stuart Horne as New Zealand’s Climate Change Ambassador. “I am pleased to welcome someone of Stuart’s calibre to this important role, given his expertise in foreign policy, trade, and economics, along with strong business connections,” Mr Watts says. “Stuart’s understanding ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti and Associate Health Minister Casey Costello have announced a pilot to increase childhood immunisations, by training the Whānau Āwhina Plunket workforce as vaccinators in locations where vaccine coverage is particularly low. The Government is investing up to $1 million for Health New Zealand to partner ...
The Government is looking at strengthening requirements for building professionals, including penalties, to ensure Kiwis have confidence in their biggest asset, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says “The Government is taking decisive action to make building easier and more affordable. If we want to tackle our chronic undersupply of houses ...
The Government is taking further action to tackle the unacceptable wait times facing people trying to sit their driver licence test by temporarily extending the amount of time people can drive on overseas licences from 12 months to 18 months, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The previous government removed fees for ...
The Government has reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring New Zealand is a safe and secure place to do business with the launch of new cyber security resources, Small Business and Manufacturing Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Cyber security is crucial for businesses, but it’s often discounted for more immediate business concerns. ...
Investment in Apprenticeship Boost will prioritise critical industries and targeted occupations that are essential to addressing New Zealand’s skills shortages and rebuilding the economy, Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds and Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston say. “By focusing Apprenticeship Boost on first-year apprentices in targeted occupations, ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has announced a funding boost for Palmerston North ED to reduce wait times and improve patient safety and care, as well as new national standards for moving acute patients through hospitals. “Wait times in emergency departments have deteriorated over the past six years and Palmerston ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has announced a funding boost for Palmerston North ED to reduce wait times and improve patient safety and care, as well as new national standards for moving acute patients through hospitals. “Wait times in emergency departments have deteriorated over the past six years and Palmerston ...
Mehemea he pai mō te tangata, mahia! If it’s good for the people, get on with it! A $35 million Government investment will enable the delivery of 100 affordable rental homes in partnership with Waikato-Tainui, Associate Minister of Housing Tama Potaka says. Investment for the partnership, signed and announced today ...
This week’s inaugural Ethnic Xchange Symposium will explore the role that ethnic communities and businesses can play in rebuilding New Zealand’s economy, Ethnic Communities Minister Melissa Lee says. “One of my top priorities as Minister is unlocking the economic potential of New Zealand’s ethnic businesses,” says Ms Lee. “Ethnic communities ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters are renewing New Zealand’s calls for restraint and de-escalation, on the first anniversary of the 7 October terrorist attacks on Israel. “New Zealand was horrified by the monstrous actions of Hamas against Israel a year ago today,” Mr Luxon says. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Denis Muller, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Advancing Journalism, The University of Melbourne George Negus, who has died at the age of 82, belonged to the nomenclatura of Australian television current affairs journalism. He first came to prominence as a member of ...
North Canterbury principals have responded to comments from Associate Education Minister David Seymour suggesting schools will no longer be allowed to hold teacher-only days during the school term. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Angel Zhong, Associate Professor of Finance, RMIT University Galdric PS/Shutterstock In a move that could reshape how Australians pay for everyday purchases, the federal government is preparing to ban businesses from slapping surcharges on debit card transactions. This plan, pending a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anne Twomey, Professor Emerita in Constitutional Law, University of Sydney Tarong power stationStanwell Queensland Premier Steven Miles this week declared his party would hold a plebiscite on nuclear power if it returns to office at the forthcoming state election. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Green, Research Fellow, Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Griffith University Multinational concert promoter Live Nation Entertainment has come under fire, with an ABC Four Corners investigation saying its unprecedented market power is open to abuse. The report follows concerns ...
Nicola Willis' comments on Newstalk ZB this morning were totally over the top. While Wellington City Council might be a sea of red ink, with blood up the walls, backstabbing and skulduggery, this sort of polarised rhetoric is not called for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Welch, Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau New Zealand’s infrastructure woes are a constant political pain point. From ageing water systems to congested roads and assets increasingly threatened by climate change, the country faces mammoth upgrading ...
The sudden and deep cuts left many of those providing the services scrambling to make ends meet, resulting in job losses and the loss of critical support for many. ...
An increasingly manic diary of Hollywood Avondale’s 24-hour film marathon, as it celebrates its 25th anniversary. I would say that I am a very casual film fan. My Letterboxd aura is incredibly weak, I prefer to watch movies I’ve already seen and I’ve ruined a few dates by falling asleep ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Graeme Smith, Associate professor, Australian National University The Capitol building in the Pacific island nation of Palau. Erika Bisbocci The United States isn’t the only country with a big election on November 5. Palau, a tourism-dependent microstate in the north Pacific, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bartholomew Stanford, Lecturer in Political Science/Indigenous Politics (First Peoples), Griffith University Since the Voice to Parliament referendum last year, there has been a lack of leadership on Indigenous policy from the Australian government. With this absence, the states and territories now ...
The Auckland magazine held its first restaurant of the year event since 2022. At a church. With an open bar. Duncan Greive watched the show.‘Running a restaurant – sometimes it feels like you’re running a charity for rich people’Every so often a single comment can feel like it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Draper, Professor, and Executive Director: Institute for International Trade, and Jean Monnet Chair of Trade and Environment, University of Adelaide YULIYAPHOTO/Shutterstock Finally, Australia’s rock lobster industry will be able to export to China again, following a deal struck on the ...
OK, there were a couple of winners if you looked really hard. In a perfect echo of the psychic state of the nation, last night’s eagerly awaited poll by Verian for 1News, coming precisely a year since the last election, delivered collectively to the political actors of New Zealand the ...
“Instead of using taxpayer dollars to improve the lives of Māori, the government is giving corporate handouts straight into the pockets of big business. Subsidising PB Tech with Kiwis’ hard-earned money is the equivalent of throwing taxpayer dollars ...
“We’ve all seen this movie before. When commissioners stepped into Tauranga, the city carried on sliding into ruin. Replacing elected leaders with unaccountable bureaucrats isn’t some magic solution.” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gertjan Verdickt, Lecturer, Business School, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau When it comes to investing and planning your financial future, are you more willing to trust a person or a computer? This isn’t a hypothetical question any more. Big banks ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government has announced a first step in what it says is a crackdown on excessive card surcharges and threatened a ban on surcharges for debit cards from early 2026. In the latest ...
While much has changed for the better, New Zealand risks falling behind as more jurisdictions adopt decriminalised frameworks that build in protection against discrimination, writes criminologist Lynzi Armstrong. It has been two decades since New Zealand decriminalised sex work. And while sex workers have workplace rights, they still worry about ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. RobinsonNobel Prize Outreach The 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics has been awarded to three US-based economists who examined the advantages ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Garnett, Professor of Conservation and Sustainable Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University Shuterstock First Peoples’ names for animals and plants undeniably enrich Australian culture. But to date, few names taken from a language of Australia’s First Peoples have been widely applied to ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a pensioner with a penchant for oysters explains how he gets by. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Male. Age: 77. Ethnicity: Pākehā. Role: Retired secondary chemistry ...
A new paper published in the Journal of Political Economy: Microeconomics by University of Auckland researchers Dr Chanelle Duley and Professor Prasanna Gai offers insights into how policymakers can better support migrants and society as a whole. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Raffaele F Ciriello, Senior Lecturer in Business Information Systems, University of Sydney DALL-E via Shutterstock Artificial intelligence (AI) is getting personal. Chatbots are designed to imitate human interactions, and the rise of realistic voice chat is leading many users to form ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lynzi Armstrong, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington It has been two decades since New Zealand decriminalised sex work. And while sex workers have workplace rights, they still worry about the risks of discrimination in everyday ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Murphy, Visiting Fellow, Economics (modelling), Australian National University ChristieCooper/Shutterstock The independent inquiry into the government’s COVID response is due to report on October 25. As part of its investigation into the government’s economic responses, I briefed it on the findings ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Andre Breton A century ago, French writer André Breton published a manifesto that would go on to become one of the most influential artistic texts of the 20th century. ...
But, asks Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin, can Winston Peters win his cabinet colleagues over with his ‘future fund’? To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
Landslide victory for Labor in Oz! Echoing the 2020 wipeout of the right in NZ.
In times of stress and change, voters want a government which cares about them and puts their interests first, not a government that gives tax cuts to rich pricks!
The left is on the ascendency here, in Oz and soon in the UK!
Well done Albo and the Independent Teals!
Hardly a landslide.
Don't try to cheap me out of my euphoric hyperbole!
Any Labour majority is enough to elbow aside ScoMo
That Liberals have also been taken down by the Teal women (given how centrist liberal women in their caucus have been treated, it's about time) is a nice to have. As is the presence of Greens to remind Labour not to get too comfortable in government or complacent about what is required.
https://twitter.com/AlboMP/status/1279278436675018753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1279278436675018753%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fthestandard.org.nz%2Fopen-mike-21-05-2022%2F
Not what one might expect. A support for Palestinians on Nakba in Tel Aviv – Palestinians flags etc (not something often allowed in East Jerusalem).
Al-Shaykh Muwannis (Arabic: الشيخ مونّس), also Sheikh Munis, was a small Palestinian Arab village in the Jaffa Subdistrict of Mandatory Palestine, located approximately 8.5 kilometers from the center of Jaffa city in territory earmarked for Jewish statehood under the UN Partition Plan.
The village was abandoned in March 1948 due to the threats of Jewish militias, two months before the 1948 Arab–Israeli war.
Today, Tel Aviv University lies on part of the village land.
From a recent Munk Debate: Russia-Ukraine War | Stephen Walt, John Mearsheimer v Michael McFaul, Radoslaw Sikorski, which can be found on Youtube.
Watch Michael McFaul, the former U.S. ambassador to Russia, admit that diplomatic lies are “the real world” when he answers Stephen Walt’s question about NATO’s desire to eventually scrap Ukraine. Lies which caused a war and he's just laughing and gloating about it. The amorality of some humans…..
https://twitter.com/21stCenturyWire/status/1527432262685540364
Bill Maher gets it (mostly) right. What he gets wrong is to conflate same sex attracted people (L G B) with the rest of the alphabet soup who are straight. And if gender is fluid – how is it innate?
[link fixed]
Just use the link on the You Tube video.
"if this spikein Trans children nis natural, why is it regional?" On the different rates of trans kids in California versus Ohio. Maher.
Good to see. Thanks for posting Visubversa
Using the Australian election as an indication – it does not look pretty out there.
But otherwise Maher nails it.
Kathleen Deve was actually correct when she described transgender teens as being surgically mutilated and sterilized.
Prescribing a drug that has been used to chemically castrate sex offenders to gender dysphoric teens (gender dysphoria is a mental health disorder, classified in the DSM5) is nothing short of a scandal as too is offering teenage girls double masectomies of their perfectly healththy breasts (not to mentioned hysterectomies) Also Jazz Jennings the poster child for teen trans had their penis amputated and the attempt to make a neo vagina wasn't succesful and Jazz has now had surgery no 4 to try and fix the problems the surgery has lead to.
I could not agree with you more. Without any resort to exaggeration or outrage I confess that my blood runs a little cold thinking of teenagers of being sexually mutilated – often before they have any clue about their sexual future whatsoever.
Nonetheless I can report the public discourse in Australia has been heavily captured by the trans lobby and Kathleen Deve's punishment at the poll last night is no surprise to me.
I have to say I feel a real sense of unease and sadness at writing this.
Jaw dropping that he did that. Maybe the tide is going to turn in the US too. I fear for the backlash against GNC people, the whole thing was so unnecessary.
Not just the GNC people – with the Transcult fastened on to the same sex attracted people's movement like giant ticks, and sucking the lifeblood from it in order to "rainbow wash" their demands for special treatment and legislation, the backlash will hit them as well.
Actually I fear for the backlash too. And this will likely effect gay people as well as theose rare individuals who are trans.
When I went to bed last night (about 10.30) the election result was still in the balance and I thought I would wake up this morning to a smug Scott Morrison chortling about how Australian voters had saved their country from chaos.
But I was certainly surprised to see that Labour had won. When I went to bed things weren't looking too bright for Labour – particularly in Queensland and Tasmania. In the end it seems that Western Australia was the decisive mover for Labour.
We can hope that the new Labour administration will be easier to work with than the former, but we probably should not expect miracles.
Science, medical and systems people, can you please explain covid death reporting to me. I understand that it's deaths with covid, but I'm not clear how big a difference there is between unrelated deaths with covid, and covid as primary or secondary cause deaths.
I'd also like a better understanding about why health systems do this. And why we don't also have reporting of deaths where those with unrelated causes aren't counted.
Here's a link to the MoH website with the figures
https://covid19.govt.nz/news-and-data/latest-news/covid-19-deaths-reporting-update/
My understanding is that the reporting is 'with Covid' as it is frequently difficult to determine the exact cause of death at the time; and the figures are subsequently reconciled (down).
thanks. That was my thinking too but it's been unclear and I have to wonder if it would be better to be more transparent about it.
Looks like about 15% are not related.
Is the unknown cause figure higher than usual?
No, I don't think so. There are always complicated death situations (even without Covid being involved) where the actual cause of death isn't absolutely clear.
Usually these will involve some secondary investigation.
Oh, and I think that any potential death by violence is left as unclassified, until an autopsy (determining exact cause, because of potential court case – can't charge someone with murder, if the victim actually died of a heart attack), and often until the coroner has sat on the case.
As an aside, this coronial inquiry can now take years, because of court system delays, much to the distress of the families involved.
Thanks Belladonna. Craig says similar below. Interesting.
Weka I don't have the link, but I read the number of deaths FROM covid in NZ is actually 500. Will look for link and post if I find it
See Belladonna's figures above. 977 deaths, 15% are not covid related but with covid. A similar amount of people died with covid but cause of death not yet determined.
And quite a number of the ones with Covid as a contributing cause, will be pretty borderline (e.g. final stage cancer, but Covid probably contributed).
This issue arises with the 'flu deaths each year. Quite a number attributed to 'flu, are in final stages of another condition, when they caught the 'flu and were unable to fight it off. Is it a 'flu death? Or a congestive heart failure death? Or a diabetes death? Or a cancer death?
I'm fine with someone with end stage cancer who gets covid as a contributory factor having their cause of death listed as both. So it shows up as a covid death.
The issue for me was more that someone dying in car crash with covid was listed as a covid death. 15% doesn't seem so bad though all things considered (esp in countries where they will be undercounting cases and deaths).
That's an artifact of a standardized system where all violent and potentially suspicious deaths have to be investigated by a Coroner to determine cause of death. Until that determination is made, there is no legal cause of death for reporting purposes. Looks a bit odd when it intersects with notifiable disease reporting, but reporting deaths with notifiable diseases came about because of deliberate under-reporting of AIDS deaths in the USA in the 1980s at the behest of Reagan.
thanks! So complex reasons why we have the numbers we do in daily/weekly reporting
Thanks Weka. Relying on my memory there!
Of course, 3 months and counting @$100's millions a day, nearly 30,000 troops and thousands of pieces of kit lost but we could've done the job in hours.
Expectations lowered by the day.
/
https://twitter.com/francis_scarr/status/1527979338695680000
Golly joe almost like youre setting out to prove ! free speech exists in russia !! not like you ………
..woosh….
/
Joe Hawke has died.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/05/22/bastion-point-occupation-leader-joe-hawke-dies-aged-82/
Timely to watch this again.
https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/bastion-point-the-untold-story-1999
Thanks joe90.
Was going to look up and post that link, but visitors arrived so just hit send.
Such a good programme.
18 months (or so) for a NZ version of the 'Teals' to organise….will NZ follow the Australian example?
Why?
For similar reasons they formed in Australia I would imagine…dissatisfaction with the existing offerings.
Australia is the largest exporter of FF after Russia and Saudi Arabia,they are also a major part of the current account surplus which funds Australias overseas debt of 1and a half trillion dollars.
NZ has a current account deficit,and a 1/2 trillion gross overseas debt loading.
The RBA ocr rate is 0.35,ours is 1.5 ( going to 2 this week) we also have a larger CPI value,which will blow up after the subsidy lifts.
We have promises of tax cuts from the blue teams,a tax increase( income protection insurance) from the red team.
I dont think economics is the driving force of the Teals
You can't remove the economic constraints from policy initiatives ,that is an Iron Law.
Not for political hopefulls
Absolutely – as Trump found out – you do not piss off suburban women without a payback.
Seems unlikely. NZ already has a fairly broad spectrum of political parties. And our MMP system encourages minor parties, rather than independents (who, afterall, have to get a majority of the vote in an electorate)
It's really only people who already have a high profile within a party, and then go rogue, for whom this is a viable option (Peters, Anderton, Turia)
The Teal Independat model works very well to undermine a party or leader in a STV system, not so much under MMP. Here you'd need a party to set up and undermine one of the principle parties.
We've already got ACT, Greens and Maori Party filling that role, probably not much scope for another. Various Christian focused entities have had a go as well with little success.
However can see a grouping of corporate interests having a go a National over famers getting a free ride with emissions and resource management, especially if there's blowback from EU, China or USA over National's intention to support farmers, but not other industries
The stated origin of the Australian Teals is a metro liberal (especially woman) dissatisfaction with (among other things) climate policy….not likely supporters of ACT or the Maori Party, and the Greens as an option exist within Australian politics as well.
Yes STV offers different opportunities however electorate seats within NZ still operate on FPP and if organised in a formal manner has the opportunity of MMP representation in the house, however even without Parliamentary success the opportunity to move the mainstream parties exists….as has been noted by many commentators the preeminence of the duopoly in Australian politics may have been irrevocably altered….both Labor and the Coalition received record low support.
If you are a metro Liberal currently in NZ where is your natural home….anti diversity, fundamentalist National? Labour?….their support decreases by the day.
Still have to get an outright majority in an electorate. Without STV, the chances are fairly minimal that any of the constituencies you've named would be sufficiently numerous to swing a potential Teal independent candidate over the line.
"However even without Parliamentary success the opportunity to move the mainstream parties exists….as has been noted by many commentators the preeminence of the duopoly in Australian politics may have been irrevocably altered….both Labor and the Coalition received record low support."
Even in an MMP environment (perhaps especially) the opportunity to reduce the dominance of major parties exists…..particularly when the product dosnt do what the label says.
Oz is an entirely different political environment, with STV favouring the 2 party duopoly.
With MMP in NZ, minor parties form with a reasonable chance of making it into parliament. Our political environment favours minor parties, rather than independents.
Our current situation (one single party with outright control) is an anomaly, and is unlikely to be repeated. MMP encourages coalition government (in the political sense, rather than the Australian usage!)
As I commented above, it's highly unlikely in a NZ FPP race within an electorate that any independent is going to get a majority. The STV situation in OZ, makes that outcome much more likely.
Without Parliamentary success, you're basically just a ginger group, and unlikely to have any significant impact on the major political parties. The Australian Teals required parliamentary success (as in being elected) to be in a position to (possibly) hold the balance of power.
The exemplar is that neither One Nation nor Clive Palmer’s private party (whatever it is currently called) managed to get MPs in the house of representatives, they don’t have any. It looks like One Nation is about to lose their senate seat as well, so they have little ability to do much at all.
It is also notable that neither of those supposedly insurrectionist party even managed to get gain support in an election that was largely about the voters sticking it to the tow major parties. The support went instead to independent moderates who were just sick of the major parties of government fudging their duties to govern, falling down on climate change and corruption in the political systems.
It was also notable that (I think) that all of the winning teal candidates are professional women from various parts of the working life. Bearing in mind the sexual barbarism that has become apparent in the Aussie political system, that was a rather pointed hint that the parliamentary parties needed a pointed political stick stuffed straight up the orifices of boys only political establishment.
"Oz is an entirely different political environment, with STV favouring the 2 party duopoly."
"it's highly unlikely in a NZ FPP race within an electorate that any independent is going to get a majority. The STV situation in OZ, makes that outcome much more likely."
So does STV favour the duopoly or the independents?
There is one aspect that enhances the Teals possible success in Australia that dosnt exist here…compulsory voting.
18% chose not to here last time.
As Belladonna says, you've got be the highest polling candidate in an electorate to pull it off, being second could have the opposite outcome.
Say a Teal stands in Epsom, pulling votes from Seymour and the National candidate, oooops, Labour candidate polls highest….
Works in STV because 2nd preference goes to your mate that you're pulling votes from, or another preferred candidate, not someone diametrically opposed to your view.
Closest we've come to this would be Bob Jones in 1984 where he split the Muldoon National vote.
A more recent example (pre-Swarbrick) was Auckland Central – where Nikki Kaye won on multiple occasions, despite the Labour+Green vote outnumbering her share.
Highest polling…not 50% +1 as required under STV…indeed in Epsom Seymour has a large majority with 47%
Epsom could fall to a 'Teal' candidate by seizing half of Acts and Nationals candidate support and still outpoll Labour comfortably….and remembering the party vote still remains.
There's also the question if there are any potential victims?
Luxon? Wonder how vulnerable he would be on his personal views in that electorate?
My example of Epsom was hypothetical as it was one where a sort of even four way split could happen
There are always potential victims…its in the eye of the beholder.
Potentially any electorate could develop multiple splits, just because historically the two major parties traditionally dominate votes dosnt make it a requirement, that is the point.
Perhaps the 'Teals' success in Australia will trigger such…and perhaps not, but i think it reasonable to observe that the current dissatisfaction with the existing options certainly suggests something is likely to change.
A point was raised on something that I read today on abc.net.au today that the Greens did really well in urban seats in Queensland – because there weren’t any Teal candidates put up in those electorates. The voting pattern was corresponding quite different to the other two large states.
I expect the main reason Teal candidates didnt stand in Queensland was the target demographic was pretty thin on the ground…however if that pattern plays out here next year the Greens will be expecting a significant surge in support….it dosnt appear to be showing in the polls as yet.
In Melbourne the Greens (incumbent) had a 12% swing to labour against them.
Maybe also a bit of change whoever is there.
Also there was a demographic change since covid with depopulation
New Labor candidate?
New candidate union,large inner city depopulation,and WFH has reduced inner city spend,sort of like Auckland central.
A lot of that depopulation will be temp migrants (students etc) that were ineligible but some i guess will also be due to covid…apparently quite a bit of movement for lifestyle reasons due to lockdowns.
The similarity I have reported from contacts there is a dissatisfaction with politics in general….and the perceived solutions are likely to be similar.
There was a lot of internal migration from central to provincial centre's following covid constraints being lifted (60000 from Melbourne) they had a hard lockdown.
A lot of public perception on political solutions now is they are not unique,but copy and pasted from someone else's song sheet eg the narrative is the same,where as circumstances may differ locally.
Incumbent is the Green leader.
I am not sure it will. We haven't had the ongoing drought, fire, flood and just painful changes in weather and climate cycles that has become so evident to Australians with any kind of memory.
It has highlighted what is any report on probable effects of climate change in Aussie has said for the last 40 years that I have been reading them. Direct experience tends to educate more people than theoretical models.
NZ is blessed with a narrow island land mass where nowhere is more than 100 kilometers from large oceans and seas. The water mass and types of currents buffers the direct experience away from citizens in NZ because it buffers the temperature extremes and even most of the rainfall variation.
However it won't buffer the sea level rises that are probable between 2030 and 2100 – which currently look to me to be likely to be considerably faster and larger than the IPCC upper limits. Most of that will impact NZ first in water and some transport systems.
Things like having housing in stupid locations will go first. But that will be buffered by insurance rates. It is already getting a lot more expensive to get seashore housing insurance or riverside insurance.
Probably water systems will be the first wakeup call like the aussies have been having.
I don't think that the resilience that 3 waters is meant to provide for essential systems is going to happen fast enough. Whatever lame arse stupidity National will characteristically use to replace 3 waters as a political band-aid obviously has no chance of being more then a extender of a small fuckup into a much larger one. That is their usual method of operation.
However when the sewerage systems die or the storm water systems backup because of sea level rises or plains farming suddenly find their ground water, rivers and creeks are going saline. Not to mention simple flooding as waterways outflows to the sea start getting backed up because of coastal erosion and larger waves as well as actual sea level rise. Then a lot of voters will become greener as they get experienced in the effects of climate change.
But of course so of course will all political parties. I am pretty sure that is going to happen starting now in Aussie.
No we havnt had the bush fires or floods to the scale of Australia (or the temps) but I think we have had enough 'weather' events in the past couple of years that are causing wider concern…..and the frequency certainly keeps it front of mind for voters…as do the appeals for support and associated costs.
Are the convergent systems ie climate drivers different from 2010-2011?
The attractors are preferred states ie La nina,Southern annular mode,IOD.
All have the same properties (read sign) of 2010-2011.Long term persistence is well described.
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/enso/history/La-Nina-2010-12.pdf
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/enso/#tabs=Indian-Ocean
Not really different as a patterns so far (I really hope we don't see pattern changes).
To me, what appears to be changing is the intensity of the weather generated and the frequency of events within the overall patterns.
It is what you'd expect when there is increasing energy in the climate system. Moisture gets picked up from warm oceans at a different rate. There is more energy to move it with. This can lead to larger dumps of water at different locations or water not dropping where it used to. Or simply different air masses moving faster and longer. Or increasing numbers of topical cyclones, moving on longer tracks.
During the 2010-2012 La Nina regime,globally sea levels fell due to more rain falling on land,especially Australia where there was also a decrease in the co2 airborne fraction due to the increase of biomass in Asia and Australia.
Locally in oz there was an increase in sea level ( east coast) due to thermal expansion and increased flooding on flood plains,which is expected (there was an article from graziers in inland oz who said they needed a months supply during the wet season)
Australia ( 2021) also has the coolest temperatures since 2012 (the last La Nina regime shift) so heavy rain is expected in the -ve ENSO system,and extended droughts in the +ve (el nino) system, do we tend to over extend correlation to expected climate regimes?
Sure – everyone does that. There are timescale issues with all climate events for humans. We usually don’t live long enough to see them. However that is changing for current generations.
However aussies also looking at the extent of fires in the last fire season, which were unprecedented in the number of sites and areas across the last century. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushfires_in_Australia. But also that the majority of the eastern states populations have now seen several rounds of bad fire seasons, that their parents, grandparents, and great grand-parents did not.
Just as a matter of context about human time scales, I’m 62. My last great grand parent was died when I was in my 20s, she was born in the 1890s. I knew and talked to all of my grandparents when I was an adult. They were born in the 1920s. When I was doing earth sciences I spent time talking to them all about NZ as it was and what changed.
Queensland isn’t exactly unused to flooding. But they’re just into the start of their fifth flooding this year (just reading the flood warning).
Even when you contrast this with the 2010-11 eastern flooding, the 2022 flooding to date looks like it has already exceeded every flooding season in Australian history in terms of the type of rain that triggers it. It has barely started.
The droughts are the same when you look over the 20th century onwards (the 19th century data is a bit eccentric).
I did like the future projections. That is the shortest summary I have seen of their projections. I presume it is out of the IPCC reports from the wording.
The CSIRO has a pretty good set of models for Australia, that have been pretty accurate in projections since the mid-1990s when I first looked at them. It is a short baseline (less than a century of accurate widespread data) because of the paucity of accurate data on Australian climate. This is a good place to drill down from.
There's an interesting interview on Stuff that sheds some light on contemporary immigration policy:
What the plantation economy does, he says, is bring the labourers in, and gives them just enough of an education so they can follow orders and do the basic arithmetic required of the job.
Small wonder then that most do not qualify for residency except by dodgy workarounds. The BAU of immigration as managed by both parties has much to answer for.