This probably needs is own post, but when Sweden does get fresh elections, we are very likely to see the social democratic party take a hiding.
Sweden was one of the pioneers of a very socialised state with heavy taxes and a very strong social network of services from cradle to the grave (for those old enough to remember the 1970s, ABBA paid between 56 and 85% tax to the Swedish government on their huge earnings).
I've been pointing out for a while now that New Zealand is very much a global outlier as a social democratic government – even in our mild form.
Across Europe the social democratic cause has collapsed in Austria, Germany, increasingly Britain, and now it's just had a pretty big reversal in Sweden.
Of those that remain other than New Zealand, Denmark, Finland and Spain are still going OK. Denmark's version got back with a strong anti-immigration theme which has continued. The social democratic movement has declined at the same time as the welfare state has been challenged by mass immigration.
We might have expected after the revival of state interventionism across the world last year that there would be fresh purpose to parties that saw the good in the strongly redistributive state. Maybe that's still to come.
Meantime, even the Scandinavian model has taken yet another hit.
Other than the outliers, the social democratic effort is now at its lowest point.
Some of the reasons for the political discontent are not discussed, not accepted and politically incorrect. But people will and do react.
All the mentioned countries had an influx, and still have of large numbers of refugees and additionally of economic immigrants on the coat tail of the refugees who are getting state support in form of housing, cash and vouchers, special grants etc. Often higher than any beneficiary in the very same country.
This has basically drained the countries dry of funds for those who have paid into the scheme – the citizen and taxpayers of the respective country. One needs to remember that the tax is divided into Social welfare components, be it health, unemployment or retirement and other. Hence the astronomical "tax take". In other words taxpayers contribute from their wages to their cost in form of taxation rather then privatised insurance individually. In contrast NZ has a general taxation system and I think only ACC and Kiwi saver are the exceptions. ACC is compulsory but Kiwi saver is not.
The Social Democratic systems across Europe are very similar in terms of taxation. Under above circumstance, there are experiences where one own family's welfare is curtailed i.e. elderly have not enough to survive, and being ask to contribute more. This will spell disaster. This is the reason why Europe is moving to conservative politics or even further right. Some seriously consider similar regimes like Erdogan has established. When the own citizenry is being made to suffer the call is always for a strong politicians. This is dangerous and should not be underestimated.
Lets watch this to learn from a highly social minded people what an assumption that nothing ever has consequences and everybody is a philanthropist can do.
If unwanted and untrammeled immigration were the primary cause for the decline of such social democratic movements, rather than a late contributing factor, we would have seen a whole bunch more political instability than we've had.
Rather what it tells me is that some states were far more brittle than they appeared from the outside, and substantially made brittle both institutionally and in their voters because the GFC and the EU austerity responses had made their societies so weak.
Immigration is part of the answer in Scandinavia – it has seriously disrupted a previously homogenous society. But that doesn't work in Australia, New Zealand or Singapore, where they have had controlled waves of immigration that have not really tested the strength of the welfare state to deliver.
There's a fair few reasons for the collapse of social democrat movements.
Ad – Australia, New Zealand and Singapore never had to support fully from the word go millions of refugees, EU 1400 per person per month = NZ $ 2800 per person per month plus child care, plus accommodation – meaning actual housing not hotels, healthcare etc. There are actual cases where the taxpayer is getting not enough to live on despite having paid into the social fund for 45 years. All the rhetoric of we care etc. goes out the window. Its human nature and applies to everybody, no exceptions. The Brussels Brigade is demanding more and more to the detriment of sovereign countries in the misled belief that EU can function like the USA. In a nutshell, the people of EU have had enough and even the most placid starting to get not just stroppy but outright agro. Believe me, my family lives there.
Absolutely, that's why the danish social Democratic party was anti immigration and anti refugee… and it won …working class people in Europe don't like what's happened since the migrant crisis. They just don't. I'm not saying it's right or wrong I find it fascinating that it's clearly an issue for working class voters and most modern social Democratic parties just ignore it. Nz labour could hardly be called a massively pro immigration party heading into 2017 either.
In fact if you'll recall the nz labour party was highly criticized locally and overseas for wanting to lower immigration and foreign ownership, they even had a list of Chinese sounding names!! these policies may not have registered with the pollsters but they certainly did at the local pubs, and I've always found working class pubs to be far more insync with the public mood than academics, ideologues and media.
Germanys social Democratic party is dead not just because it supported the Tory govt but also cos it supported the huge amounts of migrants, Uk labour is associated with a whole list of things but one thing people don't like to talk about is working class Brits associate it's last term of govt with mass immigration and freedom of movement.
Same with the us democrats. Open borders sanctuary cities etc etc etc
If you asked most working class kiwis they'd not only like to stop all immigration for a couple years but they'd like to stop kiwis from coming home.
It's weird the modern left worships MJS and the first three labour governments but never likes to talk about those governments extremely racist immigration policies which were all about protecting local labour markers …. this was left wing policy which is why Winston peters appeals to a lot of socially conservative labour voters
People are stressing out about their housing situations, their kids housing situations and if there is a massive collapse in the nz housing market or economy nz is absolutely bripe for a populist anti immigration party ( I hope it never happens, I'm an internationalist, not a globalist I like multiculturalism)
Social democratic parties have mostly not ever been able to come to grips with the effects that globalism of capital and labour have had on their domestic working class and it's crippled their parties, NZ labour particularly if you look at the fourth and fifth labour govts is incredibly lucky to have survived and not gone the way of the Greek, icelandic or Netherlands labour parties.
Nz hasn't, yet, had the kinds of refugee crisis that Europe had (we will when climate change really hits) Europe had ten million refugees in a couple years, a couple years after the gfc, they have more terrorist incidents than you can shake a stick at and have genuine hard right populists who are able to seriously manipulate the working class into thinking this is the fault of the left not right wing wars and economics and with the neoliberal eu wanting more and more sovereignty…. It might actually play well for parties like UK labour to fully become eurosceptic parties…
Maybe not…
One does have to wonder what would have happened had labour been a pro brexit party after the referendum and accepted the results but promised a better deal not a referendum on a deal.
Good points Foreign Waka. And going further – why are there so many refugees – wars being declared by resource-hungry big powers often, usually? The strong countries driven by their elites are willing to crucify the people in foreign and their own countries. The neolib economic system was meant to open up the world to predator interests. We see the results.
Going into space. The wet dream of men with too much in their hands, money, opportunity, single-minded drive, competition with peers, and the admiration of the gullible. And tech robotics, and profit driven use of them, also again men's love of complex machinery, novelty.
And in the future, more areas being led to famine as is the case apparently right now in Tigray, Ethiopia. Gwyn Dyer did one of his informative columns on them. It has happened before, but that is not enough for the callous blood lust of some Ethiopians.
Women in future, as the understanding of what a woman is, and more homosexuals choose not to cross-gender, and the state and men find having babies and looking after them just a burden to them and the planet, I foresee that women will become a sub-group. Certainly rights only obtained after much effort are being wiped, and mothers are to be manipulated.
In China, it was a one child policy and girls were not part of the mainstay of the social fabric, so were unwelcome.
In Peru – Keiko Fujimori’s supporters have also been urging her to resume the forced sterilisation of the rural poor that was initiated by her father Alberto, during the 1990s. The official health figures in Peru show that 270,000 women and 22,000 men were sterilised
In USA – It's different. Women, individually want the right of choice about abortion and sterilisation, not have fertility enforced on them, but; the US Catholic Bishops Conference passed a remit a few days ago calling for the drawing up of a statement on the Eucharist intended to eventually deny Biden access to Communion, because of his support for abortion rights.,,
If the only government one can form is to sit on the fence between the left and the right, sooner or later they'll try to pull you apart like a wishbone.
Chris Penk in the news twice in one week. Once with his remark about wanting to be leader one day. Made on Newshub Nation. And today using the f word in tweet about Winston.
In a political sense Penk shows he's is an out of touch jerk. It's all right to be a smart arse out the back with the boys and girls over a beer but if he's that stupid as to not realise the naivety of his tweet he's in the wrong business.
Well, maybe the right business if National wants to stay where it is in the public's eyes.
(Any chance David Seymour will pop up his head and criticise the evident "cancel culture"?)
Peters didn't traverse the party's review into what went wrong last year in his speech, but said there was a growing sentiment among the public that the Government needed NZ First.
"We were pilloried for being the handbrake, but since the last election hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders are coming to understand why we were essential and now why we are missed."
Canadian Politician Derek Sloan and 3 medical professionals-who say they represent hundreds of their colleagues -said last week in a press conference the Canadian Government is suppressing information about the harmful effects of lockdown, vaccine risks in children, and the efficacy of certain covid treatments.
The College of physicians and surgeons of Ontario CPSO issued a dire statement late April threatening doctors who spoke out about what they witnessed in their local hospitals and communities. "The purpose of CPSO is to protect the public" said Sloane '' ,not stifle legitimate scientific enquiry or dissent by professional Doctors" He says his office was flooded with calls from doctors, nurses, and other scientific experts who said they have been threatened and blocked from sharing their stories.
'I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it " Voltaire !!!
[Hysterical Pete, you’re now in Pre-Moderation until you can provide a comment that does not sound like it’s coming from a full-blown conspiracy nutbar and contains a decent link – Incognito]
Just in case anyone really wonders, I googled the quote, and got 5 pages of results, every single one of which comes from a well-known lying disinformation rabid anti-vax site.
Me too. Not because I'd be banning people, but with the safety of being a mod I'd be saying a lot more of what I really want to say. Which would make other mods uncomfortable.
Thanks for looking it up Andre so we can confirm our strong suspicions and keep the facts as we know them clean and understandable. It's hard to find your way through the fog of dark suspicions otherwise; and people can be so certain about them. All they need is to find one hole in something accepted and the deluge follows. We have to keep our finger on the hole in the dyke like the Dutch story!
These attacks were by and large not pursued through normal channels of scientific discussion. Her research became the target of an aggressive campaign that included insults, errors, misinformation, social media posts, behind-the-scenes gossip and maneuvers, and complaints to her employer. The goal appeared to be to undermine and discredit her work. The controversy was something deliberately manufactured, and the attacks primarily consisted of repeated assertions of preconceived opinions. She learned first-hand the antagonism that could be provoked by inconvenient scientific findings.
The inequities are laid out in a series of briefings, obtained by RNZ under the Official Information Act, from ACC to its Minister Carmel Sepuloni, after the corporation analysed claims data between June 2015 and July 2020.
Green Party ACC spokesperson Jan Logie, who has campaigned for successive governments to address inequalities in the scheme, said the biases were inevitable because the Accident Compensation Act, developed in the 1970s, "just hadn't kept up" with changes in society.
"It was developed at a time where mostly it was men going out to work, and doing particular types of work," she said. As a result, there was a "very strong bias" in favour of working men, she said.
"At the moment, women, Māori and Pasifika are bearing the burden of that failure."
You could say this for ALL social services as even a women earning will become a "handbag" to her partner/husband as soon as it comes to applying for all sorts of support. It almost feels like the 60's, we are launching rockets and yet women are still treated like extension of males. Moon landing rockabilly, we haven't moved at all.
An inequality not mentioned is that when a person dies from an injury and they do not have an executor the next of kin is unable to access the person's ACC file. This is distressing when the information on the injury form differs to what the surgeon wrote in the patients surgery notes.
Everyone else which I have contacted with the authorisation from the next of kin has given me the dead person's file.
ACC told me that even if I gave them the surgeons notes that ACC could be taken to court were they to give me the file as the person's privacy would be breached. The Privacy Commissioner's Office told me that they do not advocate for a dead man.
My response was a dead man has no rights and ACC cannot make a correct decision when the true extent of the injury was not stated on the injury form.
Totally reasonable arguments raised by a part-time landlording corporate lawyer with a preference for biking downhill fuelled by discounted Martinborough pinot noir and erecting election hoardings. I hope that encourages Standardistas to read bwaghorn's worthy recommendation (hint- you need to get past the opening paragraphs' rather well-disguised 'chinaman').
What, an another unsavoury National MP? Chris Penk joining the ranks now. Do they train them at an unfit for public office school? Always plenty of candidates.
To maintain the atmosphere of superiority and high pricing I remember that a NZ company I think Lands for Bags destroyed new bags at the end of a season. Putting them out at sale prices would detract from their desirability and allure. That attitude makes sense when dealing with the high-end of society and fashion. The price put on bags with top-end designers names is pure BS on sale to air-heads.
My scavenging, bin diver extraordinaire mate routinely drags all manner of small appliances home, we're talking dozens here, and in an attempt to rewire them, tasks me to find tools to deal with the proprietary fasteners used. I only manage to find the occasional screw bit so most end up back where they came from, the bin.
Are they genuinely brand-new, or maybe warranty returns that didn't work when the customer first plugged it in?
I've yet to need to get into something and haven't been able to using just a fairly basic set of security screw driver bits. I'd be awfully curious which brands feel the need to make it harder than that to get in.
Unsold brand spankers from big box outlets. And the jaycar is one of several kits and yet he's still routinely defeated by slightly mis-matched drives designed to strip/single use destruction and odd-ball centre pin security fasteners.
defeated by slightly mis-matched drives designed to strip/single use destruction and odd-ball centre pin security fasteners.
Yeah I know what you mean!
Mind you this is no modern idiosyncrasy. I had a '29 model A Ford way back. One saturday driving back home over the wainui hill she started running on 3 cylinders. So Back home. Just before Uni final exams. Had to take the head off to see what was wrong. One collapsed 3rd piston! Not a bit – left all in the sump! Thank goodness for splash lubrication. So then the task was to remove the con rod and find a replacement piston. Henry Ford wasn't having any after parts shinnanigans going on and all the bolts nuts and threads were weird sizing – especially the threads which were very fine. So fine that the nuts was now welded onto the con rod bolts. After wrecking two of my dads special sockets I asked a friend who was an AA mechanic – "How do you get those nuts off?" "With a chisel!"
we also hope that even though this platform no longer will be around, that hong kong journalists will continue to hold ground, and pursue the truth. last but not least, thanks to the anchors, editors, and other colleagues behind the scene …
for accepting a mission impossible, a mission in response to today's society. thanks again to all of you for your support. to the people of hong kong, stay strong. may we meet down the road. bye bye."
Hong Kong’s Apple Daily newspaper and website could shut down this weekend if authorities do not agree to the board’s request to unfreeze its assets, after the arrest of its senior editors and executives last week.
According to various local reports on Monday afternoon, an internal memo said Next Digital, Apple Daily’s parent company, would seek restored access to its accounts so it can pay staff, but that if this did not happen by Friday it would make a decision to stop publication of the pro-democracy title.
The potential end of the 26-year-old paper comes after a police operation in which officers raided the homes of five executives, including Apple Daily’s editor-in-chief, Ryan Law, and arrested them under the national security law, before raiding the newsroom with an unprecedented warrant allowing the seizure of journalistic materials.
"The department for safeguarding the national security of the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) arrested the editor-in-chief and four directors on suspicion of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces.
This was the second time Apply Daily, founded and owned by Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, who bears multiple charges including conspiracy to collude with foreign countries or forces to endanger national security, has been raided since the national security law for Hong Kong came into force on June 30, 2020.
Senior Superintendent of Hong Kong police Steve Li Kwai-wah told reporters after the arrests that strong evidence showed that dozens of questionable articles published by Apple Daily since 2019 played a very crucial part in the conspiracy which provided the ammunition for foreign countries and institutions or organizations to impose sanctions on China and the Hong Kong region.
Police raided the offices of Apple Daily following a search warrant, in accordance with Article 43 of the national security law for Hong Kong, which stipulates that when handling cases concerning offence endangering national security, the department for safeguarding national security of the Hong Kong police may take measures such as a search of premises, vehicles, vessels, aircraft and other relevant places and electronic devices that may contain evidence of an offense. "
Myanmar: on the brink of collapse
The strangling of the press On World Press Freedom Day, on 3 May, 50 journalists were detained in Myanmar while dozens more journalists were evading arrest warrants, according to the non-profit organisation Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Journalists are predominantly charged under section 505(a) of the penal code, which criminalises the spread of information that could cause disobedience within the police or armed forces and is punishable by up to three years in prison.
Courage and terror in Myanmar Lives and livelihoods have been laid down for democracy. The economy is on the brink of collapse. The world must support the people’s quest to end military rule once and for all, writes Preeti Jha.
This would reduce competition wouldn't it? If we can't have one SOE? operating our small nation's electricity, which would be the practical way to go – with some way of monitoring for price and effectiveness – then it is likely to be worse if there are just a few players, I would think?
Could someone who knows about such things give a valid opinion? Has Mercury got a good record?
On situation in HK.
Put it down to the American and western covert actions, trying to pierce the soft underbelly of China. It was never going to work, unless this is what the west wanted, trying to increase revolt by the people of HK, who in the most part did not support the bullshit umbrella actions of the hegemonic US.
They cause the reactions by the interfered Countries all over the World. America is only truly free to the elite classes, so fuck your crocodile tears.
I guess he was looking at this one right in front of him that he could put a link to. Is that a reasonable answer to your rather pointed question? One does want to approach matters in an equality-based not biased, way.
What does it have to do with the colour of her skin? If she was white, yellow or green I still think the sentence should be harsher. My comment was regarding the judge who seems to be afraid to actually hand down a sentence that may actually deter her as she is obviously a repeat offender and needs to be stopped. She didn't learn from 2012 so needs a harsher sentence.
I think the judge in this case should also start issuing appropriate sentences (and this repeat offender is white).
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Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
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So, the Swedish government has just collapsed, and with it come the very high prospect of fresh elections.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p11aRV4vSAU
This probably needs is own post, but when Sweden does get fresh elections, we are very likely to see the social democratic party take a hiding.
Sweden was one of the pioneers of a very socialised state with heavy taxes and a very strong social network of services from cradle to the grave (for those old enough to remember the 1970s, ABBA paid between 56 and 85% tax to the Swedish government on their huge earnings).
I've been pointing out for a while now that New Zealand is very much a global outlier as a social democratic government – even in our mild form.
Across Europe the social democratic cause has collapsed in Austria, Germany, increasingly Britain, and now it's just had a pretty big reversal in Sweden.
Of those that remain other than New Zealand, Denmark, Finland and Spain are still going OK. Denmark's version got back with a strong anti-immigration theme which has continued. The social democratic movement has declined at the same time as the welfare state has been challenged by mass immigration.
We might have expected after the revival of state interventionism across the world last year that there would be fresh purpose to parties that saw the good in the strongly redistributive state. Maybe that's still to come.
Meantime, even the Scandinavian model has taken yet another hit.
Other than the outliers, the social democratic effort is now at its lowest point.
Some of the reasons for the political discontent are not discussed, not accepted and politically incorrect. But people will and do react.
All the mentioned countries had an influx, and still have of large numbers of refugees and additionally of economic immigrants on the coat tail of the refugees who are getting state support in form of housing, cash and vouchers, special grants etc. Often higher than any beneficiary in the very same country.
This has basically drained the countries dry of funds for those who have paid into the scheme – the citizen and taxpayers of the respective country. One needs to remember that the tax is divided into Social welfare components, be it health, unemployment or retirement and other. Hence the astronomical "tax take". In other words taxpayers contribute from their wages to their cost in form of taxation rather then privatised insurance individually. In contrast NZ has a general taxation system and I think only ACC and Kiwi saver are the exceptions. ACC is compulsory but Kiwi saver is not.
The Social Democratic systems across Europe are very similar in terms of taxation. Under above circumstance, there are experiences where one own family's welfare is curtailed i.e. elderly have not enough to survive, and being ask to contribute more. This will spell disaster. This is the reason why Europe is moving to conservative politics or even further right. Some seriously consider similar regimes like Erdogan has established. When the own citizenry is being made to suffer the call is always for a strong politicians. This is dangerous and should not be underestimated.
Lets watch this to learn from a highly social minded people what an assumption that nothing ever has consequences and everybody is a philanthropist can do.
If unwanted and untrammeled immigration were the primary cause for the decline of such social democratic movements, rather than a late contributing factor, we would have seen a whole bunch more political instability than we've had.
Rather what it tells me is that some states were far more brittle than they appeared from the outside, and substantially made brittle both institutionally and in their voters because the GFC and the EU austerity responses had made their societies so weak.
Immigration is part of the answer in Scandinavia – it has seriously disrupted a previously homogenous society. But that doesn't work in Australia, New Zealand or Singapore, where they have had controlled waves of immigration that have not really tested the strength of the welfare state to deliver.
There's a fair few reasons for the collapse of social democrat movements.
Ad – Australia, New Zealand and Singapore never had to support fully from the word go millions of refugees, EU 1400 per person per month = NZ $ 2800 per person per month plus child care, plus accommodation – meaning actual housing not hotels, healthcare etc. There are actual cases where the taxpayer is getting not enough to live on despite having paid into the social fund for 45 years. All the rhetoric of we care etc. goes out the window. Its human nature and applies to everybody, no exceptions. The Brussels Brigade is demanding more and more to the detriment of sovereign countries in the misled belief that EU can function like the USA. In a nutshell, the people of EU have had enough and even the most placid starting to get not just stroppy but outright agro. Believe me, my family lives there.
Absolutely, that's why the danish social Democratic party was anti immigration and anti refugee… and it won …working class people in Europe don't like what's happened since the migrant crisis. They just don't. I'm not saying it's right or wrong I find it fascinating that it's clearly an issue for working class voters and most modern social Democratic parties just ignore it. Nz labour could hardly be called a massively pro immigration party heading into 2017 either.
In fact if you'll recall the nz labour party was highly criticized locally and overseas for wanting to lower immigration and foreign ownership, they even had a list of Chinese sounding names!! these policies may not have registered with the pollsters but they certainly did at the local pubs, and I've always found working class pubs to be far more insync with the public mood than academics, ideologues and media.
Germanys social Democratic party is dead not just because it supported the Tory govt but also cos it supported the huge amounts of migrants, Uk labour is associated with a whole list of things but one thing people don't like to talk about is working class Brits associate it's last term of govt with mass immigration and freedom of movement.
Same with the us democrats. Open borders sanctuary cities etc etc etc
If you asked most working class kiwis they'd not only like to stop all immigration for a couple years but they'd like to stop kiwis from coming home.
It's weird the modern left worships MJS and the first three labour governments but never likes to talk about those governments extremely racist immigration policies which were all about protecting local labour markers …. this was left wing policy which is why Winston peters appeals to a lot of socially conservative labour voters
People are stressing out about their housing situations, their kids housing situations and if there is a massive collapse in the nz housing market or economy nz is absolutely bripe for a populist anti immigration party ( I hope it never happens, I'm an internationalist, not a globalist I like multiculturalism)
Social democratic parties have mostly not ever been able to come to grips with the effects that globalism of capital and labour have had on their domestic working class and it's crippled their parties, NZ labour particularly if you look at the fourth and fifth labour govts is incredibly lucky to have survived and not gone the way of the Greek, icelandic or Netherlands labour parties.
Nz hasn't, yet, had the kinds of refugee crisis that Europe had (we will when climate change really hits) Europe had ten million refugees in a couple years, a couple years after the gfc, they have more terrorist incidents than you can shake a stick at and have genuine hard right populists who are able to seriously manipulate the working class into thinking this is the fault of the left not right wing wars and economics and with the neoliberal eu wanting more and more sovereignty…. It might actually play well for parties like UK labour to fully become eurosceptic parties…
Maybe not…
One does have to wonder what would have happened had labour been a pro brexit party after the referendum and accepted the results but promised a better deal not a referendum on a deal.
Good points Foreign Waka. And going further – why are there so many refugees – wars being declared by resource-hungry big powers often, usually? The strong countries driven by their elites are willing to crucify the people in foreign and their own countries. The neolib economic system was meant to open up the world to predator interests. We see the results.
Going into space. The wet dream of men with too much in their hands, money, opportunity, single-minded drive, competition with peers, and the admiration of the gullible. And tech robotics, and profit driven use of them, also again men's love of complex machinery, novelty.
And in the future, more areas being led to famine as is the case apparently right now in Tigray, Ethiopia. Gwyn Dyer did one of his informative columns on them. It has happened before, but that is not enough for the callous blood lust of some Ethiopians.
Women in future, as the understanding of what a woman is, and more homosexuals choose not to cross-gender, and the state and men find having babies and looking after them just a burden to them and the planet, I foresee that women will become a sub-group. Certainly rights only obtained after much effort are being wiped, and mothers are to be manipulated.
In China, it was a one child policy and girls were not part of the mainstay of the social fabric, so were unwelcome.
In Peru – Keiko Fujimori’s supporters have also been urging her to resume the forced sterilisation of the rural poor that was initiated by her father Alberto, during the 1990s. The official health figures in Peru show that 270,000 women and 22,000 men were sterilised
In USA – It's different. Women, individually want the right of choice about abortion and sterilisation, not have fertility enforced on them, but; the US Catholic Bishops Conference passed a remit a few days ago calling for the drawing up of a statement on the Eucharist intended to eventually deny Biden access to Communion, because of his support for abortion rights.,,
As Vox News noted, US politicians who support the death penalty have never been similarly threatened by the US Bishops for flouting the Church’s clear opposition to executions. This opposition was re-stated by Pope Francis in an encyclical called Fratelli Tutti last October.. https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL2106/S00067/on-the-lancets-stance-against-the-olympic-games-and-on-the-us-culture-battles-over-abortion.htm
Sorry I couldn't get access to the Gwynne Dyer piece on Ethiopia despite lots of looking – I saw it in the Christchurch Press just this morning.
If the only government one can form is to sit on the fence between the left and the right, sooner or later they'll try to pull you apart like a wishbone.
The nationalists called the vote, the ex-communists withdrew their support. Is that a slip to the right, or is it both extremes flexing their muscles?
Chris Penk in the news twice in one week. Once with his remark about wanting to be leader one day. Made on Newshub Nation. And today using the f word in tweet about Winston.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/winston-peters-called-national-party-sex-maniacs-judith-collins-responds-to-barb/LASZHB4UVDTGRUIYR2RILG4FPA/
More jostling for position for Deputy Leader behind Luxon?
And ha! They've since "cancelled" the tweet.
In a political sense Penk shows he's is an out of touch jerk. It's all right to be a smart arse out the back with the boys and girls over a beer but if he's that stupid as to not realise the naivety of his tweet he's in the wrong business.
Well, maybe the right business if National wants to stay where it is in the public's eyes.
(Any chance David Seymour will pop up his head and criticise the evident "cancel culture"?)
Winston First is polling at about 1%.
Canadian Politician Derek Sloan and 3 medical professionals-who say they represent hundreds of their colleagues -said last week in a press conference the Canadian Government is suppressing information about the harmful effects of lockdown, vaccine risks in children, and the efficacy of certain covid treatments.
The College of physicians and surgeons of Ontario CPSO issued a dire statement late April threatening doctors who spoke out about what they witnessed in their local hospitals and communities. "The purpose of CPSO is to protect the public" said Sloane '' ,not stifle legitimate scientific enquiry or dissent by professional Doctors" He says his office was flooded with calls from doctors, nurses, and other scientific experts who said they have been threatened and blocked from sharing their stories.
'I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it " Voltaire !!!
[Hysterical Pete, you’re now in Pre-Moderation until you can provide a comment that does not sound like it’s coming from a full-blown conspiracy nutbar and contains a decent link – Incognito]
Please provide a link when you quote an article like that.
Just in case anyone really wonders, I googled the quote, and got 5 pages of results, every single one of which comes from a well-known lying disinformation rabid anti-vax site.
Glad I'm not a moderator..
Me too. Not because I'd be banning people, but with the safety of being a mod I'd be saying a lot more of what I really want to say. Which would make other mods uncomfortable.
Thanks for looking it up Andre so we can confirm our strong suspicions and keep the facts as we know them clean and understandable. It's hard to find your way through the fog of dark suspicions otherwise; and people can be so certain about them. All they need is to find one hole in something accepted and the deluge follows. We have to keep our finger on the hole in the dyke like the Dutch story!
"they've been blocked from telling their stories" yet somehow continue to tell their stories.
Evelyn Beatrice Hall!!!…but you're an historian, right?
/
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/06/01/defend-say/
See my Moderation note @ 11:50 am.
Heh.
The fat libels,the problematic issue of heresy.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0033062021000670
ACC reports to its Minister about its problematic relationship with certain population groups: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/445178/acc-biased-against-women-maori-and-pasifika-agency-s-own-analysis-shows
You could say this for ALL social services as even a women earning will become a "handbag" to her partner/husband as soon as it comes to applying for all sorts of support. It almost feels like the 60's, we are launching rockets and yet women are still treated like extension of males. Moon landing rockabilly, we haven't moved at all.
An inequality not mentioned is that when a person dies from an injury and they do not have an executor the next of kin is unable to access the person's ACC file. This is distressing when the information on the injury form differs to what the surgeon wrote in the patients surgery notes.
Everyone else which I have contacted with the authorisation from the next of kin has given me the dead person's file.
ACC told me that even if I gave them the surgeons notes that ACC could be taken to court were they to give me the file as the person's privacy would be breached. The Privacy Commissioner's Office told me that they do not advocate for a dead man.
My response was a dead man has no rights and ACC cannot make a correct decision when the true extent of the injury was not stated on the injury form.
The Courts allowing the Peter Ellis appeal to proceed after his death is an example of a dead man having rights.
Ellis did the appeal when he was alive. It was heard after he died.
The point I am making is that I cannot advocate for a dead man unless I can have discussions with ACC as they do not have the full information.
The full injury needs to be argued that it is not a normal consequence of the treatment.
The coroner, HDC and the DHB have all mislead each other. ACC misleads itself.
Not really an inequality but distressing to experience all the same.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/opinion/300338373/government-needs-to-make-uteturn
A uteload of reasons why townies need their utes!
Totally reasonable arguments raised by a part-time landlording corporate lawyer with a preference for biking downhill fuelled by discounted Martinborough pinot noir and erecting election hoardings. I hope that encourages Standardistas to read bwaghorn's worthy recommendation (hint- you need to get past the opening paragraphs' rather well-disguised 'chinaman').
What, an another unsavoury National MP? Chris Penk joining the ranks now. Do they train them at an unfit for public office school? Always plenty of candidates.
As if built in deliberate obsolescence wasn't enough.
Online giant Amazon is destroying millions of items of unsold stock every year, products that are often new and unused, ITV News can reveal.
Footage gathered by ITV News shows waste on an astonishing level.
And this is from just one of 24 fulfilment centres they currently operate in the UK.
https://www.itv.com/news/2021-06-21/amazon-destroying-millions-of-items-of-unsold-stock-in-one-of-its-uk-warehouses-every-year-itv-news-investigation-finds
To maintain the atmosphere of superiority and high pricing I remember that a NZ company I think Lands for Bags destroyed new bags at the end of a season. Putting them out at sale prices would detract from their desirability and allure. That attitude makes sense when dealing with the high-end of society and fashion. The price put on bags with top-end designers names is pure BS on sale to air-heads.
Do you think this link fits:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8JOi1q5ugs
In the yards of nearly every dealer in the country you'll find brand new small appliances binned minus their leads.
How do you know that joe90? I haven't seen that reported.
My scavenging, bin diver extraordinaire mate routinely drags all manner of small appliances home, we're talking dozens here, and in an attempt to rewire them, tasks me to find tools to deal with the proprietary fasteners used. I only manage to find the occasional screw bit so most end up back where they came from, the bin.
Are they genuinely brand-new, or maybe warranty returns that didn't work when the customer first plugged it in?
I've yet to need to get into something and haven't been able to using just a fairly basic set of security screw driver bits. I'd be awfully curious which brands feel the need to make it harder than that to get in.
Unsold brand spankers from big box outlets. And the jaycar is one of several kits and yet he's still routinely defeated by slightly mis-matched drives designed to strip/single use destruction and odd-ball centre pin security fasteners.
Yeah I know what you mean!
Mind you this is no modern idiosyncrasy. I had a '29 model A Ford way back. One saturday driving back home over the wainui hill she started running on 3 cylinders. So Back home. Just before Uni final exams. Had to take the head off to see what was wrong. One collapsed 3rd piston! Not a bit – left all in the sump! Thank goodness for splash lubrication. So then the task was to remove the con rod and find a replacement piston. Henry Ford wasn't having any after parts shinnanigans going on and all the bolts nuts and threads were weird sizing – especially the threads which were very fine. So fine that the nuts was now welded onto the con rod bolts. After wrecking two of my dads special sockets I asked a friend who was an AA mechanic – "How do you get those nuts off?" "With a chisel!"
They've won. Freedom of the press is done in Hong Kong.
https://twitter.com/lokmantsui/status/1406979448411365378
we also hope that even though this platform no longer will be around, that hong kong journalists will continue to hold ground, and pursue the truth. last but not least, thanks to the anchors, editors, and other colleagues behind the scene …
for accepting a mission impossible, a mission in response to today's society. thanks again to all of you for your support. to the people of hong kong, stay strong. may we meet down the road. bye bye."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/21/hong-kong-apple-daily-newspaper-crisis-talks-avert-shutdown-advisor-says
"The department for safeguarding the national security of the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) arrested the editor-in-chief and four directors on suspicion of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces.
This was the second time Apply Daily, founded and owned by Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, who bears multiple charges including conspiracy to collude with foreign countries or forces to endanger national security, has been raided since the national security law for Hong Kong came into force on June 30, 2020.
Senior Superintendent of Hong Kong police Steve Li Kwai-wah told reporters after the arrests that strong evidence showed that dozens of questionable articles published by Apple Daily since 2019 played a very crucial part in the conspiracy which provided the ammunition for foreign countries and institutions or organizations to impose sanctions on China and the Hong Kong region.
Police raided the offices of Apple Daily following a search warrant, in accordance with Article 43 of the national security law for Hong Kong, which stipulates that when handling cases concerning offence endangering national security, the department for safeguarding national security of the Hong Kong police may take measures such as a search of premises, vehicles, vessels, aircraft and other relevant places and electronic devices that may contain evidence of an offense. "
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202106/1226466.shtml
Intriguing PoV, but it's clear why it's happening, imho. Meanwhile, in Myanmar…
Myanmar coup latest: Urban warfare erupts in Mandalay
https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Myanmar-Coup/Myanmar-coup-latest-Urban-warfare-erupts-in-Mandalay
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/445193/mercury-nz-plans-to-buy-trustpower-s-retail-business-for-441m
This would reduce competition wouldn't it? If we can't have one SOE? operating our small nation's electricity, which would be the practical way to go – with some way of monitoring for price and effectiveness – then it is likely to be worse if there are just a few players, I would think?
Could someone who knows about such things give a valid opinion? Has Mercury got a good record?
"Has Mercury got a good record?"
Bohemian Rhapsody isn't bad.
Hah. Without a song and a dance what are we? Thank you for the music, for giving it to me.
On situation in HK.
Put it down to the American and western covert actions, trying to pierce the soft underbelly of China. It was never going to work, unless this is what the west wanted, trying to increase revolt by the people of HK, who in the most part did not support the bullshit umbrella actions of the hegemonic US.
And fuck the people of Hong Kong and the one country, two systems promise of self-determination, right?
No. Fuck the interference of the hegemonic US.
They cause the reactions by the interfered Countries all over the World. America is only truly free to the elite classes, so fuck your crocodile tears.
Ah, the old "stop making me hit my own people" line, huh.
What is wrong with these judges. Harsher sentences need to be handed out, not a slap on the wrist with a wet bus ticket. This is a repeat offender.
Elderly conned of life savings for P and pokie money by serial scammer | Stuff.co.nz
Why, despite the wet bus ticket dished out to dozens of thieves who took advantage of their special positions that you've not bothered to comment on, does a drug addicted brown woman rate a mention?
Heh. Though in mitigation, perhaps Stuff failed to inform Jimmy of these other cases in the same prominent manner that they did for the brown woman?
I guess he was looking at this one right in front of him that he could put a link to. Is that a reasonable answer to your rather pointed question? One does want to approach matters in an equality-based not biased, way.
What does it have to do with the colour of her skin? If she was white, yellow or green I still think the sentence should be harsher. My comment was regarding the judge who seems to be afraid to actually hand down a sentence that may actually deter her as she is obviously a repeat offender and needs to be stopped. She didn't learn from 2012 so needs a harsher sentence.
I think the judge in this case should also start issuing appropriate sentences (and this repeat offender is white).
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/dunedin-court-gives-repeat-drink-driver-home-detention-for-latest-offence/YUHZ7G7ANB7ZI2425NHUQ7JY44/
Respect.
https://twitter.com/secondzeit/status/1407171536272838657
Context
https://twitter.com/richardhills777/status/1407086961035137024