I wonder if misleading the cabinet office will make Wood liable for prosecution. What are the rules around that? Is it merely parliamentary protocol?
The Herald can reveal today Wood had 16 interactions with the Cabinet Office over his Auckland Airport shares, including one in March 2021 in which the Cabinet Office sent Wood a draft review of Ministers’ interests intended for then-Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirming the shares had been sold.
Neither the Cabinet Office nor Wood could confirm whether the minister or his office ever responded to that email confirming the statement or correcting the record to say the shares had not in fact been sold.
It appears the Cabinet Office continued to think the shares had been.
On June 30, 2021, Wood’s office told the Cabinet Office his sharebroker had been instructed to sell the shares. The Cabinet Office appeared to believe the shares had been sold because days later, on July 5, 2021, the office sent Wood a letter relating to its annual review including a line which read, “Mr Wood has divested himself of shares in Auckland Airport”.
The elementary concept of checking whether the shares had or had not been sold seems never to have entered the (air)heads of either Wood or the officials.
It's not a specified crime although Parliament can hold people in contempt of Parliament which presumably could include that sort of behaviour if it was egregious enough.
Thanks Craig. Seems clear he did mislead the cabinet office – the evidence says so, but maybe inadvertently as a result of believing his sharebroker followed his instruction. What if Luxon asked in parliament this question: What evidence has Wood provided that he did actually issue that instruction?
If the result was none, can Wood be challenged to provide that evidence? If he then failed to do so, would the Speaker declare him in contempt of parliament?
The cabinet manual is not legally enforceable although obviously the Governor-General can remove a minister on advice of the PM, but there are not really any other consequences in that area.
There are also no Parliamentary consequences although he might get voted out by the electorate or deselected by his party.
A false or misleading pecuniary interests return is grounds for contempt of Parliament as is misleading Parliament (Jan Tinetti has been appearing in front of the Privileges Committee for misleading Parliament).
Having said all that, the maximum penalty for contempt of Parliament is a fine of $1,000. Vacancies can only occur as outlined by s55 of the Electoral Act 1993 and contempt isn't on that list.
Excellent. We await Luxie taking the initiative on the situation. He gets it – I saw a clip yesterday of him saying something that made me realise the opportunity had actually penetrated the concrete in his head. But follow-through action is required.
I don't blame Wood for ignoring the pesky officials for all those 931 days, since there's no actual requirement to do what they wanted. However actually deceiving them is a different kettle of fish. The published evidence that he lied to them seems compelling enough to trigger accountability and punishment.
If Luxie fails to grab this golden opportunity to enforce it by asking the Speaker to do so, it will be a classic leadership failure on his part – he won't look like a viable PM. Maybe Seymour will grab it instead. Maybe Peters will go "Huh, what? Somebody do something?" then head back to sleep…
TOP’s Teal Card is a Gold Card for under 30s. It offers fully funded public transport and healthcare for under 30s,plus a $5,000 mini-UBI boost for everyone.
Manji said to an Ilam electorate meeting last night: “Why would you want to tax wealth production?” Interesting.
The merit of a wealth tax seems to me to lie in the principle of taxing accumulated wealth rather than its production – but he's an economist. He could get lucky if National put out the word quietly to their Ilam supporters. If they feel the need.
Why would you want to tax wealth production?” Interesting.
If he thinks high incomes are a marker of wealth production then he is confusing money with value. Value is created collectively but money is accumulated individually by having market power. Very high incomes (and very low ones) are therefore disproportionate.
Value is a concept, not a "thing" which is created collectively or otherwise. Goods and services are things that are created, and the imputed value of these is reflected in monetary terms, otherwise we wouldn't be able to to tax them – tax has to be paid in cash.
Manji's question is a legitimate one – I don't think he is at all confused; however, I suspect The reason for taxing income is that the state, in order to pay for the services it provides, needs to divert a portion of the country's production to state use. Therefor the state chooses to tax income because income reflects the value of the country's productive activity, and that activity is paid for in cash. The main justification for wealth tax, it would seem, is that it reduces the burden being placed on income tax – a feature which is particularly beneficial for those least able to afford taxes. It also tends to reduce inequality, equality being considered a value in its own right.
Why would you want to tax wealth production?” Interesting.
Interesting all right. Actually a good argument for taxing unearned income such as speculation on existing assets, and "boom across the river" type, rents, instead of income from productive labour. Or, as Adam Smith said, "tax rentiers not workers".
"The reason why Xi Jinping got very upset in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two box cars full of spy equipment in it was he didn't know it was there," Biden said.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said Biden's remarks were "extremely absurd" and "irresponsible".
Expressing China's strong dissatisfaction, foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Biden's comments seriously violated facts, diplomatic protocol and China's political dignity.
"They're an open political provocation," she told a news conference.
But it's best for political provocations to be open rather than closed, so everyone can see what's happening. Biden pokes bear: bear gets affronted by that threat to its dignity. But notice that she didn't specify those facts that got seriously violated by Biden.
She knows the devil's in that detail, and therefore it must not be engaged with. Then there's the alarming fact of Biden personally shooting down Xi's balloon. Not nice.
Readers may feel that the US president was lying about this. Trump may say so – vulnerable to any attempt by Biden to out-macho him. The media may do its research, and determine that a junior staffer actually pushed the button. Top democrats may nervously watch the proximity of Biden's hand to the nuclear red button.
Mayor Brown is now proposing to sell the Port of Auckland.
This is what happens when the Labour/Green/City Vision councillors fail to vote together to overturn Mayor Brown's budget and sell the first major public asset:
He goes for more.
Wouldn't it be great if we had a Labour government or even a Labour Minister for Auckland that hadn't fatally compromised themselves on share ownership.
Mike Lee is one of the few to have a proper ideological grasp of this, he dates back to the Bruce Jesson/Alliance era.
There were a few brave ones from South Auckland, and some abject failures like Labour’s Shane Henderson. As I said here, “if Brown doesn’t go down” on Airport shares the Councillors will have waved the white flag to a hostile Mayor and they may as well all go surfing or on gardening leave for the remainder of their terms.
I was surprised and saddened by Shane Henderson's vote – though, I am sure I read that he had consulted widely with his constituents who were largely in favour of selling the shares and he voted accordingly. I used to live in Shane's 'hood before retiring to the Waikato and met him on more than one occasion – he's a good bloke.
Just bullshit. We were on the ground fundraising, delivering, putting up hoardings, going to his meetings. Any time you want to join in with the next one let us know, right?
No, not for all the tea in China. Better party to support.
You see, my garage is full of signs and signage to go up when election starts. Some of the wood is from the local body elections when all but one of our candidates got in. Got fund raisers next week and had meetings tonight.
So if you need people, how about you offer some hope, direction and a way to stop corporate greed. Rather than what your offering.
Sheesh dude I put my money where my mouth is. I 'ant no keyboard warrior – hence why I like you. Even if I disagree with you.
We were on the ground fundraising, delivering, putting up hoardings, going to his meetings. Any time you want to join in with the next one let us know, right?
This is a key quote from Prime Minister Hipkins at his media interview yesterday:
“I still don’t understand how after all of this period of time, over two years with the Cabinet Office asking him to attend to these cases, we’re still in this position now in the last few weeks, even the fact that more information has come to light as the weeks have unfolded, is still something that I do not understand.”
“There are people who have made mistakes in the past who have gone on to have great political careers and a future. What Michael chooses to do is a question for him.”
But then he said that Wood “clearly needed” to tidy up that part of his life that had caused his present predicament.
Hipkins appeared to suggest that this might be a challenge. “I think one of the things that Michael will need to reflect on, particularly as he thinks about what his own future is, is that he will need to have a better explanation than the one he’s produced so far,” he said.
You can read an awful lot into what is unsaid there.
Thanks to Richard Harman for being on to this pretty important exchange.
Okay then, back up your claim with evidence and show me that you’re not just trolling again.
For example, has Sharma apologised to the PM and the NZ public? Did Sharma express feeling sorry for letting down his Party? Has Sharma taken any responsibility for his own demise?
Has Sharma done any of those things? Well not to my knowledge and I would be surprised if he had. However I have never claimed that he has.
On the other hand when Mr Wood says things like "In some respects my de-prioritisation of my personal financial affairs has led to this situation." he really isn't taking responsibility is he?
Then he says "it is incumbent on Ministers to manage not just the reality, but also the perception of any conflicts. I have not managed this effectively, I take responsibility for it, and as such have submitted my resignation to the Prime Minister. I apologise to him and the public for this situation." appears to be a claim that he did nothing wrong in fact but he hasn't managed to persuade people of that. That certainly seems to be the only thing he is apologising for.
Mr Wood then says that "At all times I have provided information about shares in the Trust to the Cabinet Office that I have believed was correct, but in this case my understanding was incorrect."
I certainly get the impression from the PMs statement that this really isn't accurate. After all the PM said
"Despite repeated requests from the Cabinet Office and myself for Michael to manage his shareholdings, he has repeatedly failed to identify, disclose and appropriately manage conflicts of interest.
When I stood Michael down as Transport Minister, I asked him if there was any other relevant information I should know about and he indicated there was not."
It certainly seems to be the case, given that Wood went from a rank of 7 in the caucus a few weeks ago to somewhere in the low 30's today that he has self destructed doesn't it?
Newshub also seems to agree with the view that Wood doesn't really accept his full quota of blame.
"And in his statement following his resignation Wood still hadn’t quite clocked on to the fact that he was solely responsible for the mess he had found himself in, saying “in some respects my de-prioritisation of my personal financial affairs has led to this situation”.
There’s no “some” about it, Wood’s inability to sort out his conflicting shares is completely to blame.
It’s no longer fathomable that Wood is a victim of his own forgetfulness, not even Hipkins believes that anymore."
Actually, you did make a claim, about my comment equally applying to Sharma and Wood.
So, I request again that you back up your claim.
FYI, Wood sold the airport shares and donated the proceeds to charity, he resigned, and he apologised.
Back to you and your claim; you’re deflecting & diverting, as usual when I pull you up on some nonsense comment of yours – I’m starting to ‘lose control’ again
"Yup, he self-destructed his political career in a spectacular ball of bull dust and blamed everyone & anyone but himself."
I would say that that is a pretty reasonable description of what is happening to Mr Wood, just as it is one about Dr Sharma. If you had put all the additional comments you are making into your original remark I might have been able to distinguish them but not just from this comment that I asked about.
If you are member of the right wing elites then you can brazen this sort of thing out because the use of the law for political violence is, in this country, pretty much the preserve of the rich. Everyone knows what the law is is, to some extent, defined by what you can get away with and if you are rich and/or well connected to the right wing elites you can get away with a lot more. John Key got away unharmed from similar shares scandals simply because the corporate media had his back.
But the left cannot. It will be held to the highest standards. And Michael Wood should know that. He is among the more left wing in this government and his piushing of fair pay agreements painted a giant target on his back. He was never going to get any slack. There is no point whining about the hypocrisy, it is what it is. To me, his behaviour is inexplicably arrogant and/or stupid, and that combined with his wife voting in favour of the sale of airport shares makes me wonder about how clever the pair of them actually are when it comes to doing politics. As it is, both are now staring at a premature exit from politics.
Hipkins is going to try to change the Cabinet reporting rules for all governments no matter what party … in one of the worst cases of horse bolted I've ever seen here:
"In Australia, the Code of Conduct for Ministers requires that they divest themselves of investments and other interests in any public or private company or business.
That is, other than public superannuation funds or publicly listed managed funds or trust arrangements where the Minister has no visibility or control of decision-making.
Adopting this approach would be a significant change in the New Zealand position and requires further consultations, but it is my personal view it’s appropriate to take this step."
So, Sanctuary, with Wood now pretty likely to withdraw his name as an Epsom Labour candidate after this colossal own-goal, if you're in the Epsom electorate you could always put your name up for Labour 🙂
Also pretty hard to see Julie Fairey staying on as Councillor with her family trust essentially tanking her husband's career. So you could always prepare to stand in the Albert-Eden ward 🙂
Another left wing councilor voted for the sale of the shares.
Two other councilors had to correct information on shareholding in the week before the budget.
All that was said came down to, Jacinda Ardern asked if the shares were sold, and Wood said they were. That was the beginning of his end.imo
The ferrets are out there again, so Labour have to be more honest than Key, as the black ops and media ghouls will collect scalps and gleefully display them.
It's much, much deeper than that, as noted by the Prime Minister: it is in how both Wood and his wife Fairey have held and operated as beneficiaries of a Trust for a very long time. This point is cited by the PM yesterday in his release on the matter:
An investment trust like this would be tracking its holdings and the performance of those holdings every month, and as Trustees they had full visibility of it.
It's like he's never heard of a blind trust before.
The could be 5 cents and he'd still have to declare them.
We can have no tolerance for this shit, this is the crap that is destroying faith in democracies all around the world.
He's been an MP for 7 years, he's been a minister for 5 and a political nerd his entire life.
He misled cabinet and multiple prime ministers AND LIED TO THE PUBLIC last week (as well as the prime minister) when he said dozens of times there was nothing else to see here.
As far as I'm concerned, he should just resign from parliament and so should his wife from council (as her abstention made her compromised as Ad stated)
This is unacceptable.
And a few months back we all wanted him to be the leader of Labour, thank goodness that didn't happen or we'd be looking at a 1990 style wipe out.
"You can read an awful lot into what is unsaid there."
Therein lie two problems. One, people will read into it what they are disposed to. Two, allowing that to happen is fraught politically as misinformation will abound.
true but both those things would happen anyway. There's obviously something going on that we don't know, and presumably Hipkins doesn't either or isn't able to say. I guess his other option was to not say so much and try and move on, but people and MSM would still be going after it.
It would be a good idea to require that cabinet ministers have achieved a pass grade in metacognition 1.01 – it could be taught to them quite simply by reference to this source:
Readers with a yen for the deep Green view of life ought to focus on what the wikipedians have listed under the heading Components. Three triads!
Metacognition is classified into three components:
Metacognitive knowledge
Metacognitive regulation
Metacognitive experiences
That's just the first of the three. The other two are
three different types of metacognitive awareness when considering metacognitive knowledge
three skills that are essential
Everyone will clamour that it's totally unreasonable to expect Labour cabinet ministers to cerebrate at this level – but anyone is capable of self-improvement.
Well, Michael Wood had several years as a Union Organiser with FINSEC, and a couple of terms as a Local Government elected member. Both these things should have built a good foundation for work as an MP.
You have to be organised and people focused.
You have also to be aware that you have political opponents and are being watched.
They have quite a few of those around Parliament. Even ignoring the union officials, there are soldiers, lawyers, accountants, farmers, businesspeople, teachers/principals, police officers, lecturers, public servants, managers, doctors, broadcasters…
"…“Yeah, we copped a bit of backlash originally when we put this into the kids’ section, at the time we didn’t realise it was going to go around the world as it did,” said Bailey…"
I think that the hunters are heroes, but then I catch feral cats on my property in traps, and shoot them while listening to the Bellbirds and Tui's singing.
And every one of those cats is there because of a failure on the part of a human. A failure to look after the cat, a failure to get the cat speyed or neutered, and a failure to provide a safe home for the cat.
I should have mentioned I hate killing the cats…. but they are non-native and they slaughtering millions of native birds (and skinks etc) annually.
The alternative that a good friend of mine supports….catching them and neutering them and then either housing them with families or letting them free again just doesnt work.
In Oz they are moving towards rules that stipulate that cats are not allowed out of a house unless on a lead.
If they have a bell and collar that says "Tibbles" I shoot them.
But seriously if they have neither of the above and look like the average NZ feral cat which all seem to have the same colouring (see the front picture on the link below), and are in my trap then they are hunting and killing native birds on my land so I shoot them.
I don’t have many neighbours but talking to one a few weeks ago I warned him I shoot cats. He said he had two ginger cats-I said I would look out for those and let them go.
The moggies of Mt Iron are probably doing more harm to the Mt Iron rabbit population than the Mt Iron human population is capable. Likewise the ferrets, if you've got a decent population.
Around me they had a huge purge on the ferrets and cats because TB, and the rabbits have gone from way too many, to fucking insane.
This reply to both Ad and Graeme above….if you know anyone who lives in the houses on the slopes of Mt Iron ask them to put traps in their garden. (The friends I have who live up there have 2 cats and would never do this.)
It is only by a massive network of backyard trapping across NZ that we will make any impact on feral cats, ferrets, stoats, possums, hedgehogs, etc.
Maddening to see Radio New Zealand's headline – Luxon says Chris Hipkins is weak for not managing his team's culture. Given the PM has been in that role only after these Nash/Wood problems were occurring, perhaps RNZ could improve their accuracy.
Perhaps they could pin Luxon down on his Tesla purchase/subsidy and demand a straight answer. What a hypocrite.
Given the ongoing share issues with Michael Wood, the PM has handled it all extremely well and explained his dilemma over the whole saga. He has certainly been hugely more open than Luxon was in downplaying Uffindell's bullying and nastiness.
You could argue that the difference between Michael Wood and Kuriger and Uffendell is that they are not cabinet members.
However, given Luxon's "high moral stand" it must be disheartening for both those members of the Natz party, and a few others too, to realise they will never make it into a Natz cabinet!
Luxon has too high a moral position to ever consider them! /s
The problem Hipkins has isn't that the rules wrong. The rules are just fine. His problem is that his some of his Cabinet Ministers considered themselves above such trivial things as obeying them.
He has to come up with a way of herding cats when the cats don't se why they should be obliged to follow the path that has been set. Well good luck mate.
I bet he won't Patricia – I suggested some time ago that Alwyn comes in to spray and walk away. He got a bit tetchy about that comment, but that's how I react to his pretty much trolling.
From the link scotty provided Ms Kuriger would appear to be a most unpleasant person. She would seem, however, to have been removed from he Agriculture spokespersons role when the exchange was brought to Luxon's attention.
"She stepped down from the role after someone claiming to be an MPI employee notified National leader Christopher Luxon of the long history of correspondence."
A little later she was apparently dropped from number 10 in the party rankings into the pool of under 20 ranking backbenchers. Luxon would appear to have been lied to by Kuriger and when he discovered it he dropped her way down the list to the point where she will be unlikely to get into Cabinet if she hangs around. That seems pretty similar to what Hipkins has done to date, although he still seems to be rather more accepting of Wood coming back than does Luxon about Kuriger.
Uffindell was the one who behaved like a ratbag when he was about 15 at Boarding School wasn't he? I'd say, given his apparently unblemished behaviour since then he deserves another chance.
Except that Uffendell terrorised a female flatmate when he was at university, presumably in his early 20s, to the extent that she climbed out a window and fled to a safe haven!
Woodlouse is the scumbag that put Claire Curren's photo on a toilet seat, and boasted of doing so (at least showed a picture of himself admiring the said toilet seat)!
Alwyn… His homeless man in MIQ. Cost thousands looking for that lie. Then the bullying pictures of Clare Curran's photo(L) on a toilet seat lid. Receiving personal details of patients from Michelle Boag. Does that jog your memory?
I remember a university student, here in New Zealand, who ended up along with a bunch of other students being arrested for having raided a number of girls hostels, tossing the girls out of bed (carefully) and tipping their belongings on the floor. He later became a very, very senior Labour MP
Just a capping prank of course was the way it was seen at the time.
I'm not going to say when, where or who though. It was a pretty normal part of Capping celebrations at the time. Why name the person today? They have long got over it. It did happen though when he was young.
Uffindell was the one who behaved like a ratbag when he was about 15 at Boarding School wasn't he?
Was he, alwyn, was he – or wasn't he? It's a tricky name – unblemished since a wooden performance at Boarding School, apparently.
I know nothing about Woodhouse.
Wasn't he homeless? I googled 'Woodhouse' + 'homeless' and got a few 'hits' – seems like a good boy; must be tough being homeless during a pandemic. We need more with his sort of personal experience in our house of representatives.
Dr Bryce, on how symmetry induces team herding in our democracy:
Labour thinks National is corrupt and unethical, and vice versa. The fact that politicians appear to have an unwavering trust in themselves and their own side, means that they think the rules about corruption are actually there for their opponents rather than their own team.
There's something about the nature of the game that induces players to believe that the rules only apply to the other team. Imagine if team sports worked like that.
He runs the line that Wood was the victim of culture (the legendary kiwi complacency).
He simply didn’t take integrity rules meant to protect the New Zealand political system from corruption seriously. That’s rightly led to his downfall.
I prefer the covert rebel theory. Rebels ignore rules. Wood would probably argue that the 931 days he maintained his rebellion displays the virtue of consistency. Fair point.
I've never seen any evidence that he does, Patricia. Academics are generally known to be notoriously leftist in outlook. I'm aware that some commentators here routinely claim he's biased but that doesn't make it so. I suspect that his reluctance to toe the leftist academic line & be scrupulously non-partisan instead is what offends them.
Bryce comes up with a hypothesis, then looks for all sources to support that. Original thinking is rather light on the ground. His summaries…. enough said.
You haven't been reading Bryce Edwards closely enough if you haven't noticed he supports National (or at least The Right), Frank. Don't be fooled by the "Democracy Project" label.
I have little respect for the man. For instance when quizzed on an RNZ programme over the recent electoral reform proposals he said the proposed 3.5% was too high and that it should be 1% to get a party into government. Hasn't he seen the coalition chaos in Israel because they have a low limit (actually 1.5% not 1%) for parties to get into parliament which means that many parties get in.
he said the proposed 3.5% was too high and that it should be 1% to get a party into government
Firstly, I suspect you may have meant parliament rather than government. Parties only get into government here if a leader can assure the GG that he has the numbers to rule. Usually that means he has secured a formal agreement with any minor parties he needs – like a contract.
Secondly, any genuine Green believes in the principle of biodiversity, which produces the complexity of interactions in an ecosystem stabilising species survival. Going for a 1% threshold optimises the biodiversity of parliament as a social ecosystem. That's to his credit.
Thirdly, I agree the situation in Israel is sufficient cause to be cautious around this for the reason you mention (chaotic tendency). However I suspect Israel could be a special case & comparative analysis ought to therefore incorporate all countries using western-style democracies, to examine how each has operated so as to enable diverse representation.
Sorry Dennis, yes I did mean parliament not government.
I don't accept your argument re Israel as a special case. I think in NZ we could easily have 10 or more parties (some of them anti-vax nutters etc) vying to be part of "coalitions of chaos" if the threshold was 1%. I'd be happy to see it reduced from 5% to 4% or even 3.5% though.
I think I declared my preference for 3% onsite here years ago. To clarify re Israel, I vaguely recall checking out their parliamentary configuration a while back & noticing considerable biodiversity. I think that was relative to major parties not being as influential as here.
Sort of like a spectrum effect. If major parties subside below 30% they lose relativity leverage & coalition-forming becomes a multiplicity scenario rather than a partnership binary.
Political stability then hinges on how robust the contractual design is in each case – whether events precipitate rats jumping the ship. If a minor party can be the tail wagging the dog (as with NZF) it will do that and hold the govt to ransom. A creative challenge to the lawyers designing the contracts. Ought to be possible to prevent minor party finagling though – humans have always done contingency planning.
I suspect that his reluctance to toe the leftist academic line & be scrupulously non-partisan instead is what offends them.
I'm not offended. Only amazed. Why would anyone take Bryce seriously? He has a track record of being hilariously wrong.
2020 election? National have every chance, Todd Muller is the man! You might think that is bad satire, but it's not. It's Bryce Edwards … totally out of touch, detached from reality. That's why his commentary is dismissed.
Yeah I've seen him get analyses wrong in the past & vaguely recall that was one such example. Doesn't mean right-wing bias to me though. Ivory tower syndrome has been well-known an awful long time. The disconnect from the real world is often hilarious. Perhaps he tries to compensate for this handicap by canvassing the opinion of folks he knows, such as family relations. That would explain the situation – via a randomised warping effect…
a really good article by a senior clinical psychologist outlining why despite spending over a billion dollars on mental health, this govt has failed to improve outcomes.
This is a smart move by the Greens. Get out in front of the tax issue. Often in the past both Labour and the Greens have been too passive, releasing their tax plans and then letting the opposition/media control the narrative (usually reduced to "Tax? Boo!").
The Greens' tax calculator is an effective rebuttal …
The issue of course is that any government that institutes this will find that tax revenue will dry up overnight – the exodus of international businesses, successful local businesses, individuals with wealth etc. will be swift and devastating. Our economy will shrink drastically.
Job losses will be massive, Government revenue from PAYE and company profits will plummet. There will be sweet FA in the coffers.
Have the Greens factored that pesky little issue into their clever calculator?
In The Myth of Millionaire Tax Flight, Young examines a trove of data on millionaires and billionaires—confidential tax returns, Forbes lists, and census records—and distills down surprising insights. While economic elites have the resources and capacity to flee high-tax places, their actual migration is surprisingly limited. For the rich, ongoing economic potential is tied to the place where they become successful—often where they are powerful insiders—and that success ultimately diminishes both the incentive and desire to migrate.
This important book debunks a powerful idea that has driven fiscal policy for years, and in doing so it clears the way for a new era. Millionaire taxes, Young argues, could give states the funds to pay for infrastructure, education, and other social programs to attract a group of people who are much more mobile—the younger generation.
Selling up and changing your sources of business income is not an easy or inexpensive task.
A “successful local business” is not going to give up an income stream simply because they have to pay a little more tax. Especially when it contributes to the stable, educated and healthy workforce, infrastructure and social stability that business depends on.
As for those who are destroying our economy by speculatively and non-productively bidding up the prices of existing assets, such as land to the detriment of our economy and actual productive business, Capital gains farmers, we are better off without.
Customer base, built up goodwill, cost of moving plant, to name just a few things.
We have seen the obstacles to simply upping stakes and going to a new market, with businesses. An example is Dick Smiths attempt too set up in NZ.
One of the reasons I stopped running my business, is that you are so much tied to locality and your established customer base.
Large ones, if they are actual productive businesses are even harder to shift. Of course, if they are simply in the business of extracting economic rents without adding any real value, then we are actually much better off without them.
I said, although it may not be that clear that the holder of the business moved, not the whole business. This would just make it a foreign owned company. The comment about it being a large one is that you could have it run without the owner in NZ. It wouldn't work for a panel beating and painting firm for example.
I am used to seeing doom and gloom about achievement levels in our schools so an article in the Washington Post caught the eye. The final sentence is similar to what I see here.
"National test scores plunge, with still no sign of pandemic recovery
National test scores plummeted for 13-year-olds, according to new data that shows the single largest drop in math in 50 years and no signs of academic recovery following the disruptions of the pandemic.
Student scores plunged nine points in math and four points in reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), often regarded as the nation’s report card. The release Wednesday reflected testing in fall 2022, comparing it to the same period in 2019, before the pandemic began.
… The average math score is now the same as it was in 1990, while the average reading score is the same as it was in 2004.
I wonder whether the geophysics Institute relied a lot on adjunct lecturers from GNS. For example, Auckland University's Plant and Food postgraduate studies are mostly staffed with adjunct lecturers from the Plant&Food CRI in Mt Albert. The research expertise comes mainly from the CRI, not the university.
Therefore disassembling geophysics courses at Vic would not involve significant staff redundancies for the university, but might put some staff positions at GNS on shaky ground.
In terms of NZ earthquake expertise, the greater critical mass will be at GNS.
Remember when everyone thought Wood could replace Ardern a few months back? Gosh we dodged a bullet with that not happening.
What is going on with the Labour party caucus? Arrogance. It's arrogance.
I blame Ardern for a lot of this, she allowed a culture of arrogant ministers playing fast and loose to take hold because she was very hands off, she didn't micromanage she trusted too much.
she ruled by consensus kindness and empathy and faith in her team, which sounds good, but doesn't work, she'd still be hear if that leadership style was effective in governing.
you need to be bit of a bastard, and put the fear of god into these careerists that you will throw any and all of them under a bus at the drop of a hat, like one Helen Clark, Labours only three term PM.
Poor Hipkins. I actually feel sorry for him. He's probably wondering which of these bastards is lying to me and is going to be busted next. Luckily he's more of a Clark than an Ardern.
Every Labour and Green Mp and minister is on notice, get your houses and lives in order, yesterday!
the nats and act are spending their unprecedented election warchests on armies of sleuths going over labour/green mp's and activists lives with a fine tooth comb, and any conflicts or indiscretions will be found.
Yep, the wheelie bin riflers and underwear sniffers are in full Dirty Politics mode at the moment!
The Natzos do seem to be way better at hiding the dosh–and being proud of it.
For 40 years the middle class and other aspirationals have been encouraged to buy into the dog eat dog monetarist scene–Shares! Venture Capital! Property! so it is understandable why some went there–but still not excusable for any political rep seeking credibility with working class people.
Michael Wood–FPAs, huge pay rises and new contracting regime for bus drivers, rejuvenation of NZ run Coastal Shipping…his legacy will live on…what a shame.
"Yep, the wheelie bin riflers and underwear sniffers are in full Dirty Politics mode at the moment!"
I take it you mean the people who staked out Luxon's home, watched for his wife to go out in her car, made a note of the number plate and then checked whether there had been any attempt to claim the rebate? They certainly sound like the people you are talking about.
Geophysics is one of the subjects to go under the knife at Victoria Uni of Wellington (Latin, Italian and secondary teaching are others).
I get their thinking; all the necessary research must be complete now after the Christchurch earthquakes, so no need for geophysics any more. Or rely on some overseas institution?
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report shows worsening food poverty and housing shortages mean more than 400,000 people now need welfare support, the highest level since the 1990s. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and ...
You're just too too obscure for meOh you don't really get through to meAnd there's no need for you to talk that wayIs there any less pessimistic things to say?Songwriters: Graeme DownesToday, I thought we’d take a look at some of the most cringe-inducing moments from last week, but don’t ...
Please note: I’ve delayed my “What can we do?” article for this video.The video above shows Destiny Church members assaulting staff and librarians as they pushed through to a room of terrified parents and young children.It was posted to social media last night.But if you read Sinead Boucher’s Stuff, you ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is sea level rise exaggerated? Sea levels are rising at an accelerating rate, not stagnating or decreasing. Warming global temperatures cause land ice ...
Here is a scenario, but first a historical parallel. Hitler and the Nazis could well have accomplished everything that they wanted to do within German borders, including exterminating Jews, so long as they confined their ambitious to Germany itself. After all, the world pretty much sat and watched as the ...
I’ve spent the last couple of days in Hamilton covering Waikato University’s annual NZ Economics Forum, where (arguably) three of the most influential people in our political economy right now laid out their thinking in major speeches about the size and role of Government, their views on for spending, tax ...
Simeon Brown’s Ideology BentSimeon Brown once told Kiwis he tries to represent his deep sense of faith by interacting “with integrity”.“It’s important that there’s Christians in Parliament…and from my perspective, it’s great to be a Christian in Parliament and to bring that perspective to [laws, conversations and policies].”And with ...
Severe geological and financial earthquakes are inevitable. We just don’t know how soon and how they will play out. Are we putting the right effort into preparing for them?Every decade or so the international economy has a major financial crisis. We cannot predict exactly when or exactly how it will ...
Questions1. How did Old Mate Grabaseat describe his soon-to-be-Deputy-PM’s letter to police advocating for Philip Polkinghorne?a.Ill-advisedb.A perfect letterc.A letter that will live in infamyd.He had me at hello2. What did Seymour say in response?a.What’s ill-advised is commenting when you don’t know all the facts and ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff has called on OJI Fibre Solutions to work with the government, unions, and the community before closing the Kinleith Paper Mill. “OJI has today announced 230 job losses in what will be a devastating blow for the community. OJI needs to work with ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is sounding the alarm about the latest attack on workers from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden, who is ignoring her own officials to pursue reckless changes that would completely undermine the personal grievance system. “Brooke van Velden’s changes will ...
Hi,When I started writing Webworm in 2020, I wrote a lot about the conspiracy theories that were suddenly invading our Twitter timelines and Facebook feeds. Four years ago a reader, John, left this feedback under one of my essays:It’s a never ending labyrinth of lunacy which, as you have pointed ...
And if you said this life ain't good enoughI would give my world to lift you upI could change my life to better suit your moodBecause you're so smoothAnd it's just like the ocean under the moonOh, it's the same as the emotion that I get from youYou got the ...
Aotearoa remains the minority’s birthright, New Zealand the majority’s possession. WAITANGI DAY commentary see-saws manically between the warmly positive and the coldly negative. Many New Zealanders consider this a good thing. They point to the unexamined patriotism of July Fourth and Bastille Day celebrations, and applaud the fact that the ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: and on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump’s administration over Gaza and Ukraine; on the ...
Up until now, the prevailing coalition view of public servants was that there were simply too many of them. But yesterday the new Public Service Commissioner, handpicked by the Luxon Government, said it was not so much numbers but what they did and the value they produced that mattered. Sir ...
In a moment we explore the question: What is Andrew Bayly wanting to tell ACC, and will it involve enjoying a small wine tasting and then telling someone to fuck off? But first, for context, a broader one: What do we look for in a government?Imagine for a moment, you ...
As expected, Donald Trump just threw Ukraine under the bus, demanding that it accept Russia's illegal theft of land, while ruling out any future membership of NATO. Its a colossal betrayal, which effectively legitimises Russia's invasion, while laying the groundwork for the next one. But Trump is apparently fine with ...
This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin AshtonBook review: ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin Ashton (2015) – and what it means for Auckland. The title of this article might unnerve any Greater Auckland ...
This story was originally published by Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Within just a week, the sheer devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires has pushed to the fore fundamental questions about the impact of the climate crisis that have been ...
In this world, it's just usYou know it's not the same as it wasSongwriters: Harry Edward Styles / Thomas Edward Percy Hull / Tyler Sam JohnsonYesterday, I received a lovely message from Caty, a reader of Nick’s Kōrero, that got me thinking. So I thought I’d share it with you, ...
In past times a person was considered “unserious” or “not a serious” person if they failed to grasp, behave and speak according to the solemnity of the context in which they were located. For example a serious person does not audibly pass gas at Church, or yell “gun” at a ...
Long stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, February 13 are:The coalition Government’s early 2024 ‘fiscal emergency’ freeze on funding, planning and building houses, schools, local roads and hospitals helped extend and deepen the economic and jobs recession through calendar ...
For obvious reasons, people feel uneasy when the right to be a citizen is sold off to wealthy foreigners. Even selling the right to residency seems a bit dubious, when so many migrants who are not millionaires get turned away or are made to jump through innumerable hoops – simply ...
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
December 2024 photo - with UK Tory Boris Johnson (Source: Facebook)Those PollsFor hours, political poll results have resounded across political hallways and commentary.According to the 1News Verizon poll, 50% of the country believe we are heading in the “wrong direction”, while 39% believe we are “on the right track”.The left ...
A Tai Rāwhiti mill that ran for 30 years before it was shut down in late 2023 is set to re-open in the coming months, which will eventually see nearly 300 new jobs in the region. A new report from Massey University shows that pensioners are struggling with rising costs. ...
As support continues to fall, Luxon also now faces his biggest internal ructions within the coalition since the election, with David Seymour reacting badly to being criticised by the PM. File photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Not since 1988 when Richard Prebble openly criticised David Lange have we seen such a challenge to a Prime Minister as that of David Seymour to Christopher Luxon last night. Prebble suggested Lange had mental health issues during a TV interview and was almost immediately fired. Seymour hasn’t gone quite ...
Three weeks in, and the 24/7 news cycle is not helping anyone feel calm and informed about the second Trump presidency. One day, the US is threatening 25% trade tariffs on its friends and neighbours. The reasons offered by the White House are absurd, such as stopping fentanyl coming in ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Wherever you look, you'll hear headlines claiming we've passed 1.5 degrees of global warming. And while 2024 saw ...
Photo by Heather M. Edwards on UnsplashHere’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s politics and economy in the week to Feb 10 below. That’s ahead of live chats on the Substack App and The Kākā’s front page on Substack at 5pm with: on his column in The ...
Is there anyone in the world the National Party loves more than a campaign donor? Why yes, there is! They will always have the warmest hello and would you like to slip into something more comfortable for that great god of our age, the High Net Worth Individual.The words the ...
Waste and fraud certainly exist in foreign aid programs, but rightwing celebration of USAID’s dismantling shows profound ignorance of the value of soft power (as opposed to hard power) in projecting US influence and interests abroad by non-military/coercive means (think of “hearts and minds,” “hugs, not bullets,” “honey versus vinegar,” ...
Health New Zealand is proposing to cut almost half of its data and digital positions – more than 1000 of them. The PSA has called on the Privacy Commissioner to urgently investigate the cuts due to the potential for serious consequences for patients. NZNO is calling for an urgent increase ...
We may see a few more luxury cars on Queen Street, but a loosening of rules to entice rich foreigners to invest more here is unlikely to “turbocharge our economic growth”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Let us not dance daintily around the elephant in the room. Our politicians who serve us in the present are not honest, certainly not as honest as they should be, and while the right are taking out most of the trophies for warping narratives and literally redefining “facts”, the kiwi ...
A few weeks ago I took a look at public transport ridership in 2024. In today’s post I’m going to be looking a bit deeper at bus ridership. Buses make up the vast majority of ridership in Auckland with 70 million boardings last year out of a total of 89.4 ...
Oh, you know I did itIt's over and I feel fineNothing you could say is gonna change my mindWaited and I waited the longest nightNothing like the taste of sweet declineSongwriters: Chris Shiflett / David Eric Grohl / Nate Mendel / Taylor Hawkins.Hindsight is good, eh?The clarity when the pieces ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 16 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 10The Kākā’s weekly wrap-up of news about politics and the economy is due at midday, followed by webinar for paying subscribers in Substack’s ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 2, 2025 thru Sat, February 8, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Today, I stumbled across a Twitter Meme: the ending of The Lord of the Rings as a Chess scenario: https://x.com/mellon_heads/status/1887983845917564991 It gets across the basic gist. Aragorn and Gandalf offering up ‘material’ at the Morannon allows Frodo and Samwise to catch Sauron unawares – fair enough. But there are a ...
Last week, Kieran McAnulty called out Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis for their claims that Kāinga Ora’s costs were too high.They had claimed Kāinga Ora’s cost were 12% higher than market i.e. private devlopersBut Kāinga Ora’s Chair had already explained why last year:"We're not building to sell, so we'll be ...
Stuff’s Political Editor Luke Malpass - A Fellow at New Zealand IniativeLast week I half-joked that Stuff / The Post’s Luke Malpass1 always sounded like he was auditioning for a job at the New Zealand Initiative.Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. For a limited time, subscriptions are 20% off. Thanks ...
At a funeral on Friday, there were A4-sized photos covering every wall of the Dil’s reception lounge. There must have been 200 of them, telling the story in the usual way of the video reel but also, by enlargement, making it more possible to linger and step in.Our friend Nicky ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is methane the ...
The Government’s idea is that the private sector and Community Housing Providers will fund, build and operate new affordable housing to address our housing crisis. Meanwhile, the Government does not know where almost half of the 1,700 children who left emergency housing actually went. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong ...
Oh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youOh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youSongwriters: Alexander Ebert / Jade Allyson CastrinosMorena,I’m on a tight time frame this morning. In about an hour and a half, I’ll need to pack up and hit the road ...
This is a post about the Mountain Tui substack, and small tweaks - further to the poll and request post the other day. Please don’t read if you aren’t interested in my personal matters. Thank you all.After oohing-and-aahing about how to structure the Substack model since November, including obtaining ...
This transcript of a recent conversation between the Prime Minister and his chief economic adviser has not been verified.We’ve announced we are the ‘Yes Government’. Do you like it?Yes, Prime Minister.Dreamed up by the PR team. It’s about being committed to growth. Not that the PR team know anything about ...
The other day, Australian Senator Nick McKim issued a warning in the Australian Parliement about the US’s descent into fascim.And of course it’s true, but I lament - that was true as soon as Trump won.What we see is now simply the reification of the intention, planning, and forces behind ...
Among the many other problems associated with Musk/DOGE sending a fleet of teenage and twenty-something cultists to remove, copy and appropriate federal records like social security, medicaid and other supposedly protected data is the fact that the youngsters doing the data-removal, copying and security protocol and filter code over-writing have ...
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tuneBird fly high by the light of the moonOh, oh, oh, JokermanSong by Bob Dylan.Morena folks, I hope this fine morning of the 7th of February finds you well. We're still close to Paihia, just a short drive out of town. Below is the view ...
It’s been an eventful week as always, so here’s a few things that we have found interesting. We also hope everyone had a happy and relaxing Waitangi Day! This week in Greater Auckland We’re still running on summer time, but provided two chewy posts: On Tuesday, a guest ...
Queuing on Queen St: the Government is set to announce another apparently splashy growth policy on Sunday of offering residence visas to wealthy migrants. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, February 7:PM Christopher ...
The fact that Waitangi ended up being such a low-key affair may mark it out as one of the most significant Waitangi Days in recent years. A group of women draped in “Toitu Te Tiriti” banners who turned their backs on the politicians’ powhiri was about as rough as it ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
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I wonder if misleading the cabinet office will make Wood liable for prosecution. What are the rules around that? Is it merely parliamentary protocol?
The elementary concept of checking whether the shares had or had not been sold seems never to have entered the (air)heads of either Wood or the officials.
Wood really has set a new benchmark in shooting oneself in the foot..
In his case…in both feet…
Hard to see anyone topping that..
And no other players in view…all his own handiwork..
It's not a specified crime although Parliament can hold people in contempt of Parliament which presumably could include that sort of behaviour if it was egregious enough.
Thanks Craig. Seems clear he did mislead the cabinet office – the evidence says so, but maybe inadvertently as a result of believing his sharebroker followed his instruction. What if Luxon asked in parliament this question: What evidence has Wood provided that he did actually issue that instruction?
If the result was none, can Wood be challenged to provide that evidence? If he then failed to do so, would the Speaker declare him in contempt of parliament?
https://www.parliament.nz/mi/visit-and-learn/how-parliament-works/parliamentary-practice-in-new-zealand/chapter-4-members-conditions-of-service/
The cabinet manual is not legally enforceable although obviously the Governor-General can remove a minister on advice of the PM, but there are not really any other consequences in that area.
There are also no Parliamentary consequences although he might get voted out by the electorate or deselected by his party.
A false or misleading pecuniary interests return is grounds for contempt of Parliament as is misleading Parliament (Jan Tinetti has been appearing in front of the Privileges Committee for misleading Parliament).
Having said all that, the maximum penalty for contempt of Parliament is a fine of $1,000. Vacancies can only occur as outlined by s55 of the Electoral Act 1993 and contempt isn't on that list.
Excellent. We await Luxie taking the initiative on the situation. He gets it – I saw a clip yesterday of him saying something that made me realise the opportunity had actually penetrated the concrete in his head. But follow-through action is required.
I don't blame Wood for ignoring the pesky officials for all those 931 days, since there's no actual requirement to do what they wanted. However actually deceiving them is a different kettle of fish. The published evidence that he lied to them seems compelling enough to trigger accountability and punishment.
If Luxie fails to grab this golden opportunity to enforce it by asking the Speaker to do so, it will be a classic leadership failure on his part – he won't look like a viable PM. Maybe Seymour will grab it instead. Maybe Peters will go "Huh, what? Somebody do something?" then head back to sleep…
Something to lighten the day .
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/politics/an-ode-for-whiney-luxon.
And on a hopeful note – link from yesterdays review (ht observer ) Mr Luxon's popularity continues to slide.
tps://www.horizonpoll.co.nz/page/670/new-zealand
That is a very useful poll..
And I like that it is non-denominational/agnostic…in that it is commissioned by nobody…there is no paymaster..
Gordon Campbell examines the prospects in the campaign for Ilam: http://werewolf.co.nz/2023/06/gordon-campbell-on-top-and-the-bank-inquiry/
The merit of a wealth tax seems to me to lie in the principle of taxing accumulated wealth rather than its production – but he's an economist. He could get lucky if National put out the word quietly to their Ilam supporters. If they feel the need.
If he thinks high incomes are a marker of wealth production then he is confusing money with value. Value is created collectively but money is accumulated individually by having market power. Very high incomes (and very low ones) are therefore disproportionate.
Value is a concept, not a "thing" which is created collectively or otherwise. Goods and services are things that are created, and the imputed value of these is reflected in monetary terms, otherwise we wouldn't be able to to tax them – tax has to be paid in cash.
Manji's question is a legitimate one – I don't think he is at all confused; however, I suspect The reason for taxing income is that the state, in order to pay for the services it provides, needs to divert a portion of the country's production to state use. Therefor the state chooses to tax income because income reflects the value of the country's productive activity, and that activity is paid for in cash. The main justification for wealth tax, it would seem, is that it reduces the burden being placed on income tax – a feature which is particularly beneficial for those least able to afford taxes. It also tends to reduce inequality, equality being considered a value in its own right.
Interesting all right. Actually a good argument for taxing unearned income such as speculation on existing assets, and "boom across the river" type, rents, instead of income from productive labour. Or, as Adam Smith said, "tax rentiers not workers".
Like dunne..'flexible..to a fault'..pretty much nails it..
See how top world leaders do geopolitics:
But it's best for political provocations to be open rather than closed, so everyone can see what's happening. Biden pokes bear: bear gets affronted by that threat to its dignity. But notice that she didn't specify those facts that got seriously violated by Biden.
She knows the devil's in that detail, and therefore it must not be engaged with. Then there's the alarming fact of Biden personally shooting down Xi's balloon. Not nice.
Readers may feel that the US president was lying about this. Trump may say so – vulnerable to any attempt by Biden to out-macho him. The media may do its research, and determine that a junior staffer actually pushed the button. Top democrats may nervously watch the proximity of Biden's hand to the nuclear red button.
Mayor Brown is now proposing to sell the Port of Auckland.
This is what happens when the Labour/Green/City Vision councillors fail to vote together to overturn Mayor Brown's budget and sell the first major public asset:
He goes for more.
Wouldn't it be great if we had a Labour government or even a Labour Minister for Auckland that hadn't fatally compromised themselves on share ownership.
Mike Lee is one of the few to have a proper ideological grasp of this, he dates back to the Bruce Jesson/Alliance era.
There were a few brave ones from South Auckland, and some abject failures like Labour’s Shane Henderson. As I said here, “if Brown doesn’t go down” on Airport shares the Councillors will have waved the white flag to a hostile Mayor and they may as well all go surfing or on gardening leave for the remainder of their terms.
I was surprised and saddened by Shane Henderson's vote – though, I am sure I read that he had consulted widely with his constituents who were largely in favour of selling the shares and he voted accordingly. I used to live in Shane's 'hood before retiring to the Waikato and met him on more than one occasion – he's a good bloke.
Well if we had supported the Labour candidate for Mayor?
"If" is a small but mighty word AD.
We did. It didn't work.
Very late and without real conviction.
Not true and stop re-writing history.
He was winning until 4 weeks out when the right withdrew all its candidates except one, and corralled all votes against him.
So no white-anting went on at all. no sir. Not one bit of it. Labour was a pure as snow…
Just bullshit. We were on the ground fundraising, delivering, putting up hoardings, going to his meetings. Any time you want to join in with the next one let us know, right?
No, not for all the tea in China. Better party to support.
You see, my garage is full of signs and signage to go up when election starts. Some of the wood is from the local body elections when all but one of our candidates got in. Got fund raisers next week and had meetings tonight.
So if you need people, how about you offer some hope, direction and a way to stop corporate greed. Rather than what your offering.
Sheesh dude I put my money where my mouth is. I 'ant no keyboard warrior – hence why I like you. Even if I disagree with you.
The same guy who lost for Labour is now 11 on the Greens list.
Green and Labour tend to buddy up in Auckland as City Vision (other than the cranky ones).
Yeap know the deal in Auckland well. Works most of the time, but.
You might want to have a chat to some of those on the North Shore and Rodney about how it works though.
Ok … why did the affirmation take the time it did?
It's like you've never heard of a primary before.
We were on the ground fundraising, delivering, putting up hoardings, going to his meetings. Any time you want to join in with the next one let us know, right?
This is a key quote from Prime Minister Hipkins at his media interview yesterday:
“I still don’t understand how after all of this period of time, over two years with the Cabinet Office asking him to attend to these cases, we’re still in this position now in the last few weeks, even the fact that more information has come to light as the weeks have unfolded, is still something that I do not understand.”
“There are people who have made mistakes in the past who have gone on to have great political careers and a future. What Michael chooses to do is a question for him.”
But then he said that Wood “clearly needed” to tidy up that part of his life that had caused his present predicament.
Hipkins appeared to suggest that this might be a challenge. “I think one of the things that Michael will need to reflect on, particularly as he thinks about what his own future is, is that he will need to have a better explanation than the one he’s produced so far,” he said.
You can read an awful lot into what is unsaid there.
Thanks to Richard Harman for being on to this pretty important exchange.
https://www.politik.co.nz/did-wood-lie/ | Politik
Maybe the dude Gaurav Sharma had a few things correct?
Yup, he self-destructed his political career in a spectacular ball of bull dust and blamed everyone & anyone but himself.
Are you talking about Sharma or Wood? Your comment would seem to fit both of them.
Okay then, back up your claim with evidence and show me that you’re not just trolling again.
For example, has Sharma apologised to the PM and the NZ public? Did Sharma express feeling sorry for letting down his Party? Has Sharma taken any responsibility for his own demise?
Has Sharma done any of those things? Well not to my knowledge and I would be surprised if he had. However I have never claimed that he has.
On the other hand when Mr Wood says things like "In some respects my de-prioritisation of my personal financial affairs has led to this situation." he really isn't taking responsibility is he?
Then he says "it is incumbent on Ministers to manage not just the reality, but also the perception of any conflicts. I have not managed this effectively, I take responsibility for it, and as such have submitted my resignation to the Prime Minister. I apologise to him and the public for this situation." appears to be a claim that he did nothing wrong in fact but he hasn't managed to persuade people of that. That certainly seems to be the only thing he is apologising for.
Mr Wood then says that "At all times I have provided information about shares in the Trust to the Cabinet Office that I have believed was correct, but in this case my understanding was incorrect."
I certainly get the impression from the PMs statement that this really isn't accurate. After all the PM said
"Despite repeated requests from the Cabinet Office and myself for Michael to manage his shareholdings, he has repeatedly failed to identify, disclose and appropriately manage conflicts of interest.
When I stood Michael down as Transport Minister, I asked him if there was any other relevant information I should know about and he indicated there was not."
It certainly seems to be the case, given that Wood went from a rank of 7 in the caucus a few weeks ago to somewhere in the low 30's today that he has self destructed doesn't it?
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/06/chris-hipkins-michael-wood-s-full-statements-after-he-resigns-over-share-scandal.html
Newshub also seems to agree with the view that Wood doesn't really accept his full quota of blame.
"And in his statement following his resignation Wood still hadn’t quite clocked on to the fact that he was solely responsible for the mess he had found himself in, saying “in some respects my de-prioritisation of my personal financial affairs has led to this situation”.
There’s no “some” about it, Wood’s inability to sort out his conflicting shares is completely to blame.
It’s no longer fathomable that Wood is a victim of his own forgetfulness, not even Hipkins believes that anymore."
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/even-in-resigning-wood-doesnt-accept-full-blame
Actually, you did make a claim, about my comment equally applying to Sharma and Wood.
So, I request again that you back up your claim.
FYI, Wood sold the airport shares and donated the proceeds to charity, he resigned, and he apologised.
Back to you and your claim; you’re deflecting & diverting, as usual when I pull you up on some nonsense comment of yours – I’m starting to ‘lose control’ again
Your comment in full was
"Yup, he self-destructed his political career in a spectacular ball of bull dust and blamed everyone & anyone but himself."
I would say that that is a pretty reasonable description of what is happening to Mr Wood, just as it is one about Dr Sharma. If you had put all the additional comments you are making into your original remark I might have been able to distinguish them but not just from this comment that I asked about.
Alwyn is absolutely right. You comment could refer to either.
Since Wood has apologised this contradicts that he blamed everyone & anyone but himself.
My comment can therefore only refer to Sharma and Alwyn’s comment is a false equivalence and thus a false & misleading claim.
In addition, my comment @ 6.1.1. was a reply to 6.1 in which only Gaurav Sharma was mentioned.
Why are Alwyn and you trolling?
If you are member of the right wing elites then you can brazen this sort of thing out because the use of the law for political violence is, in this country, pretty much the preserve of the rich. Everyone knows what the law is is, to some extent, defined by what you can get away with and if you are rich and/or well connected to the right wing elites you can get away with a lot more. John Key got away unharmed from similar shares scandals simply because the corporate media had his back.
But the left cannot. It will be held to the highest standards. And Michael Wood should know that. He is among the more left wing in this government and his piushing of fair pay agreements painted a giant target on his back. He was never going to get any slack. There is no point whining about the hypocrisy, it is what it is. To me, his behaviour is inexplicably arrogant and/or stupid, and that combined with his wife voting in favour of the sale of airport shares makes me wonder about how clever the pair of them actually are when it comes to doing politics. As it is, both are now staring at a premature exit from politics.
Hipkins is going to try to change the Cabinet reporting rules for all governments no matter what party … in one of the worst cases of horse bolted I've ever seen here:
"In Australia, the Code of Conduct for Ministers requires that they divest themselves of investments and other interests in any public or private company or business.
That is, other than public superannuation funds or publicly listed managed funds or trust arrangements where the Minister has no visibility or control of decision-making.
Adopting this approach would be a significant change in the New Zealand position and requires further consultations, but it is my personal view it’s appropriate to take this step."
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2306/S00141/statement-on-michael-wood.htm
So, Sanctuary, with Wood now pretty likely to withdraw his name as an Epsom Labour candidate after this colossal own-goal, if you're in the Epsom electorate you could always put your name up for Labour 🙂
Also pretty hard to see Julie Fairey staying on as Councillor with her family trust essentially tanking her husband's career. So you could always prepare to stand in the Albert-Eden ward 🙂
"with Wood now pretty likely to withdraw his name as an Epsom Labour candidate".
Can you elucidate on this? At the moment he is the MP for Mt Roskill isn't he?
Surely he isn't going to march into the valley of death and try and beat Seymour in Epsom?
Thanks for the correction.
If you open my closet it's a Halloween party in there, no chance I'll be running for any sort of public office!
I'm pretty sure Julie Fairey abstained.
Exactly.
Ineffectual when the critical budget vote mattered because she was compromised.
How do you know that Ad?
Another left wing councilor voted for the sale of the shares.
Two other councilors had to correct information on shareholding in the week before the budget.
Or just making things up again?
Julie Fairey, and her husband Michael Wood, are two of the key Trustees and beneficiaries in the Fairey Family Trust.
She was a commercial beneficiary of Auckland Airport shares at the time the budget vote occurred. That was why she couldn't vote: direct conflict.
Also this is the same reason her husband Michael Wood was fired.
Both chose to keep the Auckland Auckland shares for private gain rather protect the public interest in Auckland Airport.
She was also abstaining rather than give effect to City Vision manifesto policy that she stood on.
All that was said came down to, Jacinda Ardern asked if the shares were sold, and Wood said they were. That was the beginning of his end.imo
The ferrets are out there again, so Labour have to be more honest than Key, as the black ops and media ghouls will collect scalps and gleefully display them.
It's much, much deeper than that, as noted by the Prime Minister: it is in how both Wood and his wife Fairey have held and operated as beneficiaries of a Trust for a very long time. This point is cited by the PM yesterday in his release on the matter:
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2306/S00141/statement-on-michael-wood.htm
An investment trust like this would be tracking its holdings and the performance of those holdings every month, and as Trustees they had full visibility of it.
It's like he's never heard of a blind trust before.
Nobody, from what I have seen, has reported the value of Wood's Chorus, Spark and NAB holdings held in the trust that he is a beneficiary of.
They may be worth $30 in total. Does anybody out there know?
The could be 5 cents and he'd still have to declare them.
We can have no tolerance for this shit, this is the crap that is destroying faith in democracies all around the world.
He's been an MP for 7 years, he's been a minister for 5 and a political nerd his entire life.
He misled cabinet and multiple prime ministers AND LIED TO THE PUBLIC last week (as well as the prime minister) when he said dozens of times there was nothing else to see here.
As far as I'm concerned, he should just resign from parliament and so should his wife from council (as her abstention made her compromised as Ad stated)
This is unacceptable.
And a few months back we all wanted him to be the leader of Labour, thank goodness that didn't happen or we'd be looking at a 1990 style wipe out.
That’s a false claim unless you can back it up.
Thanks for that, Ad.
"You can read an awful lot into what is unsaid there."
Therein lie two problems. One, people will read into it what they are disposed to. Two, allowing that to happen is fraught politically as misinformation will abound.
Unsay is the wrong verb, I guess.
true but both those things would happen anyway. There's obviously something going on that we don't know, and presumably Hipkins doesn't either or isn't able to say. I guess his other option was to not say so much and try and move on, but people and MSM would still be going after it.
It would be a good idea to require that cabinet ministers have achieved a pass grade in metacognition 1.01 – it could be taught to them quite simply by reference to this source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metacognition
Readers with a yen for the deep Green view of life ought to focus on what the wikipedians have listed under the heading Components. Three triads!
That's just the first of the three. The other two are
Everyone will clamour that it's totally unreasonable to expect Labour cabinet ministers to cerebrate at this level – but anyone is capable of self-improvement.
can we just have a few that actually had a real physical job outside university and student assembly?
Well, Michael Wood had several years as a Union Organiser with FINSEC, and a couple of terms as a Local Government elected member. Both these things should have built a good foundation for work as an MP.
You have to be organised and people focused.
You have also to be aware that you have political opponents and are being watched.
According to Harry Day, the Royal Flying Corps First World War fighter ace, “rules are for the obeyance of fools, and the guidance of wise men.”
Wood should have heeded such advice and got his affairs in order in line with the Cabinet Manual.
There may be some exculpatory thing in the background of which we are not aware, but it's hard to think what.
Uffindell is a forensic accountant, perhaps that's why he's there. To dig for dirt.
No kidding?? I wouldn't trust that guy to find his arse if the principle of accountability came up behind him & bit it.
Sabine,he should have worked in a chocolate shop?
They have quite a few of those around Parliament. Even ignoring the union officials, there are soldiers, lawyers, accountants, farmers, businesspeople, teachers/principals, police officers, lecturers, public servants, managers, doctors, broadcasters…
Say this in a Fred Dagg voice and it's hilarious:
"…“Yeah, we copped a bit of backlash originally when we put this into the kids’ section, at the time we didn’t realise it was going to go around the world as it did,” said Bailey…"
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/the-country/news/its-back-cat-hunting-tournament-returns-to-canterbury-after-public-backlash/STADET3LVRHBBJXKVQUURMMXNU/
That is superb sanc.
I think that the hunters are heroes, but then I catch feral cats on my property in traps, and shoot them while listening to the Bellbirds and Tui's singing.
And then you go and eat some other animal..?
A chook..?..maybe..?
Right ho..!..(said in fred dagg voice..)
I think it is called cognitive dissonance..
90% of my meals are veggie, except when travelling when it is often trickier..
But what's your point?
I'm saying that there are many more birds around my acre (4000m2) because the cats aren't around.
My point is I tire of cats being portrayed as apex predators…by the apex predators…
Cats are doing what comes natural to them…humans kill for fun/pleasure..or to eat their victims..
My 'point' also is that you support a kids competition to kill the most cats..supporting mindless cruelty ..
And you seem to celebrate/enjoy that cruelty/killing that you do..
Cats haven't destroyed all the species we have lost..humans have..
Like I said..I think it is called cognitive dissonance..
A road is excellent predator control, every night.
Aim for them.
Great for the native hawks.
And every one of those cats is there because of a failure on the part of a human. A failure to look after the cat, a failure to get the cat speyed or neutered, and a failure to provide a safe home for the cat.
I should have mentioned I hate killing the cats…. but they are non-native and they slaughtering millions of native birds (and skinks etc) annually.
The alternative that a good friend of mine supports….catching them and neutering them and then either housing them with families or letting them free again just doesnt work.
In Oz they are moving towards rules that stipulate that cats are not allowed out of a house unless on a lead.
WA and NSW are the only states/territories without restrictions.
https://www.wellington.vic.gov.au/community/cat-curfew
how are you deciding which cats are feral and which aren't?
If they have a bell and collar that says "Tibbles" I shoot them.
But seriously if they have neither of the above and look like the average NZ feral cat which all seem to have the same colouring (see the front picture on the link below), and are in my trap then they are hunting and killing native birds on my land so I shoot them.
https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/pests-and-threats/animal-pests/feral-cats/
I don’t have many neighbours but talking to one a few weeks ago I warned him I shoot cats. He said he had two ginger cats-I said I would look out for those and let them go.
My cats are both 18 chipped and collars and tags and bells.
Otherwise take the fuckers out and while you're at it could you take out the rabbits on Mt Iron please.
The moggies of Mt Iron are probably doing more harm to the Mt Iron rabbit population than the Mt Iron human population is capable. Likewise the ferrets, if you've got a decent population.
Around me they had a huge purge on the ferrets and cats because TB, and the rabbits have gone from way too many, to fucking insane.
This reply to both Ad and Graeme above….if you know anyone who lives in the houses on the slopes of Mt Iron ask them to put traps in their garden. (The friends I have who live up there have 2 cats and would never do this.)
It is only by a massive network of backyard trapping across NZ that we will make any impact on feral cats, ferrets, stoats, possums, hedgehogs, etc.
DOC simply do not have the resources.
Maddening to see Radio New Zealand's headline – Luxon says Chris Hipkins is weak for not managing his team's culture. Given the PM has been in that role only after these Nash/Wood problems were occurring, perhaps RNZ could improve their accuracy.
Perhaps they could pin Luxon down on his Tesla purchase/subsidy and demand a straight answer. What a hypocrite.
Given the ongoing share issues with Michael Wood, the PM has handled it all extremely well and explained his dilemma over the whole saga. He has certainly been hugely more open than Luxon was in downplaying Uffindell's bullying and nastiness.
Better taxes for a better future
NZ unions, social service organisations and advocacy services have just set up a balance to the oxymoronic Taxpayers Union.
Better taxes for a Better Future
That feels like RW branding
Luxon showed his true colours. He is a bully, and is happy to personalise and blame. imo
Meantime Chris Hipkins is devising a system to avoid a repeat.
You could argue that the difference between Michael Wood and Kuriger and Uffendell is that they are not cabinet members.
However, given Luxon's "high moral stand" it must be disheartening for both those members of the Natz party, and a few others too, to realise they will never make it into a Natz cabinet!
Luxon has too high a moral position to ever consider them! /s
The problem Hipkins has isn't that the rules wrong. The rules are just fine. His problem is that his some of his Cabinet Ministers considered themselves above such trivial things as obeying them.
He has to come up with a way of herding cats when the cats don't se why they should be obliged to follow the path that has been set. Well good luck mate.
Alwyn, explain Woodhouse, Uffindell and Kruriger's behaviour while you are busy.
This Newsroom piece shows the extent of Kuriger’s nastiness .
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/mps-emails-show-pattern-of-personal-attacks-on-ministry.
I bet he won't Patricia – I suggested some time ago that Alwyn comes in to spray and walk away. He got a bit tetchy about that comment, but that's how I react to his pretty much trolling.
From the link scotty provided Ms Kuriger would appear to be a most unpleasant person. She would seem, however, to have been removed from he Agriculture spokespersons role when the exchange was brought to Luxon's attention.
"She stepped down from the role after someone claiming to be an MPI employee notified National leader Christopher Luxon of the long history of correspondence."
A little later she was apparently dropped from number 10 in the party rankings into the pool of under 20 ranking backbenchers. Luxon would appear to have been lied to by Kuriger and when he discovered it he dropped her way down the list to the point where she will be unlikely to get into Cabinet if she hangs around. That seems pretty similar to what Hipkins has done to date, although he still seems to be rather more accepting of Wood coming back than does Luxon about Kuriger.
Uffindell was the one who behaved like a ratbag when he was about 15 at Boarding School wasn't he? I'd say, given his apparently unblemished behaviour since then he deserves another chance.
I know nothing about Woodhouse.
Except that Uffendell terrorised a female flatmate when he was at university, presumably in his early 20s, to the extent that she climbed out a window and fled to a safe haven!
Woodlouse is the scumbag that put Claire Curren's photo on a toilet seat, and boasted of doing so (at least showed a picture of himself admiring the said toilet seat)!
Alwyn… His homeless man in MIQ. Cost thousands looking for that lie. Then the bullying pictures of Clare Curran's photo(L) on a toilet seat lid. Receiving personal details of patients from Michelle Boag. Does that jog your memory?
I remember a university student, here in New Zealand, who ended up along with a bunch of other students being arrested for having raided a number of girls hostels, tossing the girls out of bed (carefully) and tipping their belongings on the floor. He later became a very, very senior Labour MP
Just a capping prank of course was the way it was seen at the time.
I'm not going to say when, where or who though. It was a pretty normal part of Capping celebrations at the time. Why name the person today? They have long got over it. It did happen though when he was young.
You’re a genuine diversion troll with false equivalences as your tool and MO.
Was he, alwyn, was he – or wasn't he? It's a tricky name – unblemished since a wooden performance at Boarding School, apparently.
Wasn't he homeless? I googled 'Woodhouse' + 'homeless' and got a few 'hits' – seems like a good boy; must be tough being homeless during a pandemic. We need more with his sort of personal experience in our house of representatives.
Dr Bryce, on how symmetry induces team herding in our democracy:
There's something about the nature of the game that induces players to believe that the rules only apply to the other team. Imagine if team sports worked like that.
He runs the line that Wood was the victim of culture (the legendary kiwi complacency).
I prefer the covert rebel theory. Rebels ignore rules. Wood would probably argue that the 931 days he maintained his rebellion displays the virtue of consistency. Fair point.
Bryce Edwards favours National Fullstop.!! Get better sources Dennis.
I've never seen any evidence that he does, Patricia. Academics are generally known to be notoriously leftist in outlook. I'm aware that some commentators here routinely claim he's biased but that doesn't make it so. I suspect that his reluctance to toe the leftist academic line & be scrupulously non-partisan instead is what offends them.
Bryce comes up with a hypothesis, then looks for all sources to support that. Original thinking is rather light on the ground. His summaries…. enough said.
You haven't been reading Bryce Edwards closely enough if you haven't noticed he supports National (or at least The Right), Frank. Don't be fooled by the "Democracy Project" label.
I have little respect for the man. For instance when quizzed on an RNZ programme over the recent electoral reform proposals he said the proposed 3.5% was too high and that it should be 1% to get a party into government. Hasn't he seen the coalition chaos in Israel because they have a low limit (actually 1.5% not 1%) for parties to get into parliament which means that many parties get in.
he said the proposed 3.5% was too high and that it should be 1% to get a party into government
Firstly, I suspect you may have meant parliament rather than government. Parties only get into government here if a leader can assure the GG that he has the numbers to rule. Usually that means he has secured a formal agreement with any minor parties he needs – like a contract.
Secondly, any genuine Green believes in the principle of biodiversity, which produces the complexity of interactions in an ecosystem stabilising species survival. Going for a 1% threshold optimises the biodiversity of parliament as a social ecosystem. That's to his credit.
Thirdly, I agree the situation in Israel is sufficient cause to be cautious around this for the reason you mention (chaotic tendency). However I suspect Israel could be a special case & comparative analysis ought to therefore incorporate all countries using western-style democracies, to examine how each has operated so as to enable diverse representation.
Sorry Dennis, yes I did mean parliament not government.
I don't accept your argument re Israel as a special case. I think in NZ we could easily have 10 or more parties (some of them anti-vax nutters etc) vying to be part of "coalitions of chaos" if the threshold was 1%. I'd be happy to see it reduced from 5% to 4% or even 3.5% though.
I think I declared my preference for 3% onsite here years ago. To clarify re Israel, I vaguely recall checking out their parliamentary configuration a while back & noticing considerable biodiversity. I think that was relative to major parties not being as influential as here.
Sort of like a spectrum effect. If major parties subside below 30% they lose relativity leverage & coalition-forming becomes a multiplicity scenario rather than a partnership binary.
Political stability then hinges on how robust the contractual design is in each case – whether events precipitate rats jumping the ship. If a minor party can be the tail wagging the dog (as with NZF) it will do that and hold the govt to ransom. A creative challenge to the lawyers designing the contracts. Ought to be possible to prevent minor party finagling though – humans have always done contingency planning.
I agree with Bryce Edwards on the threshold being too high.
I suspect that his reluctance to toe the leftist academic line & be scrupulously non-partisan instead is what offends them.
I'm not offended. Only amazed. Why would anyone take Bryce seriously? He has a track record of being hilariously wrong.
2020 election? National have every chance, Todd Muller is the man! You might think that is bad satire, but it's not. It's Bryce Edwards … totally out of touch, detached from reality. That's why his commentary is dismissed.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/26/we-are-in-a-period-of-great-political-volatility-the-new-zealand-election-is-far-from-decided
Yeah I've seen him get analyses wrong in the past & vaguely recall that was one such example. Doesn't mean right-wing bias to me though. Ivory tower syndrome has been well-known an awful long time. The disconnect from the real world is often hilarious. Perhaps he tries to compensate for this handicap by canvassing the opinion of folks he knows, such as family relations. That would explain the situation – via a randomised warping effect…
Wood was unable to rebel due to fatal over-application of hair gel.
And plain old greed.
I read it as more a case of hubris..
And yes….any man..over a certain age..who persists with pomades…
Should be viewed with deep suspicion..
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/132386989/19b-and-four-years-later-mental-health-needs-are-still-not-properly-addressed
a really good article by a senior clinical psychologist outlining why despite spending over a billion dollars on mental health, this govt has failed to improve outcomes.
This is a smart move by the Greens. Get out in front of the tax issue. Often in the past both Labour and the Greens have been too passive, releasing their tax plans and then letting the opposition/media control the narrative (usually reduced to "Tax? Boo!").
The Greens' tax calculator is an effective rebuttal …
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/06/greens-release-tax-calculator-showing-if-kiwis-will-better-off-or-have-to-pay-more-under-new-policy.html
Here’s the calculator. It’s actually a GMI and tax calculator
https://www.greens.org.nz/taxcalculator
Its great…I get $18 a week more and am not affected by the WT….well only 0.7% are.
Fuck me , it rekons I'll be over $300 a week better off,!!!! !!!!!!!!
The issue of course is that any government that institutes this will find that tax revenue will dry up overnight – the exodus of international businesses, successful local businesses, individuals with wealth etc. will be swift and devastating. Our economy will shrink drastically.
Job losses will be massive, Government revenue from PAYE and company profits will plummet. There will be sweet FA in the coffers.
Have the Greens factored that pesky little issue into their clever calculator?
Such wailing and gnashing of teeth!
https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=27987
Obviously you have never been in business.
Selling up and changing your sources of business income is not an easy or inexpensive task.
A “successful local business” is not going to give up an income stream simply because they have to pay a little more tax. Especially when it contributes to the stable, educated and healthy workforce, infrastructure and social stability that business depends on.
As for those who are destroying our economy by speculatively and non-productively bidding up the prices of existing assets, such as land to the detriment of our economy and actual productive business, Capital gains farmers, we are better off without.
Just what is going to prevent the holder of the business, and I am assuming that it is a large one, from shifting to Australia?
Customer base, built up goodwill, cost of moving plant, to name just a few things.
We have seen the obstacles to simply upping stakes and going to a new market, with businesses. An example is Dick Smiths attempt too set up in NZ.
One of the reasons I stopped running my business, is that you are so much tied to locality and your established customer base.
Large ones, if they are actual productive businesses are even harder to shift. Of course, if they are simply in the business of extracting economic rents without adding any real value, then we are actually much better off without them.
I said, although it may not be that clear that the holder of the business moved, not the whole business. This would just make it a foreign owned company. The comment about it being a large one is that you could have it run without the owner in NZ. It wouldn't work for a panel beating and painting firm for example.
shifting to Australia
So let's introduce Australia's top income tax rate (45%) and property taxes to NZ.
If that's what business wants, give it to them. Everybody happy.
I am used to seeing doom and gloom about achievement levels in our schools so an article in the Washington Post caught the eye. The final sentence is similar to what I see here.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/06/21/national-student-test-scores-drop-naep/
I wonder whether the geophysics Institute relied a lot on adjunct lecturers from GNS. For example, Auckland University's Plant and Food postgraduate studies are mostly staffed with adjunct lecturers from the Plant&Food CRI in Mt Albert. The research expertise comes mainly from the CRI, not the university.
Therefore disassembling geophysics courses at Vic would not involve significant staff redundancies for the university, but might put some staff positions at GNS on shaky ground.
In terms of NZ earthquake expertise, the greater critical mass will be at GNS.
Sorry, misplaced comment, meant for HTII at the bottom.
Remember when everyone thought Wood could replace Ardern a few months back? Gosh we dodged a bullet with that not happening.
What is going on with the Labour party caucus? Arrogance. It's arrogance.
I blame Ardern for a lot of this, she allowed a culture of arrogant ministers playing fast and loose to take hold because she was very hands off, she didn't micromanage she trusted too much.
she ruled by consensus kindness and empathy and faith in her team, which sounds good, but doesn't work, she'd still be hear if that leadership style was effective in governing.
you need to be bit of a bastard, and put the fear of god into these careerists that you will throw any and all of them under a bus at the drop of a hat, like one Helen Clark, Labours only three term PM.
Poor Hipkins. I actually feel sorry for him. He's probably wondering which of these bastards is lying to me and is going to be busted next. Luckily he's more of a Clark than an Ardern.
Every Labour and Green Mp and minister is on notice, get your houses and lives in order, yesterday!
the nats and act are spending their unprecedented election warchests on armies of sleuths going over labour/green mp's and activists lives with a fine tooth comb, and any conflicts or indiscretions will be found.
Yep, the wheelie bin riflers and underwear sniffers are in full Dirty Politics mode at the moment!
The Natzos do seem to be way better at hiding the dosh–and being proud of it.
For 40 years the middle class and other aspirationals have been encouraged to buy into the dog eat dog monetarist scene–Shares! Venture Capital! Property! so it is understandable why some went there–but still not excusable for any political rep seeking credibility with working class people.
Michael Wood–FPAs, huge pay rises and new contracting regime for bus drivers, rejuvenation of NZ run Coastal Shipping…his legacy will live on…what a shame.
"Yep, the wheelie bin riflers and underwear sniffers are in full Dirty Politics mode at the moment!"
I take it you mean the people who staked out Luxon's home, watched for his wife to go out in her car, made a note of the number plate and then checked whether there had been any attempt to claim the rebate? They certainly sound like the people you are talking about.
I was under the impression that 'reporters' from Newshub did the background work on Luxon's wife's (or otherwise) Teslar.
Hardly a leftie news source.
Ardern has no blame at all for Wood.
Wood and wife+Councillor Fairey have operated and been beneficiary of that trust for many years and this is all on them.
Yes, it was her Trust from her family before they married. Put her through University.
Values in politics, 2023:
Incompetence (Michael Wood) means you resign.
Corruption (National) is just fine.
Simple test … imagine the headlines if Michael Wood had accepted this donation and said "nothing to see here".
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/132368451/national-party-donation-from-ccplinked-newspaper-publisher-by-the-book
Geophysics is one of the subjects to go under the knife at Victoria Uni of Wellington (Latin, Italian and secondary teaching are others).
I get their thinking; all the necessary research must be complete now after the Christchurch earthquakes, so no need for geophysics any more. Or rely on some overseas institution?