Labour had better wake up pronto – insipid and visionless policies that tinker around the edges are not going to win them the election. They owe their supporters a better effort than that.
The problem with vaping has been a clear growing problem over years. Very shortly before the election, after six years in power, it gets the "We're taking this seriously, we're going to do something about it," treatment.
But that is still faffing around the edges. They have to do something radical to get the phone back on the hook.
Here is a couple of ideas they can still throw out there:
A tax free income threshold of $10,000 and removing the tax exemption of churches – make them instead claim tax rebates based on their charity spending. That'd knock Peter Mortlocks and Bishop Brian's arse in and simultaneously show God's displeasure at prosperity doctrine by making them poorer in the realm of mammon.
The money could then be used to partially offset the income threshold change. You couldn't think of a more classic case of "applied Christianity", to quote MJ Savage.
Of course, from my perspective, I am happy with the TVNZ poll last night.
A couple of comments though:
Firstly, I hope that Chippy keeps his job whatever the outcome of the election. I don't think he is the reason for Labour's position at the moment. He has had a nightmare ride thus far with all the discipline issues etc. I still think he is the best person for the role.
Secondly, HDPA made an interesting comment last night about the rise of the extremes on both sides of the political perspective. She thought that voters are starting to see both of the main central parties as tweedle dum and tweedle dee, and if they want real change they need to move further in either direction.
Well, I can't recall exactly what S said so am unable to confirm he said anything particularly defamatory, but the overall drift was right on the money.
So you approve of calling someone a racist on the basis of no evidence, simply because you don't like them……. noted.
You have moved the goal-posts from not liking their politics, to something else.
Back in the Cold War day, those who criticised US foreign policy were called anti-American, and those in the USA who criticised their lack of social justice were called fellow travellers with commies.
Politicians are not above playing the race card.
Brash tried Kiwi vs iwi and proposed removing the Maori electorates – when the issue of the day was foreshore and seabed claims of Maori. Yet Key's government enabled whanu ora, signing us up to UNDRIP and agreed with TPM on "no ownership of the foreshore and seabed" (undoing Labour's public domain) – allowing private land owners to deny access more easily.
Now National foment concern about co-governance on water bodies and UNDRIP and oppose Maori Health and worse with ACT as partner.
Zoe Hobbes just missed out on the World Championship final with 11.02, the 2 runners 8th and 9th (11.01) into the final.
She was 4th in the fastest of the 3 semi-final heats – the winner Jackson was 2nd in the final, the 2nd placed Ta Lou was 4th in the final and the 3rd placed in her semi-final won the final (the three were the fastest in the semi-finals) – Shacarri Richardson in a very quick 9.65seconds.
3rd in her semi-final, she was given lane 9. SR had a real slow start in her semi-final and came home much faster than Jackson. In the final she had a better start and as she was on the outside, they were only aware of her late run when it was over.
Not just hundreds of South Asians also hundreds from South America – this will be thousands
This is the latest in a string of alleged exploitation linked to the AEWV scheme described by INZ as a “higher trust model” that replaced six visa options a year ago.
Is Mariela Ehijo of the charity Abroad NZ the same person, Mariela Andrea EHIJO CONTRERAS listed as the sole director of BuildHub?
Because if that is true then this is one horrible person. On one hand she is the CEO of a charity set up to help migrant workers, and on the other had she is the Director of BuildHub, the recruiting agency at the centre of alleged mass migrant exploitation. As a South American herself I cannot understand how she can treat these people so badly, people from her own continent that she ripped off with exorbitant fees and hollow promises of work, only to leave them destitute.
If it's not the same person, then I apologize in advance for any offense caused.
Looks like the Charity Abroad NZ is based at the same address as BuildHub.
Our History
Abroad Global existed before as an immigration advisory firm that helped the migrant community for 7 years. Our decision to become a Charitable Trust was inspired by the large potential in the charity sector to help other non-for-profit organisations and the migrant section of the community.
I can’t help but laugh when I hear scaremongering about the Māori elite coming to take over the country.
A nice reprise of the historic fear of Maori elites follows.
The reason I can make this statement is because the same vitriol is not pointed at so-called white elites. There does not seem to be the antagonism to white people who can be considered part of the financial elite, the political elite, and the cultural elite.
New Zealand’s 311 wealthiest families pay 8.8 per cent tax on their income compared to the 10.5 per cent paid by those on the minimum wage and there was only brief complaint about that from some left-leaning commentators.
The article responds to concerns not currently raised, and redirects into a classic whataboutery to conclude.
IF it is intended to alleviate some of the concerns re government policy and legislation, the author could at least attempt to describe some of those concerns accurately, and then address them.
Criminalising peaceful protest against carbon corporates in Oz
Criminalising cancelling carbon corporates in Aotearoa.
Ms Penwarden was feeling gun-shy after having been convicted on fraud charges for sending a spoof letter pretending to be the organiser of a petroleum conference advising it was cancelled.
It is incomprehensible any self-respecting industry hack would have accepted this document at face value, nor admitted to anyone that they’d been taken in by such an obvious lark.
Parody is an act of free speech which, as a member of the Free Speech Union, I am committed to defending. And yet our police decided to devoted resources away from pursuing TikTok induced car thefts and persistent shoplifters to prosecute an irrepressible grandmother for trolling.
Penwarden was convicted by a jury, which demonstrates that the human desire to supplicate to the whims of authority is a more powerful force than a willingness to apply our own moral compass.
Following on from my comment yesterday about the climate change impacts of the wealthy:
Methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, is thought to be responsible for more than a quarter of global warming experienced to date. Controlling it is such an urgent priority that President Joe Biden recently hosted a “Methane Summit” at the White House.
Most of the problem stems from just a few kinds of places: natural gas wells and pipelines, cattle feedlots, coal mines, rice paddies, and landfills. But occasionally, the scientists who hunt for large methane releases find them in surprising spots. Such was the case on June 4, when a plume of the gas was detected at the sprawling ranch in West Texas where billionaire Jeff Bezos tests space rockets.
…
Ironically, one of the growth drivers for the commercial space sector is launching satellites for environmental monitoring of pollutants, including methane.
Whilst increased rain in winter and spring is actually producing greater fire risks, because of warmer winters and wetter springs stimulating much greater growth in foliage.
Once of the suspected causes of the fires in Maui was the failure of utility companies to cut power in high winds, causing arcing that sparked the conflagration.
And I was thinking, could that happen here? Much of our urban development in the Waitakere Ranges is predicated on it never turning into a massive tinder box.
Imagine this. Auckland, after nearly of year of constant rain thanks to La Nina, finally enters an El Nino phase. The rain stops in September, and a warm early spring and summer cause an explosion of plant growth. Vector, as usual, utterly neglect line maintenance in the Waitakere ranges.
December and Xmas are gorgeous, green, luxuriant, blue skies and hot.
By January, it hasn't rained for ten weeks and a glorious summer continues. Auckland is in a drought. Watercare is advising people to reduce use. In February a watering ban is introduced and a scandal around Watercare's failure to invest in storage infrastructure fills the MSM.
In a blistering February, Aucklanders start to fondly recall the great deluge of the previous year. People grumble about the lack of rain, and magazines run stories on how to save grey water for the garden. Mike Hosking devotes hours of his show to calling people who are starting to warn of the fire danger alarmist killjoys who don’t like people having fun at the beach. The Waitakeres go from dark green, to deep shades of brown and yellow and to lighter shades of green.
Summer stretches into March, temperatures remain in the mid twenties. The entire city is a tinderbox. An unseasonable, scorching high pressure system crosses the Tasman from the Australian deset bring record breaking temperatures and strong westerlies. Poorly maintained power lines cause a big scrub fire to break out above Piha. Attracted by the spectacle, a mentally disturbed arsonist decides this a good time to light a series of fires in the evening along the Upper Nihotupu Walkway. Within hours, a fire front stretching from Piha road to the Lower Nihotupu Dam Road is blazing, fanned by strong westerlies and tinder dry undergrowth. With little to no warning a huge fire sweeps down and destroys hundreds of homes along Scenic drive, and devastates Waiatarua. Firefighters can do nothing to stop it raging down West Coast Road and spreading down Forest Hill road. The next day, a firestorm erupts and the flames engulf Oratia, Laingholm and bite into Titirangi. By the time fire is contained, dozens of lives have been lost. Tens of thousands are evacuated, thousands lose everything, and hundreds of millions of dollars of damage has been done.
Entirely possible, IMHO. And perhaps sooner than we think.
I was in Lahaina 6 years ago in their mid summer and struck by the casual attitude to fire safety, with lots of bonfires and barbeques amongst the dried out scrub and a very large proportion of residents and visitors smoking and discarding still burning butts. There seems to be no fire restrictions or bans, probably because .. you know, FREEDOM.
Big grass fires and sugar cane fires are common in Maui all exacerbated by the huge downhill winds in summer like the South Island east coast. It is a large island with apparently only 13 fire engines and a few available helicopters surprisingly. It is the opposite of here, the east coast is wet and the west is very dry.
While there I made mention that the place, the west coast anyway, was ready made for a big devastating fire so therefore it was no surprise to me that the inevitable happened. Lahaina was a lovely old historic village and a loss but nowhere near as devastating as the loss of the people, some of whom we almost certainly met or stayed with.
Brief thoughts on the recent wildland-urban interface fire catastrophe on Maui
. . . . As much as it might surprise some folks, the Hawaiian islands are no stranger to fire. Nearly all ignitions today are caused by human activities (though most are accidental). Wildfire risk is rising, especially on the dry sides of the islands (which, in some cases, receive an annual average precipitation similar to that of Los Angeles), due to a combination of unmanaged invasive grasses building up huge fuel loads on abandoned plantations and climate change–which is likely increasing the duration and severity of droughts on the lee sides of the islands and the intensity of wet-dry cycling of precipitation (which favors extra vegetation growth, and then rapid drying of that extra growth during high risk periods). Here, too, as in so many other places, subdivisions have been built and expanded that increasingly extend into high fire risk zones. In fact, in County of Maui planning documents, nearly all of Lahaina was characterized as being at high to extreme wildfire risk.
"Since only the kiss of flame is needed to rouse dormant seeds from decadeslong sleep, is it not strange that botanists do not turn arsonists on occasion that some floral phoenix might arise from the ashes?" (John Thomas Howell).
***UPDATE*** Reports that a #Chinese Navy (PLAN) submarine, apparently a nuclear powered Type-093 Shang Class boat, has suffered a serious accident in the vicinity of the Taiwan Strait This is currently *unconfirmed*, treat with great caution. Been hearing it for a few hours.
Reports suggest all crew died. If so, RIP. However, again, caution that currently no evidence. And some reporting is less credible. But important to listen for more More info on this class of submarine http://hisutton.com/Chinese-Navy-T
·Should add, one thing which makes me doubt some of the accounts is that they have too much information, like crew dying, type of boat etc. However, that doesn't invalidate the underlying story. But waiting for more info, ideally credible sources (I may have missed some)
The Ministry of National Defense held a press conference in the morning. Spokesperson Major General Sun Lifang pointed out in an interview that the national military has carefully and carefully grasped the dynamics of all sea and airspace around the Taiwan Strait through joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance methods. This is what the Ministry of National Defense has been doing very seriously. .
Sun Lifang said that so far, he has not heard any relevant information confirming the wreck of the Chinese nuclear submarine. Such information is circulated from social media, and there is no other official statement to further confirm it.
It's not even intended as an expose of the entitlement mentality, but as preparation for an era of plutocracy entitlement under NACT.
Our home ownership is lower than the UK and falling.
Once upon a time they were known as the propertied class and working class society, now we are the colony with the precariat working class paying rent to the class above.
A cry baby story about a mum and dad investor since 1984, who never paid any income tax on rentals for near 4 decades – running them with 3/4 of the rent income as mortgage so there was no net income to tax. All for the untaxed CG.
Now with the looming loss of the mortgage cost deduction (this has been phased in over the past few years and is not yet fully established) has reduced the portfolio down to one last rental (being lived in) while building a new home.
He says that on moving into the new home, they will leave the house as a ghost home, rather than borrow $40,000 to get it up rental standards. Crying too poor to have a spare $40,000 to do this without debt – when it's just more of a habit to finance their rentals via debt and claim this as a cost against rent income.
He concludes that the loss of mortgage deduction is forcing mum and dad investors to sell their rentals – in this he ignores the fact that those who invest in new builds still qualify for the mortgage deduction as a cost. It is a policy to encourage investment in new builds to stop investors bidding up the price of existing property on borrowed money.
The parasitic class given a public voice.
National intends to restore the mortgage tax deduction to enable more of this (discourage new build investment, slow new supply and increase property values for those in it for the untaxed CG – while not paying any tax on their rent income).
TOP have a policy to stop that sort of thing: they would insist on a prospective landlord putting up a 100% deposit on purchasing a rental property. In that case, with no mortgage to repay the landlord would would either make a profit – and paying tax on it – or find himself providing his tenant with cheap rent.
Which suggests that 99% of the voting population have no real understanding of economics; or else that the don't care about the high rents that tenants are paying.
After the fuss about Seymour's joke regarding Guy Fawkes and the Pacific Peoples Ministry I suppose we are now going to get demands that the Labour Party dump Hipkins as leader?
How dare he will no doubt be Sepuloni's diatribe after Hipkins made a joke about Steve Hansen. Will Chippie be calling on the King to cancel Hansen's knighthood?
alwyn, It is not the same as wanting to blow up the Ministry for Pacific Peoples after two men had entered the building and harassed and intimidated staff.
People think that 29% is bad news for Labour but look at the slide in support for over 4 months. The mood for change is all around. How low will the support go? Will it reach 19%?
National/ACT have only 50%, according to that poll, which is not enough to govern. FNZ might have given them another 1% but FNZ has a snowball's chance in hell of making it into parliament. Success, or otherwise, for the right will probably depend on what happens with NZ1st, the Maori Party result, and to a lesser extent, on the Ilam result. I note also that 12% of those polled were "undecided".
‘It has been said that figures rule the world. Maybe. I am quite sure that it is figures which show us whether it is being ruled well or badly.’ GoetheI was struck at a recent conference on equity for the elderly, how many presenters implicitly relied upon Statistics New Zealand. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveReporting on defence spending late last year, RNZ said the coalition government will have to make some tough calls this term to help the force address staff shortages and ageing infrastructure. “These are huge, huge amounts of government spending. It’s a significant proportion of the government’s ...
Peter Dunne writes – I am always wary when I hear that the Controller and Auditor-General has commented on or made recommendations to the government about an issue of public policy that does not relate strictly to public expenditure. According to the legislation, the role of the Controller ...
How Labour’s and National’s failure to move beyond neoliberalism has brought NZ to the brink of economic and cultural chaos Chris Trotter writes – TO START LOSING, so soon after you won, requires a special kind of political incompetence. At the heart of this Coalition ...
And why did the Crown not challenge the Tribunal’s jurisdiction? Gary Judd writes – Retired District Court Judge, David Harvey, has posted on his A Halflings View Substack an excellent summary of Justice Isacs’ judgment declining to uphold the witness summons issued by the Waitangi Tribunal ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result?As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and ...
Macklemore isn’t someone I’d usually think about. Sure I liked his big hit from a few years back, everybody did it was catchy and cool with some memorable lines. But if I was going to think of artists who might speak out on political matters or world events, he wouldn’t ...
Another week goes by in the Luxon government’s efforts to roll back the past 70 years of social progress. The school lunches programme is to be downgraded by $107 million, and women need bother their heads no longer about pay equity, let alone expect ACC to provide adequate sexual violence ...
Brrr, the first cold snap of the year. Hope you’re rugged up nice and warm. Here are some stories that caught our eye this week… This Week on Greater Auckland On Monday, we had a post from a new contributor, Connor Sharp, who dug into the public feedback ...
Almost all of the Wellington City Council’s recommended zoning changes to allow many more apartments and townhouses in its inner-suburbs have been approved.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guest on geopolitics, ...
Open access notablesA Global Increase in Nearshore Tropical Cyclone Intensification, Balaguru et al., Earth's Future:Tropical Cyclones (TCs) inflict substantial coastal damages, making it pertinent to understand changing storm characteristics in the important nearshore region. Past work examined several aspects of TCs relevant for impacts in coastal regions. However, ...
Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result? As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and always answered “yes”, with very few ...
Thus far May has followed on from a quiet April in the blogging department, but in fairness, it has been another case of doing what I am supposed to be doing, namely writing original fiction. Plus reading. So don’t worry – I have been productive. But in order to reassure ...
Buzz from the Beehive A new government agency will open for business on July 1 – the Social Investment Agency. As a new standalone central agency effective from 1 July, it will lead the development of social investment across Government, helping ministers understand who they need to invest in, what ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The ...
Alwyn Poole writes – After being elected to Parliament in 2008 the maiden speech of Hipkins was substantially around education policy. He was Labour’s spokesperson for education 2011 – 2017. He was Minister for Education from 2017 until February 2023. This is approximately 88% of the time Labour ...
Eric Crampton writes – A fashion industry group is lobbying for protections. They make the usual arguments and a newer one. None of it makes sense. An industry group says it pumped $7.8 billion into the economy last year – that’s 1.9 percent of New Zealand’s GDP. ...
In December 2006, Fiji's military leader Voreqe Bainimarama overthrew the elected government in a coup. He ruled Fiji for the next 16 years, first as dictator, then as "elected" Prime Minister. But now, he's finally been sent to jail where he belongs. Sadly, this isn't for his real crime of ...
Don't like National's corrupt Muldoonist "fast-track" law? Aotearoa's environmental NGO's - Greenpeace, Forest & Bird, WWF, Coromandel Watchdog, Coal Action Network Aotearoa, Kiwis Against Seabed Mining, and others - have announced a joint march against it in Auckland in June: When: 13:00, 8 June, 2024 Where: Aotea Square, Auckland You ...
Seymour describes sushi as too woke for school meals. There are no fish sushi meals recommended by the School Lunches programme. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Government will swap out hot meals for packaged sandwiches to save $107 million on school lunches for poor kids. MSD has pulled ...
I don't mind stealin' bread from the mouths of decadenceBut I can't feed on the powerless when my cup's already overfilled, yeahBut it's on the table, the fire's cookin'And they're farmin' babies, while slaves are workin'The blood is on the table and the mouths are chokin'But I'm goin' hungry, yeahSome ...
The Ardern Government’s chickens came home to roost yesterday with the news that the country is short of natural gas. In 2018, Labour banned offshore petroleum exploration, and industry executives say that the attendant loss of confidence by the industry impacted overall investment in onshore gas fields. Energy Resources Minister ...
Hi,If you’ve been digging through the newly launched Webworm store (orders are being dispatched worldwide as I type!) you’ll have noticed the best model we had was Calvin.This is Calvin.Calvin.Calvin is 7, and is the son of my producer over on Flightless Bird, Rob — aka “Wobby Wob”. Rob also ...
This video includes 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). Climate change is everywhere. And when something's everywhere it can feel like it's nowhere. So how do we get our heads ...
Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
Buzz from the Beehive A significant decline in natural gas production has given Resources Minister Shane Jones an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the mining and burning of coal. For good measure, he has praised an announcement from Genesis Energy that it will resume importing coal. He and Energy ...
“Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Here is my subjective ranking on a “most-left” to “most-right” scale of most of our major NZ Universities, with some anecdotal (and at times amusing) evidence to back up the claim.Extreme Left Auckland University of TechnologyEvidenceThe ...
Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes – Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National ...
Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
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With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
Placards and mourners outside the Kilbirnie Mosque following the Christchurch terror attack: MSD has terminated the Kaiwhakaoranga service, which has been used by 415 families since the attacks. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The Government’s pledge to only cut ‘back office’ staff rather than ‘frontline’ services is on increasingly shaky ground, with ...
There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
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Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
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David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
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TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Pacific Media Watch Television New Zealand Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to investigative journalism and Pacific communities in a ceremony at Government House, reports 1News. She has been the Pacific correspondent for 1News since 2002, breaking many ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Tuesday’s budget will respond to the deepening public agitation over Australia’s housing shortages by pouring new money into crisis accommodation for women and children, social housing and infrastructure. A specially-convened national cabinet late Friday ticked ...
By Kaneta Naimatu in Suva Journalists in the Pacific region play an important role as the “eyes and ears on the ground” when it comes to reporting the climate crisis, says the European Union’s Pacific Ambassador Barbara Plinkert. Speaking at The University of the South Pacific (USP) on World Press ...
Aldora Itunu is back in the Black Ferns squad after a three-year absence. The last of her 24 internationals was an underwhelming loss to France (7-29) in Castres to conclude the disastrous 2021 Northern Tour. The powerhouse prop won a Rugby World Cup in 2017 and thought she was done. ...
The fight to control major transport policy and projects in Auckland has burst into the open again, with councillors rejecting Mayor Wayne Brown’s latest attempt to steer things more under his influence. Councillors from the left and right broke ranks on the mayor’s bid to control Auckland Transport more directly ...
Exhausted by the general election campaign, horrified by the twilight zone of coalition negotiations, distracted by the silly season and waiting for the honeymoon to begin, Raw Politics has been in hibernation since October. From today, we’re back. Our weekly political video show and podcast returns for ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk Authorities in the small town of Boulouparis have commemorated Armistice Day on May 8 with a new memorial honouring New Zealand soldiers who were stationed in New Caledonia during World War II. The ceremony took place in the township on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Dehm, Senior lecturer, international migration and refugee law, University of Technology Sydney The High Court unanimously ruled today that the Australian government can keep asylum seekers in immigration detention indefinitely in cases where they do not “voluntarily” cooperate with their own ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Munro, Lecturer, Creative Industries and Digital Media, University of South Australia Twenty-four hours after the release of Macklemore’s pro-Palestine protest song Hind’s Hall on social media on May 7, the video had already notched up over 24 million views. In ...
Failing to anticipate the complexity of the consenting system is being cited as the the current builder's shortcomings, an Infrastructure Commission review says. ...
350 Aotearoa is calling the Environment Select Committee’s decision to allow oral submissions from just 40% of individual, unique submitters who asked to speak to the committee ‘a disgraceful blight to democracy’. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Helal, Assistant Dean (Sustainability), The University of Melbourne Dubai skylineAleksandarPasaric/Pexels Since ancient times, people have built structures that reach for the skies – from the steep spires of medieval towers to the grand domes of ancient cathedrals and mosques. Today ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edward Musole, PhD Law Student, University of New England Girts Ragelis/ShutterstockRecent trends show Australians are increasingly buying wearables such as smartwatches and fitness trackers. These electronics track our body movements or vital signs to provide data throughout the day, with ...
Papua New Guinea experienced a significant earthquake on 24 March in East Sepik and there has also been recent flooding there and in surrounding provinces. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yousuf Mohammed, Dermatology researcher, The University of Queensland Maridav/Shutterstock You wake up, stagger to the bathroom and gaze into the mirror. No, you’re not imagining it. You’ve developed face wrinkles overnight. They’re sleep wrinkles. Sleep wrinkles are temporary. But as your ...
The Environment Select Committee has just announced that 60 percent of individuals who asked to speak at the hearings will not be heard. This equates to almost 700 people who made individual submissions and more than 1000 more who made a form submission. ...
The Royal New Zealand Ballet is performing Swan Lake around the country. What kind of dream does the ballet sell?Before going to see the Royal New Zealand Ballet perform Swan Lake, I had about as much familiarity with the plot of this ballet as could be expected from having ...
A new poem by Auckland poet Eamonn Tee. High Tide at Local Maxima It is only going to get worse. The streams will be narrow and fickle. The week will bend and buckle like a pot-bellied waist. You will make it to the weekend with one ...
The New Zealand entrepreneur behind beauty business Ethique is gearing up to launch a new eco-venture. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Our thirst for a tasty bevvy is insatiable, but it comes with a hefty plastic price for the planet: 580 billion ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 James by Percival Everett (Mantle, $38) A retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from ...
By Kamna Kumar in Suva Pacific Islands Forum Secretary-General Henry Puna stressed the importance of media freedom and its link to the climate and environmental crisis at the 2024 World Press Freedom Day event organised by the University of the South Pacific’s journalism programme. Under the theme “A Planet for ...
Tara Ward previews a new local TV series offering alternative visions of motherhood. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. A woman is clambering up the side of her two-story house, clinging desperately to a drainpipe. Nearby, her child is perched on the ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is supportive of the cross-party approach to climate adaptation announced by the Minister of Climate Change today. ...
The Sustainable Business Council (SBC) and Climate Leaders Coalition (CLC) welcome today’s announcement from Government around a bipartisan inquiry into an enduring climate adaptation framework for New Zealand. ...
The Free Speech Union welcomes the decision by the Department of Internal Affairs, and Minister Brooke Van Velden, to abandon proposals to further regulate online speech. ...
Its new building in Wellington will not be nearly big enough for all its records, and it has also run out of money to build its new storage facility in Levin. ...
BusinessNZ is congratulating the Minister of Climate Change for his work in achieving cross-party consensus for a way forward on climate adaptation. ...
Recent research reveals the repeal of smokefree measures is not only bad for our health, but also the economy. The Government has repealed various smokefree measures to ensure it keeps collecting $1.2 billion a year in tobacco taxes, in order to pay for tax cuts already being delivered to ...
The club’s surprisingly good season is built on the desire to prove a random A-League YouTuber wrong… and a few other factors.“There’s no way that Wellington Phoenix play finals this year. I can’t see it happening at all.” Those are the words of Lachlan Raeside, an Australian football content ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By César Albarrán-Torres, Senior Lecturer, Department of Media and Communication, Swinburne University of Technology Apple TV+ As one of billions of bilingual individuals in the world, it disappoints me when a film or TV show with characters of a non-English-speaking background is ...
The under-utilised course is a waste of space, and with a little political will, it could be turned into something better. For the duration of her stay in Wellington, my long-suffering cousin listened to me rant about golf courses. They’re bad for the environment: water intensive and pesticide heavy. They ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Ruppanner, Professor of Sociology and Founding Director of The Future of Work Lab, Podcast at MissPerceived, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock A recent report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows US fertility rates dropped 2% in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amy Corderoy, Medical doctor and PhD candidate studying involuntary psychiatric treatment, School of Psychiatry, UNSW Sydney shop_py/Shutterstock Picture two people, both suffering from a serious mental illness requiring hospital admission. One was born in Australia, the other in Asia. Hopefully, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Treby, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, RMIT University P.j.Hickox, Shutterstock Peatlands store more carbon per square metre than any other ecosystem on Earth. These waterlogged, mossy bogs beat even dense rainforests for their ability to act as carbon reservoirs. Under the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Goss, Adjunct Associate Professor, Health Research Institute, University of Canberra Government spending on health has been growing so rapidly that a decade ago the then health minister Peter Dutton called it “unmanageable” and “unsustainable”. Health spending grew in real terms by ...
New Zealand's largest electricity distributor is warning the country to hurry up with controls around charging electric vehicles or face unnecessary bills running into the billions. ...
New Zealanders have been asked to conserve energy this morning to combat a possible electricity shortfall, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. A call to conserve power New Zealand is facing a possible electricity shortfall, with people up ...
Writer Rebecca K Reilly breaks down the national book awards. What are the Ockhams?The Ockham New Zealand Book Awards are our annual national awards for books published for adults, and have existed in this form since 2016. There are four categories: Fiction, Poetry, General Non-fiction and Illustrated Non-fiction. There ...
Wellington City Council should keep its 34% ownership share in Wellington International Airport, argue Unions Wellington spokespeople Finn Cordwell and Ashok Jacob. Insanity, as the saying goes, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Wellington City Council (WCC) is yet again proposing to dispose ...
New Zealand’s largest book publisher has undergone drastic changes this week, leaving its future role in local publishing uncertain. Two of the most recognisable local publishers in New Zealand are among those restructured out of Penguin Random House, it was announced this week. Head of publishing Claire Murdoch will leave ...
The Black Ferns Sevens appeared to be a mile behind Australia at the halfway point of the 2023-24 SVNS international circuit. Winless in three tournaments, a cup quarter-final exit in Perth was one of their worst results. To add insult to injury, talismanic skipper Sarah Hirini had been ruled out ...
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Successive governments have tried, and failed, to count Māori. But with the return of social investment, it’s more important than ever to get good data. The post Government looks for a better way to count Māori appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Experts in financing social investment initiatives say New Zealand is in a prime position to tackle social issues via a social investment approach The post What will Willis’ social investment fund look like? appeared first on Newsroom. ...
In 2021 the Public Interest Journalism Fund launched the Te Rito Journalism project, a $2.4 million initiative to boost diversity in New Zealand’s newsrooms. The initiative was in response to the decades-long shortage of Māori and Pacific journalists in the media industry. It was billed as New Zealand’s ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist A former Tuvalu prime minister says while the New Zealand government’s oil and gas plans show it is concerned about its economy, he is more concerned about the livelihoods and survival of the Tuvalu people. Enele Sopoaga — who still serves as an MP ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Many people who follow federal budgets know about the magnificent “budget tree” in a parliamentary courtyard, which turns a glorious red in time for the May event. This week Treasurer Jim Chalmers posed by ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Bennett, Professor of Music, Australian National University Richard P J Lambert/flickr, CC BY The future belongs to the analogue loyalists. Fuck digital. As a tsunami of CDs, DAT tapes and samplers swept the recording industry in the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Strong, Associate professor, Music Industry, RMIT University This week American rapper Macklemore released a new track, Hind’s Hall, which has gained a lot of attention because of its explicitly political nature. The track is unapologetically pro-Palestine. It declares the artist’s ...
Explainer - The government from 2025 is mandating how state schools teach children to read. But what is structured literacy and how does it compare to other teaching methods? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danica Jenkins, Lecturer in European Studies, University of Sydney On a freezing spring night in March, Georgia’s national soccer team beat Greece in a nail-biter penalty shootout to qualify for the Euro 2024 championships. The atmosphere on the streets of the capital ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam G. Arian, Lecturer (Accounting & Finance), Australian Catholic University Loic Manegarium/Pexels Imagine every ton of carbon dioxide a company emits is slowly inflating its costs — not just in terms of potential fines or fees but in the capital it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Somwrita Sarkar, Senior Lecturer in Design and Computation, University of Sydney The “latte line” is the infamous, invisible boundary that divides Sydney between the more affluent north-east and the south-west. Historically, people north of the line enjoy better access to jobs and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dowdy, Principal Research Scientist in Extreme Weather, The University of Melbourne Nomad_Soul/Shutterstock In media articles about unprecedented flooding, you’ll often come across the statement that for every 1°C of warming, the atmosphere can hold about 7% more moisture. This ...
Labour had better wake up pronto – insipid and visionless policies that tinker around the edges are not going to win them the election. They owe their supporters a better effort than that.
The problem with vaping has been a clear growing problem over years. Very shortly before the election, after six years in power, it gets the "We're taking this seriously, we're going to do something about it," treatment.
It's all about perception.
But that is still faffing around the edges. They have to do something radical to get the phone back on the hook.
Here is a couple of ideas they can still throw out there:
A tax free income threshold of $10,000 and removing the tax exemption of churches – make them instead claim tax rebates based on their charity spending. That'd knock Peter Mortlocks and Bishop Brian's arse in and simultaneously show God's displeasure at prosperity doctrine by making them poorer in the realm of mammon.
The money could then be used to partially offset the income threshold change. You couldn't think of a more classic case of "applied Christianity", to quote MJ Savage.
The perception is labour is playing whack a mole with national, it might be fun but it sure isn't impressing me!!
Of course, from my perspective, I am happy with the TVNZ poll last night.
A couple of comments though:
Firstly, I hope that Chippy keeps his job whatever the outcome of the election. I don't think he is the reason for Labour's position at the moment. He has had a nightmare ride thus far with all the discipline issues etc. I still think he is the best person for the role.
Secondly, HDPA made an interesting comment last night about the rise of the extremes on both sides of the political perspective. She thought that voters are starting to see both of the main central parties as tweedle dum and tweedle dee, and if they want real change they need to move further in either direction.
The Greens are not extremists…the vast majority of their policies are common sense.
ACT on the other hand…..
Putting people and planet ahead of profit is extreme in some eyes!!
[deleted]
Is the standard encouraging slander these days ?
I don't know if that's a reasonable opinion, but please don't make potentially defamatory statements about public figures.
Well, I can't recall exactly what S said so am unable to confirm he said anything particularly defamatory, but the overall drift was right on the money.
So you approve of calling someone a racist on the basis of no evidence, simply because you don't like them……. noted.
You have moved the goal-posts from not liking their politics, to something else.
Back in the Cold War day, those who criticised US foreign policy were called anti-American, and those in the USA who criticised their lack of social justice were called fellow travellers with commies.
Politicians are not above playing the race card.
Brash tried Kiwi vs iwi and proposed removing the Maori electorates – when the issue of the day was foreshore and seabed claims of Maori. Yet Key's government enabled whanu ora, signing us up to UNDRIP and agreed with TPM on "no ownership of the foreshore and seabed" (undoing Labour's public domain) – allowing private land owners to deny access more easily.
Now National foment concern about co-governance on water bodies and UNDRIP and oppose Maori Health and worse with ACT as partner.
Zoe Hobbes just missed out on the World Championship final with 11.02, the 2 runners 8th and 9th (11.01) into the final.
She was 4th in the fastest of the 3 semi-final heats – the winner Jackson was 2nd in the final, the 2nd placed Ta Lou was 4th in the final and the 3rd placed in her semi-final won the final (the three were the fastest in the semi-finals) – Shacarri Richardson in a very quick 9.65seconds.
3rd in her semi-final, she was given lane 9. SR had a real slow start in her semi-final and came home much faster than Jackson. In the final she had a better start and as she was on the outside, they were only aware of her late run when it was over.
Those with a VPN can watch it here
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/athletics/65740172
Finals and semi-finals.
Zoe Hobbs, Jock not Thomas branch of the Hobbs/Hobbes dynasty.
And its Sha’Carri Richardson (how do people get the apostrophe as part of their name?).
Not just hundreds of South Asians also hundreds from South America – this will be thousands
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/migrant-workers-claim-they-have-been-duped-into-believing-they-were-getting-jobs-and-a-better-kiwi-life/BVW7KEQFUNGSJAHSI45S44ZTKI/
Off twitter.
Clip the ticket at both ends.
Our History
Abroad Global existed before as an immigration advisory firm that helped the migrant community for 7 years. Our decision to become a Charitable Trust was inspired by the large potential in the charity sector to help other non-for-profit organisations and the migrant section of the community.
https://www.abroad-global.com/what-we-do
Tax dodging all the way to the bank,
Mariela Ehijo is certainly represented in quite a number of charitable organisations. This one too…
please provide a link for your quote.
A nice reprise of the historic fear of Maori elites follows.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/kahu/anaru-eketone-theres-a-lot-of-scaremongering-about-maori-elite-but-what-about-the-pakeha-elite/TQOJX5T4LFGGJPUUWPLQOL6WMA/
The article responds to concerns not currently raised, and redirects into a classic whataboutery to conclude.
IF it is intended to alleviate some of the concerns re government policy and legislation, the author could at least attempt to describe some of those concerns accurately, and then address them.
Criminalising peaceful protest against carbon corporates in Oz
Criminalising cancelling carbon corporates in Aotearoa.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/300952877/damien-grant-freedom-to-speak-and-to-listen-are-rights-we-should-cherish
Following on from my comment yesterday about the climate change impacts of the wealthy:
https://fortune.com/2023/08/21/jeff-bezos-blue-origin-rocket-tests-texas-emitting-methane-see-from-space-iss/
This can be fixed but it needs politicians prepared to take inequality and climate change seriously, tax the rich, party vote Green.
I was thinking about the Maui fires yesterday. Globally, fire weather seasons have increased in length by 27% since 1980.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/07/climate-change-wildfire-risk-has-grown-nearly-everywhere-but-we-can-still-influence-where-and-how-fires-strike/
Whilst increased rain in winter and spring is actually producing greater fire risks, because of warmer winters and wetter springs stimulating much greater growth in foliage.
Once of the suspected causes of the fires in Maui was the failure of utility companies to cut power in high winds, causing arcing that sparked the conflagration.
And I was thinking, could that happen here? Much of our urban development in the Waitakere Ranges is predicated on it never turning into a massive tinder box.
Imagine this. Auckland, after nearly of year of constant rain thanks to La Nina, finally enters an El Nino phase. The rain stops in September, and a warm early spring and summer cause an explosion of plant growth. Vector, as usual, utterly neglect line maintenance in the Waitakere ranges.
December and Xmas are gorgeous, green, luxuriant, blue skies and hot.
By January, it hasn't rained for ten weeks and a glorious summer continues. Auckland is in a drought. Watercare is advising people to reduce use. In February a watering ban is introduced and a scandal around Watercare's failure to invest in storage infrastructure fills the MSM.
In a blistering February, Aucklanders start to fondly recall the great deluge of the previous year. People grumble about the lack of rain, and magazines run stories on how to save grey water for the garden. Mike Hosking devotes hours of his show to calling people who are starting to warn of the fire danger alarmist killjoys who don’t like people having fun at the beach. The Waitakeres go from dark green, to deep shades of brown and yellow and to lighter shades of green.
Summer stretches into March, temperatures remain in the mid twenties. The entire city is a tinderbox. An unseasonable, scorching high pressure system crosses the Tasman from the Australian deset bring record breaking temperatures and strong westerlies. Poorly maintained power lines cause a big scrub fire to break out above Piha. Attracted by the spectacle, a mentally disturbed arsonist decides this a good time to light a series of fires in the evening along the Upper Nihotupu Walkway. Within hours, a fire front stretching from Piha road to the Lower Nihotupu Dam Road is blazing, fanned by strong westerlies and tinder dry undergrowth. With little to no warning a huge fire sweeps down and destroys hundreds of homes along Scenic drive, and devastates Waiatarua. Firefighters can do nothing to stop it raging down West Coast Road and spreading down Forest Hill road. The next day, a firestorm erupts and the flames engulf Oratia, Laingholm and bite into Titirangi. By the time fire is contained, dozens of lives have been lost. Tens of thousands are evacuated, thousands lose everything, and hundreds of millions of dollars of damage has been done.
Entirely possible, IMHO. And perhaps sooner than we think.
I was in Lahaina 6 years ago in their mid summer and struck by the casual attitude to fire safety, with lots of bonfires and barbeques amongst the dried out scrub and a very large proportion of residents and visitors smoking and discarding still burning butts. There seems to be no fire restrictions or bans, probably because .. you know, FREEDOM.
Big grass fires and sugar cane fires are common in Maui all exacerbated by the huge downhill winds in summer like the South Island east coast. It is a large island with apparently only 13 fire engines and a few available helicopters surprisingly. It is the opposite of here, the east coast is wet and the west is very dry.
While there I made mention that the place, the west coast anyway, was ready made for a big devastating fire so therefore it was no surprise to me that the inevitable happened. Lahaina was a lovely old historic village and a loss but nowhere near as devastating as the loss of the people, some of whom we almost certainly met or stayed with.
"Big grass fires and sugar cane fires are common in Maui all exacerbated by the huge downhill winds in summer like the South Island east coast"
From:
https://weatherwest.com/page/2
Brief thoughts on the recent wildland-urban interface fire catastrophe on Maui
. . . . As much as it might surprise some folks, the Hawaiian islands are no stranger to fire. Nearly all ignitions today are caused by human activities (though most are accidental). Wildfire risk is rising, especially on the dry sides of the islands (which, in some cases, receive an annual average precipitation similar to that of Los Angeles), due to a combination of unmanaged invasive grasses building up huge fuel loads on abandoned plantations and climate change–which is likely increasing the duration and severity of droughts on the lee sides of the islands and the intensity of wet-dry cycling of precipitation (which favors extra vegetation growth, and then rapid drying of that extra growth during high risk periods). Here, too, as in so many other places, subdivisions have been built and expanded that increasingly extend into high fire risk zones. In fact, in County of Maui planning documents, nearly all of Lahaina was characterized as being at high to extreme wildfire risk.
DOC commissioned a paper about controlled burnoffs in vulnerable areas – but NZ forests are evolved for a damp temperate climate, not extended droughts common in Australia and California.
Nothing to confirm this, yet.
H I Sutton
@CovertShores
***UPDATE*** Reports that a #Chinese Navy (PLAN) submarine, apparently a nuclear powered Type-093 Shang Class boat, has suffered a serious accident in the vicinity of the Taiwan Strait This is currently *unconfirmed*, treat with great caution. Been hearing it for a few hours.
[…]
@CovertShores
Reports suggest all crew died. If so, RIP. However, again, caution that currently no evidence. And some reporting is less credible. But important to listen for more More info on this class of submarine http://hisutton.com/Chinese-Navy-T
[…]
@CovertShores
·Should add, one thing which makes me doubt some of the accounts is that they have too much information, like crew dying, type of boat etc. However, that doesn't invalidate the underlying story. But waiting for more info, ideally credible sources (I may have missed some)
https://twitter.com/CovertShores/status/1693742634244710455
http://www.hisutton.com/Chinese-Navy-Type-093-Shang-Class-Submarine.html
HI Sutton is a pretty reliable source, although I am sure he could be taken in by rumour.
Taiwan MOD;
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/aipl/202308220126.aspx
google translate
https://i.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/132782366/why-were-considering-leaving-our-rental-as-a-ghost-house
Landlord grizzling!
House prices cooling is a plus, and a ghost house tax should free a great doer upper for a motivated 1st home buyer!!
It's not even intended as an expose of the entitlement mentality, but as preparation for an era of plutocracy entitlement under NACT.
Our home ownership is lower than the UK and falling.
Once upon a time they were known as the propertied class and working class society, now we are the colony with the precariat working class paying rent to the class above.
Do they have a…'givealittle '….page for donations?
Feature story on Stuff
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/132782366/why-were-considering-leaving-our-rental-as-a-ghost-house
A cry baby story about a mum and dad investor since 1984, who never paid any income tax on rentals for near 4 decades – running them with 3/4 of the rent income as mortgage so there was no net income to tax. All for the untaxed CG.
Now with the looming loss of the mortgage cost deduction (this has been phased in over the past few years and is not yet fully established) has reduced the portfolio down to one last rental (being lived in) while building a new home.
He says that on moving into the new home, they will leave the house as a ghost home, rather than borrow $40,000 to get it up rental standards. Crying too poor to have a spare $40,000 to do this without debt – when it's just more of a habit to finance their rentals via debt and claim this as a cost against rent income.
He concludes that the loss of mortgage deduction is forcing mum and dad investors to sell their rentals – in this he ignores the fact that those who invest in new builds still qualify for the mortgage deduction as a cost. It is a policy to encourage investment in new builds to stop investors bidding up the price of existing property on borrowed money.
The parasitic class given a public voice.
National intends to restore the mortgage tax deduction to enable more of this (discourage new build investment, slow new supply and increase property values for those in it for the untaxed CG – while not paying any tax on their rent income).
Cries poverty without explaining how much untaxed capital gain they made on the houses they have sold – all paid for by their
own hard worktenants.Forgets also the period where you could offset your losses against your other income.
Doesn't explain what he has done with his capital gains that let his house get so run-down and unmaintained.
TOP have a policy to stop that sort of thing: they would insist on a prospective landlord putting up a 100% deposit on purchasing a rental property. In that case, with no mortgage to repay the landlord would would either make a profit – and paying tax on it – or find himself providing his tenant with cheap rent.
TOP are polling 1%.
TOP are polling 1%.
Which suggests that 99% of the voting population have no real understanding of economics; or else that the don't care about the high rents that tenants are paying.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/aug/21/rich-countries-trap-poor-nations-into-relying-on-fossil-fuels
A debt amnesty to help combat emmisions!
That'll have the wealthy bleating
Oh dear.
After the fuss about Seymour's joke regarding Guy Fawkes and the Pacific Peoples Ministry I suppose we are now going to get demands that the Labour Party dump Hipkins as leader?
How dare he will no doubt be Sepuloni's diatribe after Hipkins made a joke about Steve Hansen. Will Chippie be calling on the King to cancel Hansen's knighthood?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby-world-cup-2023/132789273/cancel-his-citizenship-chris-hipkins-jokes-as-steve-hansen-confirms-wallabies-role
alwyn, It is not the same as wanting to blow up the Ministry for Pacific Peoples after two men had entered the building and harassed and intimidated staff.
A debt amnesty to help combat emmisions!
Or they could repay the debt with fiat money, denominated in their own currency. That's what America would do if it found itself in that situation.
People think that 29% is bad news for Labour but look at the slide in support for over 4 months. The mood for change is all around. How low will the support go? Will it reach 19%?
Holy hell , what rock you been hiding under , fizzy??
National/ACT have only 50%, according to that poll, which is not enough to govern. FNZ might have given them another 1% but FNZ has a snowball's chance in hell of making it into parliament. Success, or otherwise, for the right will probably depend on what happens with NZ1st, the Maori Party result, and to a lesser extent, on the Ilam result. I note also that 12% of those polled were "undecided".
It's enough for 65 seats with NZF under 5%.