*** Would you please consider this contribution for publication on The Standard as a post rather than a comment. I’ve had a couple of emails bounce back to me from the gmail submissions address, so making the request here since I know it will end up in moderation. Feel free to edit what ever. I am happy to be identified as the author. If you decide not to publish it, I would appreciate any feedback you might offer with a view towards how it may be tailored to better suit your requirements for publication at a future date, if at all.
Kind Regards,
BLiP ***
New Zealanders put their trust in John Key. As the 2008 election neared, New Zealanders sensed a positive change was in the offing, a change driven by optimism which held out the reassurance that the darkening and ominous clouds heralding financial meltdown gathering around previously rock-solid international banking institutions didn’t have to reach as far as us. In fact, a multi-millionaire, a man who had made his fortune working with those very institutions had stepped up to offer his talents and to soften any impact such impending fiscal threat imposed. And look – he grew in a solo parent family dependent on a benefit for his family’s very food and rent. He knows struggle street, he’ll look after us, he’s one of us. Consider his own example; that’s how we work things out – be positive, couple our inate Kiwi optimism with a sturdy and aspirational mind-set to embrace a new New Zealand offered by John Key. Sure, we can make mistakes, heh, just look at all that silly fuss about the Coldplay song on that promotion CD the nice smiling John Key sent to us. He won’t us down. Yes, its time for a change. And guess what? John Key has promised live on television to never lie and to always do his best.
Now, four-and-a-half years later we know that was his first lie, and it certainly wasn’t going to be his last. And these are only the ones we know about. In fact, as the litany of lies still spills from John Key, it must be asked: is the litany orchestrated?
06 – We seek a 50% reduction in New Zealand’s carbon-equivalent net emissions, as compared to 1990 levels, by 2050. 50 by 50. We will write the target into law.
50 – oh, maybe our SAS soldiers were in the Kabul hotel gun fight but they weren’t wounded by friendly fire
51 – New Zealand has lost $12 billion from GDP due to the Christchurch earthquake . . . oh, it might actually be around $15 billion from GDP due to the Christchurch earthquake . . . Blinglish said what?
I think David Shearer and Co. really need to be honest about how they are going to approach the election. They can’t be unrealistic about what John Key’s approach will be. It’s going to be the bullying ‘show me the money’ angle where Key tries to make Shearer look like a bumbling fool under the pressure of live TV. If an experienced politician like Goff can lose to Key that way then it is quite likely that Shearer will be crushed.
So he needs to not play that game. Admit that he can’t play the slick, salesman routine like Key can. People love an underdog who shows some humility(that was one of Helen’s weaknesses, too much pride).
Shearer should instead try to occupy the moral ground (but without the typical labour party smug sanctimony ).
I think National’s strategy will be to start announcing sweeteners soon in the form of election bribes while continuing with the beneficiary bashing and getting tough on crime angle. I don’t think Key will necessarily want to go head to head with Shearer too often because, as long as Shearer can rattle off a few of Key’s failures, that’s where Key will get tripped up. Instead, Key will continue to rely on a biased media to paint him in a good light… No journalist asking the hard questions will be allowed. There will likely be a play of extended coverage about a minor controversy leading up to the election to ensure Key is in the limelight where he can smile and wave till the cows come home. Labour will try to outplay the Natz with their own happy go lucky clown card.
biased media indeed Jackal; see comment on the news coverage of the “far left” and investors “scared off” by Labour and the Greens; freakin’ toadies; the ghost has no respect for the majority of them, though he must understand them all the same.
Shearer was absolutely pitiful on Morning Report this morning about the polls. “What it shows is that Labour are beginning to show themselves as a credible party”, “We’re showing that we really can give John Key a run for his money” or words to that effect. Just pathetic. He should be dismissing the polls as having limited value when the shifts are so small, that this is reflected in the different poll results, and then move quickly on to how that John Key’s a dishonest schmuck who doesn’t care about the majority of New Zealanders, only the rich, and that for these reasons he’s not fit to be prime minister. Short of making defamatory statements the guy needs to harden up and tell it how it is. The way Shearer’s behaving at the moment I’d be embarrassed if were to become the prime minister. Pathetic.
Shearer sounded like the Labour we’re tired of – interested in getting elected primarily, so interested in whether they have gained some advantage over the other Party. And strangely referring to leaks from Key’s side as if that was of real importance to voters.
He should have been talking about how Labour is going to roll up its sleeves and get busy for NZ with good policies (a stirring class image). Great if he’d talked about things NZ need done – for the economy, for profitable businesses that have thought for their workers and society, with encouragement from government, also environment maintaining, enhancing, saving etc. No it’s all about the voters realising that Labour has something to offer. Labour don’t wait for us to realise, repeat about firm vision again and again!
We who derive from early colonisation that left an industrial society for a better life and opportunities to get ahead will suffer increasing disappointment as years of this economic management continue. Now we are sinking back into the old feudal agricultural economy of poor farm workers and impoverished town dwellers, with a sprinkling of jobs in the new industrial trend that allows oppressive surveillance from new technology allowing the wealthy to keep the poor distant from government – NZ Housing is just the start. What a damnable place this country is turning into under these bourgesoisie in government.
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: —that is right, $385,000—and there apparently was not any audience at all, apart from mum and dad and the cousins down the road. That is the kind of shambles that Mr Williamson allowed to happen. So why he is talking during this important speech, I do not know. Then, of course, he went off and he made a colleague of his a multimillionaire.
Hon Maurice Williamson: Which one?
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Mr Steven Joyce. He gave out licences under a Vickrey sale process—a Vickrey sale process. I want to remind everybody listening that this is the kind of money that has gone into this. The Vickrey sale process goes like this. Up comes this item for purchase. Mr Williamson is heading the sale. A bids $1 million, B bids $100,000, and C bids $50,000. A gets the tender—
Hon Maurice Williamson: We could have a royal inquiry.
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: —well, it deserves an inquiry, all right, but not, I think, from that member—because A bid $1 million, but he does not pay $1 million; he pays what the second guy, B, bid. He pays $100,000. Now every morning, and five times a day, Mr Joyce gets up and he points his face towards Pakuranga. He gets down on his knees and he prays to the Mecca of Pakuranga who made him a multimillionaire, and then he walks into the House and calls himself a self-made man.
have banked your component specs and a 4-year-old transaction machine gifted by a fellow philosophical communitarian today is going into the shop for an increased horse=power deposition tomorrow. Cheers (further disclosure may be harnessed from the Pogues and Rolls bridle.)
Well no, it is an assumption. But what of the water that never touches the lake bed? It just seems to be an illogical argument that is straight from the capitalist rentier book.
Similar to land, people do not own the entire column of atmoshere that exists above the land. And it is very clear that their ownership is limited to the bed and does not include the entire column of water and atmosphere that exists above the bed.
I think tranzrail tried something equally silly and money-grubbing over its rail lines some years ago.
I wonder whether there is some fuzzy-wuzzy thinking going on in Tuwharetoa land. A few weeks ago someone there (I think) was bemoaning the first-in-first-served principle under the RMA that operates when allocating the country’s resources. Bemusement arose given that their own claims rest on the first-in-first-served principle. Perhaps they need to get some sea air to clear the fuzz and the wuzz.
I don’t like your term fuzzy wuzzy so please cease using that insult.
I would say all of the water touches the lake bed at some point so all good.
You are speaking ignorance when you go on about first in and so forth, I replied to the alien the other day on this point.
“a very small percentage of the populace, even if they are first arrivals.”
Māori are not just ‘first arrivals’, the culture developed here and that is why they are indigenous to these islands. As wikipedia outlines, “Indigenous peoples are ethnic minorities who have been marginalized as their historical territories became part of a state.[1] In international or national legislation they are generally defined as having a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory, and to their cultural or historical distinctiveness from politically dominant populations. The concept of indigenous people may define them as particularly vulnerable to exploitation, marginalization and oppression by nations or states that may still be in the process of colonialism, or by politically dominant ethnic groups.”
It is a very important concept to grasp and I emphasise it because too often the line ‘first arrivals’ is used to marginalise and denigrate Māori as if somehow in some strange universe they are not indigenous and by not being indigenous, under this worldview, they are not due the rights and respect that indigenous peoples should be given in this world. I say should because the sad truth is that that rarely has happened unless the dominant culture decides to misappropriate some aspect of the indigenous culture for their own purposes.
Understanding the indigenous culture of a land people choose to live in imo should be step 1 otherwise we end up with the sorts of negative social statistics for marginalised indigenous cultures we see here and around the world.
I know it is a tangential point but I felt I had to make it to correct any misunderstandings that may be there with the use of the term ‘first arrivals’.
Perhaps they need some sea air? Why don’t you leave them alone instead of the bullying, snide, nasty putdowns vto or are you just feeling mean this morning.
the culture apart from a few local variances arrived fully formed with the first Pasifikans. Very little actually developed here indigenously.
Choose any indicator you like, language, dress, customs, traditions, gods…
But i still afford 1st nation status, with all sovereignty rights conferred, to Maori even if you are a multitude of disparate tribes sharing a common aesthetic masked as a united people.
finders keepers
though you still shouldn’t have signed that bloody treaty eh. 🙂
polly – that ‘fully formed’ argument is the same as ‘not first here’ except the other way round. We can be Pasifikans and have our own cultural identity – it is not mutually exclusive. I think we are becoming more united 🙂 and true about that treaty bro, so trusting and so let down.
the culture developed here and that is why they are indigenous to these islands.
Just saying if the proviso of indigineity is that the culture developed here, but it didn’t, then it calls into question the nature of indigenousness ?
Hasn’t a unique kiwi culture developed more here since the Euros arrived, but are they indigenous?
I’d stick to the rights of finders keepers and possession being 9/10ths of the law 🙂
If pollywog is right then at some point the multiple cultures of NZ must become one culture (in one sense) which incorporates those that exist now and then such as the current indigenous one. At that point the indigeneity shifts, does it not, to that next point along the timescale where the ‘new improved’ culture is the reality and the previous cultures drift back in time not forgotten but not used.
We could be at that point now. Surely not too far off atthe most. Or perhaps when that point arrives indigeneity simply stops and no longer exists….
It makes my eyes cross-eyed like looking at concentric rings.
I don’t mean one culture as in homogeneity, that’s why it was framed with “(in one sense”).
But indigeneity must have moved along that timeframescale for today’s Maori culture to be indigenous, given the difference with the first Maori cultures here. Those original ones have morphed into today’s one through population increase, migrations, time, changed habits, etc , hence the claim to being indigenous here.
But that process must surely still apply. If it were not to apply then indigeneity must stop when cultures change (which leads to todays maori not being indigenous). As such, at some point the indigenous culture of NZ must come to include other arrivals such as the europeans.
“You are speaking ignorance when you go on about first in and so forth, I replied to the alien the other day on this point.”
You could have quoted my reply, which from memory was something like “that’s not how I meant it at all”, so plenty of distance between myself and the intent of your ignorance barb.
The copied piece refers to understanding and respect for a developed culture lest negative things arise. That is all genuine and credible sure, but it is not the sole consideration in application of the first-in-first-served principle. It is merely one of many factors to consider. It does not deliver a knockout punch.
It smells of framing an argument to support a predetermined position, rather than understanding the pricniple in the first place and then applying particular circumstances around it.
(You may like (but probably not) a couple posts made on open mike yesterday around the constitutional review and the place of te tiriti and others….)
vto said, “Bemusement arose given that their own claims rest on the first-in-first-served principle.”
I said, “It is a very important concept to grasp and I emphasise it because too often the line ‘first arrivals’ is used to marginalise and denigrate Māori as if somehow in some strange universe they are not indigenous and by not being indigenous, under this worldview, they are not due the rights and respect that indigenous peoples should be given in this world.”
You know by your logic there is no-one who is indigenous because they “all came from somewhere” even though unique and valuable cultures developed.
And as for the silly notion you propose below where some water molecules are supported by the lakebed and others not – you do know they are all, sort of moving around a lot in there – you know in the water itself.
I don’t believe I made any mention over who is indigenous and who isn’t, or what effect such indigeneity has, I merely spoke of the principle of first in first served.
Sure, Maori are indigenous here, that is clear. And sure, people may well do what you intimate there and use it to denigrate. I don’t disagree with you but it still misses the point made in response – namely that such issues are tangential to the principle and are merely considerations in the application of the principle and not determinative.
First in first served is a poorly principle with few good applications in the wanderings of manwomankind across the planet. This was recognised by Tuwharetoa themselves when they recognised its weaknesses in its application in the RMA. They and I are on the same page on that – it is just where it is being chosen for application that was bemusing.
Oh and on your ‘inadvertent’ use of the term – perhaps stop and think about how that might hurt a group of people in society, that inadvertent language happens all the time and hurts people all the time. I said that your use of that term in regards to this iwi was “bullying, snide, and a nasty putdown” you said, “nope. typical.” The truth is that you are/were wrong and your “nope. typical” was incorrect wasn’t it?
I raise this in some detail because it was typical but just not in the way you thought vto.
I see that marty. Things is there was no intention to insult, it was truly inadvertant. That was why I said nope – at that stage its meaning was still flying around in the wind.
You may well see that it sprang to mind because of its use in distance days past, when it was used to insult etc (not by me I would hope but perhaps by others in my vicinity which was picked up on). Such is the nature of man and the long timeframes that are often required to change flawed ways.
Yep, a deliberate racist insult. You’re usually far cleverer than that VTO.
And, to go back to your original question, all the water in Lake Taupo is supported by the lake bed. The bed holds the water that later gets used in a profit making business. Fair enough that the owners of the lake bed would want their interests recognised.
Yes it was inadvertant. One of those never-used terms that popped to mind from distance days past and plunked out with no thinking.
As for the bed issue – don’t agree. Just like tranzrail some years ago the claim is unsound and smacks of rentier behaviour that is of no benefit to anyone expect the capitalist. The country is moving away from rentier behaviour so they are running against the grain in attempting to grab it. Don’t blame them though – all’s fair in love and war apparently and it is only what the corporates do themselves, so good on them for giving it a crack.
Only the water on the bottom is supported by the bed, all else is supported by the water below it, just as the air above the lake surface is supported by the lake itself. Quick send a bill to the nearest windfarm.
The water is in that location due to gravity and the higher topographical position of surrounding property, not the lake bed. See how silly it is?
Nope, I don’t think you’ve thought this through properly, VTO. Water is a liquid and water in a lake is a contiguous mass. All the water is supported by the bed, which is actually shown by your example, not disproved by it.
The phrase ‘hydro storage’ just popped into my head. I’m guessing that the claim probably has a basis in the fact that lake bed performs a role in the overall process of generation, even if it’s only storage. It just seems reasonable to me for that to be recognised.
Yes I do (although probably quite differently than you). But tell me this vto, who put Tuwharetoa in the position where they had to use such silly arguments to reinstate their capacity to maintain their culture and people? And who gave them those tools of argument in the first place?
Personally, I find many Western concepts of relationship with nature pretty bizarre esp this idea that nature is primarily a set of resources for our use (thank-you Judeo-Christian peoples). But we can hardly blame Maori for using and developing those concepts when they’ve been forced to by the dominant culture.
vto, if you turn up with a 750 ml bottle of whisky at my door, how much can I take because it hasn’t touched the sides of the bottle? Your argument makes absolutely no sense. If the water isn’t supported by the lake bed, what happens if the lake bed drops by 100m?
When you load logs on a truck, are only the ones which touch the truckbed supported by it? The springs might argue with you there.
Yes well I’m just trying to apply the logic to this situation whereby logic is spinning down a hot pool whirlpool.
For the water molecule to get to the turbines it needs to go down this path…….. flow down a river some goddamn other place and out to sea, then it gotta drift around over some sea bottoms for an age or two before being lifted to the sky when it gets too close to the surface on a hot day due to wind blowing down off somebody’s mountain range over the horizon. It then finds itself drifting helplessly in clouds of other water molecules with the same dilemma, floating over all sorts of peoples places like my house (I’ve seen them) and lots of other peoples houses and farms and cemetries. Then whoever owns Mount Cook is lucky because all them wee molecules gather together at places like that where it’s mr gravity’s turn. Heshe pulls them back down to the earth where they belong. Water doesn’t like flying. If they are in a Taupo catchment they will fall onto the land and property of individual private people, businesses, government, iwi, nobody, roads, crown, and even people’s own heads. Then, quite tired by now, it wends its way back to where it likes to be – a drain, a creek, a low area, a swamp, a culvert, river, pipe, drink bottle and lake taupo.
why thanks ghostrider. Hopefully it highlights the silliness of the claim. (or if it is a legit claim then perhaps all landowners should follow suit with same logic) Another one could be put up around wind farms and neighbouring properties too, along with many more.
Yes Ad. Although was late arriving because I got lost… another story. Very nice, spacious office. It was packed to the rafters. Just about every ethnic group was represented. I picked up that David Cunliffe and his supporters are in a good place.
I was also pleased to see Phil Twyford there… and Louisa Wall and Carmel Sepuloni. And for those of us getting a bit long in the tooth, so was Jonathon Hunt.
Matthew Hooton is feeling the pressure
Right-wing pundit’s embarrassing performance on radio this morning From the Left and From the Right, Radio NZ National, Monday 22 April 2013
Kathryn Ryan, Matthew Hooton, Mike Williams
A flustered Matthew Hooton nearly melted down a few minutes ago. He’s usually so calm and in control of himself, but these latest polls, plus the popularity of the Labour-Green electricity price policy, have evidently upset the poor fellow. Mike Williams’ knowing laughter will have infuriated him even more…
MATTHEW HOOTON:[steadily rising tone of hysteria] They’ve crashed the stock market with just a press statement! God knows what they’d be like if they were in office!
KATHRYN RYAN: The stock market has NOT crashed. That’s nonsense.
HOOTON: But, but! aaaaarghhh!…. they, they…
MIKE WILLIAMS: Ho ho ho ho ho ho ho.
KATHRYN RYAN: They did NOT crash the stock market. That is NOT true, Matthew.
HOOTON: They have CHOSEN to go to the left…politics of envy… [mutter, choke, splutter with indignation]…
He also made a comment about it being a wealth destroyer…and Williams told him it was about wealth distribution.
Maybe someone can compile a list of all the effects of NZ Power ( as described by the hysterical right) and make a post based on it…like the list of Key’s brainfades posted today.
Mike Williams gave his best performance yet with some excellent advice to the Labour Party.
Get out there and SELL the policies from now through to the election. Don’t do what you’ve tended to do in the past and that is… assume everyone understands them. THEY DON’T!
Hey Morrissey Breen, please stay off my blog, you have been trolling it, since I started it five years ago, you have also been trolling my posts for the 20 years, starting with usenet in the mid 90’s. (not political posts, but sporting ones)
Its a bit weird, that someone would do this for nearly 20 years, your not interested in a discussion, your trolling, any posts you do at my blog, will now will be deleted.
You made some particularly foolish remarks on this forum. You have provided a link to your blog, which I clicked on. Presumably that is what you WANT people to do.
I felt compelled to comment on a few of your more ridiculously stupid opinions, but you obviously lack the wherewithal to defend your statements. Go ahead and ban me, but bear in mind that I was your only reader.
Morrissey
You must watch your addictions. Put Brett Dale down now. 20 years of him seems excessive. And sometimes you can never find even a tiny gap to slip your arguments through.
Better play Kiss the Postman with someone more accommodating.
I’ve put down the poor fellow so often that I actually feel a bit guilty.
20 years of him seems excessive.
It certainly does, and it is. Poor old Mr. Dale has doubled the length of time I’ve been on Usenet. Twenty years ago, I couldn’t even turn on a computer.
Garth Brooks, Neil Diamond? That’s pretty cutting edge stuff, Brett, no wonder nobody else comments. I think you should give Mozza a medal if he’s been putting up with that quality of posting for 20 years.
Like I said, its just my wee blog, just my thoughts, not suppose to be cutting edge. If someone is consistently going to the blog, but not interested in the subject matter, then they’re trolling. The fact that he has been trolling my posts over the internet for 20 years about Garth Brooks and sports that anit rugby union (when he has no interest whatsoever in these topics) shows me that he is trolling/bullying.
I’ve had that impression for a long time now. He keeps posting here the letters he’s sent off to Radio NZ, obviously they never read them out and reading a few of them it’s clear why. Someone reposting their letters in a public forum like this is just dying for attention.
Er, actually, Lanth, I heard two of Morrissey’s letters read out, in part, on RNZ shows last week. One of them (about ‘Lord’ Monckton) even made me laugh and not in a roll your eyes kind of way either.
He keeps posting here the letters he’s sent off to Radio NZ, obviously they never read them out and reading a few of them it’s clear why.
You make it seem like I send a flood of correspondence to Radio NZ. I’m sure you intend to create that impression, but of course you are wrong. I occasionally post to Radio NZ, as in roughly once a fortnight, and contrary to your mean-spirited allegation, the majority of my e-mails have been read out on air—whether by Bryan Crump, Chris Laidlaw, Kim Hill, Kathryn Ryan or Jim Mora.
Someone reposting their letters in a public forum like this is just dying for attention.
I work hard at writing clear, punchy communications. Of course I welcome the fact they get attention. You think I want to write for an audience of none, like some sad bloggers we know?
Thanks for the kind words, my friend. Lanthanide started off as one of my admirers—if I were an Auckland Blues star or a pop singer, like my namesake, he’d have been classified as a “groupie”—but then I started treading on areas that he didn’t appreciate. Since then it’s been all downhill.
Don’t sweat it Morrissey, the *self styled* here, have little useful to offer, many will never have sent a single letter, email or turned up on a picket, or at a protest, or spoken face to face with a radio host, and MP or any such thing.
And some will stroke their egos by kidding themselves that they are better than their peers. How is project Onan going, Muz? Any closer to releasing the results?
“Interesting comment about ego, from someone who openly attaches his own self to a political entity!”
Surely attaching one’s self to another entity is a denial of ego?
“Whats this peers nonsense, we are human beings…”
We don’t need your steenkin’ thesaurus …
“The results of the projects (not mine), are clear for all those who are paying attention to see, its called NZ!”
So you aren’t going to be transparent with project Onan after all? Your mates at Lordy Find’em aren’t going to be pleased with you. They’re all about teh openness, or so they say. Which reminds me, did they ever do that expose on the Standard they promised? It’d be fascinating reading.
B’Jesus Morrissey you’re a frustrating bugger……..here I am tryin’ to back you up bro’ and also make a point about the whiff of a slightly sniffy “Beltway” happening on TS. Whadda you do ?
Did anyone see susan devoy’s interview with JC last week. He asked her who rang her and she said that they did not say who they were and she never found out.They just advised her to ring phone number supplied and there would be a job there for her that she might be interested in.A ghost caller.Spooky. Then again maybe it was discussed over the neighbouring back fence with the fairy at the bottom of the garden.
Naughty Chrissy ! Maybe not. Look at the National Party votes for and against……….?
You know it’s the height of fashion to turn your lime green check table cloth into a business shirt with an orange and purple paisley tie underneath a navy two inch wide pinstripe.
Have to own that one re sartorial. Sorry, from the bottom my garden. Something went wrong in the North.
Then I see the name “undefined” is replaced by “North”. Oh well since I’m here might as well add this: VERY large lime green check under VERY lawyerly two inch wide pinstripe.
Gee that’s interesting, how do you get to be a Dame or Sir, just hang around in the vicinity of the political electrical field and hope you make contact with someone live?
You play some sport really really well for a considerable time (with attendant reflected glory for the nation) OR you make heaps of money and give a smidgen of it away with strings attached OR you inherit a fortune and donate some to the ****** party OR you do exacting legal work for the government laying the basis for privatisation…….Damehoods and Sirhoods…. piece of cake!
PS Do not under any circumstances do long term unnoticed work in an old peoples home or unpaid for the community. No gongs available there.
Yeah. We have Sir Roger Douglas but never Sir William Sutch. He mingled in the wrong electrical fields. Ouch.
Though I was just thinking of Sir Angus Tait – someone who was a worthy knight.
Wikipedia – Bronze bust of Sir Angus Tait as part of the Twelve Local Heroes sculpture … He served with the Royal NZ and also Royal Air Force instructing as a Second…
After the war, he designed and built mobile radio equipment, although his first company went into receivership. In 1969, he founded Tait Electronics Ltd, now operating as Tait Radio Communications, Christchurch (New Zealand), with men who had decided to remain loyal and see him through; now his company is considered a world leader in mobile radio. He had persisted in keeping his manufacturing base in New Zealand, with 95 per cent of production exported to 160 countries.
I looked up the Twelve Local Heroes sculptures – The Twelve Local Heroes is a series of bronze busts located in the central city of Christchurch, New Zealand on Worcester Boulevard outside the Arts Centre to commemorate twelve local Christchurch people who were prominent in their respective fields in the latter part of the 20th century.
I can’t remember if they are still there – this happened in 2009 and the earthquake cluster started end of 2010 I think.
Re knighthoods and so on: at the risk of attack from TS Beltway for reposting one’s letters and what-not on TS, I have to offer this in response to Prism at 15 above. Came to me in a disturbing dream after Shonkey Python excitedly told his acolytes in the media that he’d offered Richie McCaw a knighthood – obviously he was after a “testo-top-up”.
ON KNIGHTS AND DAMES AND OTHER BULLSHIT
I heard a dirty story
It’s truly damned horrific
Shyster Boy Smiley Key
He’s selling honorifics
First he went to Richie
“Cos he’s a real man
Said Shyster Boy to Richie
Help me if you can
Take this crappy medal
It’s such a thing to show
And ‘cos I gave it to you
I’m basking in your glow
Richie he’s a cagey guy
He sussed the slimey game
He yelled out loud “Piss off you ponce…..
Go find yourself a Dame”
Tari proved no problem
For this she’d always itched
“Dame Toryana Torya”
The whispering old witch
“Pita” “Peter” take your pick
Demands he had a few
Pension with the knighthood
And Bee Em Double U
This was getting crazy
And people thought it stank…..
Shyster Boy pulled out the sword
Sir Botox Bloody Banks…..!!!
North
Blistering stuff. That little blister King John of Charmalot will be impervious to it of course. I think he’s one of those boys whose mother loves him as in Lyrics Freak supplied words of Paul Simon – Loves me like a Rock.
Songwriters: SIMON, PAUL
Words & music by paul simon
When I was a little boy, (when I was just a boy)
And the devil would call my name (when I was just a boy)
I’d say “now who do,
Who do you think you’re fooling? ” (when I was just a boy)
I’m a consecrated boy (when I was just a boy)
I’m a singer in a sunday choir
Oh , my mama loves, she loves me
She get down on her knees and hug me
Like she loves me like a rock
She rocks me like the rock of ages
And loves me
She love me, love me, love me, love me
When I was grown to be a man (grown to be a man)
And the devil would call my name (grown to be a man)
I’d say “now who do,
Who do you think you’re fooling? ” (grown to be a man)
I’m a consummated man (grown to be a man)
I can snatch a little purity
My mama loves me, she loves me
She get down on her knees and hug me…
And if I was president (was the president)
The minute congress call my name (was the president)
I’d say “who do,
Who do you think you’re fooling? (who do you think you’re fooling)
I’ve got the presidential seal (was the president)
I’m up on the presidential podium
My mama loves me
She loves me… etc
Another nice start to the week for National today – not!
There is nothing yet on the RNZ website (or on Stuff or the Herald), but one of the top stories on RNZ National midday news was that apparently a Court this morning has put a stop/hold on the long awaited and not yet completed investigation and report by Paula Rebstock into the leaks from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – a witchhunt that has already cost a quarter of a million dollars.
If I heard it correctly, someone – presumably an MFA employee only referred to as Complainant A (or similar) – has filed to stop the report on the basis that publication would infringe their rights to natural justice.
“…The order comes ahead of a judicial review of that restructuring, which starts next week in the High Court.
…That follows an application by someone known as Applicant A, who is seeking the judicial review.
Applicant A argued Ms Rebstock’s draft report would amount to predetermination of his position and a breach of natural justice.
In the High Court, Justice Dobson agreed and prohibited Ms Rebstock from completing her report in a way that contains any findings against Applicant A.”
Goff has called for the whole inquiry to be abandoned.
Edit – SNAP. Thanks Karol and R0b. Your links went up while I was typing.
New laws to allow spying on New Zealand citizens is a step towards totalitarianism, says a professor of cyber security and forensics.
“The idea of placing innocent citizens under constant surveillance is one definition of totalitarianism,” Hank Wolfe, an associate professor in the Information Science Department of Otago University’s School of Business told the Herald. “It will inhibit free thought and association. This has been demonstrated historically time and again where repressive totalitarian regimes have installed pervasive surveillance to watch citizens.”
Hugh Wolfensohn left the GCSB employment in february as a kind of persona no grata, after being there 25 years. He was put on gardening leave because of his role in the illegal operations relating to Kim Dotcom.
The spymaster who oversaw the Kim Dotcom raid left the GCSB without a golden handshake, gold watch or even a sausage roll….
Soon after Mr Wolfensohn became involved in questions around the case in August, he was put on “gardening leave” before the bureau confirmed last month that he had left.
The GCSB confirmed he had resigned on a Thursday and left on a Friday. It told the Herald: “Mr Wolfensohn has not received an exit payment, leaving function, dinner or present.” David Fisher
Mr Wolfensohn has not received an exit payment, leaving function, dinner or present.”
As a former government employee that story sounds familiar. It usually means the department or agency is on the backfoot for some reason and they immediately cast around for a “scapegoat”. It has been reported ‘Mr Wolfensohn’ was overworked and understaffed and that has to reflect back on both the agency bosses and the govt. of the day.
sorry I was late, had to see a man about a star…
and on the 8th day…
TAG (fracking representatives) “worse than the worse used-car salesmen he’d ever met” (Ever)
according to one Dannevirke farmer interviewed by Don’t Frack The Bay.
Auckland Airport (and Tourism) are marketing directly to Chinese micro social media (like twitter) and a plugged in audience of 500M; go littlewood, go chicky; Cool Bananas!
just like White-caps
(remember those Terence Hill and Bud Spencer movies?)
There’s something mildly illustrative about racists sending “go back to where you come from” messages to the other end of the country. One can’t help thinking that many/most Aucklanders would wish that the racists had followed their or advice.
I did indeed, felix. That was the renowned but (at least on this occasion) rather bewildered Don Donovan. I thought Michele Acourt and Noelle McCarthy were both remarkably restrained and good-humoured in their treatment of him. I’m not sure that he was entirely genuine in his befuddlement; in the past he has seemed quite tolerant and liberal in his attitudes.
To Morrissey and Felix: you two made up have you ? Lovely !
Apropos your comment at 20 above Morrissey, I steeled myself and (very rare for me) went to SLATER PORN to check out HAZARDS001. Not before warning everyone in the house to bash me with a chair and call the cops the moment I started to froth at the mouth.
Well, I did, and they did, and I’ve got a bloody great egg on my noggin. Still, I am grateful. Fortunately the cops accepted my explanation and they’ve gone.
But what utter OBSCENITY on SLATER PORN !
Tell you, were I still the cute young fulla I was 40 years ago I would consider it very, very, very hazardous to be around HAZARDS001.
HAZARDS001 is absolutely OBSSESSED with anal rape. How I pity HAZARDS001’s monitor and keyboard. And any youngster in proximity.
There must be the most horrific background story there !
HAZARDS001 is absolutely OBSSESSED with anal rape. How I pity HAZARDS001′s monitor and keyboard. And any youngster in proximity.
Michael Jackson takes a little boy out for a walk in the deep dark woods late one night. Finally, trudging miles from anywhere, the young boy, totally scared says, “It’s so dark and cold, and these trees are so frightening”
Jackson replies “you think that’s scary, but I’m the one who has to walk back by myself.”
I CHALLENGE YOU ! – TAU HENARE – NATIONAL PARTY LIST MP – I CHALLENGE YOU !
Tonight, Tuesday 23 April 2013, I’ve watched a replay of Native Affairs Maori Television from Monday night.
I understand that your vote is all that’s needed to progress Mana’s Feed The Kids.
I URGE YOU TO VOTE FOR IT !
If you intend not to do that I CHALLENGE YOU to come to Kaikohe for korero with me. I can be found most days at the Kaikohe District Court. I’m not gonna give all my details here but all you need to do is to ask at the court office where to find a tall, skinny, early 60s, balding, sometimes grumpy Pakeha. First name starting S. Alternatively you might check with the young Maori fullas you’ll see wandering up and down Broadway Kaikohe, no jobs. If you’ve got the balls to come and have that korero, you’ll end up doing your duty and voting right.
You see Tau, rightly or wrongly I have this view of you: you’ve been an MP 1993 to date, apart from ’02-’05. So that’s 17 years in Parliament. During that time, in which you’ve paddled in three different waka, you’ve pulled, let’s see, average $150K a year. Mate ! That’s $2,500,000. Two and a half million bucks. And throughout that time you’ve been as useless as tits on a bull, sorry. Here you are saying that we don’t need Feed The Kids ? How the fuck would you know ?
Kaikohe where the median income is $17,000 dollars a year. Let’s see – 17 by 17. Oh Jesus how handsome is that – $289,000 over a whole generation. A little over 10% of what you’ve had. And you’re not gonna do the decent thing ? Because Shonkey Python says “Nah !” ?
Tau, I’m gonna say this. In the 9 years I’ve worked at that court in Kaikohe, me, the Pakeha, he’s done twenty times for your people what you have. For maybe one quarter what you’ve pulled. Legal aid ain’t flash. But that’s algud. For this reason – your people and me have given to one another. Actually they’ve given much more to me than I’ve ever given to them. Aroha. Whanaungatanga. You know about those ones Tau ?
YOU DON’T ANSWER THE CHALLENGE TAU……..YOU GOT NO BALLS. KIA ORA. KEEP ON SUCKING TE PUTEA.
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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 ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
A week that began in triumph ended in an all-too-familiar disaster for the Green Party. Duncan Greive asks if there’s something in the mission that breaks its best and brightest. A long, strange week for the Green party began with a fantastic poll result. On one level this is hardly ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Vanuatu’s former prime minister and opposition MP Ishmael Kalsakau has stepped down — just two days after he confirmed he was the rightful opposition leader. Kalsakau, MP for Port Vila, confirmed to ABC’s Pacific Beat, and the Vanuatu Daily Post on Thursday that he ...
What’s to blame for the coalition’s choppy start? Six months in, and the mojo meter is in the doldrums. A new poll would put National out of power and sees its leader, Chris Luxon, sliding in popularity. How much is it about policy, how much coalition management and a perception ...
The striking report goes far beyond the proposed repeal of the Oranga Tamariki Act’s Treaty of Waitangi provision, and its impact should be felt far beyond the unique circumstances of the claim it addresses. Earlier this week, the Waitangi Tribunal released an interim report on the government’s proposed repeal of ...
The world has been experiencing a productivity slowdown, from which New Zealand has not been exempt. COVID-19 temporarily boosted labour productivity, but more recently, productivity has retreated. The overall trend since 2007 has been one of slow productivity ...
What’s more wasteful than spending $315k on syrup and machine maintenance? Trying to drum up a controversy about it.Cast your mind back to the pre-pandemic idylls of 2019. A “rat” was a disgusting rodent and not a self-administered plague test; the sixth Labour government was in power; and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Professor of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Monash University, Monash University Ken stocker/Shutterstock In the wake of numerous killings of women allegedly by men’s violence in 2024, thousands of Australians have joined rallies across the country to demand action ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Henry Cutler, Professor and Director, Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy, Macquarie University Oleg Ivanov IL/Shutterstock Waiting times for public hospital elective surgery have been in the news ahead of this year’s federal budget. That’s the type of non-emergency surgery ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Konstantine Panegyres, McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow, Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne Amna Artist/Shutterstock One of the earliest descriptions of someone with cancer comes from the fourth century BC. Satyrus, tyrant of the city of Heracleia on the Black Sea, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Rose, Professor of Sustainable Future Transport, University of Sydney LanaElcova/Shutterstock Electric vehicles are often seen as the panacea to cutting emissions – and air pollution – from transport. Is this view correct? Yes – but only once uptake accelerates. Despite the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giselle Natassia Woodley, Researcher and Phd Candidate, Edith Cowan University There is widespread agreement Australia needs to do better when it comes to gender-based violence. Anger and frustration at the numbers of women being killed saw national rallies over the weekend and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Graham, Lecturer in Economics, University of Sydney Mark and Anna Photography/Shutterstock As home ownership moves further out of reach for many Australians, “rentvesting” is being touted as a lifesaver. Rentvesting is the practice of renting one property to live ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sukhmani Khorana, Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, UNSW Sydney Netflix The new season of Heartbreak High is garnering mixed reviews. Critics are writing about the racy story lines, comparing it to other coming-of-age series about teenage relationships and ...
Bob Carr intends to launch legal action against Winston Peters and Julie Anne Genter is facing a second allegation of bullying. Both sucked the air out of an announcement on education, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in ...
In 1995, Sally Clark went out on her own in a bold and unorthodox attempt to join an illustrious group of equestrian riders conquering the world. In the days of glovebox road maps, brick cell phones, and the hit song How Bizarre, Clark refused to follow Sir Mark Todd, Blyth ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Beaglehole, Senior Lecturer, Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago niphon/Getty Images The number of people accessing medication for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in Aotearoa New Zealand increased significantly between 2006 and 2022. But the disorder is still under-diagnosed and ...
To celebrate the start of New Zealand music month, we look back at the best local tuneage that managed to weasel its way into Hollywood productions. There’s nothing quite like the thrilling zap of recognition when New Zealand weasels its way into a glamorous Hollywood production. Crack open a Tui ...
People trust other people more than institutions. So how can the media gain that trust through journalists without losing what’s important about the institution? Anna Rawhiti-Connell reflects on two years of curating the news for The Bulletin.Amonth ago, armed cops descended on my neighbourhood as calls to “lock your ...
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A warning – suicide is discussed in this podcast New Zealand’s own long-running soap Shortland Street doesn’t hesitate to kill off its much-loved characters. But would TVNZ dare to kill off our favourite soap? That’s the fear as times get tough in television – even though it’s been pointed out ...
Essay: If the Crown harms children, how do you hold it accountable? Analysis by Aaron Smale in light of the Waitangi Tribunal court decision. The post The Crown versus Māori Children appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Opinion: PFAS – per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances – are a class of thousands of man-made chemicals used widely in everyday consumer items such as textiles, packaging, and cookware, popular for their water, grease and stain-repellent properties. However, the very properties that make PFAS so attractive to manufacturers are also what ...
NONFICTION 1 The Last Secret Agent by Pippa Latour & Jude Dobson (Allen & Unwin, $37.99)’ This is the hottest book in New Zealand, number one with a bullet in its first week, selling more than any overseas title, and demand is so huge that it’s already been reprinted. A ...
Asia Pacific Report A West Papuan resistance leader has condemned the United Nations role in allowing Indonesia to “integrate” the Melanesian Pacific region in what is claimed to be an “egregious act of inhumanity” on 1 May 1963. In an open letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Organisasi Papua Merdeka-OPM ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A key part of the Albanese government’s political strategy is to fill the news cycle with its presence and messaging. Ministers are deployed to the maximum, even when they’ve little to say. This week ...
Recent extreme weather events showed the importance of a well-functioning insurance system, says Commerce and Consumer Affairs minister Andrew Bayly. ...
By Jo Moir, RNZ News political editor, and Craig McCulloch, deputy political editor New Zealand’s Labour Party is demanding Winston Peters be stood down as Foreign Minister for opening up the government to legal action over his “totally unacceptable” attack on a prominent AUKUS critic. In an interview on RNZ’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christian Brakenridge, Postdoctoral research fellow at Swinburne University, Centre for Urban Transitions, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute The Conversation, Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock People have a pretty intuitive sense of what is healthy – standing is better than sitting, exercise is great for overall ...
The Wellington-based Reserve Force soldier is now almost three years into his New Zealand Army career with 5th/7th Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment. ...
"The Government needs to release the review immediately as this reckless approach to change risks disjointed decision making and creates more distress and uncertainty for staff," Fitzsimons said. ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor Jeremiah Manele has been elected Prime Minister of Solomon Islands, polling 31 votes to 18 over rival candidate and former opposition leader Mathew Wale with one abstention. The final result of the election by secret ballot was announced by the Governor-General, Sir David Vunagi, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Priestley Habru, PhD candidate, public diplomacy, University of Adelaide Former foreign minister Jeremiah Manele has been elected the next prime minister of Solomon Islands, defeating the opposition leader, Matthew Wale, in a vote in parliament. The result is a mixed bag for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shaun Eaves, Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Jamey Stutz, CC BY-SA How often do mountains collapse, volcanoes erupt or ice sheets melt? For Earth scientists, these are important questions as we try ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Flood, Professor of Sociology, Queensland University of Technology Shutterstock Most young adult men in Australia reject traditional ideas of masculinity that endorse aggression, stoicism and homophobia. Nonetheless, the ongoing influence of those ideas continues to harm men and the people ...
The NZQA proposal released to staff today would involve a net loss of 35 roles. There are 66 roles being disestablished with 13 of those currently vacant, and 31 new roles proposed, said Fleur Fitzsimons Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga ...
Alex Casey talks to Loren Taylor, the writer, director and star of new film The Moon is Upside Down, about assembling her dream ensemble cast, toilet paper pads and turning literal dreams into reality. There’s a moment in The Moon is Upside Down where frazzled anaesthetist Briar (Loren Taylor) gets ...
Renters and realtors are upset with a government decision to scrap a bill meant to regulate property managers over concerns about unethical and unlawful behaviours. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cassy Dittman, Senior Lecturer/Head of Course (Undergraduate Psychology), Research Fellow, Manna Institute, CQUniversity Australia With winter sports swinging into action, adults around the country have volunteered or been volunteered by others (humorously known as being “volun-told”) to coach junior sports teams. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Karleen Gribble, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University richardernestyap/Shutterstock Parents are often advised to burp their babies after feeding them. Some people think burping after feeding is important to reduce or prevent discomfort crying, or to ...
Workers at a major ASB contact centre in Auckland have voted to take strike action and withdraw their labour following disappointing pay negotiations with the employer and an "offer" to workers that would leave them worse off than the previous year. ...
As the government tries to get the country back on track with a school phone ban, Tara Ward has an idea for where they should turn their attention to next.New Zealand students returned to school on Monday morning, but their cellphones did not. The government’s new phone ban began ...
The Labour Party is demanding Peters be stood down, saying "he's embarrassed the country" with a "totally unacceptable" attack on a prominent AUKUS critic. ...
The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance, whose members were victims of a China-backed cyber attack, is discussing forming a standing committee to deal with foreign influence. ...
The PSA is concerned that the voluntary redundancies being offered to staff by Stats NZ will impact on the agency’s ability to deliver on its core functions. ...
Results ranged from surprisingly yum to soul-destroying. I love cooking. The kitchen is a hearth of culinary creation, of sensory delights, of gastronomic poetry. I also can’t afford anything nice. Why does a pack of instant noodles and some milk cost ten bucks? I love you, Aotearoa, but I miss ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor Police in Solomon Islands are on high alert ahead of the election of the prime minister today. The two candidates for the top job are former foreign affairs minister Jeremiah Manele at the head of the Coalition for National Unity and Transformation, which is ...
*** Would you please consider this contribution for publication on The Standard as a post rather than a comment. I’ve had a couple of emails bounce back to me from the gmail submissions address, so making the request here since I know it will end up in moderation. Feel free to edit what ever. I am happy to be identified as the author. If you decide not to publish it, I would appreciate any feedback you might offer with a view towards how it may be tailored to better suit your requirements for publication at a future date, if at all.
Kind Regards,
BLiP ***
New Zealanders put their trust in John Key. As the 2008 election neared, New Zealanders sensed a positive change was in the offing, a change driven by optimism which held out the reassurance that the darkening and ominous clouds heralding financial meltdown gathering around previously rock-solid international banking institutions didn’t have to reach as far as us. In fact, a multi-millionaire, a man who had made his fortune working with those very institutions had stepped up to offer his talents and to soften any impact such impending fiscal threat imposed. And look – he grew in a solo parent family dependent on a benefit for his family’s very food and rent. He knows struggle street, he’ll look after us, he’s one of us. Consider his own example; that’s how we work things out – be positive, couple our inate Kiwi optimism with a sturdy and aspirational mind-set to embrace a new New Zealand offered by John Key. Sure, we can make mistakes, heh, just look at all that silly fuss about the Coldplay song on that promotion CD the nice smiling John Key sent to us. He won’t us down. Yes, its time for a change. And guess what? John Key has promised live on television to never lie and to always do his best.
Now, four-and-a-half years later we know that was his first lie, and it certainly wasn’t going to be his last. And these are only the ones we know about. In fact, as the litany of lies still spills from John Key, it must be asked: is the litany orchestrated?
You decide. Take the “power” back.
01 – I promise to always be honest
02 – We’re not proposing to change the Employment Relations Act in a way that weakens unions
03 – we are not going to sack public servants, the attrition rate will reduce costs
04 – we are not going to cut working for families
05 – I firmly believe in climate change and always have
06 – We seek a 50% reduction in New Zealand’s carbon-equivalent net emissions, as compared to 1990 levels, by 2050. 50 by 50. We will write the target into law.
07 – National Ltd™ will provide a consistent incentive for both biofuel and biodiesel by exempting them from excise tax or road user charges
08 – I didn’t know about The Bretheren election tactics
09 – If they came to us now with that proposal [re trans-Tasman Therapeutic Goods regime], we will sign it
10 – I can’t remember my position on the 1981 Springbok Tour
11 – Tranzrail shares
12 – I did not mislead the House (1)
13 – Lord Ashcroft
14 – National Ltd™ would not have sent troops into Iraq
15 – Standard & Poors credit downgrade
16 – the double-down grade doesn’t really matter and its only about private sector debt
17 – I did not mislead the House (2)
18 – I didn’t say I want wages to drop
19 – the real rate of inflation is 3.3 percent.
20 – the tourism sector has not lost 7,000 jobs
21 – no I have never heard of Whitechapel
22 – I won’t raise GST
23 – people who are on the average wage and have a child are $48 a week better off after the rise in GST
24 – the purchase of farmland, by overseas buyers will be limited to ten farms per purchase
25 – the Pike River Mine was consented to under a Labour Government
26 – no promises were made to get the remains of the miners out of the Pike River mine
27 – I did not provide a view on the safety of the Pike River coalmine
28 – I did not mislead the House (3)
29 – capping, not cutting the public service
30 – raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour will cost 6000 jobs
31 – north of $50 a week
32 – privatisation won’t significantly help the economy
33 – wave goodbye to higher taxes , not your loved ones
34 – I never offered Brash a diplomatic job in London
35 – Tariana Turia is “totally fine” with the Tuhoe Treaty Claim deal
36 – Kiwisaver
37 – National Ltd™ is not going to radically reorganise the structure of the public sector
38 – tax cuts won’t require additional borrowing
39 – New Zealand does not have a debt problem
40 – New Zealand troops in Afghanistan will only be involved in training, not fighting
41 – the wage gap between New Zealand and Australia has closed under my National Ltd™ government
42 – It took 9 years for Labour to make a complete and utter mess of the economy
43 – National Ltd™ has changed the Overseas Investment Act to include 19 different criteria
44 – the price of goods and services has risen by 6 per cent since the last election, while the has actually gone up by 16 per cent
45 – no, although its a week ago and here I am being interviewed on television about them, I havn’t seen Gerry Brownlee’s comments regarding demolitions in Christchurch and which caused such outrage, but I can talk all about them
46 – our SAS soldiers were not involved in the Kabul Hotel gunfight
47 – the use of the Vela brother’s helicopter was required so I could attend meetings relating to national/international security concerns
48 – the DPS makes the decision about accompanying the Prime Minister or not, I had no choice but to take them on holiday to Hawaii
49 – I did not mislead the House
50 – oh, maybe our SAS soldiers were in the Kabul hotel gun fight but they weren’t wounded by friendly fire
51 – New Zealand has lost $12 billion from GDP due to the Christchurch earthquake . . . oh, it might actually be around $15 billion from GDP due to the Christchurch earthquake . . . Blinglish said what?
52 – 10,000 houses will have to be demolished in Christchurch due to the earthquake
53 – 14,000 new apprentices will start training over the next five years, over and above the number previously forecast
54 – Our amendments to the ETS ensure we will continue to do our fair share internationally
55 – we are committed to honouring our Kyoto Protocol obligations
56 – any changes to the ETS will be fiscally neutral
57 – we [NZ] have grown for eight of the last nine quarters”
58 – National Ltd™ will tender out the government banking contract
59 – we will be back in surplus by 2014-15
60 – Nicky Hager’s book “Other People’s Wars” is a work of fiction
61 – unemployment is starting to fall
62 – we have created 60,000 jobs
63 – we have created 45,000 jobs
64 – the 2011 Budget will create in the order of 170,000 jobs
65 – I don’t know if I own a vineyard
66 – no, I did not mislead the House (4)
67 – the Isreali spy killed in the Christchurch quake had “only one” passport
68 – the Police will not need to make savings by losing jobs
69 – GCSB re Kim Dotcom x 3 (that we know about)
70 – I did not mislead the House (5)
71 – I voted to keep the drinking age at 20
72 – New Zealand is 100% Pure
73 – I’ve been prime minister for four years, and it’s really 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year
74 – baseball in New Zealand is attracting more government support
75 – the decision to buy brand new BMWs was made by the Department of Internal Affairs without reference either to their minister or to me
76 – I didn’t have a clue that Ministerial Services, which I am in charge of, was going to buy brand new BMWs
77 – even though two of my ministers knew all about it, I didn’t have a clue that brand new BMWs were being bought.
78 – even though my Chief of Staff met with officials to discuss purchase of the the brand new BMWs, I didn’t have a clue
79 – Labour forced us into buying the brand new BMWs, its their fault
80 – ummm, look, sorry about that BMW thing , it was because I was so upset about the death of a New Zealand soldier and Julia Gillard was visit too
81 – the public demanded that we change the labour laws for The Hobbit
82 – “The Hobbit” created 3000 new jobs
83 – we have delivered 800 extra doctors in the public service
84 – I did not mislead the House (6)
85 – I wasn’t working at Elders when the sham foreign exchange deals took place
86 – I was starting School Certificate exams in 1978
87 – I don’t know who arrived on the CIA jet to visit the spies I am responsible for
88 – reducing barriers to property developers will increase the availability of affordable housing
89 – Labour left the economy in poor shape
90 – forecasts show unemployment will fall
91 – we have closed the wage gap with Australia by $27
92 – Ngati Porou and Whanau Apanui are not opposed to mining
93 – I have not had any meetings with Media Works
94 – our [NZ’s] terms of trade remain high
95 – the TPP is an example of democracy
96 – National Ltd™ will use the proceeds of state asset sales to invest in other public assets, like schools and hospitals
97 – New Zealand troops will be out of Afghanistan by April 2013
98 – overseas investment in New Zealand adds to what New Zealanders can invest on their own
99 – overseas investment in New Zealand creates jobs, boosts incomes, and helps the economy grow
100 – National Ltd™ will build 2000 houses over the next two years
101 – there are only 4 New Zealand SAS soldiers in Bamiyan and all working in the area of logistics and planning only
102 – selling state assets will give cash equity to those companies
103 – the Sky City deal doesn’t mean more pokies
104 – there was nothing improper about the Sky City deal
105 – my office has had no correspondence, no discussions, no involvement with the Sky City deal
106 – SkyCity will only get “a few more” pokie machines at the margins
107 – any changes to gambling regulations will be subject to a full public submission process
108 – Sky City has approached TVNZ about the purchase/use of government-owned land
109 – the Auditor General has fully vindicated National over the Sky City deal
110 – there’s a 50/50 chance the Hobbit is going off shore unless we do something
111 – David Shearer has signed up for the purchase of shares in Mighty River
112 – Solid Energy asked the government for a $1 billion capital investment
113 – fracking has been going safely on in Taranaki for the past 30 years without any issues
114 – no front line positions will be lost at DoC
115 – Iain Rennie came to me and recommended Fletcher for the GCSB job
116 – I forgot that after I scrapped the shortlist for GCSB job I phoned a life-long friend to tell him to apply for the position
117 – I told Iain Rennie I would contact Fletcher
118 – for 30 years, or three decades, I didn’t have any dinners or lunches or breakfasts with Ian Fletche
119 – I did not mislead the House (7)
120 – No, I did not say we would follow the US and Australia into a war against North Korea
121 – I paid for that lunch and I’ve got the credit card bill to prove it
122 – I called directory service to get Ian Fletcher’s number
123 – I did not mislead the house (8)
124 – I am honest and upfront
125 – cyber terrorists have attempted to gain access to information about weapons of mass destruction held on New Zealand computers
126 – the illegal spying on Kim Dotcom was an isolated incident
127 – New Zealand has an arrangement to have asylum seekers processed in Australian detention camps
128 – the law which says the GCSB cannot spy on New Zealanders is not clear
129 – the only way net new jobs can be created is by private investors putting their money into businesses in New Zealand
130 – an increase in the number of people looking for work indicates that confidence is returning to the economy
131 – the 10 percent of taxpayers in New Zealand who are the top earners pay 76 percent of all net personal tax.
132 – I did not mislead the House (9)
133 – the substantial wage growth under Labour was eroded by inflation
134 – National Ltd™’s 2010 tax changes were fiscally neutral
135 I did not mislead the House (10)
136 – the bulk of New Zealanders earn between $45,000 and $75,000 a year
137 – Pike River Coal did not put profits and its production ahead of the safety and lives of those 29 workers.
138 – Radio Live had sought advice from the Electoral Commission about my show just before the election
139 – it is because of National Ltd™’s policies that the price of fresh fruit and vegetables has dropped.
140 – the length-of-the-country cycleway will create 4000 jobs.
141 – police training for next year has not has not been cancelled
142 – National Ltd™ has only cut back-office jobs in the health service
143 – The Crown’s dividend stream from the Meridians, the Mighty Rivers of the world is large and there is no motivation to sell assets
144 – Gross.
Blip
That is a massive effort to inform. Thanks. The length of the list illustrates the disgraceful dealings of the NACT government.
Take a bow BLiP – Thats outstanding work!
Awesome stuff BliP
I think David Shearer and Co. really need to be honest about how they are going to approach the election. They can’t be unrealistic about what John Key’s approach will be. It’s going to be the bullying ‘show me the money’ angle where Key tries to make Shearer look like a bumbling fool under the pressure of live TV. If an experienced politician like Goff can lose to Key that way then it is quite likely that Shearer will be crushed.
So he needs to not play that game. Admit that he can’t play the slick, salesman routine like Key can. People love an underdog who shows some humility(that was one of Helen’s weaknesses, too much pride).
Shearer should instead try to occupy the moral ground (but without the typical labour party smug sanctimony ).
Key is damaged goods: smug arrogance may work for Mr. Popular but it’s a bad look on dead meat.
Heart of OAK
What an attractive picture.
I think National’s strategy will be to start announcing sweeteners soon in the form of election bribes while continuing with the beneficiary bashing and getting tough on crime angle. I don’t think Key will necessarily want to go head to head with Shearer too often because, as long as Shearer can rattle off a few of Key’s failures, that’s where Key will get tripped up. Instead, Key will continue to rely on a biased media to paint him in a good light… No journalist asking the hard questions will be allowed. There will likely be a play of extended coverage about a minor controversy leading up to the election to ensure Key is in the limelight where he can smile and wave till the cows come home. Labour will try to outplay the Natz with their own happy go lucky clown card.
biased media indeed Jackal; see comment on the news coverage of the “far left” and investors “scared off” by Labour and the Greens; freakin’ toadies; the ghost has no respect for the majority of them, though he must understand them all the same.
Shearer was absolutely pitiful on Morning Report this morning about the polls. “What it shows is that Labour are beginning to show themselves as a credible party”, “We’re showing that we really can give John Key a run for his money” or words to that effect. Just pathetic. He should be dismissing the polls as having limited value when the shifts are so small, that this is reflected in the different poll results, and then move quickly on to how that John Key’s a dishonest schmuck who doesn’t care about the majority of New Zealanders, only the rich, and that for these reasons he’s not fit to be prime minister. Short of making defamatory statements the guy needs to harden up and tell it how it is. The way Shearer’s behaving at the moment I’d be embarrassed if were to become the prime minister. Pathetic.
+1
Shearer sounded like the Labour we’re tired of – interested in getting elected primarily, so interested in whether they have gained some advantage over the other Party. And strangely referring to leaks from Key’s side as if that was of real importance to voters.
He should have been talking about how Labour is going to roll up its sleeves and get busy for NZ with good policies (a stirring class image). Great if he’d talked about things NZ need done – for the economy, for profitable businesses that have thought for their workers and society, with encouragement from government, also environment maintaining, enhancing, saving etc. No it’s all about the voters realising that Labour has something to offer. Labour don’t wait for us to realise, repeat about firm vision again and again!
We who derive from early colonisation that left an industrial society for a better life and opportunities to get ahead will suffer increasing disappointment as years of this economic management continue. Now we are sinking back into the old feudal agricultural economy of poor farm workers and impoverished town dwellers, with a sprinkling of jobs in the new industrial trend that allows oppressive surveillance from new technology allowing the wealthy to keep the poor distant from government – NZ Housing is just the start. What a damnable place this country is turning into under these bourgesoisie in government.
And right on cue, salesman Key never turns down an opportunity like this:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10878940
Let’s not forget that super popular ‘gay-icon’ Maurice Williamson was the very man who gave us the gift that keeps on stinking….Steven Joyce.
http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Debates/Debates/e/a/b/50HansD_20130322_00000008-M-ori-Television-Service-Te-Aratuku-Whakaata.htm
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: —that is right, $385,000—and there apparently was not any audience at all, apart from mum and dad and the cousins down the road. That is the kind of shambles that Mr Williamson allowed to happen. So why he is talking during this important speech, I do not know. Then, of course, he went off and he made a colleague of his a multimillionaire.
Hon Maurice Williamson: Which one?
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: Mr Steven Joyce. He gave out licences under a Vickrey sale process—a Vickrey sale process. I want to remind everybody listening that this is the kind of money that has gone into this. The Vickrey sale process goes like this. Up comes this item for purchase. Mr Williamson is heading the sale. A bids $1 million, B bids $100,000, and C bids $50,000. A gets the tender—
Hon Maurice Williamson: We could have a royal inquiry.
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS: —well, it deserves an inquiry, all right, but not, I think, from that member—because A bid $1 million, but he does not pay $1 million; he pays what the second guy, B, bid. He pays $100,000. Now every morning, and five times a day, Mr Joyce gets up and he points his face towards Pakuranga. He gets down on his knees and he prays to the Mecca of Pakuranga who made him a multimillionaire, and then he walks into the House and calls himself a self-made man.
The truth is that nobody is a self-made manwoman. No such person would have done so without the following lowly or nowly paid people. None…
Mother (and Father)
doctor and nurse
plunket
kindy teacher, primary teacher, secondary teacher
road worker
postman
cleaner
police, defence force
This is the unrecognised base from which most all wealth springs.
Not from the likes of Joyce. Joyce on his own without any of those things would be ….. well you can only imagine.
How about Gerry Brownlee?
I don’t think self-made refers to a large physique as a result of too many calories.
I was referring to imagining him “on his own without any of those things”.
In his birthday suit? Gagh!
So what’s the bet that Labour/Greens will water down the NZ Power plan between now and the election?
Err, why would they do that?
Their best bet would be to strengthen it by re-incorporating all the state owned power companies.
It would be better if they strengthened it by taking control of strategic needs such as water and energy.
and the banking + EFTPOS transaction network.
have banked your component specs and a 4-year-old transaction machine gifted by a fellow philosophical communitarian today is going into the shop for an increased horse=power deposition tomorrow. Cheers (further disclosure may be harnessed from the Pogues and Rolls bridle.)
Ref Roy Morgan Polls.
We lost the 2008 Election with National on 45% and Labour on 34%
Currently it is National on 40.5 % and Labour on 35.5%
National has been consistently on 45% through Goff and Shearer’s time.
Labour has been consistently on 30-32% through Goff and Shearer’s time.
National has dropped a bit as a result of massive foul-ups.
We are picking up an additional 3-4 people out of 100 only.
We have a lot more work to do.
what were the greens on in 2011?
It isn’t a two horse race.
How can Tuwharetoa charge for use of the Lake Taupo bed when most all the water that passes through the lake never touches the lake bed?
Doesn’t the air do the same thing over land?
Bloody rentiers
Are your really sure that “most of the water that passes through the lake never touches the lake bed” because that doesn’t seem correct to me.
Well no, it is an assumption. But what of the water that never touches the lake bed? It just seems to be an illogical argument that is straight from the capitalist rentier book.
Similar to land, people do not own the entire column of atmoshere that exists above the land. And it is very clear that their ownership is limited to the bed and does not include the entire column of water and atmosphere that exists above the bed.
I think tranzrail tried something equally silly and money-grubbing over its rail lines some years ago.
I wonder whether there is some fuzzy-wuzzy thinking going on in Tuwharetoa land. A few weeks ago someone there (I think) was bemoaning the first-in-first-served principle under the RMA that operates when allocating the country’s resources. Bemusement arose given that their own claims rest on the first-in-first-served principle. Perhaps they need to get some sea air to clear the fuzz and the wuzz.
I don’t like your term fuzzy wuzzy so please cease using that insult.
I would say all of the water touches the lake bed at some point so all good.
You are speaking ignorance when you go on about first in and so forth, I replied to the alien the other day on this point.
Perhaps they need some sea air? Why don’t you leave them alone instead of the bullying, snide, nasty putdowns vto or are you just feeling mean this morning.
yeah nah Marty
the culture apart from a few local variances arrived fully formed with the first Pasifikans. Very little actually developed here indigenously.
Choose any indicator you like, language, dress, customs, traditions, gods…
But i still afford 1st nation status, with all sovereignty rights conferred, to Maori even if you are a multitude of disparate tribes sharing a common aesthetic masked as a united people.
finders keepers
though you still shouldn’t have signed that bloody treaty eh. 🙂
polly – that ‘fully formed’ argument is the same as ‘not first here’ except the other way round. We can be Pasifikans and have our own cultural identity – it is not mutually exclusive. I think we are becoming more united 🙂 and true about that treaty bro, so trusting and so let down.
Just saying if the proviso of indigineity is that the culture developed here, but it didn’t, then it calls into question the nature of indigenousness ?
Hasn’t a unique kiwi culture developed more here since the Euros arrived, but are they indigenous?
I’d stick to the rights of finders keepers and possession being 9/10ths of the law 🙂
If pollywog is right then at some point the multiple cultures of NZ must become one culture (in one sense) which incorporates those that exist now and then such as the current indigenous one. At that point the indigeneity shifts, does it not, to that next point along the timescale where the ‘new improved’ culture is the reality and the previous cultures drift back in time not forgotten but not used.
We could be at that point now. Surely not too far off atthe most. Or perhaps when that point arrives indigeneity simply stops and no longer exists….
It makes my eyes cross-eyed like looking at concentric rings.
Indigineity only applies in the literal sense until all treaty claims are settled, then its about cultural evolution and convergence.
Fun times ahead, especially when framed by the question…
What does it mean to be Maori ?
He’s not right imo and I find the concept of one culture to be repellant – I love diversity and uniqueness too much.
I don’t mean one culture as in homogeneity, that’s why it was framed with “(in one sense”).
But indigeneity must have moved along that timeframescale for today’s Maori culture to be indigenous, given the difference with the first Maori cultures here. Those original ones have morphed into today’s one through population increase, migrations, time, changed habits, etc , hence the claim to being indigenous here.
But that process must surely still apply. If it were not to apply then indigeneity must stop when cultures change (which leads to todays maori not being indigenous). As such, at some point the indigenous culture of NZ must come to include other arrivals such as the europeans.
I look forward to this point in time, if still around.
I can’t see it being a proviso, maybe an attribute and it did develop here, which answers the ‘calls into question’ bit.
like i said…yeah nah 🙂
“You are speaking ignorance when you go on about first in and so forth, I replied to the alien the other day on this point.”
You could have quoted my reply, which from memory was something like “that’s not how I meant it at all”, so plenty of distance between myself and the intent of your ignorance barb.
yes you said it didn’t relate to you and your views and therefore wasn’t relevant. Sorry to have not mentioned that.
I don’t really care that much, I’m just cruising with the window wound down, looking for a fight 😆
been there done that haha
In a glowing orb? I bet not 😆
“insult bullying, snide, nasty ”
nope. typical.
and i don’t think your copied piece addresses the principle of first-in-first-served at all. It addresses tangential issues to the principle.
edit: reply to the post of marty mars above
in what way is that tangential – it seems to cover your use of the term.
plus
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/146100.html
noted on the fuzzy wuzzy. inadvertant.
The copied piece refers to understanding and respect for a developed culture lest negative things arise. That is all genuine and credible sure, but it is not the sole consideration in application of the first-in-first-served principle. It is merely one of many factors to consider. It does not deliver a knockout punch.
It smells of framing an argument to support a predetermined position, rather than understanding the pricniple in the first place and then applying particular circumstances around it.
(You may like (but probably not) a couple posts made on open mike yesterday around the constitutional review and the place of te tiriti and others….)
vto said, “Bemusement arose given that their own claims rest on the first-in-first-served principle.”
I said, “It is a very important concept to grasp and I emphasise it because too often the line ‘first arrivals’ is used to marginalise and denigrate Māori as if somehow in some strange universe they are not indigenous and by not being indigenous, under this worldview, they are not due the rights and respect that indigenous peoples should be given in this world.”
You know by your logic there is no-one who is indigenous because they “all came from somewhere” even though unique and valuable cultures developed.
And as for the silly notion you propose below where some water molecules are supported by the lakebed and others not – you do know they are all, sort of moving around a lot in there – you know in the water itself.
I don’t believe I made any mention over who is indigenous and who isn’t, or what effect such indigeneity has, I merely spoke of the principle of first in first served.
Sure, Maori are indigenous here, that is clear. And sure, people may well do what you intimate there and use it to denigrate. I don’t disagree with you but it still misses the point made in response – namely that such issues are tangential to the principle and are merely considerations in the application of the principle and not determinative.
First in first served is a poorly principle with few good applications in the wanderings of manwomankind across the planet. This was recognised by Tuwharetoa themselves when they recognised its weaknesses in its application in the RMA. They and I are on the same page on that – it is just where it is being chosen for application that was bemusing.
Fair enough – thank you for that explanation.
Oh and on your ‘inadvertent’ use of the term – perhaps stop and think about how that might hurt a group of people in society, that inadvertent language happens all the time and hurts people all the time. I said that your use of that term in regards to this iwi was “bullying, snide, and a nasty putdown” you said, “nope. typical.” The truth is that you are/were wrong and your “nope. typical” was incorrect wasn’t it?
I raise this in some detail because it was typical but just not in the way you thought vto.
I see that marty. Things is there was no intention to insult, it was truly inadvertant. That was why I said nope – at that stage its meaning was still flying around in the wind.
You may well see that it sprang to mind because of its use in distance days past, when it was used to insult etc (not by me I would hope but perhaps by others in my vicinity which was picked up on). Such is the nature of man and the long timeframes that are often required to change flawed ways.
Thanks again vto for your reply.
Yep, a deliberate racist insult. You’re usually far cleverer than that VTO.
And, to go back to your original question, all the water in Lake Taupo is supported by the lake bed. The bed holds the water that later gets used in a profit making business. Fair enough that the owners of the lake bed would want their interests recognised.
Yes it was inadvertant. One of those never-used terms that popped to mind from distance days past and plunked out with no thinking.
As for the bed issue – don’t agree. Just like tranzrail some years ago the claim is unsound and smacks of rentier behaviour that is of no benefit to anyone expect the capitalist. The country is moving away from rentier behaviour so they are running against the grain in attempting to grab it. Don’t blame them though – all’s fair in love and war apparently and it is only what the corporates do themselves, so good on them for giving it a crack.
Only the water on the bottom is supported by the bed, all else is supported by the water below it, just as the air above the lake surface is supported by the lake itself. Quick send a bill to the nearest windfarm.
The water is in that location due to gravity and the higher topographical position of surrounding property, not the lake bed. See how silly it is?
Nope, I don’t think you’ve thought this through properly, VTO. Water is a liquid and water in a lake is a contiguous mass. All the water is supported by the bed, which is actually shown by your example, not disproved by it.
The phrase ‘hydro storage’ just popped into my head. I’m guessing that the claim probably has a basis in the fact that lake bed performs a role in the overall process of generation, even if it’s only storage. It just seems reasonable to me for that to be recognised.
“See how silly it is?”
Yes I do (although probably quite differently than you). But tell me this vto, who put Tuwharetoa in the position where they had to use such silly arguments to reinstate their capacity to maintain their culture and people? And who gave them those tools of argument in the first place?
Personally, I find many Western concepts of relationship with nature pretty bizarre esp this idea that nature is primarily a set of resources for our use (thank-you Judeo-Christian peoples). But we can hardly blame Maori for using and developing those concepts when they’ve been forced to by the dominant culture.
vto, if you turn up with a 750 ml bottle of whisky at my door, how much can I take because it hasn’t touched the sides of the bottle? Your argument makes absolutely no sense. If the water isn’t supported by the lake bed, what happens if the lake bed drops by 100m?
When you load logs on a truck, are only the ones which touch the truckbed supported by it? The springs might argue with you there.
Yes well I’m just trying to apply the logic to this situation whereby logic is spinning down a hot pool whirlpool.
For the water molecule to get to the turbines it needs to go down this path…….. flow down a river some goddamn other place and out to sea, then it gotta drift around over some sea bottoms for an age or two before being lifted to the sky when it gets too close to the surface on a hot day due to wind blowing down off somebody’s mountain range over the horizon. It then finds itself drifting helplessly in clouds of other water molecules with the same dilemma, floating over all sorts of peoples places like my house (I’ve seen them) and lots of other peoples houses and farms and cemetries. Then whoever owns Mount Cook is lucky because all them wee molecules gather together at places like that where it’s mr gravity’s turn. Heshe pulls them back down to the earth where they belong. Water doesn’t like flying. If they are in a Taupo catchment they will fall onto the land and property of individual private people, businesses, government, iwi, nobody, roads, crown, and even people’s own heads. Then, quite tired by now, it wends its way back to where it likes to be – a drain, a creek, a low area, a swamp, a culvert, river, pipe, drink bottle and lake taupo.
i mean …
was a lovely reed though vto
why thanks ghostrider. Hopefully it highlights the silliness of the claim. (or if it is a legit claim then perhaps all landowners should follow suit with same logic) Another one could be put up around wind farms and neighbouring properties too, along with many more.
Yet another scaremongering article in the Herald,,this time by Liam Dann.
At least this NZ Power issue is flushing out who all the neo-liberals are. People need to remember who the defenders of big business are.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10878895
Scaremongering is the only ammo these fools have.
Hooton just said on RNZ that Labour and the Greens had “crashed the share market” with their press conference on NZ Power.
I wonder if they remember the story of Chicken Licken?
Bryan Gaynor another wealthy disappointment.
That would be the brother of Corin Dann? TV1s political editor?
Yep!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10878895
(had to unload the paste)
Anyone get to the New Lynn electorate office opening yesterday?
Yes Ad. Although was late arriving because I got lost… another story. Very nice, spacious office. It was packed to the rafters. Just about every ethnic group was represented. I picked up that David Cunliffe and his supporters are in a good place.
I was also pleased to see Phil Twyford there… and Louisa Wall and Carmel Sepuloni. And for those of us getting a bit long in the tooth, so was Jonathon Hunt.
I would have gone if I’d known, and wasn’t working. Or was it just for NZLP members? Where is the new office?
All comers welcome, you don’t even have to live in the electorate 🙂
I’ve been to Cunliffe’s old electorate office, on the corner of Great North Road and Rata Street. The staff were very friendly and helpful.
They don’t like to be called “staff”, I believe the correct term is “disciples”.
That’s only in National offices.
Or the Exclusive Brethren branches of the National Party at least.
Matthew Hooton is feeling the pressure
Right-wing pundit’s embarrassing performance on radio this morning
From the Left and From the Right, Radio NZ National, Monday 22 April 2013
Kathryn Ryan, Matthew Hooton, Mike Williams
A flustered Matthew Hooton nearly melted down a few minutes ago. He’s usually so calm and in control of himself, but these latest polls, plus the popularity of the Labour-Green electricity price policy, have evidently upset the poor fellow. Mike Williams’ knowing laughter will have infuriated him even more…
MATTHEW HOOTON: [steadily rising tone of hysteria] They’ve crashed the stock market with just a press statement! God knows what they’d be like if they were in office!
KATHRYN RYAN: The stock market has NOT crashed. That’s nonsense.
HOOTON: But, but! aaaaarghhh!…. they, they…
MIKE WILLIAMS: Ho ho ho ho ho ho ho.
KATHRYN RYAN: They did NOT crash the stock market. That is NOT true, Matthew.
HOOTON: They have CHOSEN to go to the left…politics of envy… [mutter, choke, splutter with indignation]…
MIKE WILLIAMS: Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho.
He also made a comment about it being a wealth destroyer…and Williams told him it was about wealth distribution.
Maybe someone can compile a list of all the effects of NZ Power ( as described by the hysterical right) and make a post based on it…like the list of Key’s brainfades posted today.
Mike Williams gave his best performance yet with some excellent advice to the Labour Party.
Get out there and SELL the policies from now through to the election. Don’t do what you’ve tended to do in the past and that is… assume everyone understands them. THEY DON’T!
Please stop trolling my blog, your messages will now be deleted.
Why on earth are you talking about that on a thread about Matthew Hooton?
Clearly, you’re still as confused as ever you have been.
I wish the housing market could be crashed as easily as Hooton is saying the stock market has been.
I suspect the Hysterical reaction of the Nats also had an effect on the energy companies fall.
Hey Morrissey Breen, please stay off my blog, you have been trolling it, since I started it five years ago, you have also been trolling my posts for the 20 years, starting with usenet in the mid 90’s. (not political posts, but sporting ones)
Its a bit weird, that someone would do this for nearly 20 years, your not interested in a discussion, your trolling, any posts you do at my blog, will now will be deleted.
You made some particularly foolish remarks on this forum. You have provided a link to your blog, which I clicked on. Presumably that is what you WANT people to do.
I felt compelled to comment on a few of your more ridiculously stupid opinions, but you obviously lack the wherewithal to defend your statements. Go ahead and ban me, but bear in mind that I was your only reader.
You have been doing this for 20 years though,You dont find that a bit sick? Again, any comment you leave, wont be read, but will be deleted.
Again, any comment you leave, wont be read,
Well, no, it won’t. Not if it’s on your blog.
Hey Brett, if it’s wordpress blog you can just feed him to Akismet.
Good Lord, felix, that sounds…. ominous. What will this Akismet do to me?
Probably nothing, but it’s not really about you.
It’s about what it will do for Brett, which is make sure he doesn’t have to put up with your trooling.
It’s about what it will do for Brett, which is make sure he doesn’t have to put up with your trooling.
You mean my drooling, surely?
Very interesting Brett.
I’m starting to get the impression that Morrissey is a deeply troubled individual.
We’re all deeply troubled, felix.
Morrissey
You must watch your addictions. Put Brett Dale down now. 20 years of him seems excessive. And sometimes you can never find even a tiny gap to slip your arguments through.
Better play Kiss the Postman with someone more accommodating.
Put Brett Dale down now.
I’ve put down the poor fellow so often that I actually feel a bit guilty.
20 years of him seems excessive.
It certainly does, and it is. Poor old Mr. Dale has doubled the length of time I’ve been on Usenet. Twenty years ago, I couldn’t even turn on a computer.
Garth Brooks, Neil Diamond? That’s pretty cutting edge stuff, Brett, no wonder nobody else comments. I think you should give Mozza a medal if he’s been putting up with that quality of posting for 20 years.
Like I said, its just my wee blog, just my thoughts, not suppose to be cutting edge. If someone is consistently going to the blog, but not interested in the subject matter, then they’re trolling. The fact that he has been trolling my posts over the internet for 20 years about Garth Brooks and sports that anit rugby union (when he has no interest whatsoever in these topics) shows me that he is trolling/bullying.
The fact that he has been trolling my posts over the internet for 20 years
Wrong. I have been trolling Usenet since the end of January, 2003. Before then I never even owned a computer.
about Garth Brooks
Wrong. I have never ever written a single word about Garth Brooks. Ever.
…and sports that anit [sic] rugby union [sic]
You have been reminded several times now that nobody other than you and Murray Deaker ever calls it rugby union.
“Wrong. I have been trolling Usenet since the end of January, 2003.”
Wow, that really showed him. 🙄
Actually, felix it did show him. So there.
I’ve had that impression for a long time now. He keeps posting here the letters he’s sent off to Radio NZ, obviously they never read them out and reading a few of them it’s clear why. Someone reposting their letters in a public forum like this is just dying for attention.
Er, actually, Lanth, I heard two of Morrissey’s letters read out, in part, on RNZ shows last week. One of them (about ‘Lord’ Monckton) even made me laugh and not in a roll your eyes kind of way either.
He keeps posting here the letters he’s sent off to Radio NZ, obviously they never read them out and reading a few of them it’s clear why.
You make it seem like I send a flood of correspondence to Radio NZ. I’m sure you intend to create that impression, but of course you are wrong. I occasionally post to Radio NZ, as in roughly once a fortnight, and contrary to your mean-spirited allegation, the majority of my e-mails have been read out on air—whether by Bryan Crump, Chris Laidlaw, Kim Hill, Kathryn Ryan or Jim Mora.
Someone reposting their letters in a public forum like this is just dying for attention.
I work hard at writing clear, punchy communications. Of course I welcome the fact they get attention. You think I want to write for an audience of none, like some sad bloggers we know?
Keep it up Morrissey, appears some natives to this blog don’t appreciate your comms to here and elsewhere. We are so tribal methinks.
Thanks for the kind words, my friend. Lanthanide started off as one of my admirers—if I were an Auckland Blues star or a pop singer, like my namesake, he’d have been classified as a “groupie”—but then I started treading on areas that he didn’t appreciate. Since then it’s been all downhill.
Here’s the first time we fell out….
http://thestandard.org.nz/continuing-nuke-crisis-in-japan/#comment-309036
And here’s the second…
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-30082011/#comment-369493
We argued about the World Cup Final: for the record I was right!
Boy, Moz, the thread in that second link didn’t work out too well for you, did it? Dunno who that Voice of Reason bloke is, but man is he persuasive!
Yeah, he/she kicked my asssss, all right. When I work out who he (or she) was, I’ll give him/her what for.
Oh yes.
Frankly it’s just creepy that you have those links around.
It’s not the comms, it’s the solipsism that comes with them.
“Solipsistic”? This writer, i.e. moi?
lolz
Don’t sweat it Morrissey, the *self styled* here, have little useful to offer, many will never have sent a single letter, email or turned up on a picket, or at a protest, or spoken face to face with a radio host, and MP or any such thing.
Keep at it!
And some will stroke their egos by kidding themselves that they are better than their peers. How is project Onan going, Muz? Any closer to releasing the results?
Interesting comment about ego, from someone who openly attaches his own self to a political entity!
Whats this peers nonsense, we are human beings…
The results of the projects (not mine), are clear for all those who are paying attention to see, its called NZ!
Heal the world, make it a better place…
“Interesting comment about ego, from someone who openly attaches his own self to a political entity!”
Surely attaching one’s self to another entity is a denial of ego?
“Whats this peers nonsense, we are human beings…”
We don’t need your steenkin’ thesaurus …
“The results of the projects (not mine), are clear for all those who are paying attention to see, its called NZ!”
So you aren’t going to be transparent with project Onan after all? Your mates at Lordy Find’em aren’t going to be pleased with you. They’re all about teh openness, or so they say. Which reminds me, did they ever do that expose on the Standard they promised? It’d be fascinating reading.
You could not be more wrong!
No idea about LF!
What is project onan ?
I thought the project referred to must be an ism
“Surely attaching one’s self to another entity is a denial of ego?
You could not be more wrong!”
Ok then, prove me wrong.
“No idea about LF”
“One of our regular readers, Muzza, posted a comment the other day … ”
You do remember that you’re a regular reader, dontcha?
I have nothing to prove to anyone!
You referred to the *exposure of the standard* – Yes LF did an article on TS some time back!
I’m no more invovled with LF, than I am with TS!
I also have heard Morrissey’s letters read out on NZ National.
AND, AND
Guess what the album of the day is today on Mora’s afternoon show?
Morrissey
On now….!
Morrissey = entertaining.
Some who lash him = justified.
Some who lash him = boring.
Some think they own TS = yes.
Those who are perfect = none.
Stick around Morrissey = yes.
Those who are perfect = none.
Jessica Alba?
B’Jesus Morrissey you’re a frustrating bugger……..here I am tryin’ to back you up bro’ and also make a point about the whiff of a slightly sniffy “Beltway” happening on TS. Whadda you do ?
Blow me down………come back all bloody human !
Sorry, North. I meant to say: Mother Theresa.
Did anyone see susan devoy’s interview with JC last week. He asked her who rang her and she said that they did not say who they were and she never found out.They just advised her to ring phone number supplied and there would be a job there for her that she might be interested in.A ghost caller.Spooky. Then again maybe it was discussed over the neighbouring back fence with the fairy at the bottom of the garden.
That’s a load of bullshit, just like the “If you deposit $10,000 into this Nigerian bank account…”
Naughty Chrissy ! Maybe not. Look at the National Party votes for and against……….?
You know it’s the height of fashion to turn your lime green check table cloth into a business shirt with an orange and purple paisley tie underneath a navy two inch wide pinstripe.
Too Gock for me……..
Have to own that one re sartorial. Sorry, from the bottom my garden. Something went wrong in the North.
Then I see the name “undefined” is replaced by “North”. Oh well since I’m here might as well add this: VERY large lime green check under VERY lawyerly two inch wide pinstripe.
Gee that’s interesting, how do you get to be a Dame or Sir, just hang around in the vicinity of the political electrical field and hope you make contact with someone live?
You play some sport really really well for a considerable time (with attendant reflected glory for the nation) OR you make heaps of money and give a smidgen of it away with strings attached OR you inherit a fortune and donate some to the ****** party OR you do exacting legal work for the government laying the basis for privatisation…….Damehoods and Sirhoods…. piece of cake!
PS Do not under any circumstances do long term unnoticed work in an old peoples home or unpaid for the community. No gongs available there.
😀 reverb: wah wah; just a minor burgandy E DS (GT) du Pre concerto
Yeah. We have Sir Roger Douglas but never Sir William Sutch. He mingled in the wrong electrical fields. Ouch.
Though I was just thinking of Sir Angus Tait – someone who was a worthy knight.
Wikipedia – Bronze bust of Sir Angus Tait as part of the Twelve Local Heroes sculpture … He served with the Royal NZ and also Royal Air Force instructing as a Second…
After the war, he designed and built mobile radio equipment, although his first company went into receivership. In 1969, he founded Tait Electronics Ltd, now operating as Tait Radio Communications, Christchurch (New Zealand), with men who had decided to remain loyal and see him through; now his company is considered a world leader in mobile radio. He had persisted in keeping his manufacturing base in New Zealand, with 95 per cent of production exported to 160 countries.
I looked up the Twelve Local Heroes sculptures – The Twelve Local Heroes is a series of bronze busts located in the central city of Christchurch, New Zealand on Worcester Boulevard outside the Arts Centre to commemorate twelve local Christchurch people who were prominent in their respective fields in the latter part of the 20th century.
I can’t remember if they are still there – this happened in 2009 and the earthquake cluster started end of 2010 I think.
Re knighthoods and so on: at the risk of attack from TS Beltway for reposting one’s letters and what-not on TS, I have to offer this in response to Prism at 15 above. Came to me in a disturbing dream after Shonkey Python excitedly told his acolytes in the media that he’d offered Richie McCaw a knighthood – obviously he was after a “testo-top-up”.
ON KNIGHTS AND DAMES AND OTHER BULLSHIT
I heard a dirty story
It’s truly damned horrific
Shyster Boy Smiley Key
He’s selling honorifics
First he went to Richie
“Cos he’s a real man
Said Shyster Boy to Richie
Help me if you can
Take this crappy medal
It’s such a thing to show
And ‘cos I gave it to you
I’m basking in your glow
Richie he’s a cagey guy
He sussed the slimey game
He yelled out loud “Piss off you ponce…..
Go find yourself a Dame”
Tari proved no problem
For this she’d always itched
“Dame Toryana Torya”
The whispering old witch
“Pita” “Peter” take your pick
Demands he had a few
Pension with the knighthood
And Bee Em Double U
This was getting crazy
And people thought it stank…..
Shyster Boy pulled out the sword
Sir Botox Bloody Banks…..!!!
North
Blistering stuff. That little blister King John of Charmalot will be impervious to it of course. I think he’s one of those boys whose mother loves him as in Lyrics Freak supplied words of Paul Simon – Loves me like a Rock.
Songwriters: SIMON, PAUL
Words & music by paul simon
When I was a little boy, (when I was just a boy)
And the devil would call my name (when I was just a boy)
I’d say “now who do,
Who do you think you’re fooling? ” (when I was just a boy)
I’m a consecrated boy (when I was just a boy)
I’m a singer in a sunday choir
Oh , my mama loves, she loves me
She get down on her knees and hug me
Like she loves me like a rock
She rocks me like the rock of ages
And loves me
She love me, love me, love me, love me
When I was grown to be a man (grown to be a man)
And the devil would call my name (grown to be a man)
I’d say “now who do,
Who do you think you’re fooling? ” (grown to be a man)
I’m a consummated man (grown to be a man)
I can snatch a little purity
My mama loves me, she loves me
She get down on her knees and hug me…
And if I was president (was the president)
The minute congress call my name (was the president)
I’d say “who do,
Who do you think you’re fooling? (who do you think you’re fooling)
I’ve got the presidential seal (was the president)
I’m up on the presidential podium
My mama loves me
She loves me… etc
Another nice start to the week for National today – not!
There is nothing yet on the RNZ website (or on Stuff or the Herald), but one of the top stories on RNZ National midday news was that apparently a Court this morning has put a stop/hold on the long awaited and not yet completed investigation and report by Paula Rebstock into the leaks from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – a witchhunt that has already cost a quarter of a million dollars.
If I heard it correctly, someone – presumably an MFA employee only referred to as Complainant A (or similar) – has filed to stop the report on the basis that publication would infringe their rights to natural justice.
Watch this space ….
Thanks for the tip, veuto. RNZ print report on it is here.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/133310/court-order-blocks-mfat-restructuring-review
Edit to the above – here is the RNZ link
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/133310/court-order-blocks-mfat-restructuring-review
“…The order comes ahead of a judicial review of that restructuring, which starts next week in the High Court.
…That follows an application by someone known as Applicant A, who is seeking the judicial review.
Applicant A argued Ms Rebstock’s draft report would amount to predetermination of his position and a breach of natural justice.
In the High Court, Justice Dobson agreed and prohibited Ms Rebstock from completing her report in a way that contains any findings against Applicant A.”
Goff has called for the whole inquiry to be abandoned.
Edit – SNAP. Thanks Karol and R0b. Your links went up while I was typing.
Two interesting GCSB-related articles:
Phil Taylor in today’s NZ Herald writes about how Key’s new spy laws are comparable to Big Brother. The article begins:
Hugh Wolfensohn left the GCSB employment in february as a kind of persona no grata, after being there 25 years. He was put on gardening leave because of his role in the illegal operations relating to Kim Dotcom.
As a former government employee that story sounds familiar. It usually means the department or agency is on the backfoot for some reason and they immediately cast around for a “scapegoat”. It has been reported ‘Mr Wolfensohn’ was overworked and understaffed and that has to reflect back on both the agency bosses and the govt. of the day.
It is called a cover-up.
Exactly, Anne – scapegoat and cover-up.
He didn’t get a sausage when they rolled him. It’s a serious game when you get into the civil service, as the name is becoming an oxymoron. Beware.
you’ve been talking like the end of the world
sorry I was late, had to see a man about a star…
and on the 8th day…
TAG (fracking representatives) “worse than the worse used-car salesmen he’d ever met” (Ever)
according to one Dannevirke farmer interviewed by Don’t Frack The Bay.
Auckland Airport (and Tourism) are marketing directly to Chinese micro social media (like twitter) and a plugged in audience of 500M; go littlewood, go chicky; Cool Bananas!
just like White-caps
(remember those Terence Hill and Bud Spencer movies?)
I’m for the hippopotamus
Watch out
you’rewe’re madIDIOTS
yep.
There’s something mildly illustrative about racists sending “go back to where you come from” messages to the other end of the country. One can’t help thinking that many/most Aucklanders would wish that the racists had followed their or advice.
a few typos lately Flockie; u OK?
The Insult File. No. 1: Hazards001
Monday 22 April 2013
“Give yourself an uppercut you arrogant pissant.”
Insulter: Hazards001
Insultee: Morrissey (i.e., moi)
Forum: The Whaleoil blog
“Give yourself an uppercut you arrogant pissant.”
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2013/04/a-violent-little-scumbag/#comment-871573385
Morrissey did you happen to hear The Panel today with that bewildered older gent who couldn’t figure out whether he was married to a man or a woman?
I did indeed, felix. That was the renowned but (at least on this occasion) rather bewildered Don Donovan. I thought Michele Acourt and Noelle McCarthy were both remarkably restrained and good-humoured in their treatment of him. I’m not sure that he was entirely genuine in his befuddlement; in the past he has seemed quite tolerant and liberal in his attitudes.
To Morrissey and Felix: you two made up have you ? Lovely !
Apropos your comment at 20 above Morrissey, I steeled myself and (very rare for me) went to SLATER PORN to check out HAZARDS001. Not before warning everyone in the house to bash me with a chair and call the cops the moment I started to froth at the mouth.
Well, I did, and they did, and I’ve got a bloody great egg on my noggin. Still, I am grateful. Fortunately the cops accepted my explanation and they’ve gone.
But what utter OBSCENITY on SLATER PORN !
Tell you, were I still the cute young fulla I was 40 years ago I would consider it very, very, very hazardous to be around HAZARDS001.
HAZARDS001 is absolutely OBSSESSED with anal rape. How I pity HAZARDS001’s monitor and keyboard. And any youngster in proximity.
There must be the most horrific background story there !
I think you’ll find that, like most of the commenters on Slater’s blog, it’s Slater.
True ? Well, there’s a 10 times tragic story.
Michael Jackson takes a little boy out for a walk in the deep dark woods late one night. Finally, trudging miles from anywhere, the young boy, totally scared says, “It’s so dark and cold, and these trees are so frightening”
Jackson replies “you think that’s scary, but I’m the one who has to walk back by myself.”
I CHALLENGE YOU ! – TAU HENARE – NATIONAL PARTY LIST MP – I CHALLENGE YOU !
Tonight, Tuesday 23 April 2013, I’ve watched a replay of Native Affairs Maori Television from Monday night.
I understand that your vote is all that’s needed to progress Mana’s Feed The Kids.
I URGE YOU TO VOTE FOR IT !
If you intend not to do that I CHALLENGE YOU to come to Kaikohe for korero with me. I can be found most days at the Kaikohe District Court. I’m not gonna give all my details here but all you need to do is to ask at the court office where to find a tall, skinny, early 60s, balding, sometimes grumpy Pakeha. First name starting S. Alternatively you might check with the young Maori fullas you’ll see wandering up and down Broadway Kaikohe, no jobs. If you’ve got the balls to come and have that korero, you’ll end up doing your duty and voting right.
You see Tau, rightly or wrongly I have this view of you: you’ve been an MP 1993 to date, apart from ’02-’05. So that’s 17 years in Parliament. During that time, in which you’ve paddled in three different waka, you’ve pulled, let’s see, average $150K a year. Mate ! That’s $2,500,000. Two and a half million bucks. And throughout that time you’ve been as useless as tits on a bull, sorry. Here you are saying that we don’t need Feed The Kids ? How the fuck would you know ?
Kaikohe where the median income is $17,000 dollars a year. Let’s see – 17 by 17. Oh Jesus how handsome is that – $289,000 over a whole generation. A little over 10% of what you’ve had. And you’re not gonna do the decent thing ? Because Shonkey Python says “Nah !” ?
Tau, I’m gonna say this. In the 9 years I’ve worked at that court in Kaikohe, me, the Pakeha, he’s done twenty times for your people what you have. For maybe one quarter what you’ve pulled. Legal aid ain’t flash. But that’s algud. For this reason – your people and me have given to one another. Actually they’ve given much more to me than I’ve ever given to them. Aroha. Whanaungatanga. You know about those ones Tau ?
YOU DON’T ANSWER THE CHALLENGE TAU……..YOU GOT NO BALLS. KIA ORA. KEEP ON SUCKING TE PUTEA.