On Friday, some among the young protesters, dubbed “los indignados” (“the indignant”), told the Reuters news agency that they feared the police would forcibly disperse the demonstrators.
….
The protesters have departed from years of patience over government austerity measures and a youth unemployment rate of about 45 per cent, making their voices heard before the polls.
They have called on people not to vote on Sunday for the two main parties, the Socialists and the centre-right opposition Popular Party. Spaniards elect 8,116 city councils and 13 out of 17 regional governments on Sunday.
Spain pulled out of recession at the start of last year, but the economy has failed to gain serious momentum and unemployment has spiralled higher.
The protests have resonated through Spaniards of all ages, including those who remember unrest which swept much of Europe more than 40 years ago.
One of the protesters said: “I’m protesting because I’ve got no job future in Spain even though I’ve finished my degree in tourism,” said 25-year old Inma Moreno on Madrid’s Puerta del Sol plaza.
Well, tourism is a significant industry, but as Top scientist Sir Paul Callaghan said in a speech at the Labour Party conference, it’s not one a government should be foregrounding to lead economic recovery. It’s not a business that developes the “real” economy.
Callaghan challenged Prime Minister John Key’s emphasis on tourism as a means of boosting wealth, saying to meet National’s goal of catching Australia, businesses would have to produce an extra $40 billion in exports.
“Instead of 1000 people visiting Milford Sound every week, we’d need 60,000,” he said, and even then New Zealand would remain behind because tourism created only $80,000 in revenue per job annually.
He compared that with Fonterra, which created $350,000 per job annually, or US-based Apple computers, which produced $1m-plus per job.
“The more tourism, the poorer we get. Tourism is a great industry, but it cannot be a route to prosperity.”
But our dear leader has no experience working in an industry that would be innovative and productive.
It’s not a business that developes the “real” economy.
Or a real society with real culture. What it develops is a nation of serfs.
But our dear leader has no experience working in an industry that would be innovative and productive.
Our dear leader has no experience in any industry that actually produces wealth. All he’s ever done is work as a parasite that got rich off the backs of millions of hard working people the world over.
Although torism gets jobs for the supply industry it always seems to me to be fragile. An increase in fuel costs can devastate the industry as can a serious terrorist threat, so then the tourism industry, jobs, infrastructure disappears overnight. So yes. Jobs/industries with substance.
Will Labour produce a plan? Yes it will.
A diversified business environment would be good ianmac. Tourism is dependent on fossil oils, even the few that sail or row themselves, when they need rescuing. But our animals are also vulnerable to foot and mouth disease. Even a hint of this sort of threat can cause a quick shut downs to our exports. I understand that there is a vaccine available for it but our country is not one for precautionary measures.
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Wait till the disaster occurs and go into authoritarian crisis mode, like Tony Blair presiding over a killing regime wiping out pet animals and rare breeds with rare genes.
The world’s governments are denying the realities of Peak Oil and Climate Change that are doing so much accumulated damage that continuation of capitalistic economies is impossible.
Capitalism demands steady growth in order to pay off debts. The resources demanded by economic activity are simply no longer available. There isn’t more oil, coal, grain, lumber, steel, metals, minerals and fish available this year than there was last year. There is less of all of these things and more people who demand a share.
Until we recognize that our economic systems are based upon a fundamental lie we are trapped.
johnm I was just thinking of the throwaway society. Style and appearance is everything, a person who isn’t cool and in with the culture is nothing. Clothing shops abound and from my experience in dealing with secondhand clothes, many don’t bother about their clothes, just spoil them, toss them out, buy more.
So we in NZ and elsewhere are with our savings and investments. Go for style and the appearance of companies without taking note of the substance and history, then they waste the investments, they virtually go down the drain, and it is expected that more will always be as widely available as women’s clothes in the high street.
Our government can’t even encourage a strong, reliable superannuation fund now sagging in the resolve at the first downturn. Other countries have such strong pension funds that they could buy us lock, stock and barrel. Perhaps that would be the best thing? We don’t ever seem to have a government with politicians who can keep us on prosperity road without excess or making an unreasonable grab of resources, and also to support and encourage everybody to be good, keen workers and providers of social good.
That says more about you than it does about Moira Coatsworth or the Labur Party, PeteG.
If you are more concerned about the impact of negative campaigning than you are about increasing inequality in society, IMO you have a warped sense of priorities.
National have done nothing but campaigned negatively since 2005, and probably before then.
They’d now managed to convince a large number of the public that Labour managed the economy badly and put us into debt with their free-spending ways. They love to repeat the distortion that government spending increased massively between 2004 and 2008, but really the 2008 levels were on par with 2000, for example.
So yes, if you’re really so against negative campaigning, Pete, you should start with National.
I thought I’d give you some light Sunday morning reading. I’d have put it in the socialising section if it weren’t for the fact that it is about Wall street bankers and what they get up to when nobody is watching.
Remember John Key and his visiting strip clubs to “entertain” his customers? The Sexual Underground Of Bankers
Strauss-Kahn and The Secret Culture of Aggressive Sexuality In The High Pressure World Of Bankers and Banksters
Enjoy!!
And if you think that since Merrill Lynch, John Key’s bank, is not named it must be free of the sex taint, think again. In the late nineties a spate of allegations against the the bank most especially of sexual harassment and discrimination was settled almost exclusively out of court.
Some of the complaints featured the way male bankers used sex and strip clubs to exclude their female colleagues from partaking in the process of making huge and profitable deals.
This article claims the bank defended twice the amount of such cases as your average Wall street bank.
Morning ev, how are you? I see neither of us have been taken away in the rapture.
I’m with you on this one. To provide a bit of an alternative take on it, I’m more concerned about what they were doing than where they were doing it.
The point that they are parasites sucking the life out of the economy gets lost amongst the salaciousness of the “they went to a strip club” bit, and the “they are sexist bastards” bit. Sure, they have no respect for women, and that is worse than just ruining the economy. The fact that if they were not such terribly misogynistic bastards then we could have had them and their female colleagues suck the life out of the economy isn’t much consolation on a misty Sunday morning.
I hoped but there you have it, the rapture gave it a miss. LOL.
I agree. Another way of looking at it is that if they had more respect for women i.e. the female force they would not have become bankers intend on sucking the life out of our communities and environment.
We wouldn’t need a rapture then, we’d be in heaven today.
I agree with you. Let’s not forget that Hillary Clinton, Thatcher and Condi Rice were of the female persuasion and have/had no problems with being ruthless.
I am not saying all female force is good. Kali after all is the goddess of death and destruction in India.
What I’m saying is that male and female as forces and energies can balance each other but it still requires a massive amount of work and goodwill.
The banking world and the corporate world have a tendency to stray to the male side of things I hope you will agree with me though.
Remember the Apple and Pear Board? What about the forests? Our trees are overseas owned and are cut into logs that are driven straight to the wharves by a few exploited sub-contract drivers. If we took a longer view, we would build secondary industries around our wood, creating tens of thousands of jobs.
Remember when we sold off Telecom for a song? The overseas shareholders have made their investment back many times over. What did we get? A predator monopoly that artificially kept prices up for two decades that now leaves the state to pay for the new internet infrastructure it should have built.
I’m not even including the Aussie banks that ship billions of our money offshore each year. I could go on. Just tell me what the benefit is of selling off our public utilities to foreigners?
Now Key tells us we can flog off our power companies and our national carrier, Air New Zealand – that is until their new owners mess them up, forcing us to buy them back again at a loss. Don’t even get me started on the railways.
While we all twitter on about the minor stuff in the Budget, our politicians from both main parties ignore the real problem.
Repeat after me loudly – the emperor isn’t wearing any clothes.
I’d go for a shorter quote but that end bit nails it. A free-market economy while selling our assets off to overseas interests has left us all worse off. And there doesn’t appear to be a party or politician around that will admit it.
Matt McCarten is 1000% right. But we can’t wake up the self-absorbed (I’m alright with my tax cuts) apathetic politically dumbed down NZ public to vote to save us(Now too late) from these ruthless asset strippers.
I know if I sold my only asset,a house,for a short term financial gain including overseas trips and then rented my house back!!! Ultimately I would be a hell of a lot poorer!
If Key/Joyce were consistent they will lead the Election with:
“KEY CALLS ON GOOD KIWIS TO SELL THEIR HOUSES AND INVEST!”
In a major Election Speech today, John Key called on all good Kiwi Mums and Dads to sell their Assets and instead use their capital to invest in Finance companies, the Sharemarket and in the various Mining Companies that have sprung up around the country. “It makes sense,” he said with a boyish grin. “It worked for us. We sold your Assets to get at the capital and while unemployment has risen to 23% it is not our fault, its the fault of the last Labour Government. They should have called for Asset Sales sooner. So Mums and Dads, help save NZ and sell up and invest.”
But the mike was left on and when Key turned to Joyce he was heard to say, ” Reckon we pulled the suckers in Boss?”
Travelev: So true or maybe Key taught them? I still wonder about the mechanism which will be available to us before the next election which will show whether the National Plan is working (per Budget), or whether it is fraudulent. Thus from your link: ““They would never know. They would never be able to know how much money was taken out of that,” says one employee, referring to the huge profits the bank stood to make on the transaction. “Never, no way, no way,” replies her colleague.”
Easy to change a few words and attribute it to Key/Joyce?
Ianmac,
In a book by Frank Partnoy (an ex banker and now professor in law) called Infectious greed Andrew Krieger was pin pointed as patient Zero in the trade in the newly decriminalised derivatives trade. The event? The attack on the New Zealand dollar in October 1987 the Thursday after Black Monday.
John Key has stated that he has dealed with Andrew Krieger in millions of dollars but that he did not start with Bankers trust until August 1988. This is when the bank registers officially. The bank started operating a year before however and the timeline shows that John Key left the bank he worked for in the spring of 1987. He was prohibited from working for the competition for three months making it very likely that he started to work for bankers trust in the early autumn of 1987.
Further more in three articles in the NYtimes archives (Andrew Krieger was a bit of a legend because of his attack on the new Zealand dollar and his apparent over estimation of his portfolio by about 60 million dollars if I am not mistaken) He left bankers trust in December 1987 or January 1988. He started to work for Soros in March 1988 and left Soros in June 1988. By the time John Key said he dealt in millions of dollars with Andrew Krieger (Which he only did while attacking the NZ dollar) Andrew Krieger had left the trading business and did not return until 1991 making John Key’s assertion he worked with Andrew Krieger much later than the attack a lie.
Why is this important? John Key was a party in the first Derivatives and forex attack on a currency. His speciality? The bonds and Derivatives trade.
He was headhunted by Merrill Lynch to become their world wide head of Forex and European head of their Bonds and Derivatives trading.
He was a member of the Forex Advisory committee for the NY federal reserve bank a committe his boss shared before him with Robert Rubin widely touted as the most corrupt corporate individual ever and responsible for the repeal of the Glass Steagall act.
In fact he was involved with the first case of the federal reserve having to bail out the banking system and the collapse of the LTCM hedge fund, the collapse of the Thai bath and the Russian rouble.
If you consider that the Derivatives trade according to another corrupt individual is touted as the Weapons of financial Mass destruction of Wall street you get an idea of how dirty John Key really is.
Larger Profits + Safety Shortcuts = Death Pike River?
This report of 29 Miners killed in 2010 in West Virginia due to neglect of safety procedures to my mind parallels the preventable accident at Pike River.
“.that the accident was the result of safety violations by Massey management. In truth, the Upper Big Branch mine was more or less a death trap.”
“In the investigators’ own words, “The disaster at Upper Big Branch was man-made and could have been prevented had Massey Energy followed basic, well-tested and historically proven safety procedures.” The message couldn’t be any plainer: Had Massey paid as much attention to mine safety as it did to company profits, those 29 miners would still be alive.”
“As Gary Hardesty, an AWPPW (Assoc. of Western Pulp & Paper Workers) safety consultant, once put it, “Because maintaining a safe facility costs money, many companies see safety only as another form of overhead.””
“And, of course, there’s another component to this tragedy, one reflecting organized labor’s unfortunate loss of influence, not only in the industry but in the country at large.”
“Statistics show that 92-percent of all mine accidents occur in non-union facilities.”
I am personally convinced that the above equation applied at Pike River. But I invite anyone here to shoot me down on this if they can! Also look at the ruthless sidelining of the Union in the Hobbit controversy,though safety was not compromised in this instance.
P.S.
And if you want to protest about safety?
“Because coal mining is a close-knit community, once your name gets put on a company shit-list as a “union activist” or “union sympathizer,” it’s going to stay on that list, and you’re going to find it difficult to get hired anywhere. Coal miners might be a remarkably tough but courageous breed of worker, but, tough or not, they have to work to eat, and there are only so many mining jobs to go around. Few are willing to rock the boat.”
My deepest sympathy to the families who lost loved ones at Pike River.
Saw Phil Goff on Q&A this morning. Have to agree with Jon Johannson. He was at his equivocal worst. Hinted at policy announcements he planned to reveal later this morning at the Congress but refused to give any detail. As Mike Williams said: he’s got an audience of thousands watching Q&A so why didn’t he take advantage of it?
If he felt compelled to reveal all to the delegates first, then perhaps he should have stayed away from Q&A.
Waiting for coitus with an older person would require patience, determination and stimulation. So if that analogy is appropriate then keeping up questioning and policy suggestions to the older Labour politicians may prevent impotence when the test comes.
wham bam thank you mam, but I ‘m going to vote for anyone who says they will require every vehicle on the new zealand roads to have adeqquate mufflers. after the last binge of infantilised noisemaking it may be too much to hope for.
A much bolder move would be to merge all the CRI’s and the Ministry of Science and Innovation into a new super 21st century DSIR and tell it to go off and make magic.
Wow, Bill English managed to say something intelligent:
He’s called prisons a moral and fiscal failure and there are other ways of dealing with criminals and potential criminals.
“The public service has done a lot of very smart work on this and, over the next two or three years, we’re going to see the need for prison beds drop a bit at least.”
Although, I haven’t yet seen any Nact policies or programs that would achieve this. They did take an axe to several of the successful programs that Labour had supported though.
Garth McVicar, being the idiot that he is, said:
“Just as they were starting to bear fruit through the ‘tough on crime’ message that they were sending out, he capitulates and waves a white flag,” McVicar told ONE News.
“It just sends the wrong message to criminals. I know people think criminals are dumb but they’re quite smart and they’ll understand if we’re not going to build more prisons out there, then ultimately we’re not going to send them to prison.”
No evidence to back his claims of course but plenty worldwide that he’s talking out his arse.
McVicar shouldnt be worried. Lynching will be brought back soon, if not already. And that intolerant bigoted bastard will be the one pulling the rope up to hang that ‘dirty nigger’.
Trust me.
The guy has gone from being an advocate for victims, to an advocate for a punitive socitey where violence, bullying and humiliation are used to enforce the social control in repressive society where women, the young, gays, solo mothers, maori, and the poor are completely stripped of their rights and made non persons.
You only had to read McVicar’s words, in between the lines, to understand way back that sensible sentencing was not his end goal. Control over societal freedoms, esp. for women and return of the ‘traditional’ family, which held its own horrors behind closed doors, was always his end goal. With National and Act, Maori and United Future support he will get it. If women can’t see that the few freedoms they have gained will be swiftly taken away then they will regret it.
so get tough on crime in time for the election. how neat is that. bill english is not as silly as he looks. anyway national being national if they said it (crime) was going away then it would. yeah right.
Kiwi wage slaves lagging behind
Yes, that is actually the headline from the granny. It has lovely bits of information in it like this:
National secretary of the Service and Food Workers Union, John Ryall,
has had reports of employers getting workers in for unpaid “trials”. They will work for as much as two weeks in cleaning jobs or in restaurants, supposedly getting trained for new roles but essentially working for no pay. “These are small operators and employers who think they’ll get away with it, looking for every opportunity to use unemployment to their advantage,” says Ryall.
And when the economy is so fucked that there’s 2700 turning up for 150 jobs I’m sure these lying, stealing scum can get away with it for quite some time.
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This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
COMMENTARY:By Ronny Kareni Since the atrocious footage of the suffering of an indigenous Papuan man reverberates in the heart of Puncak by the brute force of Indonesia’s army in early February, shocking tactics deployed by those in power to silence critics has been unfolding. Nowhere is this more evident ...
Analysis - Nicola Willis is holding firm on tax cuts despite the economic outlook being worse than forecast and critics urging her to wait, writes Peter Wilson for The Week In Politics. ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
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Tunisia, Libya, Syria, Bahrain. and now….. Los indignados:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2011/05/201152122336663.html
One of the protesters said:
“I’m protesting because I’ve got no job future in Spain even though I’ve finished my degree in tourism,” said 25-year old Inma Moreno on Madrid’s Puerta del Sol plaza.
Well, tourism is a significant industry, but as Top scientist Sir Paul Callaghan said in a speech at the Labour Party conference, it’s not one a government should be foregrounding to lead economic recovery. It’s not a business that developes the “real” economy.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/5037261/Innovation-needed-to-boost-economy
But our dear leader has no experience working in an industry that would be innovative and productive.
Or a real society with real culture. What it develops is a nation of serfs.
Our dear leader has no experience in any industry that actually produces wealth. All he’s ever done is work as a parasite that got rich off the backs of millions of hard working people the world over.
Although torism gets jobs for the supply industry it always seems to me to be fragile. An increase in fuel costs can devastate the industry as can a serious terrorist threat, so then the tourism industry, jobs, infrastructure disappears overnight. So yes. Jobs/industries with substance.
Will Labour produce a plan? Yes it will.
A diversified business environment would be good ianmac. Tourism is dependent on fossil oils, even the few that sail or row themselves, when they need rescuing. But our animals are also vulnerable to foot and mouth disease. Even a hint of this sort of threat can cause a quick shut downs to our exports. I understand that there is a vaccine available for it but our country is not one for precautionary measures.
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Wait till the disaster occurs and go into authoritarian crisis mode, like Tony Blair presiding over a killing regime wiping out pet animals and rare breeds with rare genes.
The world’s governments are denying the realities of Peak Oil and Climate Change that are doing so much accumulated damage that continuation of capitalistic economies is impossible.
Capitalism demands steady growth in order to pay off debts. The resources demanded by economic activity are simply no longer available. There isn’t more oil, coal, grain, lumber, steel, metals, minerals and fish available this year than there was last year. There is less of all of these things and more people who demand a share.
Until we recognize that our economic systems are based upon a fundamental lie we are trapped.
johnm I was just thinking of the throwaway society. Style and appearance is everything, a person who isn’t cool and in with the culture is nothing. Clothing shops abound and from my experience in dealing with secondhand clothes, many don’t bother about their clothes, just spoil them, toss them out, buy more.
So we in NZ and elsewhere are with our savings and investments. Go for style and the appearance of companies without taking note of the substance and history, then they waste the investments, they virtually go down the drain, and it is expected that more will always be as widely available as women’s clothes in the high street.
Our government can’t even encourage a strong, reliable superannuation fund now sagging in the resolve at the first downturn. Other countries have such strong pension funds that they could buy us lock, stock and barrel. Perhaps that would be the best thing? We don’t ever seem to have a government with politicians who can keep us on prosperity road without excess or making an unreasonable grab of resources, and also to support and encourage everybody to be good, keen workers and providers of social good.
Labour Party president Moira Coatsworth got my hopes up with this:
then dashed them:
I thought she was going to say the “divisive and corrosive” impact of negative campaigning.
That says more about you than it does about Moira Coatsworth or the Labur Party, PeteG.
If you are more concerned about the impact of negative campaigning than you are about increasing inequality in society, IMO you have a warped sense of priorities.
National have done nothing but campaigned negatively since 2005, and probably before then.
They’d now managed to convince a large number of the public that Labour managed the economy badly and put us into debt with their free-spending ways. They love to repeat the distortion that government spending increased massively between 2004 and 2008, but really the 2008 levels were on par with 2000, for example.
So yes, if you’re really so against negative campaigning, Pete, you should start with National.
The Labour Party President is telling the facts Pete G. Sometimes they are negative. That’s an inconvenient truth. Suck it up.
I thought I’d give you some light Sunday morning reading. I’d have put it in the socialising section if it weren’t for the fact that it is about Wall street bankers and what they get up to when nobody is watching.
Remember John Key and his visiting strip clubs to “entertain” his customers?
The Sexual Underground Of Bankers
Strauss-Kahn and The Secret Culture of Aggressive Sexuality In The High Pressure World Of Bankers and Banksters
Enjoy!!
And if you think that since Merrill Lynch, John Key’s bank, is not named it must be free of the sex taint, think again. In the late nineties a spate of allegations against the the bank most especially of sexual harassment and discrimination was settled almost exclusively out of court.
Some of the complaints featured the way male bankers used sex and strip clubs to exclude their female colleagues from partaking in the process of making huge and profitable deals.
This article claims the bank defended twice the amount of such cases as your average Wall street bank.
Morning ev, how are you? I see neither of us have been taken away in the rapture.
I’m with you on this one. To provide a bit of an alternative take on it, I’m more concerned about what they were doing than where they were doing it.
The point that they are parasites sucking the life out of the economy gets lost amongst the salaciousness of the “they went to a strip club” bit, and the “they are sexist bastards” bit. Sure, they have no respect for women, and that is worse than just ruining the economy. The fact that if they were not such terribly misogynistic bastards then we could have had them and their female colleagues suck the life out of the economy isn’t much consolation on a misty Sunday morning.
Good morning AC.
I hoped but there you have it, the rapture gave it a miss. LOL.
I agree. Another way of looking at it is that if they had more respect for women i.e. the female force they would not have become bankers intend on sucking the life out of our communities and environment.
We wouldn’t need a rapture then, we’d be in heaven today.
Cripes T.ev you have an idealistic attitude to womens ability to resist cultural mores. Women are different to men, but not that different.
I agree with you. Let’s not forget that Hillary Clinton, Thatcher and Condi Rice were of the female persuasion and have/had no problems with being ruthless.
I am not saying all female force is good. Kali after all is the goddess of death and destruction in India.
What I’m saying is that male and female as forces and energies can balance each other but it still requires a massive amount of work and goodwill.
The banking world and the corporate world have a tendency to stray to the male side of things I hope you will agree with me though.
Good column by Matt McCarten today.
I’d go for a shorter quote but that end bit nails it. A free-market economy while selling our assets off to overseas interests has left us all worse off. And there doesn’t appear to be a party or politician around that will admit it.
Matt McCarten is 1000% right. But we can’t wake up the self-absorbed (I’m alright with my tax cuts) apathetic politically dumbed down NZ public to vote to save us(Now too late) from these ruthless asset strippers.
I know if I sold my only asset,a house,for a short term financial gain including overseas trips and then rented my house back!!! Ultimately I would be a hell of a lot poorer!
If Key/Joyce were consistent they will lead the Election with:
“KEY CALLS ON GOOD KIWIS TO SELL THEIR HOUSES AND INVEST!”
In a major Election Speech today, John Key called on all good Kiwi Mums and Dads to sell their Assets and instead use their capital to invest in Finance companies, the Sharemarket and in the various Mining Companies that have sprung up around the country. “It makes sense,” he said with a boyish grin. “It worked for us. We sold your Assets to get at the capital and while unemployment has risen to 23% it is not our fault, its the fault of the last Labour Government. They should have called for Asset Sales sooner. So Mums and Dads, help save NZ and sell up and invest.”
But the mike was left on and when Key turned to Joyce he was heard to say, ” Reckon we pulled the suckers in Boss?”
Key would have learned from the best!
Travelev: So true or maybe Key taught them? I still wonder about the mechanism which will be available to us before the next election which will show whether the National Plan is working (per Budget), or whether it is fraudulent. Thus from your link:
““They would never know. They would never be able to know how much money was taken out of that,” says one employee, referring to the huge profits the bank stood to make on the transaction. “Never, no way, no way,” replies her colleague.”
Easy to change a few words and attribute it to Key/Joyce?
Ianmac,
In a book by Frank Partnoy (an ex banker and now professor in law) called Infectious greed Andrew Krieger was pin pointed as patient Zero in the trade in the newly decriminalised derivatives trade. The event? The attack on the New Zealand dollar in October 1987 the Thursday after Black Monday.
John Key has stated that he has dealed with Andrew Krieger in millions of dollars but that he did not start with Bankers trust until August 1988. This is when the bank registers officially. The bank started operating a year before however and the timeline shows that John Key left the bank he worked for in the spring of 1987. He was prohibited from working for the competition for three months making it very likely that he started to work for bankers trust in the early autumn of 1987.
Further more in three articles in the NYtimes archives (Andrew Krieger was a bit of a legend because of his attack on the new Zealand dollar and his apparent over estimation of his portfolio by about 60 million dollars if I am not mistaken) He left bankers trust in December 1987 or January 1988. He started to work for Soros in March 1988 and left Soros in June 1988. By the time John Key said he dealt in millions of dollars with Andrew Krieger (Which he only did while attacking the NZ dollar) Andrew Krieger had left the trading business and did not return until 1991 making John Key’s assertion he worked with Andrew Krieger much later than the attack a lie.
Why is this important? John Key was a party in the first Derivatives and forex attack on a currency. His speciality? The bonds and Derivatives trade.
He was headhunted by Merrill Lynch to become their world wide head of Forex and European head of their Bonds and Derivatives trading.
He was a member of the Forex Advisory committee for the NY federal reserve bank a committe his boss shared before him with Robert Rubin widely touted as the most corrupt corporate individual ever and responsible for the repeal of the Glass Steagall act.
In fact he was involved with the first case of the federal reserve having to bail out the banking system and the collapse of the LTCM hedge fund, the collapse of the Thai bath and the Russian rouble.
If you consider that the Derivatives trade according to another corrupt individual is touted as the Weapons of financial Mass destruction of Wall street you get an idea of how dirty John Key really is.
Larger Profits + Safety Shortcuts = Death Pike River?
This report of 29 Miners killed in 2010 in West Virginia due to neglect of safety procedures to my mind parallels the preventable accident at Pike River.
“.that the accident was the result of safety violations by Massey management. In truth, the Upper Big Branch mine was more or less a death trap.”
“In the investigators’ own words, “The disaster at Upper Big Branch was man-made and could have been prevented had Massey Energy followed basic, well-tested and historically proven safety procedures.” The message couldn’t be any plainer: Had Massey paid as much attention to mine safety as it did to company profits, those 29 miners would still be alive.”
“As Gary Hardesty, an AWPPW (Assoc. of Western Pulp & Paper Workers) safety consultant, once put it, “Because maintaining a safe facility costs money, many companies see safety only as another form of overhead.””
“And, of course, there’s another component to this tragedy, one reflecting organized labor’s unfortunate loss of influence, not only in the industry but in the country at large.”
“Statistics show that 92-percent of all mine accidents occur in non-union facilities.”
I am personally convinced that the above equation applied at Pike River. But I invite anyone here to shoot me down on this if they can! Also look at the ruthless sidelining of the Union in the Hobbit controversy,though safety was not compromised in this instance.
Refer link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/05/21-3
P.S.
And if you want to protest about safety?
“Because coal mining is a close-knit community, once your name gets put on a company shit-list as a “union activist” or “union sympathizer,” it’s going to stay on that list, and you’re going to find it difficult to get hired anywhere. Coal miners might be a remarkably tough but courageous breed of worker, but, tough or not, they have to work to eat, and there are only so many mining jobs to go around. Few are willing to rock the boat.”
My deepest sympathy to the families who lost loved ones at Pike River.
johnm Interesting quotes thanks.
Saw Phil Goff on Q&A this morning. Have to agree with Jon Johannson. He was at his equivocal worst. Hinted at policy announcements he planned to reveal later this morning at the Congress but refused to give any detail. As Mike Williams said: he’s got an audience of thousands watching Q&A so why didn’t he take advantage of it?
If he felt compelled to reveal all to the delegates first, then perhaps he should have stayed away from Q&A.
Perhaps a good move to keep ’em on the edge of their seats waiting, waiting, waiting until the anticipation becomes intense. A bit like coitus Anne?
Ooooh… eeeehh…aaaaahhhh…oioioioi – yes.
Waiting for coitus with an older person would require patience, determination and stimulation. So if that analogy is appropriate then keeping up questioning and policy suggestions to the older Labour politicians may prevent impotence when the test comes.
Some assumptions made there, young ‘un.
At least avoid any premature er -um decisions?
wham bam thank you mam, but I ‘m going to vote for anyone who says they will require every vehicle on the new zealand roads to have adeqquate mufflers. after the last binge of infantilised noisemaking it may be too much to hope for.
Underwhelming
A much bolder move would be to merge all the CRI’s and the Ministry of Science and Innovation into a new super 21st century DSIR and tell it to go off and make magic.
Wow, Bill English managed to say something intelligent:
Although, I haven’t yet seen any Nact policies or programs that would achieve this. They did take an axe to several of the successful programs that Labour had supported though.
Garth McVicar, being the idiot that he is, said:
No evidence to back his claims of course but plenty worldwide that he’s talking out his arse.
D they are going to bring back the death penalty.
Which has my vote.
McVicar shouldnt be worried. Lynching will be brought back soon, if not already. And that intolerant bigoted bastard will be the one pulling the rope up to hang that ‘dirty nigger’.
Trust me.
The guy has gone from being an advocate for victims, to an advocate for a punitive socitey where violence, bullying and humiliation are used to enforce the social control in repressive society where women, the young, gays, solo mothers, maori, and the poor are completely stripped of their rights and made non persons.
Millsy,
You only had to read McVicar’s words, in between the lines, to understand way back that sensible sentencing was not his end goal. Control over societal freedoms, esp. for women and return of the ‘traditional’ family, which held its own horrors behind closed doors, was always his end goal. With National and Act, Maori and United Future support he will get it. If women can’t see that the few freedoms they have gained will be swiftly taken away then they will regret it.
so get tough on crime in time for the election. how neat is that. bill english is not as silly as he looks. anyway national being national if they said it (crime) was going away then it would. yeah right.
http://issues.co.nz/savetvnz7/View+Viral+Videos
I quite like the Goodbye Kiwi vid
The PSA one is short & snappy, but I’m not sure about the message. Brian Edwards talks to much in one vid.
Kiwi wage slaves lagging behind
Yes, that is actually the headline from the granny. It has lovely bits of information in it like this:
And when the economy is so fucked that there’s 2700 turning up for 150 jobs I’m sure these lying, stealing scum can get away with it for quite some time.