[Please note, we are trialling something new for Open Mike and Daily Review.
In order to keep OM and DR free for other conversations, all comments, link postings etc about the US election now need to go in the dedicated US election discussion here.
If you are unsure, post in that thread rather than here. It’s not possible for moderators to shift comments from OM to there, so any comments here may get deleted.
“…One of the major problems the residents face is that of law and order, which we have made our main agenda for the bypolls.
Immigration is another issue the party feels strongly about.
But for now, we will concentrate on the law and order situation in the area.
There have been a large number of instances wherein people and businesses from ethnic communities are regularly targeted by criminals and nothing is being done to fight the problem.
Our party will stand in support of the ethnic communities and ensure that their concerned are heard and addressed.
….”
I predict that Roshan Nauhria and his NZ Peoples’ Party will take votes from National in the Mt Roskill
by-election.
Penny Bright
‘Anti-privatisation / anti-corruption Public Watchdog’
It wouldn’t surprise me in the least, if after the election, the New Zealand People’s Party goes the way others like it have gone before, and it withers and dies off.
The following comment is from Jenny. It got caught in moderation and I can’t find a way to release it manually. Jenny, you should be free to comment now. TRP.
Syria Solidarity: National day of action 29th October
Civilians in Aleppo and across Syria are being intensively bombed by Russia with bunker bombs, phosphorous bombs, napalm, thermobaric and cluster bombs; and by the Syrian regime with chlorine containing barrel bombs; targetting homes, schools, hospitals, rescue teams, and underground shelters .
Like many Syrian cities, Aleppo has been under a starvation siege. The regime and Russian have even bombed the city’s water supply.
Despite these atrocious crimes against humanity, Aleppo’s people show tremendous solidarity and caring for each other, as they work to find the wounded under the rubble, and rush them to undergound clinics for treatment. Hundreds of democratically run community councils have been formed across Syria in the liberated areas. They have produced a tremendous amount of art, literature, music, and electronic media documenting the revolution and counter revolution in Syria.
The “peace” talks have broken down. It is clear that Russia and the Assad regime are looking for a military solution to enable the genocidal Assad regime to continue in power.
Most of the fighters killing Syrian civilians are not Syrians. They include soliders from Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq, many of them conscripted or desperately poor with no other options for a living.
The Assad regime and Russia have killed half a million Syrian people. The genocide has to stop! The regime regularly uses rape and torture as weapons.
The war started because people across Syria went onto the streets to demand democracy, and instead were shot, rounded up, tortured, raped and killed. So the people took up arms to defend themselves. The Assad regime has vowed to continue to obliterate the population until it accepts his rule.
Both the United States and Russia have re-defined the people’s struggle for democracy as a “war on terror” and are both responsible for killing civilians.
Isis grew in Syria with the encouragement of the Assad regime. Assad deliberately released extremists from his jails, who went on to join Isis in Syria. The regime leaves Isis alone, and Isis is continually attacking the democratic opposition groups. The democratic opposition has been forced to fight on two fronts, against the attacks from the regime and from Isis. Despite the evils perpetrated by Isis, it has killed a fraction of the number of people, that the Assad regime has. The Assad regime with its Russian and Iranian allies are the greater evil.
Stop the bombing! Troops out!
No more genocide! Solidarity with the Syrian Revolution!
Victory for Syrian people now!
Wellington action:
2-3pm 29th October, Russian Embassy, 57 Messines Road, Karori
[https://www.facebook.com/events/1837996156434984/]
Auckland action:
2-3pm 29th October, Aotea Square
[https://www.facebook.com/events/104432090029183/]
“…One of the major problems the residents face is that of law and order, which we have made our main agenda for the by polls”
I totally agree, especially those residents who fail to pay their fair share, still access services and then have the audacity to label themselves an ‘anti-corruption Public Watchdog’,. Practice what you preach and pay your bloody rates.
You know, Penny is making a brave stand against anti-democratic government practices. And she isn’t getting away with anything. She may be quixotic, but the council have behaved badly.
She has as much right to comment as a Tory troll. Probably more.
I think the Council has been very patient. What Penny is demanding is that details of every contract be made public. This is not required by the legislation and for reasons of commercial privacy is not done anywhere else either. There are plenty of auditors and other safeguards against “corruption” and those few instances from legacy councils have been detected and dealt with. I have a friend who contracts to Council to process some of the Resource Consent applications which cannot be done in time by Council staff during busy periods. Her hourly rate is avaialble to the applicant (who is paying the costs of processing) and the other costs are standard for all applications. There is absolutely no need for these transactions to be on some sort of public register.
“Commercial sensitivity” has been used increasingly frequently to obscure transactions that frankly could not meet a public interest standard – like the gratuitous theft of our electricity generation resources, the vast web of corruption that has delayed or prevented the Christchurch rebuild, or the antidemocratic empire building of the Ports of Auckland
I want government to err on the side of public interest rather than that of corporate convenience and blatant corruption.
Your friend’s application processing may meet that standard – but if it does, why would she object to publication? If information is sensitive because it might encourage competition, that is in fact the only reason we want commercial involvement in council activity in any case – when they can lower costs.
My only objection to Penny is that she used to spam threads.
hi visubversa,
just a couple of things, while the ‘applicant ‘ may pay the costs, tis not thier money.
if all these contracts are a matter if public record then there is no commercial disadvantage.
may even make some of those contesting for the public teat, ‘sharpen their pencils’.
The scope of that accountability is set by the LGOIMA, with the same right to appeal to Ombudsmen as with the OIA. If there was any requirement to share line-by-line accounts with anyone who requested them, there would have been a ruling to that effect by now. Auckland Council is behaving no differently than others.
If they hadn’t spent vastly more in legal fees messing her around I might accept the explanation. The truth is they cherish their secrecy and waste our money preserving it. Technocratic oversight is not effective without community feedback. Penny offers that kind of feedback – but they are jealous of their secondhand authority and so they hate her.
“Behaving no differently to the others”
No doubt – like Dunedin’s former mayor who created a rates blowout to fund a stadium more than two thirds of Dunedin never wanted and will never use.
We need to cultivate a scrupulous local government culture – the prevailing culture is anything but.
Do you have examples of Council messing Ms Bright around rather than vice versa?
Every article I’ve read shows them being forced into court by her actions and winning every step of the way, yet still offering the same avenue as other ratepayers to relieve her debt when her house is sold.
They didn’t have to defend the actions – they could have treated her as a concerned citizen and cooperated with her. It would’ve been cheaper – and she is not a competing robber corporate poised to exploit their spurious ‘commercial secrecy’.
Civic involvement is considered a healthy attribute by responsible governments.
If council did exactly what Ms Bright has demanded they would immediately face lawsuits from many big companies for breach of contract. That’s not a hallmark of good stewardship of public resources and would see them replaced by govt-appointed commissioners in no time.
As with most things Bright raises, the answer lies in govt changing national laws, not at council level. Challenging the wrong target is a waste of valuable public energy. Citizens deserve better from our advocates.
If council did exactly what Ms Bright has demanded they would immediately face lawsuits from many big companies for breach of contract.
Which tells us that the contract was, and is, wrong. Which, of course, means that you don’t put those clauses into contracts going forward. If the businesses don’t like that then they’re quite welcome not to take up the contract.
Challenging the wrong target is a waste of valuable public energy.
It’s not the wrong target. It’s one of the many targets that are available.
1. There is an LGOIA that Penny has been using to try and get the information that apparently applies
2. Council has been refusing on grounds of commercial sensitivity which is not a moral position and apparently not covered by the law either (really, I’d love to see the law that says that we must take into account a businesses feelings)
3. If that bit is in the contract, and I really doubt that it is, then that contract is breaking the law as you cannot contract out of the law.
The council really is morally obliged to make that information available to the public as it’s their city and they have every right and duty to know these things.
And there’s the point of where to start. If the law as it is apparently supports then you need to go to the council and prove that they’re the ones breaking the law. If it turns out that they’re not breaking the law then you go to the government and get them to change the law.
The LGOIMA like the OIA explicitly includes commercial confidentiality as a factor. Please educate yourself about the law before any more of this nonsensical bluster. Having one mouthy fool in this area is bad enough. People deserve smarter activists.
Demanding that councils keep information secret from ratepayers is a breach of the bona fide required to form contracts. Councils are responsible to their constituents and cannot contract out of that responsibility. The corporates would lose.
I think that’s the legal position – if you flip it, a corporation would be in a world of trouble if they tried to sign binding secrecy from their shareholders.
If ACT weren’t just a lying pack of assholes they’d be all over this – for neo-liberalism to work it’s supposed to impose commercial standards of propriety on government. But Prebble et al only want to make off with the capital value of state assets like Landcorp.
Totally agree Paul. Why should Penny Bright not question the council and why are the council constantly pushing everything into the legal realm with millions of ratepayers money being pushed into private legal firms. No kick back or relationships there, we are led to believe.
Democracy and public accountability is on the decline because nobody (apart form people like Penny) have the time, stomach and energy to fight lawyers for years. The council are constantly proved wrong such as Ports of Auckland. People like Darren Watson have to fight for years to be proved right with other government run organisations. Auckland council were so incompetent that the unitary plan was thrown out.
We have the CEO of Wellington council giving 8 million dollars to Singapore Airlines privately and the Kaipara council bankrupting themselves with dodgy waste water and subdivision speculation.
Auckland council apparently has something like a 17% approval rate I read in the Metro, which is internationally so low, it’s in the gutter. Even Metro were pondering why the Mayoral candidates and the council itself were not concerned at how low they are perceived by the rate payers and how little they are trusted.
The council managers and executives are in a bubble that hopefully someone at some stage will burst and at the same time release our rates so it can be used more wisely than the council paying $500 an hour lawyers (if not more) to hide their conduct to the public and speculate on hidden deals.
Penny is protesting against the unjust laws that prevent Aucklanders from seeing how their city is managed. Such laws promote corruption which has been in the news lately.
In other words, she’s doing a hell of a lot more for this city and this country by not paying her rates than you are with your abject compliance with the way things are and kowtowing to the rich and powerful.
Just testing, to see if this comment goes through when I am logged in – recently the comments I have made when logged-in have disappeared into the spam.
@Robert Guyton
Thanks for your cheerful, informative and encouraging series being published here –
The Essential Forest Gardener. We are all reading with interest and grateful for your reminiscences and guidance so we can take our skills and thinking a further useful step.
For those who haven’t seen it – here is a relevant 6 min vid clip on how we need bees but don’t love and respect them properly.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqA42M4RtxE
Thanks, greywarshark. I’m really enjoying the feedback and questions each Sunday when the post goes up (thanks, TS people). I hope you’ll enjoy tomorrow’s post, in which I introduce chaos to the mix: “Chaotic is the word that springs to the lips of the conservative gardener, seeing a forest garden for the first time, and the order that does in fact exist in these gardens is a lot more complex than that found in a lawn-and-box-hedge garden, giving the impression of disorder. ”
🙂
I’d not read anything from you here for a while and worried about you! Good to hear you’re still connected.
hi robert,
a belated thank you from the manawatu, for the post last sunday.
about 10 yrs ago we relocated a whare on to 3 acres.
orchard, chooks, and 3 x 15 m2 raised garden beds, courtesy of my horticulturalist father in law.
cooch is the constant battle and 18 mmonths ago, decided to ‘decooch’ one of the beds. most of the day digging, sweating and being at one with the soil. excellent.
less than a month later you would think i had sown cooch!
head dropped, big bottom lip, and an excuse to ignore the garden and throw up my hands.
gave myself an uppercut and got back into the garden a month ago.
your post last week was just the tonic to get stuck into some toms, corn peas etc.
thanks again, just what ineeded to read.
btw a big loss this year with the passing of bill mollisson, the founder of permaculture.
Hi gsays
Couch and de-couching – the former a reality, the latter a delusion 🙂
I have another garden which was 100% couch, initially. I released the wild chervil and began to feel sympathy for the couch! Cow parsley/wild chervil (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthriscus_sylvestris) disposes couch silently and ruthlessly, growing in its place and providing a wealth of useful services to anyone brave enough to utilize it.
Yes, it was a pity about Bill. I felt worse when Masanobu Fukuoka passed. Each provided shoulders for us to survey the scene from. Now it’s up to us 🙂
Don’t worry about me. you’re the man doing the heavy lifting who’s important. I am popping up on Bowalley Road which has limited its biting insects with a net of fine mesh unlike TS. Damn those midges! I read somewhere that the migratory animals like caribou? are partly motivated to go so they can outrun the critters.
I’m still working for better things and trying to network and get to know the pragmatic idealist entrepreneurs around the place who stay focussed on target. Good to know of the Guytons for instance.
Trouble is Robert G that the midges tend to inject a little bit of toxic stuff into everyone they contact. I can’t stand the itching, and am wary of sickness from some new virus.
For the individual activist there are excessive stresses and wrong-thinking side paths out there to avoid so we have time and energy to work with others to achieve numerous small outcomes advancing human and planet wellbeing. There is a need to stay focussed on the target of forming communities which are based on working with mutual respect and friendship and practicality in planning actions. And underpinning all this, simple kindness and well-wishing for each other, but not weakly accepting the rights of everyone as equal.
I think midges can not learn anything that is of value to society, and cannot teach anything that is not already observable in society to the alert, thoughtful and discerning. So it is a waste of precious time communicating with them.
Keeping a healthy mind and body, with also some humour (not always directed at the other regarded as foolish or toxic either) is more important than
dialogue with every shallow, addled time-waster with a shrivelled intellect.
Who’s side are Turkey on? I’d suggest they are now helping ISIS. It’s not enough that the Russians and the Assad regime are bombing YPG/YPJ position – now the Turks are bombing the only force in the region who are actually winning against ISIS.
Stuart Munro put this up yesterday in response to me, and sorry Stuart I did not responded yesterday.
But this is a almost forgotten aspect of the ISIS madness.We get they want to destroy objects, but the desire to remove a people for existence for a minor theological difference – this is by definition, unreasonable, they can’t be negotiated with. This is a blight, only love can bet these sickos, love and support for the YPJ/YPG.
I think there are a surprising number of localised cultures in the region that deserve our support, and learning something about each of them is important to understand whether the actions of combatants are reasonable. Unhappily the larger powers seem to care little for such communities.
I heard this this morning too, and thought is Kim Hill a secret commenter on The Standard. It was such a Standard-esque exchange (someone wrote in asking if KH was a misandrist as they thought she was hard on male interviewees).
Ms Georgia Harris @greentea2177
@ScoopTrust @SaturdayRNZ how do i find the soundbite where Kim Hill calls a misogynist an idiot? It was glorious.
[In order to keep OM and DR free for other conversations, all comments, link postings etc about the US election now need to go in the dedicated US election discussion here.
If you are unsure, post in that thread rather than here. It’s not possible for moderators to shift comments from OM to there, so any comments here may get deleted – weka]
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Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
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 ...
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. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
Today marks a tragic milestone for New Zealanders as the Coalition Government side with big tobacco to repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act 2022, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins and Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti. Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
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 Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
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Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
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[Please note, we are trialling something new for Open Mike and Daily Review.
In order to keep OM and DR free for other conversations, all comments, link postings etc about the US election now need to go in the dedicated US election discussion here.
If you are unsure, post in that thread rather than here. It’s not possible for moderators to shift comments from OM to there, so any comments here may get deleted.
Have fun folks – weka]
From which party will the newly-formed NZ Peoples’ Party take votes in the upcoming Mt Roskill by-election?
Labour or National?
http://www.indianweekender.co.nz/Pages/ArticleDetails/7/6973/New-Zealand/We-want-balance-of-power-in-NZ-politics-Roshan-Nauhria
“…One of the major problems the residents face is that of law and order, which we have made our main agenda for the bypolls.
Immigration is another issue the party feels strongly about.
But for now, we will concentrate on the law and order situation in the area.
There have been a large number of instances wherein people and businesses from ethnic communities are regularly targeted by criminals and nothing is being done to fight the problem.
Our party will stand in support of the ethnic communities and ensure that their concerned are heard and addressed.
….”
I predict that Roshan Nauhria and his NZ Peoples’ Party will take votes from National in the Mt Roskill
by-election.
Penny Bright
‘Anti-privatisation / anti-corruption Public Watchdog’
What’s happening with your ongoing disagreement with Auckland Council Penny ?
Irrelevant and has nothing to do with the subject matter Penny Bright has posted about.
The NZ People’s Party will prove to be a fizzer. I am picking less than 10% of the vote and a distant third.
It wouldn’t surprise me in the least, if after the election, the New Zealand People’s Party goes the way others like it have gone before, and it withers and dies off.
The following comment is from Jenny. It got caught in moderation and I can’t find a way to release it manually. Jenny, you should be free to comment now. TRP.
Syria Solidarity: National day of action 29th October
Civilians in Aleppo and across Syria are being intensively bombed by Russia with bunker bombs, phosphorous bombs, napalm, thermobaric and cluster bombs; and by the Syrian regime with chlorine containing barrel bombs; targetting homes, schools, hospitals, rescue teams, and underground shelters .
Like many Syrian cities, Aleppo has been under a starvation siege. The regime and Russian have even bombed the city’s water supply.
Despite these atrocious crimes against humanity, Aleppo’s people show tremendous solidarity and caring for each other, as they work to find the wounded under the rubble, and rush them to undergound clinics for treatment. Hundreds of democratically run community councils have been formed across Syria in the liberated areas. They have produced a tremendous amount of art, literature, music, and electronic media documenting the revolution and counter revolution in Syria.
The “peace” talks have broken down. It is clear that Russia and the Assad regime are looking for a military solution to enable the genocidal Assad regime to continue in power.
Most of the fighters killing Syrian civilians are not Syrians. They include soliders from Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq, many of them conscripted or desperately poor with no other options for a living.
The Assad regime and Russia have killed half a million Syrian people. The genocide has to stop! The regime regularly uses rape and torture as weapons.
The war started because people across Syria went onto the streets to demand democracy, and instead were shot, rounded up, tortured, raped and killed. So the people took up arms to defend themselves. The Assad regime has vowed to continue to obliterate the population until it accepts his rule.
Both the United States and Russia have re-defined the people’s struggle for democracy as a “war on terror” and are both responsible for killing civilians.
Isis grew in Syria with the encouragement of the Assad regime. Assad deliberately released extremists from his jails, who went on to join Isis in Syria. The regime leaves Isis alone, and Isis is continually attacking the democratic opposition groups. The democratic opposition has been forced to fight on two fronts, against the attacks from the regime and from Isis. Despite the evils perpetrated by Isis, it has killed a fraction of the number of people, that the Assad regime has. The Assad regime with its Russian and Iranian allies are the greater evil.
Stop the bombing! Troops out!
No more genocide! Solidarity with the Syrian Revolution!
Victory for Syrian people now!
Wellington action:
2-3pm 29th October, Russian Embassy, 57 Messines Road, Karori
[https://www.facebook.com/events/1837996156434984/]
Auckland action:
2-3pm 29th October, Aotea Square
[https://www.facebook.com/events/104432090029183/]
And the march to the U.K. and U.S. embassies? When is that happening?
“…One of the major problems the residents face is that of law and order, which we have made our main agenda for the by polls”
I totally agree, especially those residents who fail to pay their fair share, still access services and then have the audacity to label themselves an ‘anti-corruption Public Watchdog’,. Practice what you preach and pay your bloody rates.
You know, Penny is making a brave stand against anti-democratic government practices. And she isn’t getting away with anything. She may be quixotic, but the council have behaved badly.
She has as much right to comment as a Tory troll. Probably more.
+1 Stuart Munro.
I think the Council has been very patient. What Penny is demanding is that details of every contract be made public. This is not required by the legislation and for reasons of commercial privacy is not done anywhere else either. There are plenty of auditors and other safeguards against “corruption” and those few instances from legacy councils have been detected and dealt with. I have a friend who contracts to Council to process some of the Resource Consent applications which cannot be done in time by Council staff during busy periods. Her hourly rate is avaialble to the applicant (who is paying the costs of processing) and the other costs are standard for all applications. There is absolutely no need for these transactions to be on some sort of public register.
I don’t agree.
“Commercial sensitivity” has been used increasingly frequently to obscure transactions that frankly could not meet a public interest standard – like the gratuitous theft of our electricity generation resources, the vast web of corruption that has delayed or prevented the Christchurch rebuild, or the antidemocratic empire building of the Ports of Auckland
I want government to err on the side of public interest rather than that of corporate convenience and blatant corruption.
Your friend’s application processing may meet that standard – but if it does, why would she object to publication? If information is sensitive because it might encourage competition, that is in fact the only reason we want commercial involvement in council activity in any case – when they can lower costs.
My only objection to Penny is that she used to spam threads.
hi visubversa,
just a couple of things, while the ‘applicant ‘ may pay the costs, tis not thier money.
if all these contracts are a matter if public record then there is no commercial disadvantage.
may even make some of those contesting for the public teat, ‘sharpen their pencils’.
Keeping details of contracts from the people that the contract is with is not for reasons of privacy but to protect corruption.
Then the law is wrong and needs to be changed.
Actually, there is. Democracy requires that the people be informed and not kept in the dark.
“the council have behaved badly” – in what way?
They are secretive for a start.
There’s no honest reason for them to deny Penny’s requests and they’ve spent vastly more on legal fees messing her around than she is in arrears.
Councils and governments are accountable to citizens – when they decide they’re not they are in the wrong, and due for a comeuppance.
The scope of that accountability is set by the LGOIMA, with the same right to appeal to Ombudsmen as with the OIA. If there was any requirement to share line-by-line accounts with anyone who requested them, there would have been a ruling to that effect by now. Auckland Council is behaving no differently than others.
If they hadn’t spent vastly more in legal fees messing her around I might accept the explanation. The truth is they cherish their secrecy and waste our money preserving it. Technocratic oversight is not effective without community feedback. Penny offers that kind of feedback – but they are jealous of their secondhand authority and so they hate her.
“Behaving no differently to the others”
No doubt – like Dunedin’s former mayor who created a rates blowout to fund a stadium more than two thirds of Dunedin never wanted and will never use.
We need to cultivate a scrupulous local government culture – the prevailing culture is anything but.
Do you have examples of Council messing Ms Bright around rather than vice versa?
Every article I’ve read shows them being forced into court by her actions and winning every step of the way, yet still offering the same avenue as other ratepayers to relieve her debt when her house is sold.
They didn’t have to defend the actions – they could have treated her as a concerned citizen and cooperated with her. It would’ve been cheaper – and she is not a competing robber corporate poised to exploit their spurious ‘commercial secrecy’.
Civic involvement is considered a healthy attribute by responsible governments.
Just because what they’re doing is legal doesn’t mean to say that it’s right.
And as it happens to keep the people uninformed then it really does happen to be wrong.
If council did exactly what Ms Bright has demanded they would immediately face lawsuits from many big companies for breach of contract. That’s not a hallmark of good stewardship of public resources and would see them replaced by govt-appointed commissioners in no time.
As with most things Bright raises, the answer lies in govt changing national laws, not at council level. Challenging the wrong target is a waste of valuable public energy. Citizens deserve better from our advocates.
Which tells us that the contract was, and is, wrong. Which, of course, means that you don’t put those clauses into contracts going forward. If the businesses don’t like that then they’re quite welcome not to take up the contract.
It’s not the wrong target. It’s one of the many targets that are available.
If you want to change the way Councils operate, you need to change the laws they follow. Those are set by central government, not by councils.
Protesting at council is a waste of other people’s energy. By all means, waste your own but encouraging others is not that moral.
1. There is an LGOIA that Penny has been using to try and get the information that apparently applies
2. Council has been refusing on grounds of commercial sensitivity which is not a moral position and apparently not covered by the law either (really, I’d love to see the law that says that we must take into account a businesses feelings)
3. If that bit is in the contract, and I really doubt that it is, then that contract is breaking the law as you cannot contract out of the law.
The council really is morally obliged to make that information available to the public as it’s their city and they have every right and duty to know these things.
And there’s the point of where to start. If the law as it is apparently supports then you need to go to the council and prove that they’re the ones breaking the law. If it turns out that they’re not breaking the law then you go to the government and get them to change the law.
The LGOIMA like the OIA explicitly includes commercial confidentiality as a factor. Please educate yourself about the law before any more of this nonsensical bluster. Having one mouthy fool in this area is bad enough. People deserve smarter activists.
Demanding that councils keep information secret from ratepayers is a breach of the bona fide required to form contracts. Councils are responsible to their constituents and cannot contract out of that responsibility. The corporates would lose.
That’s how it should be, yes, but is that how it is or will the council simply roll over like a good corporate dog?
So far, they’ve been rolling over like a good dog.
I think that’s the legal position – if you flip it, a corporation would be in a world of trouble if they tried to sign binding secrecy from their shareholders.
If ACT weren’t just a lying pack of assholes they’d be all over this – for neo-liberalism to work it’s supposed to impose commercial standards of propriety on government. But Prebble et al only want to make off with the capital value of state assets like Landcorp.
Long past time some asset thieves went to prison.
Councils are required to get the best price on behalf of ratepayers. You don’t achieve that by disclosing previous ones.
But carry on yelling at them clouds rather than putting activist energy in the right places to secure the change you want.
Council secrecy is a guarantee that they will not serve their constituency or work constructively with their community. There is no place for it.
Actually, that would be exactly how you get them.
At least she is actually saying something and she stands for something , unlike wretched trolls.
Totally agree Paul. Why should Penny Bright not question the council and why are the council constantly pushing everything into the legal realm with millions of ratepayers money being pushed into private legal firms. No kick back or relationships there, we are led to believe.
Democracy and public accountability is on the decline because nobody (apart form people like Penny) have the time, stomach and energy to fight lawyers for years. The council are constantly proved wrong such as Ports of Auckland. People like Darren Watson have to fight for years to be proved right with other government run organisations. Auckland council were so incompetent that the unitary plan was thrown out.
We have the CEO of Wellington council giving 8 million dollars to Singapore Airlines privately and the Kaipara council bankrupting themselves with dodgy waste water and subdivision speculation.
Auckland council apparently has something like a 17% approval rate I read in the Metro, which is internationally so low, it’s in the gutter. Even Metro were pondering why the Mayoral candidates and the council itself were not concerned at how low they are perceived by the rate payers and how little they are trusted.
The council managers and executives are in a bubble that hopefully someone at some stage will burst and at the same time release our rates so it can be used more wisely than the council paying $500 an hour lawyers (if not more) to hide their conduct to the public and speculate on hidden deals.
Penny is protesting against the unjust laws that prevent Aucklanders from seeing how their city is managed. Such laws promote corruption which has been in the news lately.
In other words, she’s doing a hell of a lot more for this city and this country by not paying her rates than you are with your abject compliance with the way things are and kowtowing to the rich and powerful.
Just testing, to see if this comment goes through when I am logged in – recently the comments I have made when logged-in have disappeared into the spam.
Looks like I am freed from the spam-trap! Thank you, whoever is responsible.
@Robert Guyton
Thanks for your cheerful, informative and encouraging series being published here –
The Essential Forest Gardener. We are all reading with interest and grateful for your reminiscences and guidance so we can take our skills and thinking a further useful step.
For those who haven’t seen it – here is a relevant 6 min vid clip on how we need bees but don’t love and respect them properly.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqA42M4RtxE
Thanks, greywarshark. I’m really enjoying the feedback and questions each Sunday when the post goes up (thanks, TS people). I hope you’ll enjoy tomorrow’s post, in which I introduce chaos to the mix: “Chaotic is the word that springs to the lips of the conservative gardener, seeing a forest garden for the first time, and the order that does in fact exist in these gardens is a lot more complex than that found in a lawn-and-box-hedge garden, giving the impression of disorder. ”
🙂
I’d not read anything from you here for a while and worried about you! Good to hear you’re still connected.
hi robert,
a belated thank you from the manawatu, for the post last sunday.
about 10 yrs ago we relocated a whare on to 3 acres.
orchard, chooks, and 3 x 15 m2 raised garden beds, courtesy of my horticulturalist father in law.
cooch is the constant battle and 18 mmonths ago, decided to ‘decooch’ one of the beds. most of the day digging, sweating and being at one with the soil. excellent.
less than a month later you would think i had sown cooch!
head dropped, big bottom lip, and an excuse to ignore the garden and throw up my hands.
gave myself an uppercut and got back into the garden a month ago.
your post last week was just the tonic to get stuck into some toms, corn peas etc.
thanks again, just what ineeded to read.
btw a big loss this year with the passing of bill mollisson, the founder of permaculture.
Hi gsays
Couch and de-couching – the former a reality, the latter a delusion 🙂
I have another garden which was 100% couch, initially. I released the wild chervil and began to feel sympathy for the couch! Cow parsley/wild chervil (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthriscus_sylvestris) disposes couch silently and ruthlessly, growing in its place and providing a wealth of useful services to anyone brave enough to utilize it.
Yes, it was a pity about Bill. I felt worse when Masanobu Fukuoka passed. Each provided shoulders for us to survey the scene from. Now it’s up to us 🙂
cheers robert, for the tip and example of correct spelling of couch.
said it often, never written it down.
Most people spell it “Bloody couch!”.
Don’t worry about me. you’re the man doing the heavy lifting who’s important. I am popping up on Bowalley Road which has limited its biting insects with a net of fine mesh unlike TS. Damn those midges! I read somewhere that the migratory animals like caribou? are partly motivated to go so they can outrun the critters.
I’m still working for better things and trying to network and get to know the pragmatic idealist entrepreneurs around the place who stay focussed on target. Good to know of the Guytons for instance.
Migratory animals – they’re the ones, greywarshark! We learn a lot from them.
(We can learn from the midges too 🙂
Trouble is Robert G that the midges tend to inject a little bit of toxic stuff into everyone they contact. I can’t stand the itching, and am wary of sickness from some new virus.
For the individual activist there are excessive stresses and wrong-thinking side paths out there to avoid so we have time and energy to work with others to achieve numerous small outcomes advancing human and planet wellbeing. There is a need to stay focussed on the target of forming communities which are based on working with mutual respect and friendship and practicality in planning actions. And underpinning all this, simple kindness and well-wishing for each other, but not weakly accepting the rights of everyone as equal.
I think midges can not learn anything that is of value to society, and cannot teach anything that is not already observable in society to the alert, thoughtful and discerning. So it is a waste of precious time communicating with them.
Keeping a healthy mind and body, with also some humour (not always directed at the other regarded as foolish or toxic either) is more important than
dialogue with every shallow, addled time-waster with a shrivelled intellect.
Who’s side are Turkey on? I’d suggest they are now helping ISIS. It’s not enough that the Russians and the Assad regime are bombing YPG/YPJ position – now the Turks are bombing the only force in the region who are actually winning against ISIS.
http://syria.liveuamap.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide_of_Yazidis_by_ISIL
Stuart Munro put this up yesterday in response to me, and sorry Stuart I did not responded yesterday.
But this is a almost forgotten aspect of the ISIS madness.We get they want to destroy objects, but the desire to remove a people for existence for a minor theological difference – this is by definition, unreasonable, they can’t be negotiated with. This is a blight, only love can bet these sickos, love and support for the YPJ/YPG.
Thanks Adam.
I think there are a surprising number of localised cultures in the region that deserve our support, and learning something about each of them is important to understand whether the actions of combatants are reasonable. Unhappily the larger powers seem to care little for such communities.
I heard this this morning too, and thought is Kim Hill a secret commenter on The Standard. It was such a Standard-esque exchange (someone wrote in asking if KH was a misandrist as they thought she was hard on male interviewees).
Ms Georgia Harris @greentea2177
@ScoopTrust @SaturdayRNZ how do i find the soundbite where Kim Hill calls a misogynist an idiot? It was glorious.
…
Saturday Morning @SaturdayRNZ 7m7 minutes ago
Whomp, here it is (well, in amongst nearly a quarter hour of listener responses):
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/201821015/listener-feedback-to-saturday-22-october-2016 …
[In order to keep OM and DR free for other conversations, all comments, link postings etc about the US election now need to go in the dedicated US election discussion here.
If you are unsure, post in that thread rather than here. It’s not possible for moderators to shift comments from OM to there, so any comments here may get deleted – weka]