Open mike 23/06/2020

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, June 23rd, 2020 - 137 comments
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137 comments on “Open mike 23/06/2020 ”

  1. Dennis Frank 2

    Best of luck to Coromandel Watchdog: https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/22-06-2020/why-were-taking-the-government-to-court-over-mining-in-the-coromandel/

    Greens vs Govt. Green parliamentarians will have to stand on the sidelines and applaud both sides.

    The first application from Oceana Gold to turn 178 hectares of farm land into a toxic dump was refused by the Eugenie Sage, the minister of land information, but then the Cabinet took her off the case. They handed it to Robertson and Parker who rubber stamped it. Sage had considered the loss of productive land, the increase in fossil fuels, risks of toxic dam failure and a range of social and economic issues. The second Crown decision only focused on its export potential and the jobs it would maintain.

    I wouldn't put it past Robertson to think like that, but if Parker did too then he's not as smart as he seems. Jobs & money is an insufficient basis for such a decision. I'd be surprised if the court doesn't decide on that rationale.

    Good on Catherine for her leadership initiative – I hope her analysis is correct. Just cos there's gold in them thar hills doesn't mean anyone has the right to destroy them to get it. Authorising foreign companies to do so seems even more loopy.

    Oceana Gold, a large multinational, wants to expand both within Waihi and into the coastal and conservation lands on the eastern side of the peninsula. This land includes beautiful forests, endangered species classified as taonga, and places people visit and revere.

    Oceana wants to buy the food producing land at Waihi to build a huge waste dump for the toxic tailings which would come out of these new mines. The toxic waste in mine tailings includes mercury, arsenic, zinc, cadmium, lead and many other persistent heavy metals. The proposed expansion puts so much at risk for so little benefit, except to this foreign company. The tailings dams, or “impoundments” as the industry like to call them, are earth dams with some rock reinforcing and they are legendary globally for leaking or collapsing. The long list of dam failures in a range of countries over the last few decades makes interesting reading.

    You bet. I've read about some of them in the past. Hard to believe these neoliberal buggers in the coalition remain determined not to learn the lessons…

    • Wayne 2.1

      It is not neo-liberalism to oppose what would have been the closure of the mine, with the loss of hundreds of jobs and the rapid decline of Waihi and Waihi beach. I recall what both these places were like before the mine.

      The issues considered by the Ministers would have been considered any time in the last 100 years had the issue come up, so neoliberalism (a favourite prerogative of the far left) can't be a factor.

      • Dennis Frank 2.1.1

        Well it would be good to be able to read the govt's justification, eh? I wonder if anyone ever did a poll of the locals. Similar situation as on the West Coast down south, no doubt: a majority who think jobs beat the environment and a minority with the opposite view. Perhaps there's a suitable compromise, but the court case seems evidence that it hasn't happened yet.

      • Draco T Bastard 2.1.2

        The issues considered by the Ministers would have been considered any time in the last 100 years had the issue come up, so neoliberalism (a favourite prerogative of the far left) can't be a factor.

        The justification of these things is capitalism – how to make rich people richer. They then sell that destruction to the people by saying that it will create jobs and the people buy it because, by and large, they're living in poverty and only have one way to get an income which is to go along with the destruction.

      • Wayne I lived in Waihi. We had Gadabouts shoe factory, Akrad Radio and TV factory, the school of mines became a mine museum,We had a helmet factory a cheese and milk factory, A large Ministry of works Depot etc. Waihi was full of work and life, including Farming and Kiwi fruit nearby. Blueberry farms and products, a Retirement home, a Retirement Village and hospital and good local shopping.

        The mine was an important employer, but not the only one. The problems started in Roger Douglas's days, and were multiplied by Ruth Richardsons' actions. Finally Waihi was made poorer by the open cast mining and royalties going to the Hauraki Council mainly, rather than to the locals initially. Waihi suffered lowered water tables dust and noise/vibrations, and a good deal of anxiety about the tailings earth dam.. growing and growing.

        Now there is anxiety about this being multiplied. Some homes have fallen in holes, or been bought to avoid court cases. The Gorge is shaky now, and an increase in road traffic won't improve that. So this decision is sadly employment and overseas earnings over communities and environment.
        Work needed will overide all aspects

    • Ad 2.2

      That mine employs about 400 direct Waihi people, and about another 400 local subcontractors.

      That's in a town with a total population of 4,500 people.

      Coromandel tourism features the mine as a place to tour through, like all the other mines that have featured in Waihi's past:

      https://www.thecoromandel.com/towns/waihi/activities/culture-and-heritage/

      In fact mining heritage is the only reason anyone outside of Waihi goes to Waihi. They go cycling through mining stuff, and ride the Waihi-Waikno railway – a mining railway.

      Waihi is one of the founding centres of New Zealand's Labour Party and union movement.

      https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/black-tuesday/the-1912-waihi-strike

      The company contributes about $200,000 per your to local schools and preschools, and as a snapshot paid $255,000 in donations to local charities. Ain't no one replacing that if it goes.

      22% of their staff identify as Maori. Probably worth having a chat with the Ngai Tuwharetoa marae if you wanted to shut it down.

      So to be sure I like Minister Sage would object to mining on DoC land. I marched against it on Great Barrier under the previous government.

      But stopping mining in Waihi would simply kill the town. Within five years it would be as much a ghost town as Blackball or Waiuta.

      And of course in normal times you would expect the economy to absorb that. This isn't normal times, and they aren't coming back.

      It's not like they're gong to bring back the Pye Television factory either.

      Or Nambassa.

      This isn't a government that's going to kill this mine when we're heading for 10% unemployed, economy tanking, no local job alternatives, an average population age of almost 50, and no other life known.

      • Dennis Frank 2.2.1

        Hm, okay, I see their thinking. Well done. It'll be interesting to see how the court handles the case anyway. Sometimes Greenies do get rather purist on an issue where compromise makes more sense, and that could be the situation here.

        Incidentally I checked out Blackball in my brand-new motorhome three years ago and was surprised to get a sense of it as developing place. Dunno why, but it was a definite impression. Maybe just folks renovating all over the place, rather than derelict…

        • Ad 2.2.1.1

          Have you seen the streams of lycra-cyclists from Auckland coursing through the joint in summer? Mining trails the lot of them. Heritage is a weird thing.

          • Dennis Frank 2.2.1.1.1

            Ah, but do the locals make money off them? If not, could be a viable alternative income stream. Wealthy Aucklanders supporting regional towns would be setting a good example to all…

      • Draco T Bastard 2.2.2

        But stopping mining in Waihi would simply kill the town.

        The problem with basing an entire town/society on an extractive industry is that, eventually, there is no longer anything to extract and the town/society dies anyway. See Nauru:

        The story of tiny Nauru, once one of the wealthiest states per capita in the world, is a tale of rapacious colonialism, epic mismanagement, and avarice.

        Australia, New Zealand and Britain had nearly exhausted the viable deposits of phosphate by 1968 when Australia granted Nauru sovereignty, leaving behind one of the world’s worst environmental disasters.

        It might look like a Pacific island paradise but, thanks to phosphate mining, its interior is a moonscape of jagged limestone pinnacles unfit for agriculture or even building.

        We really seem to be determined not to learn the lessons of the past so as to maintain our failed socio-economic system.

        It’s not like they’re gong to bring back the Pye Television factory either.

        It would be better if they did.

        • Ad 2.2.2.1

          As you can see however Waihi is a town that has made the very best of its mining heritage. You should try those trails.

          New Zealand isn't Nauru. Nauru decided to turn itself into Australia's jail, and is one of the most corrupt nations on earth.

          Whereas Blackball learnt to make locally-sourced gourmet sausages.

          https://www.blackballsalami.co.nz/sausages.php

          • Draco T Bastard 2.2.2.1.1

            As you can see however Waihi is a town that has made the very best of its mining heritage.

            Really?

            Hmmm…. But, you said:

            But stopping mining in Waihi would simply kill the town.

            So, which is it?

            If they've made the most of their mining heritage then stopping the mining won't kill the town.

            • JohnSelway 2.2.2.1.1.1

              That’s a pretty dumb comment. You’ve assumed that Waihi makes as much money from presenting its mining heritage as it does from the mining itself.

              • Draco T Bastard

                No I didn't. Ad implied that that was so through making ' the very best of its mining heritage.'

                My point all along is that, once all the gold runs out, the town will die. Their little touristy thing may keep a family going afterwards but that'd be about it. It won't save the town.

                So, if they want to save the town then they need to do something other than gold extraction.

        • No not really, many who worked there died of cancer caused by the work conditions of the day.

  2. Dennis Frank 3

    When a Fox News poll paints a right-wing candidate as a loser, he ought to know he's in deep shit, right? Is Trump capable of figuring it out? And taking the next step: "Hey, I'm a real cool leopard – I can change these spots!"

    In the head-to-head matchup, the poll finds Biden leads Trump by a 50-38 percent margin. That 12-point advantage is statistically significant, and up from Biden’s 8-point lead last month (48-40 percent).

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fox-news-poll-biden-widens-lead-over-trump-republicans-enthusiastic-but-fear-motivates-dems

    He’s gonna have to pull finger to earn his second term. Winning from that far behind can't be done via complacency. Sure, it made sense to assume Biden would fail due to his innate inability, but the hotshot hasn't yet realised the same logic applies to him too – as long as he keeps misreading situations and ignoring his advisers.

    • peter 3.1

      Trump is capable of working it out. He's worked out it's a fake poll. He doesn't need advisers to tell him that.

      • Dennis Frank 3.1.1

        Wouldn't surprise me one bit. Delusion, reality, what's the difference? The guy has a track record of assuming he can persuade others to accept his view. Trouble is, the poll conforms to the usual polsci standard, so the stats basis represents reality sufficiently to persuade informed observers. He really does need such people on board to secure a second term. Faced with a choice between two flakes, voters will go for the lesser evil. He'll get the second term only by seeming the lesser evil – sufficiently.

      • Tricledrown 3.1.2

        Any advisor that tells him the truth he fires

    • Chris T 3.2

      Sleazy, racist, nutty old Biden, or Sleazy, racist, misogynist old Trump?

      How great must it be to be a US voter.

      Choices choices

    • Andre 4.1

      Easy mistake to make.

      Blumenthal's enthusiasm for attacking those trying to actually achieve realistic progressive politics and hold Drongo Unbrained accountable is very difficult to distinguish from enthusiasm for Wussolini himself.

      • AB 4.1.1

        "realistic progressive"

        A lifetime of disagreement and conflict is bound up in that little phrase….

        • Andre 4.1.1.1

          The point being that you have to actually get elected before you can then go on and do anything. Then when you do get elected, effective politics is a team activity – it's all about figuring out the compromises that turn a widely disparate collection of views and ideas into a workable package. Those are the points that seem to be missed or completely denied by anyone with a problem with the idea of "realistic progressive".

          • AB 4.1.1.1.1

            Sure – but undeniably that does tend to mean that tomorrow never arrives. It's maybe more productive to look at how (whether?) mass shifts in public consciousness are possible outside the domain of electoral politics, so that electoral politics is chasing to catch up, rather vainly trying to summon followers.

            • Andre 4.1.1.1.1.1

              It may be that there is an effective path to progressive change outside electoral politics.

              But the path followed by Blumenthal and his ilk certainly isn't it – they are much more acting as enablers of anti-progressive politics and action.

              • adam

                More lies and bs from you andre.

                No proof of course, that the best thing about your approach – you just make up any old bullshit about anyone you disagree with.

                • Andre

                  You really haven't got a grasp of the very simple arithmetic involved in electoral politics, have you?

                  Every single voter that Blumenthal and his fellow travelers persuade to not vote for Biden or Clinton or whomever is the closest to actually being progressive is effectively a vote for Donasaurus Wrecks (or whoever else is the reactionary-du-jour). And every time one of the reactionaries gets in, the possibility of achieving anything remotely progressive slips ever further away, because of the need to undo the damage done before attempting to build anything.

                  Sure you can whine about lesser evil voting all you want in your displays of public political masturbation. But the simple electoral arithmetic is that refusing to vote for the lesser evil is explicitly choosing to enable the greater evil.

                  • Ad

                    Jill Stein 2016

                  • adam

                    So external pressure in politics means nothing to you…

                    I see it does, as you went on to bag Ralph Nader.

                    What a silly one dimensional puppet you are. If only politics worked like you hoped then the world would be all rainbows and unicorns.

                    In the real world politicians have to earn votes, not act like they deserve them. They also have to put up policy which counts.. And, here the real kicker it means nothing, unless there is ongoing pressure from the public. But baby wants to tell us political parties are the only answer – sad.

                    As for your strawman about lesser evil – yawn. You can lie to yourself all you like. That politics is broken, it only enables the right – that's it, now I see why you support it.

                    • McFlock

                      The right are enabled bacause they'll vote for anyone under the Republican ticket. The left disempower themselves by pretending that "external pressure" can change the dems, so work against the dems every chance they get.

                      Sanders achieved more change in his 2016 campaign than any third party candidate because he applied internal pressure. He got people to join the dems and run in 2018, and that changed the game in 2020.

                      Being too left to support anyone will never make anyone try to get your vote. Politicians go for votes they might actually get. They tailor their policies and statements to those voters. If you're a lost cause for them, they won't travel an inch in your direction.

              • greywarshark

                I have seen this suggested before, or it may have been me, why don't we have a special post for the USA and that becomes separate and NZ politics is the default subject. It seems that there is more interest at watching the Tangerine Terror than our own peculiar brand of sweet and sour saucy.

                We need to watch our own eggs to see if they are hatching, all wise birds do this. The greywarblers have never got the hang of this and often enable a wotsisname (shining cuckoo I think) to come into the world, which then boots the other eggs and babies too I think, out of the nest. Damned interloper. So let's do better than greywarblers here, and look after our own pollies, and make sure the right ones get the crackers.

      • adam 4.1.2

        Love how when you got nothing Andre it's always with the personal attacks.

        Mind you when your such a parody of what constitutes a person on the left like yourself, it must be hard to go beyond you usual of spin, bullshit, gaslighting and lies.

        You could actually try socialism, hell I'd even take a dose of social democracy from you – as it would actually mean improvement in people's lives.

        But alas no, just more centrist bs gaslighting.

        • Drowsy M. Kram 4.1.2.1

          "it's always with the personal attacks." – who was/were the target(s) of Andre’s “personal attacks“?

          you['ve] got nothing
          your
          [sic] such a parody of what constitutes a person on the left
          you[r] usual of spin, bullshit, gaslighting and lies

          Vehement objections to perceived personal attacks carry more weight when you don’t decend to ‘their’ level. And, for what it’s worth, I agree with Andre’s entertaining alternative labels for Trump.

  3. I Feel Love 5

    The FBI are investigating the noose that was left in Bubba Wallaces locker, Nascar bans the racist confederate flag, and someone leaves a noose in a black drivers locker room. Once probably have been written off as a "joke", this shows how things have changed. Just saw footage of all the other car drivers and mechanics walking behind Wallaces car down the track, very powerful.

  4. Incognito 6

    Some journalists should take a chill pill, which is a more than reasonable verdict. However, it fails to address the motivation of (some) journos to over-egg things. Still a good read though.

    https://www.newsroom.co.nz/ideasroom/2020/06/23/1243845/the-media-needs-to-calm-down

    • I Feel Love 6.1

      Wow! Now that's a journalist! And he's right, I'd go nuts stuck in a room all day, we should have more sympathy. And I thought that there obviously a crap load of people sticking to the rules, only a few breaking them. Did I hear right on the radio that there are 20,000 people currently in quarantine? If so, then wow.

      • Incognito 6.1.1

        It is just over 4,000 people in quarantine/isolation at present but they’re increasing capacity.

        I think the 20,000 is the total number of arrivals who have gone through the quarantine/isolation process, give or take a few. I’m sure the exact number is somewhere …

    • Dennis Frank 6.2

      Yeah, Jack is right to advise a more balanced view, and he makes the significant point that journos function as opinion leaders in the community. Thus they do have a moral responsibility to be fair in their analysis and commentary.

      I noticed there's also a worthwhile appraisal of the PM on Newsroom, from a marketing expert: https://www.newsroom.co.nz/ideasroom/2020/06/19/1238761/can-ardern-dance-her-way-to-a-second-term

      Ardern is brilliant at the dancing part of political management, but needs to get onto deliberating and designing ASAP, then convince us she is the best leader to discharge her new ideas and plans. If she doesn’t, she risks leaving herself and Labour open to attacks from National

      I agree with this analysis. She ought to try and take time out to meditate on how to display leadership more comprehensively during the campaign. Design of the recovery plan remains the essential missing component. I suspect brainstorming of that is already happening, but a shift toward more strategic thinking is needed, then a timeline to enact implementation.

      • francesca 6.2.1

        Yeah, meanwhile she's having to cope with and counter the relentless stories in the media still slamming her Covid response implementation .Less time having to be wasted on reassuring a public constantly alarmed by misleading media stories would be good

      • observer 6.2.2

        From that piece: "she still hasn’t defined what her vision for New Zealand is."

        John Key won 3 elections without ever articulating anything resembling a "vision". It's something that pundits pontificate on, and ordinary voters don't care about.

        • Dennis Frank 6.2.2.1

          Key won 3 elections without ever articulating anything resembling a "vision"

          A typical view from the leftist bubble. Rightists would have taken note every time he restated the necessity for continuance of business as usual. Mainstreamers were captivated by that vision after the gfc. It worked. Even amongst centrists.

          The reason corporates went global with vision statements in the early '90s was the effective social psychology outcomes they produce. I remember when TVNZ workshopped all that stuff. I was working in their newsroom, attended some. I even recall the framing: Vision 2020. Just a coincidence we're in that year now?

          I recall one suggestion that got traction: video on demand. Now a reality. Never discount how futures are generated via collective envisioning…

          • observer 6.2.2.1.1

            If you think "business as usual" is a vision then you need a better dictionary. Key's whole shtick was pragmatism, management and being a good bloke.

            John Armstrong (a fan) summed it up:

            John Key, Holyoake and Muldoon

            "Key says the test of any prime minister is whether he or she leaves the country in better shape than when he or she inherited it.

            It is a somewhat higher test than the one Sir Robert Muldoon invoked before his tenure – that he hoped to leave the country no worse off than he found it."

          • observer 6.2.2.1.2

            Oh, and

            "A typical view from the leftist bubble."

            Bubble? From the guy who has been in a bubble so long, he thinks "chink" is just fine. Your lack of self-awareness is breathtaking.

        • AB 6.2.2.2

          Key did have a vision and a vision is always based in the values of the visionary. So a vision can be malevolent, self-centred, or even boring. And Key's vision was a mixture of those three – to be fair, the malevolence was more the result of the unthinking insouciance of the wealthy, rather than an active desire to cause harm.

          • Dennis Frank 6.2.2.2.1

            Indeed. When observer grows up he/she'll learn how collective visions create political cultures. Or fail to learn that. In the interim that person does correctly diagnose pragmatism & blokeism as the other two operational strands of Key's political praxis. So a youngster with some promise…

    • ianmac 6.3

      Yes Incognito! The essential point should be that there have been no community spreading for weeks. Every appearance of infection has been contained. What a great success – and yet there is a huge welling of denial from journalists. Piffle we say!

      Last weekend the Press published several columns asking for moderation yet Bryce Edwards ignored them and collated all the worst columns and only Bowalley Road for the positives scraped in.

      So hooray for Jack Vowels!

      • mac1 6.3.1

        Jack Vowels, ianmac? Is that spelling of his name an example of the Great Vowel Shift?

        Jim Flynn on RNZ yesterday said that people today don't read like they used to, and therefore opinions are affected by this paucity of knowledge and experience that reading affords.

        https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018751710/understanding-intelligence-professor-james-flynn

        These journalists obviously haven't read the story of the boy who called wolf.

        So, those of us who still read newspaper journalism might be affected by their alarms, but many of us also hear the cry of 'wolf' and dismiss their alarmist, attention-seeking shallowness as a minor form of conspiracist doom-saying.

        Piffle indeed.

        • greywarshark 6.3.1.1

          I don't think Bwyce is very nice. My teddy bear Edward thought he's a relative (Ted for short) but now doesn't and thinks he isn't nice either. Why does he seem to only like pointing out our faults. I think we need to be told once, and then get a pat on the head for the good things. (Ted thinks so too.)

        • Sacha 6.3.1.2

          The boy will keep calling wolf as long as he is rewarded for it.

          • greywarshark 6.3.1.2.1

            So I need to tell Ted that Bwyce is paid to find faults with Labour and everyone? That is a shame that he can't be fair and frank at the same time. Is that what they call buy-us?

      • ianmac 6.3.2

        Very sorry Jack for misspelling Vowles. Respect for your realistic comments deserve better.

    • Anne 6.4

      Words of wisdom. But will the tabloid journos (which means most of them) take any notice? Course not. They operate like a pack of baying wolves and they have no intention of changing.

    • anker 6.5

      Yes great article. I am one of the people who have slammed NZders who are self isolating for not keeping to the rules of social distancing.

      So an acknowledgement to all those who did the self isolating thing as they were meant too, my sincere thanks to you. It would have been very hard staying isolated for two weeks in a small room.

    • That is sensible and balanced. Thanks incognito.

    • RedBaronCV 6.7

      Yeah – good article at 6.0. if the media really wanted to help they could quit the sensationalist headline and just short form the list of complaints by hotel which would be a great help to identify those residences not performing up to standard. Set up a snitch line so that the passengers could supervise each other? Those following the rules and desperate to leave could be right into that.

  5. observer 7

    It's 9.45 a.m.

    Has the breakfast arrived? We NEED to know …

    • I Feel Love 7.1

      Lolz!

    • anker 7.2

      Observer, LOL re the breakfast……and what about the water for the bus ride!

      Naughty for me to join in this humour, but as I posted above, my sincere thanks to Kiwis and there will be many of them who did the right thing with little or no complaint

    • AB 7.3

      A late breakfast is far worse than the tacit geronticide being practiced in many of the countries these people have returned from. It's unacceptable.

    • mary_a 7.4

      Cheers observerlaughyes

  6. observer 8

    Commentators: The public will totally turn against the government!

    Public: Well, 13% of us will …

    So it's as any reasonable person would have expected. People annoyed with quarantine stuff-ups? Yes. And fair enough too.

    People losing the plot and demanding Ardern's head? No. Not even close.

    • RedBaronCV 8.1

      Be a little careful with those polls. Respondents are recruited off social media so all the non social media types are missed. In fact the group may be quite select – remember 20% of people don't have a phone suitable for an app and 50% have never downloaded one so the social media space may only be a little less limited.

      • observer 8.1.1

        I agree that it's less reliable than "traditional" polls. However, on this issue the results have been both internally consistent (a series since March, all 80% plus) and were also in line with the Colamr-Brunton/Reid research polls.

        In general terms, I'd rank the measures of public opinion as …

        1) TV1/TV3 polls, and the private polls by UMR and Curia

        2) Roy Morgan

        3) Horizon and Spinoff

        4 – 99) daylight

        100) spam non-polls for AM show, and all the other meaningless "my mates on Facebook", "brother-in-law at BBQ" etc.

    • ianmac 8.2

      Only 7.5% think dealing with the virus "Terrible." Is that all? Some would say terrible regardless of anything at all.

  7. Tricledrown 9

    The NZ initiative ie Business round table ACT party super pac now claiming almighty stuff up. 6 weeks ago were saying we should have overseas students here by July, level 1 ,3 weeks earlier open borders with Australia by July.National Winston Peter's etc were pushing the same line.

  8. RedBaronCV 10

    Now on a related topic. Why is the MOH still saying that risks around air crew are low? Haven't they got the public message that we expect the risk to be managed as close to zero as possible. Do they need another breakout to be convinced or are they simply idiots? Or RW sympathisers trying to make trouble.

    Why is Airnz not being leaned all over to improve the crewing standards. and rosters.even if it results in extra manning on rosters and fewer hours worked. Quite frankly some extra crew costs are a great deal cheaper then either quarantine or a more widespread outbreak. Sharing crews between Australia, NZ domestic and the Pacific Islands (!) and MOH saying Australia is low risk has to be "stupid of the year". Have they not realised that passengers are coming through Australia from other destinations? Can't they read?

    And why is the plague ridden Airline not implementing stricter standards than they appear to be. And I saw somewhere that they were going to use China based crew for some flights to NZ. How on earth are they going to keep them separate from local employees when they arrive? That should go well.

    These gaps all appear to be so obvious but these top managers simply seem to be unable to register that actions have consequences.

    So

    -MOH should tighten the rules and stop going "low risk" and defending that position. Much as they defended the "distress" of the road trippers rather than focusing on the risk to the community.

    – Airnz needs to get ahead of the curve and go for stronger safety. Get some of those Singapore airline Hazmat crew suits as well

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/121902230/health-ministry-defends-covid-rules-for-air-crew-saying-australia-low-risk

    • greywarshark 10.1

      RedBCV +100

    • Sacha 10.2

      some extra crew costs are a great deal cheaper then either quarantine or a more widespread outbreak.

      Yet the latter costs fall on the public, not airline execs and shareholders. Need to fix those misaligned incentives.

    • Kiwijoker 10.3

      The market will deal with it.

  9. greywarshark 11

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/419617/family-feels-betrayed-after-insurance-switch-leaves-them-short

    A South Auckland crane driver has been denied a $100,000 payout for his gastric cancer after a government-owned finance company switched his policy….

    His wife is furious that on the basis of what she says is a salesperson's garbled pitch – and despite recent official warnings to the insurance industry about its practice of "churning", or replacing old policies with new ones – her family of three children has now been pushed to financial breaking point.

    "That could have helped raising my children," said Shirley Farani, 40, who kept her job in finance and accounts throughout the pandemic levels, working from home while also looking after Ailepata Ailepata, who's 43, who has been off work for four months.

    "It's very distressing and very frustrating," she said, adding paying school expenses had been hard.

    The family, who live in Māngere Bridge, had paid for life and trauma insurance cover from Westpac since 2013.

    When, in 2018, they inquired about a mortgage with government-owned New Zealand Home Loans, an agent visited their home. He suggested changing insurers. They did, but ended up with less cover.

    This should come under our laws governing not getting something fit for purpose, when relying on someone who 'holds themselves out' as having complete understanding of his or her product and recommended it as right for matching the client's requirements.

    It should have been pointed out to them if there was any difference between the two products/policies and thoroughly explained.

    Additionally there is the contra proferentem position. That the policies differed in very important points affecting their cover should be noted against the party that introduced the idea of the change, and who should have known that they were receiving lesser cover; this would have been ambiguous to the clients.

    The Contra Proferentem Rule Explained

    Contracts can be complex documents created after long periods of protracted negotiations. Each party in the contract is ostensibly looking out for its own best interests and will want the contract language to be to each party's favor. This can create scenarios in which the contract language is ambiguous or unclear, leading one party to interpret the contract differently from the other party.

  10. RedBaronCV 12

    I see we are going up to around 4000 immigration places. If these remain full then we are looking at some 50,000 returnees before then end of the year. plus potentially a million more if all the ones in Australia return.

    The government is going to have to make some hard decisions fast otherwise there will be insufficent housing, health services etc or they will be completely overrun..

    First up the visa holders who expired but were extended till sept need to be nudged on their way – they can't all leave at once on the last day so perhaps they need to start shifting expiry dates forward in groups.

    Cut all inwards applications even at the higher salary levels. We will be getting back some well qualified individuals in the higher brackets.

    Cease overseas work permit exemptions with "economic benefit" – only admit those who are needed for something special in the very short term.

    Deprioritise permanent resident visa holders that have not been ordinarily resident here.

    Maybe let NZ First front foot this ?

    • greywarshark 12.1

      Trying to get some Kenyan connections in, all planned and now confused young people. So I hope that more than just NZs for numbers entering. They went away for the good times, and some could no doubt wait and work for a while and not rush home immediately to claim a place in the 'sleepy hollow'.

  11. Just Is 13

    How lucky are we to live in NZ, we live in the only economically advanced country in the world to have eradicated Covid 19 from the community, the virus, globally, is now out of control, the WHO has warned of the impending global disaster about to happen.

    The relentless negative OPINIONS from a range of news sources for the minor errors made by individuals is extremely disappointing, it really indicates their desire to put the Govt down without any relativity to reality its self. The media seem to be in a bubble of make believe, it seems their preference is to harm the very people that have introduced regulations and rules that have made NZ the safest place in the world today, something WE should all be extremely proud of.

    Ex pat Kiwis are flooding back to NZ for the very same reason, we are pretty well the safest developed country in the world at this point of time, the virus is now spreading exponentially as too many countries just have not accepted the the relative harm that will occur.

    All returning Kiwis should have a negative test result 24 hrs prior to boarding a plane, this doesn't mean they're clear, but at least it raises the bar, too many returnees would be prepared to return carrying the virus so they can come to a safe haven in the knowledge our Health system will take care of them.

  12. Andre 14

    Y'know, it's starting to stretch the limits of my willingness to believe that we really didn't have infected cases come into the country before those two women that caused the big kerfluffle.

    Consider – pretty much every day since those two were detected, we've detected more new cases. But none before? I don't recall any announcements before that of cases detected in quarantine or managed isolation. The step change in detection frequency is overloading my "really?" detector.

    What I really want to know is whether those in charge are also seeing that anomaly, and if they're taking steps to backcheck on those that made it through their two weeks and then released without testing. The good news is that the behavioural changes we've all made over the last few months are likely enough on their own to reduce R) below 1, so even if infectious new entrants made it out, they're still kinda unlikely to create new hotspots.

    • RedBaronCV 14.1

      Yep I'd like to see them back checking too. Just in case – so we can get onto any community breakouts fast.

      And I hate to say this but with the current flights in from highly infected places – do we need to pressure the airlines to ensure there is more PPE used on the planes – or that there is social distancing in the seating so people are not being infected in the air.And the bus trips from the airport too? And that the aircrews are kept strictly contained. And when they arrive even if it is only isolation they have to stay in the room for a number of days. Do we insist on some pre embarkation quarantine or testing? Or do we just close our borders again to some countries. Frankly if Spain is going to let in unchecked british tourists and with lockdowns easing in a number of countries the disease is starting to really take off overseas again
      Plus I have real doubts about spreading quarantine too far and wide. It means any cases needing to be hospitalised will also be spread around rather then being concentrated in one hospital with the appropriate resources.

      I can see plenty of local appetite for the tightest border controls possible

      • greywarshark 14.1.1

        It would also help for the airlines to reduce the alcohol available on the flights to just one or two. Then just water, or low sweetened concentrate like lime juice. There is bound to be an ugly argument start some time with the stress that everyone is under, and particularly those that rarely are prevented from doing what they want. The entitled don't take to that.

        Then when they arrive they should get their temp taken before going to isolation. A body with too much alcohol wouldn't give a good reading and could be fractious too.

    • McFlock 14.2

      Hopefully the quarantine period did its job, even if we didn't test the ones who came in with it because they were asymptomatic. But also we have increasing numbers of returnees?

      Nobody random has presented to hospital yet, so after a month from the start of the dotballs that's a good sign.

      edit: there was a tweet on testing the logistics of everyone at the airport, which is understandable. But a test in the first five days and another in the last few days would probably be a more achievable goal.

      • Andre 14.2.1

        AFAIK the numbers are something like 20,000 returnees total gone through the system, of which 4000 are still in quarantine/isolation. So, 11 cases among the 4k still within the system, and 0 among the 16k that have passed all the way through? I struggle with that, even allowing for the idea that more of the returnees now are from places where infections are rampant and increasing (UK, India, US) and earlier returnees were biased more towards places with low infection rates (Australia).

        In terms of testing numbers, lets say we get 500 returnees a day, two tests each. That means just doing the mandated testing on returnees accounts for 1000 tests a day, out of total testing capacity somewhere around 6k a day. And returnees have to be considered the highest testing priority. Looks to me like there's zero excuse for returnees to not ave been tested.

    • greywarshark 15.1

      Shocking and even worse it seems true. Great rant. USA version of Jonathan Pie?
      This goes with it on youtube:

      Redacted Tonight
      227K subscribers
      Starting next month (July, 2020) full episodes of Redacted Tonight will no longer be available on YouTube. They will be on the free video streaming platform “Portable TV.” All segments of Redacted Tonight will STILL be on YouTube but for the full episodes download the free app at https://www.portable.tv/download.
      Full episodes will still be available at RT.com.

      A group of fearless protesters were invited to stay in the Venezuelan Embassy the other day to protect it from US interference. The government wanted to put them in jail for a year for helping to stop the US-backed coup. The worst of their charges were recently dropped. Yay.

      ~
      Watch Lee’s newest Stand-Up Comedy Special for free here – https://LeeCampAmerican.com
      ~
      Our videos are heavily suppressed by YouTube and Facebook. Please help us avoid censorship by sharing this if you see fit. And join my email list by texting “REDACTED” to 33-777. It’s free and quick. You can also join at LeeCamp.com.

  13. greywarshark 16

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/419646/covid-19-national-party-demands-answers-on-covid-19-testing-in-isolation

    National, the party of no regulations and freeeedom. All of a sudden they want it so they can swing it around and bash Labour with it. Pathetic.

    Who are the sour looking journos or hangers on in the background of the pic interviewing PM Jacinda? ( I haven't watched the vid yet, have to do some useful stuff at home.)

    • Tiger Mountain 16.1

      The press gallery these days seem to behave as a pack of surly “nag bags”, living for their next leak from some duplicitous Ministerial toady, or Nat staff member.

      Some of them, surely, must experience a little self loathing at what they have become. Journalists have to hold the powerful to account, but most of this rather joyless lot can’t separate that legitimate function from the Paparazzi like “gotchas” and “scalp taking”.

  14. aj 17

    Just watched in full today's Bloomfield news conference. (I haven't watched any since level 3)

    He was as good as usual, and journalists as bad as listening as usual. I think his answers were complex – they had to be to cover the myriad of events happening at the border – and it's clear that many at that presser just didn't understand them. His finish was superb after being asked about how events 'undermine confidence'. To paraphrase he said

    ….what should inspire confidence is that I'm fronting up and explaining whats going on, and what it taking place at the border and steps being taken to improve the border. What would undermine confidence is if I wasn't here talking to you

  15. Muttonbird 18

    Woodhouse spreading fake news. I suspected this might be the case.

    https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/06/coronavirus-homeless-man-who-allegedly-stayed-in-auckland-quarantine-facility-cannot-be-verified.html

    He should be savaged for this by the media but it won't happen.

    I see also the Covid-Karens had another visitor when they got to Chris Bishop's house Lower Hutt. They really are the pits those two. Wanted special treatment then abused the process. No wonder someone ratted on them.

    Also confused about why the media continues the line that Bloomfield and the MoH have been dishonest about the sisters' movements. Clearly Bloomfield and the MoH were getting their info from the Covid Karens, and they have been lying through their teeth since they landed!

    • Andre 18.1

      Bugger. Oh well, I s'pose the idea of a homeless dude blagging a two week stay in a luxury hotel was always too funny to be true.

      • dv 18.1.1

        AND what is the proof that he was homeless any way.

        oh it was an "unverified", it came from a "reliable source"

        GEEZ

      • Gabby 18.1.2

        Woodlouse thinks his arse is reliable so it's all ok.

    • Muttonbird 18.2

      I'm glad to see Woods hit back with a strongly worded letter. The misinformation spread by the National Party in these times must be countered, otherwise it becomes part of the narrative.

      Though, it would be a massive coup for Woodhouse if he produced said homeless person…

  16. Dennis Frank 19

    Spinoff polling covers a variety of issues to assess the public mood re govt handling of the pandemic, and the latest report puts it in context with the trend over recent months. One of the essay writers here ought to post a comprehensive analysis, perhaps with a look at the election campaign relevance: https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/23-06-2020/exclusive-poll-reveals-public-impact-of-failures-in-nz-covid-quarantine-system/

    The sixth in a series of demographically weighted polls by Stickybeak for The Spinoff conducted over recent months sees overall support for the government response fall just shy of 75%. That’s a drop of 10% from our previous poll, which was completed at the start of last week. Across five previous polls, beginning in late March, the average total backing for the government response was 84%, and this is the first time it has dropped under 80%. A week ago, we reported 74% of respondents judging the response “excellent”; today that number is 53%.

  17. A question for @Andre

    Don't you reckon it's about time Putin called in the debt and insisted Donny O Jnr and Melania have the Hydroxy Clorax Queen committed to the Tallahassee Home for the Bewildered?

    If they hold out much longer, they could lose everything and its all going to look a bit too obvious – the Tangerine Turkey's disciples seem to be dropping off like flies on paper soaked in pyrethrin

    • greywarshark 20.1

      Tangerine – the colour of the age. Hope it goes out of fashion soon. A very 'colourful' comment OwT. The news here aims to be factual, but it isn't boring.

      • OnceWasTim 20.1.1

        Well as a parent @ Grey, I'm clutching me stolen pearls and just thinking of the children! And it's just as well I disposed of all my worldly goods to them before I actually kark it and I now live at their pleasure. I'm just a bit worried that Donny Jnr and Melania – if they don't get the timing right – they could be left with nothing! (And won't that be a sad day).

        Still, no doubt Donny Jnr and Melania have devised an alternate escape hatch and I really shouldn't be tearing my hair out worrying about their future.

        I'll get back to my darning socks and knitting in front of CNN, Aunty Beeb and BobJazeera

    • Andre 20.2

      I dunno.

      Clearly the smart move for Tweetyturd right now would be to negotiate his pardon from Pence in return for resigning while he's still got good negotiating leverage because he's giving Pence time to have a good go at making his own case for the preznitzy. Leave it too late, and there's not enough in it for Pence, unless he's so desperate the getting the title of Mr President for however briefly is enough. The only conversation that might possibly persuade him to do that would end with "don't forget to give us our pardons before actually resigning, OK daddy?".

      As for Pootee, I'm struggling to see how he can leverage the situation to his own benefit out of this. Releasing any pee-pee tapes and financial juicy details he may have won't get him anything useful. Except more division and turmoil within the US (which may have been the objective all along). So maybe Genghis Con lucked into the same play with Pootee that he pulled on regulators and banks in his earlier career – make sure that those who can bring you down will also come crashing down with you if they do pull the pin.

      There's certainly no way he can be involuntarily removed If he chooses to fight, the 25th Amendment is a tougher route than impeachment, in that it needs the veep, half of cabinet, 2/3 of the House and 2/3 of the Senate to remove him. As opposed to just half the House and 2/3 of the Senate for impeachment.

  18. Ad 21

    We are in a serious property market correction, which is happening now, of 10-12% down:

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12342272

    The S&P report underscores that the entire economy is now propped up by government policy and government cash:

    "A contracting economy, rising unemployment, and weak consumer and business sentiment will affect the asset quality of banks in New Zealand, in our view," S&P said.

    "However, we consider that the substantial fiscal and policy support from the New Zealand authorities and a strong economic rebound during fiscal 2021 (year ending June 2021) should help to limit the rise in credit losses."

    We have a 1 in 3 chance that this is going to get really, really dark.

  19. Ad 22

    Curious to see the pharmaceutical industry do a full hit on pharmac this close to an election and with the Simpson health review still cooling off the printer:

    https://www.fairnessinfocus.co.nz/

    A big Youtube launch, new website, substantial backers.

    Let's see how National responds to this entreaty.

  20. Tricledrown 23

    National need to sack Hooton looks like Woodhouse may be in the outhouse.

    Looks like Hooton channeling Trump.

  21. Tricledrown 24

    The Media wolf pack will hunt down Woodhouse and blow his house down and expose his lying ass.

  22. David Mac 25

    We need to wake up to ourselves, The person in charge of who passes over our borders is incapable of regulating the calories that pass over their palette. Thankfully she is also looking after Trainsmash. (Kiwibuild)

    Geez it must be tough to be Jacinda. She has to play lead guitar, drums and bass at the same time. Her team need to have a jolly good look at themselves.

    The Minister of Health can't stick to the rules the 5 million of us comprehend. I can't listen to the guy without thinking 'Fuck You idiot.' His credibility is a black hole.

    I'm so very sorry Jacinda, you are surrounded by people that don't live up to their handles.

    Grant Robertson spent months looking at 'The Future of Work in NZ.' Superb timing. We should be all set. Unfortunately the guy calculating the future of work in NZ has never worked in the private sector in his entire life.

    We love you Jacinda but you need to start placing people around you that can actually make things happen.

    It's an ideal time to seize the day and we ain't.

    • Drowsy M. Kram 25.1

      PM Ardern could poach some opposition National party 'talent' – building Bridges laugh

  23. David Mac 26

    Wasn't it amusing to watch the politicians in the weekend Current Affairs shows ever so backhandedly drop any Covid shortfall call-outs over into Ashley's lap.

    I was surprised that they could be so tone deaf. When you say Ashley did it, it's the same as saying my Mum did it. We take a knee wid da Bloom.

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    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from 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 public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    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:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    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 ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter 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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    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 ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    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 ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    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, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    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 ...
    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    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 ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    5 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    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 ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    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 ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    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, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • There’s a name for this
    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 ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Echoes of 1968 in 2024?  Pocock on the repetitive problems of the New Left
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    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.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    8 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    8 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    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, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    22 hours ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    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. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    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, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • NZ, India chart path to enhanced relationship
    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, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bailout the last, say Ministers
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Fresh produce price drop welcome
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Statement to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68)
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government backs rural led catchment projects
    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,” ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber
    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. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Commission’s advice on ETS settings tabled
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government lowering building costs
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Trustee tax change welcomed
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister’s Ramadan message
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister appoints new NZTA Chair
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Speech to Life Sciences Summit
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Progress continues apace on water storage
    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. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government agrees to restore interest deductions
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister to attend World Anti-Doping Agency Symposium
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity
    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 ...
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